David L From United Kingdom, joined May 1999, 9248 posts, RR: 42 Posted (14 years 3 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 493 times:
Thanks to that wonderful webcam I see there's a Tu-154 belonging to VIA at Zurich at the moment (1130 UTC/GMT). Who are they? Venezuelan? Nice to get a rare glimpse of a Russian-built aircraft.
There's also an Aeroflot 737-400 with quite a snazzy paint scheme on the engines - almost like a depiction of an engine fire!
CV990 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 1, posted (14 years 3 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 490 times:
Hi David L.
VIA I presume are some sort of airline charter. I've seen them in Lisbon in a charter flight from Kosovo with refugees, so I presume they're flying them to some european counties.
About AEROFLOT, they're getting more and more modernised! Its good to see them more modern. Do you remember those old IL62 and TU154/134 still with the big Soviet Union flag and the traditional blue line over the window fuselage? That's ok!!! I saw one brand new B. 737-400 still ready for delivey in Seattle and it looked nice!!! Son we'll see many airlines adopting these new scemes. Reminds me the good old BRANIFF and their DC-8-62 painted by CALDER!
Take care and welcome to our forum!!!
David L From United Kingdom, joined May 1999, 9248 posts, RR: 42 Reply 2, posted (14 years 3 weeks 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 490 times:
Thanks, CV990, though I've been here for a while!
I assumed VIA was from eastern Europe, Africa or Central America since they were flying a Tu-154 but I couldn't think of anywhere other than Venezuela that begins with a "V" - maybe it doesn't refer to a country.
I've never even come close to flying in a Soviet aircraft but I'd like to. Does anyone know if you were able to look out of the glazed nose on the Tu-134 and Tu-154 in flight?
CV990 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 4, posted (14 years 3 weeks 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 487 times:
Hi again David L.
About glazed noses, that's an interesting feature in the old generation soviet aircrafts. You could find them on the TU104, TU114, TU124, TU134, not in TU154. It seems during those times Aeroflot was quite an airline with a possibility of doeing military service if it was necessary ( any invasion of Europe etc. etc. ) and those aircrafts could be attached to Soviet Air Force, so normally that could be a navigator place but something it could be something else.... do you get it???
Take care!
David L From United Kingdom, joined May 1999, 9248 posts, RR: 42 Reply 5, posted (14 years 3 weeks 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 488 times:
Of course you're right about the Tu-154 - I got carried away. But I'm still curious to know if passengers could have a look through them in flight on a 134. Stick a seat in there and you could charge a fortune for it.
CV990 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 6, posted (14 years 3 weeks 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 489 times:
Well, it would be something to thing about it! But I feel that unfortunetly there're not many TU134 left. I'm quite sure that even when the iron-curtain airlines operated those planes ( and I'm thinking about MALEV, LOT, CSA, Interflug, Aeroflot ) you couldn't visit those cockpits during flights, well that's my opinion but it would be nice to hear from someone that was in the "other" side though!
Take care!
SashA From Russia, joined May 1999, 858 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (14 years 3 weeks 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 488 times:
I have never been in a cockpit of a glased nosed plane :(. But I can tell (from TV footage) that it looks awesome, especially during landing and take-off!!!
IL-76 and AN-12 have glased nises, too. And their versions are used in RUssian AirForce, mainly air troopers transport
Tupolev From Greece, joined Apr 2010, 1 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (14 years 3 weeks 7 hours ago) and read 493 times:
I think the only way to fly a Tu-134 is get a flight to one of the countries of a former Soviet Union, where quite a lot of 134s are still in service(actually a Ive flown on a Pulkovo 134 last month). As far as I know all other former 134s (European) users had already phased them out. However, czech 134s never had glazed noses(there was a radar instead).
And, although it was not easy to get in the cockpit during the flight it was possible. Our airlines were not semi-military organisations, as you may think.
David L From United Kingdom, joined May 1999, 9248 posts, RR: 42 Reply 12, posted (14 years 3 weeks 7 hours ago) and read 488 times:
It was kindly supplied by JWM AirTrans a few days ago:
http://www.zurich-airport.com/
That's the home page from which you can choose the English version, if you want, and then go to the webcam(s). Definitely recommended, though it seems to get "overloaded" at times - probably me moving it around too much.
Evgeni From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 13, posted (14 years 3 weeks 6 hours ago) and read 488 times:
TU-134 flies to little towns in Russia. I've flown on TU-134 a long time ago. A year ago, my mom flown on it from St.Petersburg to Murmansk (my home town). :)
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