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Experiences with Russia

You should ask Mathias Rust. He has some real experience flying from Helsinki, over half of Russia and landing in the most unexpected place. :-) and did not pay anything for the landing.

Sorry. Could not resist.

Last Edited by Aviathor at 27 Jan 06:13
LFPT, LFPN

He died recently…

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

I don’t think Mathias Rust died, I believe he’s still in jail for stabbing a nurse.

Sorry – I think you are right.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

According to Wikipedia he’s working as an analyst at a Zurich-based investment bank.

in jail for stabbing a nurse

he’s working as an analyst at a Zurich-based investment bank

There was a comment I almost could not resist

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Hi Jason,

Why not ask the experts:

www.airfixaviation.fi
www.jetflite.fi

Welcome to Helsinki-Malmi, next year it will closed for good.

EFHF

In case this is still of interest: A few weeks ago, I flew from Kirkenes (Norway) to Murmansk (Russia), then down South to Minsk (Belarus), via Pskov. The original plan was to land in St. Petersburg, but after contacting all the local handling agents, it turned out the minimum handling fee would have been EUR 2’000 (to be wire transferred in advance) plus extras if they came up, i.e. no fixed price. A fellow pilot flew to ULLI in his own PC12, and “cost did not matter”, he said. Well, it did for me, and two grand were two much for my liking, so I passed. General notes for GA flights in Russia.: you need a crew visa (not tourist visa), which takes about four weeks with the help of an agent and will set you back around EUR 400 for one month validity; flight permits are best obtained through a Russian agent like RusAero (no chance with e-mail, fax, or phone to the Authority); handling is not required at many airports (Moskow and Petersburg being notable exceptions), but if you do not speak Russian, you will have a very hard time without an agent; no Avgas anywhere; Jet Fuel dead cheap (around 50c per litre, they quote in metric tons); air navigation charges are due for everyone (70c per kilometer up to 50 tons MTOM — 1 Euro per kilometer? Yes, but only if your a/c weighs more than 400 tons); no VFR flying without a licensed Russian navigator on board; Russians fly QFE and height is given/requested in metres, not feet; ATC works well at airports with lots of international traffic, but other than standard phraseology, controllers will not speak much English in the province.

LSZH

Thanks.

I have been to ULLI 13 years ago and fortunately it cost “only” about 250$ at the time (still semmend like a fortune to me at the time). It’s a pity that russian airports have become so prohibitively expensive over the last years. But it’s a country with many extremes, not only in aviation.

Could you pass on some information about Minsk? pm if you prefer.

Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

ifly wrote:

General notes for GA flights in Russia.: you need a crew visa (not tourist visa), which takes about four weeks with the help of an agent and will set you back around EUR 400 for one month validity; flight permits are best obtained through a Russian agent like RusAero (no chance with e-mail, fax, or phone to the Authority); handling is not required at many airports (Moskow and Petersburg being notable exceptions), but if you do not speak Russian, you will have a very hard time without an agent; no Avgas anywhere; Jet Fuel dead cheap (around 50c per litre, they quote in metric tons); air navigation charges are due for everyone (70c per kilometer up to 50 tons MTOM — 1 Euro per kilometer? Yes, but only if your a/c weighs more than 400 tons); no VFR flying without a licensed Russian navigator on board; Russians fly QFE and height is given/requested in metres, not feet; ATC works well at airports with lots of international traffic, but other than standard phraseology, controllers will not speak much English in the province.
Not much has changed since the Soviet times, apparently!
ESKC (Uppsala/Sundbro), Sweden
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