Mathias Rust -30 years on

[Haraka]

I thought that ,although historical, recalling this incident might stir a few responses here.
Many will remember this 19 year old young man flying though Russian Air Defences and putting a Rheims Cessna 172 down on a bridge next to Red Square on 28th May 1987 as a "gesture towards peace". At the time I thought he had just taken off from a German flying club and flown low level across the IGB then on to Moscow: this itself being a feat for a novice.
Do look this incident up on Wikipedia as apparently:
He had a total of around 50 hours ( how many solo?)
The Club 172 had had long range tanks fitted ( why?).Rear seats removed for this ( Rear c of g for an inexperienced 172 pilot?)
He flew solo from just outside Hamburg to Keflavik Iceland, then to Bergen Norway, then on to Helsinki Finland.
He then flew low level ( presumably) to Moscow, apparently without aids or proper mapping, on the one day that PVO Strany were on low alert, to land on a bridge in the middle of the City which had just had obstructive telephone wires removed.
His arrival was filmed by a visiting peace activist.
Call me old fashioned but........alone and unassisted?
I welcome informed comments.

[Maoraigh1]

I think he had hired the plane for a trans-Atlantic crossing, and after flying to Iceland, flew back to Europe (Norway??) and on to Russia.

[piperboy84]

Whatever the story it was a pretty ballsy move. You gotta hand it to those Germans , he probably read the Cessna manual cover to cover and in their typical black or white logic figured there is no reason why this aircraft can't make this flight and just went out and done it, the North Sea be damned. Somewhat similar to the Hess flight to Eaglesham, another exceptional feat of airmanship.

If I'm not mistaken both Rust and Hess went a bit radio rental after their flights perhaps that explains there ability to carry them out in the first place.

[Fantome]

CESSNA WERE QUICK to market the international appeal of a 172 , wings off, parked right up hard against the Kremlin Wall. 'Uncle Roger' the 'Straight and Level' supreme wit of British Aviation caught this fiction perfectly when he put on his page a photo of Rust's Cessna. The caption read something like - "Get your KWPK (Kremlin Wall Proximity Kit) now."

[ChickenHouse]

"Long range" tanks are a bit misleading by todays standards. The old 6-pot Rolls-Royce 172s only had 39 Gals (36 usable) and were fairly limited in safe flight hours. Many ordered the long range tanks, so many they soon became standard. I know the club operating Rusts 172 during these days and they got long range to be able to do extended xcountry flights. Btw, it was not the only GA flying west-east behind the iron curtain, but the second. In 1971 a strange story went through media of a 172 fleeing into GDR and a dubious western soldier asking for sanctuary in that case. I heard rumors Rust got a FAA lncense again later, can anybody confirm?

[atakacs]

I certainly agree that however "romantic" the official narrative is quite suspect.

In any case quite a memorable flight !

[Victorian]

I was quite surprised recently to see that the main exhibit in the foyer of Berlin's Technik Museum is a 172. Why a Cessna in Berlin's museum? I wondered before the penny dropped. It's Rust's Cessna!

The museum says that it's there because the German authorities refused to re-register it for flight after return from display in Japan, due to "sensitivities with the Russians". Hmmm.

[treadigraph]

If I'm not mistaken both Rust and Hess went a bit radio rental

Wikipedia certainly suggests that Rust's subsequent life has been somewhat troubled.

[Jan Olieslagers]

I had never given it much thought, but reading the story on en.wikipedia.org I must admit this chap must have been very very lucky. If some question there was merely a formidable bunch of good luck at work, they might have a point. But it will never be proven. Actualisation of archives is a great and cherished art in Moscow.

[Floppy Link]

Fantome

For some bizarre reason I remember it well…

It was KWAK - Kremlin Wall Adjacency Kit

[DirtyProp]

I had never given it much thought, but reading the story on en.wikipedia.org I must admit this chap must have been very very lucky.

Indeed, if I remember correctly the trolleybus wires in the Red Square were taken down a few days before for maintenance.
Could've ended much worse.

[Jhieminga]

RustCessna_Berlin2014 by Jelle Hieminga, on Flickr

[Romeo Tango]

I've flown that route the other way in the early 90s, during that brief period when Russia and the west were friends. I was cleared "not above five hundred feet". I had no GPS in those days and I flew up the railway line dodging the odd telegraph pole.

Low level navigation is no problem on that route!