PlymSpotter From Spain, joined Jun 2004, 7920 posts, RR: 66 Posted (7 months 1 week 6 days 2 hours ago) and read 16291 times:
Flying the Ilyushin 18D With Air Events and Grixona
Introduction:
For many prop enthusiasts the Ilyushin 18 is the holy grail of aviation; an illusive quad which, despite being a 1950’s design, can still be found plying the airways above much of the world. In spite of its longevity, nowadays opportunities to fly on this aircraft type are few and far between, as most remaining examples are either military/government aircraft or operate as freighters, doing ad-hoc charter work in the more remote corners of the world.
The appeal of Russian aircraft to me began when I was just six years old; whilst flying into LTN on Monarch one Easter the plane parked next to a strange and curious looking quad adorned with Cyrillic writing, which I now realise may have been an Il-76, but was probably an Il-18, as I remember it having similar engines to the British Airways ATP which had just arrived from the Isle of Man – that shows how long ago I’m talking about in itself! This plane completely amazed me with its appearance, hence the fascination began. It would be another ten years though before I came across the type again in person, this time during a school trip to China when we were supposed to be visiting an ‘authentic’ tea shop, which happened to be situated in the grounds of what appeared to be a former military complex, now serving as the Chinese Agriculture Museum. Whilst I remember absolutely nothing of the tea shop itself, I was left with a lasting impression of the old China United Airlines Ilyushin 18, registration B-228, which had been preserved next door as a novelty café. There was something quite surreal about finding an aircraft penned in by mature trees, stretching to conceal its presence beneath their canopies, but which were themselves trapped in the urban metropolis that is Beijing. I made up my mind there and then, that one day I would try fly on this aircraft.
During my quest to fly on an Il-18 I considered many options. The simplest of all would have been AeroCaribbean in Cuba, but from many accounts their timetables seemed unreliable and during the high season, when they were most likely to be operating, airfares to the Caribbean were extortionate. My second option was to take a trip on Daalo Airlines from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia to Djibouti or Mogadishu, but this option became too risky after the situation in Somalia deteriorated to open warfare. The last and most drastic option was to join an organised trip to North Korea that included a couple of internal flights on Air Koyro’s An-24s, which would instead be operated by the Il-18 depending on the number of passengers, but regardless I could pay several thousand Euros extra to upgrade to the Ilyushin – an expensive last resort basically!
Therefore it was fantastic news when AirEvents announced their intention to charter a Moldovan Il-18 for a return flight to Kiev Zhuliany from Chisinau, it actually came at a time when I had all but given up on ever flying the type. However my hopes were dashed again when the flight sadly didn’t get the go ahead, after an insufficient number of participants signed up. Not to be deterred though, AirEvents changed the itinerary and the dates to offer a return flight from Chisinau to Balti (sometimes called Beltsy), the second largest city in Moldova.
Thankfully this time the flight attained the 30 participants necessary to go ahead, so therefore I began thinking of ways to reach Moldova and, with the date of the flight set for April the 4th, I finalised my travel plans to Chisinau. It’s not the easiest or cheapest place to get to from the UK, so I decided to fly via Italy and Romania, using a combination of LCCs and Carpatair. I’ll leave detailing these flights for another future report, but for now here is a list:
31.03.2009 ... PLH-BRS ... Air Southwest ... DHC8-311 … G-WOWB
31.03.2009 ... BRS-BGO ... Ryanair ... B737-8AS … EI-DLC
01.04.2009 ... BGO-BBU ... MyAir ... CRJ900 … EI-DUY
02.04.2009 ... BBU-ARW ... Blue Air ... B737-400 … YR-BAD
02.04.2009 ... TSR-CLJ ... Carpatair ... SAAB 2000 … YR-SBE
02.04.2009 ... CLJ-OTP ... TAROM ... A318-100 … YR-ASB
03.04.2009 ... OTP-TSR ... Carpatair ... SAAB 2000 … YR-SBJ
03.04.2009 ... TSR-KIV ... Carpatair ... F100 … YR-FKB
Saturday 4th April 2009:
After much too little sleep it was time to get up, my host brought me a welcome cup of tea which roused me into consciousness, ready to take a taxi to Hotel Cosmos in the city centre, where a briefing for the flight was to be held at 6.30am. I was staying at a rental flat/hostel in the Sectorul Ciocana area of the city, one of Chisinau’s five main districts located about three miles East of the city centre. Being situated several floors up in a high rise block of Soviet housing it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but at €10 a night it certainly did for me – I prefer this kind of accommodation anyway as it’s more ‘in touch’ with the places I’m visiting.
Arriving at the briefing room it was empty, perhaps I’d gotten up a little too early, but after a while fellow participants of the flight began to arrive along with the Moldovan end of the planning and organisation, Alex Marcenco, who had also organised transfers from the airport into the center of Chisinau the previous day. As the briefing got underway it was announced that there would be an additional flight once we had reached Balti; the aircraft would drop passengers off and then perform a low pass down the runway for us to photograph it in flight. I also met up with fellow A.netter MEA-707, who kindly let me leave some unnecessary items of my baggage in his hotel room, such as the half dozen airline magazines from my previous flights which were now weighing it down! Because of the number of LCCs on my itinerary I chose to travel with only hand luggage, hence my shoulders were starting to feel the weight of a heavy backpack!
An additional ‘insurance fee’ of €33/$40 needed to be paid by everyone, which to most of us simply represented a money generating piece of red tape for somebody, but it was essential in order to take the flight, then after this had been collected we boarded a coach at the front of the hotel which had been chartered to take everyone to the airport. So far as I know, ours was the first planned internal passenger flight within Moldova since the end of the Soviet Union, probably a lot longer than that too, so it was an interesting event which generated much curiosity and interest from airport workers and officials alike. Check in was to be carried out like any normal flight, with two desks manned for flight TQ 1410 – I presume that as Grixona does not possess their own IATA code the flight was listed as being ‘operated’ by Tandem Aero, using Grixona’s aircraft.
The border control agents at KIV are evidently used to having no internal flights, as when our passports were checked prior to security they each received a green exit stamp, meaning that a few minutes later they all had to be collected back in again to have the exit stamp cancelled – an odd, but different stamp that’s for sure. The terminal building and departure’s lounge was airy and modern, certainly capable of handling many more flights than the airport currently receives, I’m sure there are several LCCs waiting in the wings to make use of this, but thus far Air Moldova has been protected and the LoCos kept out.
The boarding process, through gate three, was calm and well organised, arriving at the back of the aircraft courtesy of a bus. Seating was not allocated, but boarding through the rear door itself wasn’t due to begin just yet, so for the meantime we were able to walk around the aircraft and take pictures from whichever angle we wanted, so long as we remained within the stand area marked out on the ground by a thick red line… something which we all took full opportunity of!
Most people were by now mustering at the foot of the steps, eager to get onboard and bag a good (window) seat, but even though I hung back I was still able to get one just behind the door at the very back, not that it was particularly easy to see through due to condensation, but that’s a trait of older aircraft for you.
A few minutes later one of the stewardesses arrived to close the heavy looking door, this was finally it; I was about to fly on my most sought after aircraft! I’m not quite sure what the safety instructions engraved on the door meant, but I presume it had something to do with the silver handle which hopefully wasn’t going to be needed anyway.
Despite the size of the group the cabin was by no means full; the Il-18 is a big aircraft with capacity for up to 120 passengers, so with the group numbering around half that figure there was plenty of room to move about the cabin and take different seats for different exterior views. Timings wise I admit that I wasn’t very attentive, namely because my video camera doesn’t give me a timestamp in the exif data, but they should be accurate enough.
KIV-BZY Chisinau to Balti
Carrier: Tandem Aero/Grixona Flight: TQ 1410 Aircraft: Ilyushin 18D Registration: ER-ICB Produced/Rolled Out: 06.03.1968 Seat: Various Block Departure Time: 10:00 Actual Take off Time: 10:11 Block Arrival Time: 10:30 Actual Touchdown Time: 10:36 Distance Flown: 73 miles Total Flying Time: 25 minutes Fare: €499 return, plus €33 ‘insurance’ charge
On the wings ahead the first of the four Ivchenko AI-20M turboprop engines span into life, followed in turn by each other, until the air was reverberating with their mighty drone. All four grappled at the air in readiness for action as the brakes were released then, once the plane pulled forwards, they were quickly jabbed back on again to test their capability, and with all being well the taxi towards runway 26 began commenced.
After lining up there was a short pause whilst the engines roared away in anticipation at take off power, deafening anyone in the back and rocking the fuselage from side to side. This was the first prop aircraft I’ve been on where you could look out of the cabin and see the exhaust fumes flowing from the engines as a thin grey/brown race in the air – pretty impressive, if not so great for the environment. Once the brakes were released the Ilyushin pulled smoothly but powerfully away, spending about thirty seconds galloping down the runway, before pulling up and away into the hazy skies over Chisinau.
It didn’t take long for people to start moving around the cabin, Alex attempted to organise a method based on which seat you were in so that everybody could take turns to visit the cockpit in flight, but as people changed seats so much during the one flight let alone by the time of the return flight, I think he became a little confused. Aside of easing congestion in the aisle, this was implemented because the Il-18 does not appreciate flying with most of it’s payload at the very front!
The flight up to Balti was fairly short and never really gained much altitude, so soon it was descending back towards the Moldovan countryside below, ready to approach runway 33 for landing at BZY. The cabin crew still found time to carry out a quick drinks service though, with glasses of water being offered out on trays.
Touchdown came with a bump, but the actual runway was much smoother than I had been expecting, with the aircraft rolling out down its entire 2208m length before turning at the end and parking at the mouth of the only taxiway – it’s not as if there was likely to be any other traffic after all. There was little else to be seen at Balti, its full title being Bălţi-Leadoveni International Airport, save some beleaguered airport facilities and ER-ADP, an An-12 belonging to a cargo operator.
The first challenge, before we could take any more pictures and go outside, was to get off the aircraft itself. As the crew opened up the door in front of me there was a noticeable void between the cabin floor and the concrete runway surface below. In the distance an ancient set of air stairs slowly trundled their way towards the aircraft which, after a few attempts, were raised up to the door, allowing us to disembark. It didn’t occur to me at the time, but as I was first out and on the ground I became the first fare paying passenger to have used Balti since... well, since whenever the last passenger flight had landed there!
Much like at Chisinau we were allowed to photograph the aircraft from pretty much whichever angle we wanted, it looked a very lonely figure sat out on the runway, but I can’t help but think that it’s not long before Balti appears on the radar of a LCC like Ryanair or WizzAir – as Chisinau North no doubt . In the sunlight it was easier to see where the Grixona titles had been removed from the front of the plane.
ER-ADP; an An-12BK currently in storage, formerly UR-11346:
Sebastian, from AirEvents:
As there seemed to be fewer people onboard I decided to head back into the cabin to take some pictures out of the forward left door and then of the cockpit whilst it was quieter. As I’d hoped, it was pretty much empty inside, which enabled me to take pictures without falling over other people and being rushed.
Satisfied with a few good shots I walked back down the front economy cabin, passed through the galley area and into the rear economy cabin… just in time to see the main door at the back being shut up. At first I though this was just so the steps could be taken away for a while so that people could get a clean shot of the aircraft, but I realised pretty quickly that it was in fact because the plane was departing for the low pass. I had a quick chat to the crew and they were happy for me to stay onboard (well it was a bit late now anyway!), and I was certainly happy to have an additional Il-18 flight, so I ventured back to the front cabin and took a seat looking out on the propellers.
From row four I had a great view of the engines starting up and, whilst the crew performed their last checks, I took the opportunity to take a few more pictures of the empty cabin.
With the cockpit door wide open I was able to film the entire taxi, quickly retaking my seat in the cabin as the aircraft lined back up with runway 33, ready to take off on what was for me a surprise extra flight on the Ilyushin 18. Once more the props span up to take off speed, racing down the runway and rotating very gradually - just a few feet above the concrete in order to pass the rest of the group on the ground in an optimal position for photography.
The initial gradual ascent lulled me into a false sense of security as, by accelerating into a very flat climb to begin with, the aircraft had picked up considerable airspeed - hence the pilots promptly pulled back on the control columns, directing the aircraft into a steep climb which dragged my legs downwards and clamped my feet to the floor with the force. Now this really was flying, an in an Il-18 of all things!
After banking sharply to the right, a longer left hand bank brought the aircraft back onto runway heading, where-upon I quickly moved over to the opposite side of the cabin as the plane dropped back down towards the ground to make a maximum speed low pass of the runway at around 500kmph. This was without doubt the most amazing aviation moment of my entire flying life – the plane just seemed to keep on dropping and dropping until it was at tree height when the beginning of the runway shot into view below, followed a few seconds later by the blur of fluorescent jackets which represented the rest of the group on the ground below! The combination of speed, height, and adrenalin was simply unforgettable; I knew that it was going to be fun, but this was something else entirely! Once more a steep climb and then a tight right hand bank followed the low pass, resulting in my legs turning to a form of instantly solidified concrete as they were pressed hard onto the floor – but my god it was fun!
Deservingly, Andrey Gridyushko’s photograph of this pass has already appeared in the photographer’s choice section on the front page of airliners.net, a great illustration of just how low this pass was!
Again the sharp right hand bank gave way to a more leisurely left hand bank, a short while later beginning to descend back towards the ground to approach runway 33 again. Once more I quickly changed back over to the right side of the cabin to get the best view of the engines banking high against the deep blue sky, before the wings levelled out for a fast and smooth landing back at Balti, braking sharply at first, causing many of the unoccupied seats to fly forwards and fold themselves flat, then casually rolling out down the entire runway before turning in the circle at the end and taxing back to its starting position at the mouth of the taxiway.
Despite the whole flight having only been seven or eight minutes long, by the time the props had finished turning I was left in no doubt; this flight was by far the best and most exciting which I have ever been on, and I don’t anticipate it being beaten any time soon either! It was impressive to see just how well this 40 year old aircraft could perform; cavorting through the air with all the ease of a modern airliner, but no doubt as the result of a lot more input, work and ultimately pure skill required from the pilots and crew up front.
Before disembarking I took a few pictures of the business class section situated in the very back of the aircraft, it might seem like an unusual position for it to be situated, but it’s fairly commonplace for Russian and other carriers operating within the former Soviet Union to have it at the back, as this is where the main passenger door is located on certain Russian types, thus still enabling business passengers to get off first. Today it was being used by the Grixona crew operating the flight and some members of their families, although as you can see there is no difference when it comes to seating and pitch.
With more ground time available I decided to put it to good use and take a few extra pictures of the Ilyushin – it’s not every day after all that you get to walk around such an unusual aircraft.
Members of the flight crew posing for a picture, if I’m remembering correctly the gentleman on the left was one of the captains:
Climbing back onboard I decided that it was only fair to respect the sharing of window seats; having just experienced the flight of my life with pretty much the whole cabin to myself, plus sitting next to a window on the way up, I took an aisle seat towards the rear of the cabin for the return flight, which still gave me some pretty decent views out of the window. I did though make the mistake of reviewing some of my pictures on the back of my camera as the plane trundled back towards the runway, I should have remembered that it’s a sure fire way to make me feel travelsick, which was very foolish on my part, but luckily the affects weren’t long lasting.
Like all aircraft I fly on, I looked back at this ones history, which is where the Il-18 confused me slightly; I keep finding references to it having originally been built as an Il-18B prototype and that it was later converted to the D version, which seems improbable as the B version was the very first production model and came almost a decade before this frame was built (cn 188010603 as engraved on a plaque inside the aircraft, although I’m not sure if that is the correct number, as cn 187010603 is also mentioned elsewhere) – any more information on this would be greatly appreciated. Like the majority of Ilyushin 18s though, ER-ICB started it’s life with Aeroflot as CCCP-75473, changing later to CCCP-74296 and then RA-74296 when it then passed to Trietyakova. It was then registered around 2003 in Moldova as ER-ICB, with Grixona operating it for the former charter airline Pecotox Air, which saw it venture as far abroad as Australia at one point.
BZY-KIV Balti to Chisinau
Carrier: Tandem Aero/Grixona Flight: TQ 1411 Aircraft: Ilyushin 18D Registration: ER-ICB Produced/Rolled Out: 06.03.1968 Seat: Various Block Departure Time: 12:00 Actual Take off Time: 12:40 Block Arrival Time: 12:30 Actual Touchdown Time: 13:23 Distance Flown: 73 miles Total Flying Time: 43 minutes Fare: €499 return, plus €33 ‘insurance’ charge
Unlike the outbound flight, we wouldn’t be returning directly to Chisinau, flying via a couple of other airfields in Moldova instead. As runway 33 was reached the loud rumble outside exploded into a roar, the engines propelling the Ilyushin down the concrete once more, lifting off just as easily as it had previously, but climbing at a steadier pace back into the sunny Moldovan skies. The pilots waved goodbye to Balti with a few gentle side to side rolls of the wings, then banked steadily to the right. The first airport flown to was Marculesti, about 30km to the East of Balti and just a few minutes flying time, where we circled over the airfield a few times before proceeding to the south.
The crew carried out the drinks service again at this point, from which I had a coffee, and a small chocolate bar. As I wasn’t sitting by a window I did not take any pictures, but still had a pretty good view, it’s probably easier to show the rough route we took by illustrating it on Google Earth than attempting a description:
The next airport we reached was Vadul lui Voda, a small general aviation airfield situated a few miles outside of Chisinau. Here a couple of very impressive low passes were made, one whilst banking sharply - anyone below would have been pretty amazed to see such a large aircraft flying so close to the ground; during the second pass I couldn’t see fields out of the window, but could instead make out individual features like houses or rows of crops, that’s how low we were! Sadly it was only a short flying time from here to Chisinau airport itself and, when the wheels touched the concrete almost three quarters of an hour after departing Balti, the conclusion of an amazing series of flights! For a better impression of the return trip I can direct you to MEA-707’s video, as he secured a window seat for this flight, and also SIBILLE’s video of the flights:
Although the flying was now over, plenty of time was still available to take more pictures of the aircraft, so this time I focussed on photographing the cabin and the cockpit, especially the latter!
Center galley and toilet:
Engraved details:
Rear economy cabin:
Business class section and toilet:
A bus was waiting to transport everyone back to the terminal where we all had to have our passports checked at immigration, despite not having left the country’s airspace in the first place. As the arrivals board illustrated, the aircraft had been away from KIV for longer than originally scheduled, not due to any unforeseen delay, but simply because the crew and everybody involved were having such a good time that there was no clock watching at any point – something which you don’t often come across when it comes to chartering aircraft for any purpose, but which made the whole event even more pleasant and enjoyable.
Whilst the group waited in the terminal I took an overview picture and grabbed a sandwich from the restaurant on the second floor, I’m glad I did too, as we then walked to another restaurant located beside the old terminal building, passing the preserved Air Moldova Tu134 along the way, where everyone was supposed to eat… until we found that it was far too small for us all to fit in, so instead we just raided its bar and refrigerator cabinets for every available bottle of water as the heat took its toll!
ER-65036 Tu-134A-3 titled ‘Moldova’:
From here the next part of the tour began; in addition to the Il-18 flight AirEvents, and in particular their ‘Man in Moldova’ Alex Marcenco, had organised a full ramp tour of Chisinau airport with permissions to photograph just about everything present! Now, anyone who has ventured into the former block states or Russia itself will know that photography at airports in this part of the world is quite likely to get you into a lot of trouble, and certainly have you shouted at as soon as you dare to produce your camera from it’s bag - so to have a guided tour of the airfield was a pretty rare event and certainly something which must have taken a lot of organising by Alex!
As could be expected we all had to pass through security once more and present our passports, which would be held at the security office for the duration of the ramp tour. Then after a short briefing on how to move about the airfield and regarding the few aircraft we were not allowed to photograph, the ramp tour began.
ER-EMA; an EMB-120RT Brasilia of Air Moldova/Tandem Aero:
ER-AZX; one of two (other unidentified) An-24RV’s belonging to SkyLink Arabia:
ER-65051; a Tu-134A-3 of Air Moldova:
YA-KBL; an An-12 undergoing re-fit/overhaul, last seen flying for Kabul Air:
ER-19262; the first in a line of Kamov Ka-26 light utility helicopters owned by Agroavia:
ER-46417; an An-24V of Air Moldova:
ER-26046; untitled An-26V belonging to Air Moldova:
ER-46599; an engineless An-24V of Air Moldova:
ER-65071 & ER-65707; two Tu-134A-3s belonging to Air Moldova:
ER-65071:
ER-65707:
ER-65791 and ER-65140; the noses of two Tu-134A-3’s, the example in the foreground belonged to Air Moldova, whilst the frame in the background was a Government aircraft, last flown at the end of 2008:
ER-TCF; a Tu-134A-3 belonging to Vichy Air Company:
ER-TCF and ER-EYG; a Yak-40D belonging to the Moldovan Government:
ER-46508; an An-24RV of Air Moldova:
ER-46685; an An-24RV belonging to Tandem Aero, this aircraft was used on the Kiev flights before they were suspended:
ER-65094; a Tu-134A-3 belonging to Air Moldova:
View towards the active apron with ER-EMA; the EMB-120RT of Air Moldova in the foreground, ER-LGA; a private Lear Jet 35A, ER-SFB; a SAAB2000 belonging to Moldovan Airlines, and an unidentified A319-100 of S7 Airlines:
Another pleasant surprise was that we would be allowed to photograph inside ER-YGD - the Presidential Yak-40D, an aircraft which was donated by Russia but not flown now for several years:
ER-MLT; a PLZ-Swidnik Mi-2 operated by Moldaeroservice:
ER-ICB; the Il-18D belonging to Grixona which I had flown on earlier that day:
Overview of the eye catching semi-completed hanger and the line-up of aircraft sitting in front of it:
D2-MAQ; an An-74 belonging to Angola Air Charter:
ER-ADD; an An-12 undergoing maintenance, last known to be owned by a cargo airline called Chinguetty:
ST-NSP; (formerly ER-AZW) an An-32 belonging to El Magal Aviation:
ER-ICS; an executive layout Il-18D belonging to Grixona:
ER-75929; an Il-18 owned by Vichi Air Company, looking like it will never fly again:
ER-AFZ an An-72 belonging to Aeroportul International Marculesti, sporting the titles ‘Emergency Life Support for Civilian War Victims’:
YR-FKA; an F100 of Carpatair just arrived from Timisoara:
The weather for both the flight and the ramp tour couldn’t have been better; plentiful sunshine but not too much heat haze as to ruin shots. With the conclusion of the ramp tour and upon exiting the security gate, our passports were returned whilst we waited in front of the original terminal building for the coach to take us back into Chisinau.
And so the end had come to an amazing day, with not two but three flights on the Ilyushin 18 for me, and some unforgettable memories all round. Initially the €499.00 price tag for the day’s events may have seemed a little high, however all in all I think it was excellent value for money considering that it included the ramp tour, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the AirEvents team and Alex Marcenco for their organisation and persistence which ultimately lead to this flight taking place. Just as importantly though is to thank the flight crew from Grixona, who were warm and welcoming, and really made this such a fantastic day! Fingers crossed that AirEvents can organise future trips on aircraft of the same pedigree.
Along with the flights I took on the way to Moldova, the rest of my journey back home to England will be detailed in a separate trip report coming at a later date, the flights which will be covered are as follows:
Many thanks for reading my report, hopefully the pictures have inspired everyone to get out and fly on these rare and unusual aircraft types before they are all gone! Also, for those of you who are wondering where the last part of my 2008 Summer report has got to, don’t worry it is on it’s way, I was just itching to write this one first . As usual please feel free to post comments or ask questions, and if there are any other members who were onboard (I know that MEA-707 and SIBILLE were for sure) then feel free to add your pictures and videos.
UK_Dispatcher From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2001, 2228 posts, RR: 32 Reply 1, posted (7 months 1 week 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 16081 times:
Great report. Looks like a fantastic day was had by all.
If another tour like this is organised I may go for it - I just could not justify the expense at the time - particularly as I would also have had to get from Abu Dhabi to Chisinau and back too. Also as it happened, even if I had booked it I would not have been able to travel on that date.
Well done on bagging the IL-18. It is an amazing aircraft.
Airxliban From Lebanon, joined Oct 2003, 4365 posts, RR: 60 Reply 2, posted (7 months 1 week 5 days 20 hours ago) and read 15866 times:
Bloody wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing - it sounds like the trip was extremely worthwhile.
Incidentally, the first toilet shot with wooden floors looks much nicer than the second one which is allegedly for business class passengers. Any thoughts?
BAViscount From United Kingdom (England), joined Mar 2004, 1779 posts, RR: 3 Reply 10, posted (7 months 1 week 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 15135 times:
Bloody brilliant Dan!!! Not much more I can say other than that really!!
Andy.
Ladies & gentlemen this is Captain Tobias Wilcock welcoming you aboard Coconut Airways flight 372 to Bridgetown Barbados
Pe@rson From United Kingdom (England), joined Jan 2001, 16684 posts, RR: 58 Reply 11, posted (7 months 1 week 5 days 9 hours ago) and read 15085 times:
Great report Dan!
James.
P.S. Next time, please make it on a rarer aircraft.
NQYGuy From United Kingdom, joined Feb 2008, 299 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (7 months 1 week 5 days 7 hours ago) and read 15012 times:
I noticed you'd uploaded videos of this trip to Youtube a few days ago.. they showed up on my channel homepage because I'm subscribed to you.. and wondered what you'd been up to!
Great report anyway. Look forward to your BE LGW-NQY report.
Next flights: VS200 LHR-HKG & VS201 HKG-LHR, July 2009
PlymSpotter From Spain, joined Jun 2004, 7920 posts, RR: 66 Reply 13, posted (7 months 1 week 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 14642 times:
Quoting UK_Dispatcher (Reply 1): Great report. Looks like a fantastic day was had by all.
If another tour like this is organised I may go for it - I just could not justify the expense at the time - particularly as I would also have had to get from Abu Dhabi to Chisinau and back too. Also as it happened, even if I had booked it I would not have been able to travel on that date.
Well done on bagging the IL-18. It is an amazing aircraft.
Thanks, it was a pretty fantastic day I'm not sure if they'll will be running another tour as it did struggle for numbers initially, but I can certainly hope they do for your sake. Good job you weren't booked on it if you had to work though, that would have been the worst day at the office ever, knowing you were missing such an amazing flight!
Quoting Airxliban (Reply 2): Bloody wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing - it sounds like the trip was extremely worthwhile.
Incidentally, the first toilet shot with wooden floors looks much nicer than the second one which is allegedly for business class passengers. Any thoughts?
Thank you, I think it's probably that the rear toilet is less used than the middle one, so they've made it a bit nicer. Even if I was supposed to be flying in business class on one of their charter operations, I'd still much rather sit at the very front because it's so much quieter. A few days later the aircraft was going to be operating an 8 hour charter to Sudan for oil workers, I can imagine you would get tired of the noise in the back after that length of time!
Quoting CrimsonNL (Reply 3): Amazing report! I would LOVE to do the same thing! Thanks a lot for sharing, and great pictures as well!
Thanks Crimson, hopefully if they do put on another tour you may get the chance, failing that I'm sure they will be chartering something else rare in the near future... I'm praying for a DC-8, but whether that will happen or not I don't know.
Quoting Ryan h (Reply 4): Excellent report. I like reading unusual reports like this.
Thanks Ryan, yeah this isn't an aircraft type you see reported about very much these days - I'm not sure if it's the first Il-18 report on A.net, but there can't be many.
Quoting AFKL (Reply 5): What an amazing experience, and thanks for sharing! Definately a wonderful trip report, and one of the more enjoyable on a.net!
Hopefully one day I will get to experience something similar!
Thank you Allard, I'm glad you enjoyed reading it. Hopefully you can indeed share the experience one day!
Quoting Vandenheuvel (Reply 6): Thank you for this fantastic report. I really liked your pictures. Much details where captioned nicely.
Thanks Tim, I put the extra effort in and caption my pictures because I know that many people reading the report won't know what the different Russian/Ukrainian etc... types are - it's a struggle to distinguish between some of them, like telling an An-72 apart from an An-74!
For the video I was using a cheap 'point and shoot' Aiptek camcorder which I picked up from Argos for £50 - not fantastic quality, but it did the job of recording something. All the rest of my pictures wre taken using my trusty Canon 20D, I used various lenses during the flight; Sigma 10-20mm, Canon 18-55, and Canon 28-135, plus a speedlight for the cockpit and interior cabin shots.
Quoting LHR777 (Reply 8): Fantastic report of an amazing old-school Soviet-era aircraft. Great pictures, I really enjoyed it. Thank you!
Thanks, glad you enjoyed reading, it was certainly a rare opportunity to see and photograph a lot of active Soviet era types up close and personal.
Great report & pictures of flying this classic bird.
I really should keep an eye on the airevents website, this is a trip I'd have joined, it's a once in a life time type trip.
Thank you Mark, hope all is well. It's a real shame that you missed the flight, I know there were a couple of threads about it on this site and various other forums, but they generated few replies and died quite quickly. Hopefully they will run another flight and give you a second chance, you could try emailing them with your support for a repeat of the flight, that way if they have enough people showing interest they may well launch a second trip. Fingers crossed for you!
Quoting BAViscount (Reply 10): Bloody brilliant Dan!!! Not much more I can say other than that really!!
P.S. Next time, please make it on a rarer aircraft.
Thanks James. Alright then, I'll start writing my next one about a Ryanair 738 flight from STN to DUB - would that make you happy?
Quoting NQYGuy (Reply 12): I noticed you'd uploaded videos of this trip to Youtube a few days ago.. they showed up on my channel homepage because I'm subscribed to you.. and wondered what you'd been up to!
Yeah I uploaded them last week so that I could begin slotting the html link codes into the report as I wrote it, so being subscribed got you a sneak preview
Quoting NQYGuy (Reply 12):
Great report anyway. Look forward to your BE LGW-NQY report.
Thanks, it may be a while to be honest, my priority is to finish writing the last part of my summer trip first, then I'll concentrate on the rest. I wasn't overly impressed by FlyBe, although the crew were very cheerful and happy - no wonder, the loadfactor was about 25%, so they didn't exactly have a lot of work to do!
Thanks again to everyone for your comments, they are most appreciated.
MEA-707 From Netherlands, joined Nov 1999, 3394 posts, RR: 47 Reply 14, posted (7 months 1 week 4 days 15 hours ago) and read 14559 times:
Thanks Dan, this report is covering almost all what there is to say and see about the great weekend Airevents gave us.
There HAVE been a few Il-18 reports of which one from my first Il-18 flight in 2003 (shameless plug alert), see http://www.airliners.net/aviation-fo...s/trip_reports/read.main/30697/6/.
Indeed we should keep lobbying for the DC-8. Maybe they can convince the Redbull DC-6 owners. Very rare would be the single airworthy Il-14 (a DC-3/Convair 240 style piston airplane) in Russia.
I am into smaller airplanes too and would love if they'd be able to get a Heron, Nord 262, G-159 or Fairchild 27 but guess these are impossible.
nobody has ever died from hard work, but why take the risk?
LH459 From United States, joined Aug 2005, 690 posts, RR: 2 Reply 17, posted (7 months 1 week 4 days 9 hours ago) and read 14244 times:
Wow....I'm speechless...and incredibly jealous! I've always wanted to fly on an IL-18, but doubt that the opportunity will present itself. This report was definitely the next best thing! Thanks for all the details and lovely photos!
"I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is temporary; the evil it does is permanent" - Ghandi
DALCE From Netherlands, joined Feb 2007, 1220 posts, RR: 16 Reply 22, posted (7 months 1 week 21 hours ago) and read 13394 times:
Hi Dan,
What a stunning report of this flying adventure! This is by far the most interesting report I've read here for a long time.
Also a great variety of superb pictures which really gives us a good insight in this adventure!
Thanks for sharing!
Ps. Can't wait for your FR STN-DUB report
Joost (D-ALCE)
flown on : F50,F70,CR1,CR2,CR9,E75,143,AR8,733,735,736,73G,738,753,744,319,320,321,AB6. Next flights AMS-CFU-AMS with OR
Reifel From Germany, joined Feb 2005, 224 posts, RR: 0 Reply 23, posted (7 months 1 week 4 hours ago) and read 13109 times:
Great report! I saw this flight on the airevents website, but unfortunately it's more than my busget allows.
Never heard from that airline... What are they flying normally? What is operating in Balti airport anyway? Can't believe that there are people working there if there is never a plane landing ot departing...
What kind of boarding cards have you got? A scan would be great I would also love to see those passport stamps...
I'm looking forward to the report of the other flights.
Eirik From Norway, joined Mar 2005, 83 posts, RR: 0 Reply 24, posted (7 months 5 days 9 hours ago) and read 12514 times:
Great !
I should have been there, but didn´t manage to get out of bed in in Oslo in time friday morning.. ! IL-18 ticket paid for and everything.. Did survive however, as I flew AeroCarribean´s -18 two years ago, but of course it´s a shame and a sin to miss out.
And yes; lets lobby for a DC-8 !!!!!!! .. and a Tristar
Quoting MEA-707 (Reply 14): Indeed we should keep lobbying for the DC-8. Maybe they can convince the Redbull DC-6 owners. Very rare would be the single airworthy Il-14 (a DC-3/Convair 240 style piston airplane) in Russia.
I am into smaller airplanes too and would love if they'd be able to get a Heron, Nord 262, G-159 or Fairchild 27 but guess these are impossible.
Definitely keep up lobbying for the DC-8, but sadly I don't think it will get anywhere. The smaller types are more likely because they are easier to fill, and cheaper to operate, I'm a prop fan too, so this fits well with me. I noticed your poll about a future Iran tour, looks good, but if it's the same price as the last ones then I won't be attending - flights out there are so cheap and can be organised quite easily, and I just can't afford to pay a huge premium for the 'advantage' of an organised tour.
Quoting LH459 (Reply 17): Wow....I'm speechless...and incredibly jealous! I've always wanted to fly on an IL-18, but doubt that the opportunity will present itself. This report was definitely the next best thing! Thanks for all the details and lovely photos!
You can but hope that one finds it's way into preservation, but in a flyable condition - you never know.
Quoting Contact Air (Reply 18): Fantastic report with lots of great pictures and videos of a really unique flying event. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Christoph, I'm glad you enjoyed reading it.
you´re for sure, the man for the "unbelievable, but really true" experiences.
Keep ´em coming, I need to read more about such things.
Hi Markus, I like to make my travels varied and interesting I have a whole bunch of reports half written, including the conclusion of my summer trip, but unfortunately my laptop has died, so until it comes back to life I won't be able to go any further I'll post them as soon as I've finished writing them though!
Quoting LXM83 (Reply 20): Thanks for your fantastic report on your truly amazing Il-18 experience!
I just loved the sound on your videos!
Thank you, I was a bit disappointed with the sound quality from the videos, so I'm glad other people think they are ok
Quoting EICVD (Reply 21): Hi Dan
Amazing report. One of the most interesting ive read.
Thanks for posting.
No problem, glad you enjoyed reading it!
Quoting DALCE (Reply 22): What a stunning report of this flying adventure! This is by far the most interesting report I've read here for a long time.
Also a great variety of superb pictures which really gives us a good insight in this adventure!
Thanks for sharing!
Ps. Can't wait for your FR STN-DUB report
Hehe, thanks Joost, I'll get right on and start that FR report Glad you found it interesting
Quoting Reifel (Reply 23): Great report! I saw this flight on the airevents website, but unfortunately it's more than my busget allows.
I must say it really stretched me; I signed up and then the Euro rate slipped against the Pound, so it ended up costing me a lot more than I expected, certainly put a halt to a few evenings out in order to save money!
Quoting Reifel (Reply 23): Never heard from that airline... What are they flying normally? What is operating in Balti airport anyway? Can't believe that there are people working there if there is never a plane landing ot departing...
Grixona normally operate the Il-18D, they have at least two and operate them on Ad-Hoc charter work, mainly carrying oil workers around the world. I think most of the people at Balti had arrived because of the flight, and that only a skeleton workforce is normally employed to handle charter/private flights.
Quoting Reifel (Reply 23): What kind of boarding cards have you got? A scan would be great I would also love to see those passport stamps...
I'm looking forward to the report of the other flights.
Afraid I don't have my passport or the boarding pass to hand, but I'll make sure I get a scan of them and will post them later. Reports on the rest of the flights are now in the pipelines as well, but how long they take to finish depends on my University work.
Quoting Eirik (Reply 24): I should have been there, but didn´t manage to get out of bed in in Oslo in time friday morning.. ! IL-18 ticket paid for and everything.. Did survive however, as I flew AeroCarribean´s -18 two years ago, but of course it´s a shame and a sin to miss out.
And yes; lets lobby for a DC-8 !!!!!!! .. and a Tristar
Eirik that's awful, I could never imagine oversleeping and missing such an important flight! That is a great shame, I hope reading this report didn't make you feel too gutted, but perhaps you'll have another chance in the future, although if you've flown AeroCaribbean it's not so bad if you don't.
Thanks again for all the comments, they are very much appreciated,
All the best,
Dan
If I Get G-WOWD again I'll Scream....!!!!
26 EC001: WOW! what a blast into time!! Thanks for sharing this special event. And your photos are amazing! cheers, orian
27 ClassicLover: Sweeter than sweet, that report! Awesome - and thanks
28 PlymSpotter: Thanks Orian, it was indeed an amazing blast back in time! No problem, glad you enjoyed reading it. I have now got the first and last parts of the re
30 RAFVC10: Hi Dan, as always, all your trip reports left me two impressions: one of envy and enjoyment of the other... Envy for not being able to travel and do t
32 PlymSpotter: Thank you, I try to make them all a good read Well I hope it brightened up your lunch hour They must have been amazing - scheduled flights on such an
33 RAFVC10: Hi Dan, since my daughter was born, the flights per year has decreased from 300 to 100 per year; the number of hours of sleep has also dropped signif
34 PlymSpotter: Indeed, it's not easy, but incredibly rewarding I can imagine I had not heard of that one either, but it's probably too difficult with visas etc... T
35 PlaneHunter: Hi Dan, another excellent report with stunning pictures. Even though I'm really not into old Russian types, I enjoyed reading. PH
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. In the sunlight it was easier to see where the Grixona titles had been removed from the front of the plane.
Fingers crossed that AirEvents can organise future trips on aircraft of the same pedigree. 
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I'll post them as soon as I've finished writing them though!
That is a great shame, I hope reading this report didn't make you feel too gutted, but perhaps you'll have another chance in the future, although if you've flown AeroCaribbean it's not so bad if you don't.
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