Flight TV — general aviation TV from Russia

[FlightTV]

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Issue 20: the return of the first Russian seaplane circumpolar expedition. For the first time ever Russian private pilots on Russian-made flying boats were seen beyond the N67°

[Sam Rutherford]

Very nice!

[FlightTV]

Originally Posted by Sam Rutherford

I heard afterwards that we were the only private helicopter trip (not state-supported) to ever get to Moscow (most end up waiting at the border for a few days until they abandon and go home). Beautiful country, great people, nearly impossible by both financial and paperwork measures - but a great trip!

Last year they lifted the requirement of having local navigator/leader. You have to file for an airspace use permit in 2 month advance. That's a lot of paperwork, but free. AOPA Russia will help you with that, and you'll be welcomed at any private airfield you fly to here. Yet, having someone Russian-speaking and with radio communication skills will be handy anyway. Some zone controllers still don't speak English here, especially those at under FL60.
Also, entry via Pskov is pretty expensive (120 Euros whereas same services in Tartu cost 23) but not impossible once you have the said permit.

[Sam Rutherford]

That's great information, thank you!

[FlightTV]

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1) Pilots from Kaliningrad region invite foreign aviators to visit the westernmost part of Russia on summer 2019.
2) More on TR-301TV, the turboprop redesign of An-2 that turned out a great plane for skydivers (all the best from good old An-2 and all the perks of a turboprop)
3) SK-04 is a new land plane from Samara: seats four, runs on two Jabiru engines and flies for more than 500 miles at a time at more than 100 kts