Russian-Built Airliner Experiences

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Comet
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Russian-Built Airliner Experiences

Post by Comet »

Has anyone ever flown on a Russian-built airliner? If so, what kind was it and what was it like? I am a huge fan of Russian types but I have never been on one and read no reports of what they are actually like to fly in.
Sabena and Sobelair - gone but never forgotten.
Louise

levent
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Post by levent »

Hi,
I flew on a Balkan Air Tupolev Tu-154 from Amsterdam to Vienna. Normal people would find it weird, but I really liked it: nets instead of bins for the hand luggage, and really thin chairs... But above all I like the model itself, my favorite tri-jet.
I also got a peek in an Ilyushin Il-86 of Pulkovo Airlines at Maastricht Airport. Didn´t fly with it, but just looking around was great. I entered through the belly, where the pax can stowe their own luggage, and then went to the main deck on one of those stairs that you expect to find in cruise ships. The cabin is huge, and the big green cockpit very impressive.
A complete other story is the Il-18 freighter I loaded when working at Maastricht Handling, the belly with food for horses and cows, and the main deck with thousands of living chicks.

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sn26567
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Post by sn26567 »

I have flown at least one hundred times on a LOT Tu-134 between BRU and WAW. On some rare occasions, it had been replaced by an Il-18 turboprop and, just before the fall of communism, by a brand-new Tu-154. I also flew LOT's An-24 on domestic flights, Interflug's and Aeroflot's Tu-134 and the latter's Il-62 and Tu-154, and as said elsewhere, a West German's company (I forgot the name) Yak-40.

Always exciting experiences, although I did not always feel very safe and seldom comfortable.
André
ex Sabena #26567

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Post by MD-11er »

I flew on a Yak-40 of Weasua Air Transport from ROB to FNA.
Reg: RA-82760

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/559516/L/

As a Russian aircraft fan I enjoyed every second of it.
it had nothing with the relax seats of a European airline, but it was great.
When I boarded it, I was the first to enter the aircraft. There are no covers on the bins so I could see they were all empty. Except for a Bottle of Vodka Lemon.
What do you want the pilots were Russians.
The seats were loose but I enjoyed it a lot.

8)

B737229
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Post by B737229 »

I flew a Malev TU154 (HA-LCN) from BUD to BRU in 2000. The flight was very nice, but the TU154 was a little cramped for legspace compared to western aircraft.

The aircraft is very quiet in the cabin, and flies very stable, as do most rear engine-mounted aircraft.

Image

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Post by B737229 »

sn26567 wrote: and as said elsewhere, a West German's company (I forgot the name) Yak-40.
was general air, they ceased operations in 1975

Robin_Bamps

Post by Robin_Bamps »

Hi sn26567 and B737229,

A General Air Yak-40 looks like this :

Image
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/252545/M/

Maybe André can tell us now if his Yak-40 looked similar.

Regards, Robin Bamps.

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Post by sn26567 »

Thanks, Robin. That was the plane, indeed.
André
ex Sabena #26567

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Comet
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Post by Comet »

Very interesting accounts Levent, MD-11er and B737229 - nice to see a photo of the Malev aircraft!

I had always hoped to bag an IL62, I saw a VIP example once arrive in GLA to be greeted by black Limos but I don't know why. Then I saw an Aeroflot one after we landed in Helsinki, but never got a chance to take a photo of it :(

I bagged my only Tu134, an Estonian example, as it arrived in Helsinki, through the window of an MD82 of Finnair.

Then last year in MAN the Balkan Holidays colourful Tu154 arrived and I had neither my camera nor my video camera, so I was not happy :cry:

Then in 2001 VC10 noticed the ADB An124 parked near FLS Aerospace in MAN and I managed to bag it on video.

Last year, as we arrived in MAN from Dublin, the AN124 was being loaded, with its nose open, but I was not able to get a photo :cry:

And those are my Russian-built airliner experiences.
Sabena and Sobelair - gone but never forgotten.
Louise

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Post by B737229 »

Comet,

May be a little off topic but look at this :

http://www.simradar.com/Feature/2472/Ae ... sinki.html

Enjoy your flight!

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Comet
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Post by Comet »

That's a fascinating account RYR8023 :lol: If you want to fly in a tu154 then try booking a flight from Manchester to Burgas, the Sunday afternoon departure is operated by a 154 of Balkan Holidays. It is always nice to see that aircraft, and I finally managed to bag it on photo and video the other week.
Sabena and Sobelair - gone but never forgotten.
Louise

cityflyer
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Russian-built airliners

Post by cityflyer »

Here are my logs of flights on Russian-built airliners:

1984: CCCP 86015 Ilyushin 86 Aeroflot Brussels-Moscow
CCCP 65783 Tupolev 134A Aeroflot Moscow-Leningrad
CCCP 85530 Tupolev 154B2 Aeroflot Moscow-Brussels
1987: CCCP 85332 Tupolev 154B2 Aeroflot Moscow-Omsk-Irkutsk
CCCP 85485 Tupolev 154B2 Aeroflot Novosibirsk-Moscow
CCCP 65872 Tupolev 134A Aeroflot Moscow-Leningrad
CCCP 86060 Ilyushin 86 Aeroflot Leningrad-Moscow
1991: LZ-BTD Tupolev 154B Balkan Brussels-Varna
LZ-BTA Tupolev 154B Balkan Varna-Brussels
1992: OK-EFJ Tupolev 134A CSA Brussels-Prague-Brussels
1994: HA-LCO Tupolev 154B2 Malev Brussels-Budapest
1996: D-FBAW Antonov 2 sightseeing trip over Belgium

At that time, I never felt uneasy when boarding this kind of planes, probably because of my age then :lol:
I had only one strange experience on a flight from Moscow to Omsk on a Tu154 back in 1987. I had a window seat next to an emergency exit and after climbing out from Moscow, after half an hour or so, it got really cold. After some time I watched the small emergency window better and saw that it didn't look locked like it should be. Water started dropping from the top of it, on my arm and my seat. After another hour or so (it was a four hour flight) the window, covered completely with water, started to freeze and some time later, the water became ice ! I was really worried and called the stewardess. I showed her "my" window and she almost got a heart-attack but assured me that there was nothing wrong. After the landing at 2.00 am in a very dark Omsk we had to leave the aircraft for the refueling for our four hours flight to Irkutsk in Siberia. When I boarded the plane and took my same seat, I could see that this emergency exit was now placed again in its position where it should be, well fitted in the airframe. Finaly, I could get some sleep during an uneventful flight to Irkutsk. I know that this story sounds strange and weird, but I still can't believe that, because of the compression of the airplane, the window didn't blow out.
Anybody ever lived such an experience ?

Cityflyer

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Post by sn26567 »

Very interesting (and rather frightening) experience, cityflyer. Thanks for sharing it.
André
ex Sabena #26567

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Post by Advisor »

Airlines operating from Russia, I believe are Aeroflot, Kras Air. Transaero Airlines, Vim airlines and Volga-Dnepr Airlines.

Surprising is that none of these airlines use or have any Russian aircraft lately. Wonder, why?
Aum Sweet Aum.

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Post by 5Y-KQV »

Had a 40 min flight from MBA to NBO aboard an African Express Yak-40 in 1999. It was the first time I boarded an aircraft from the rear. The flight was smooth and fast. Plane was leased from a Russian carrier, complete with Russian flight crew. I noticed that i could hear almost all the motors driving all the gadgets or control surfaces of that aircraft from the cabin. Braking and retracting the landing gear after takeoff was the loudest and the gear bay doors i remember closed with a loud BANG. That scared the hell out of a lot of passengers.

I have always loved Russian built aircraft. There is something about their aesthetics that make them look really beautiful. They are also built sturdy aircraft that can fly in lots of different conditions with minimum fuss.

Cheers,

Walter.

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Comet
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Post by Comet »

Thanks for more interesting experiences.

5Y-KQV - I think the Yak 40 is superb, and one of the toughest aircraft in service. I read that it can take off, land and operate at places with the minimum of ground support, and it doesn't even need a tarmaced runway. I have never seen one though :(

As for noise, I remember the two Airbus flights I had this year - the noise as the flaps were lowered and retracted was phenomenal. I also noticed alot of noise on the 767 a few years ago, but not on other types I have flown in.
Sabena and Sobelair - gone but never forgotten.
Louise

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Post by 5Y-KQV »

Comet wrote:Thanks for more interesting experiences.

5Y-KQV - I think the Yak 40 is superb, and one of the toughest aircraft in service. I read that it can take off, land and operate at places with the minimum of ground support, and it doesn't even need a tarmaced runway. I have never seen one though :(
You are very right on that. There are lots of YAKs and other russian built aircrafts e.g. Antonovs that land in rugged terrain in lots of places in Africa. In Congo DRC (formely Zaire), i have read lots of articles that antonovs form the backbone of intercity transportation because the infrastructure has been destroyed by years of conflict or neglect and also to cross the tropical rain forests in the country. These aircraft are also popular for transporting relief workers/VIPs/Security personnel etc. to remote locations and often arid locations (in some places the terrain is too rugged even for the best off-road vehicles and you may require days of road travel). All they require to land is a flat patch of ground (usually murram in most cases though these tend to be uneven) and the aircraft can safely land you there without as much as a scratch or damage, something you can only dream of doing with a western jet airliners. I think the russians built their aircraft with their hostile terrain in mind, something that has benefitted the geography of a lot of regions worlwide.

Cheers,

Walter.

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Post by Comet »

I am surprised that more Western countries did not operate the YAK, or at least an equivalent. I suppose in their way they must be more environment-friendly with their ability to operate from places which do not even have a runway (no need to surface everything with tarmac). I would love to see an aircraft operating from such rough surfaces. The benefits of the tougher Russian types have been immense , and the fact that they can operate into places where road vehicles and Western aircraft cannot reach can only be a positive one.
Last edited by Comet on 03 Dec 2004, 15:58, edited 1 time in total.
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Louise

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Post by sn26567 »

Comet wrote:I am surprised that Western countries did not operate the YAK
As mentioned before, I flew a Yak-40 of German airline General Air betwen Brussels and Dusseldorf in the 1970s.
André
ex Sabena #26567

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