This flight goes back to 2005, but having sorted out the photos, I thought it might make an interesting and somewhat different trip report.

As sometimes happens at our airport, we had a TV commercial being made. This one was a big one, for Farmer’s Insurance in the USA (for those who live in the states, did anyone see the ad about the house burning down and people shimmying down ropes from helicopters and a freight aircraft delivering a car? Well this was it...) and involved a couple of helicopters and the main attraction, an Antonov 12 freighter registration UR-LTG.


The plane - AN-12BP UR-LTG

This freighter was operated by Volare Air Company of the Ukraine and wet-leased by Pacific Air Express of Brisbane, Australia, who used it on weekly freight runs into the Pacific Islands. In this case they were contracted to fly the aircraft down to Canberra and then perform a number of touch and goes to film aircraft takeoff and landing for the commercial.

After getting to know the staff from Pacific Air Express, they kindly agreed to let me have a seat on the aircraft for the flights, to happen early on a Saturday morning. A very rare opportunity indeed to fly this ancient machine. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority had to provide special permission for these flights and one was that only 2 non-crew were allowed to travel – myself and a member of the film production crew (to radio instructions to the ground).

As it turned out, the crew were unwilling to conduct touch-and-goes and insisted on each occasion to come to a complete stop, taxi back and recommence a takeoff roll. This meant in my logbook I got 4 separate (but short) flights!

We entered the aircraft through the cargo compartment, which in this case was empty and through the door at the end. The back of the cargo compartment was then raised ready for departure.


The empty cargo compartment of the AN-12

Once ready to go, the crew got into position and pressurised our cabin compartment. But this is pretty basic pressurisation – essentially locking what looks like a saucepan pressure valve. I wish I had taken a photo of it.

We sat in the crew rest area – but not a seatbelt to be seen. But the noise meant that we were well and truly aware of everything going on and we knew exactly when to brace for departure.


Where we sat - the crew rest compartment just behind the cockpit


Even old Russian freighters have safety cards (but no spares to be seen!)


A couple of the Ukrainian crew in matching uniforms

Flight: Pacific Air Express (Operated by Volare Air Company) PAQ 539
Aircraft: Antonov AN-12BP
Registration: UR-LTG
Route: Canberra (CBR) - Canberra (CBR) (circuits)
Captain: Oleksandr Timokhin
Crew: 8
Passengers:2
Flight times: 6mins, 5mins, 6mins, 23mins


Engine start on the ground

We taxied from the old military base apron to the runway (runway 17 was in use this morning) and once in position, and confirmation that the cameras were rolling, we were off.

The first 3 flights were pretty standard circuits, with the aircraft turning left after departure (to avoid overflying the main part of the city and generating a whole number of noise complaints on this quiet Saturday morning) and then a loop before coming back into land. We then stopped, taxied back to the threshold and took off again.


Inflight view on a beautiful cold Saturday morning

However for the last flight, the ground camera crew needed to change positions, meaning we needed to stay airborne for longer… Great! This gave us time to head up to the cockpit in flight and say hi to the crew (well, as much as possible given the language barrier!).

We then went back to the rest area and the cockpit door closed behind us, with all 8 crew inside (quite a tight fit, I assure you!).


Part of the cockpit inflight. The bit you can see here is just the upper part (it is essentially a 2-level cockpit)

And only then did we notice it – smoke coming from one of the obscure looking electric panels in the wall… It started with a little bit and then got more and more. We also noticed the heat. Not wanting to spend our last minutes being fried alive in an old Russian freighter, we started banging frantically on the cockpit door, which remained shut. After a short delay, one of the crew opened up, came out and then laughed when he saw our concern.

“water” he said, and offered us a cup of tea – it was, apparently a sort of in-built kettle!! But I don’t think either of us were in the mood for tea and would have much rather something a bit stronger. Suffice to say we were quite happy when we touched down a few minutes later and soon exited the plane!!


Does this look like a kettle to you???

Overall it was an experience, but one of those “never again” experiences (the same feeling I had after my one - and only - skydive!). I also noticed that the fumes inside the cabin (not the boiling water this time) were quite noticeable and I was happy to be out in the fresh air again. It was probably nothing to be concerned about – the crew didn’t seem the slightest bit perturbed – but I guess it was something I wasn’t quite used to!




Some photos of the cockpit after the flight

[Edited 2007-01-19 07:40:27]