On my way from Cyprus to Portugal I am planning a slight detour and go to Kiev for a couple of days.
Any good advises related to Ukraine and Kiev?
Thank you in advance.
Hi,
I will possibly be off to Odessa on Monday. Anyway, the expert on Ukraine and Kiev is @ploucandco. He helped me a lot so far.
In short, I’d say:
Check out the avgas situation carefully. I planned a flight via there (Odessa – report) some years ago and Constanta was the only place with avgas (and that wasn’t quite Ukraine) and that has since lost it. My trip was cancelled due to a difficult problem with the Eurocontrol routing which could not be developed, and long after I cancelled it it was discovered it was due to a military activity notam.
Only in Kiev and at a small airfield, you can find avgas in Ukraine. At all other places, you need to organise it in advance. That’s possible and pretty cheap at small airfields around the country.
But forget that at international airports. Also, avoid Odessa and Kiev-Zhuliany/Borispol as point of entry/exit (customs and passport control). These airports cost >200EUR just for the landing. All other UA international airports should be <50EUR for any aircraft less than 2T.
Anyway, fuel-wise Odessa is no problem in the TB20 coming from the west. You can make Rheszow-Odessa and return on one tank. There is also Iasi in Romania which will make the distance to Odessa even shorter.
Still not out of the question but it seems to much of a hassle.
What I will assess is the possibility to get a point of entry and exit more close to the border and land on a small aerodrome in Kiev, one with Avgas.
Because of my registration, I cannot overfly turkey, will try to get Skopje followed by the point of entry / exit.
Any advise on it?
Only in Kiev and at a small airfield, you can find avgas in Ukraine. At all other places, you need to organise it in advance. That’s possible and pretty cheap at small airfields around the country.
But forget that at international airports. Also, avoid Odessa and Kiev-Zhuliany/Borispol as point of entry/exit (customs and passport control). These airports cost >200EUR just for the landing. All other UA international airports should be <50EUR for any aircraft less than 2T.
I am planning as entry point UKLI and arrival to UKKJ where I think I can fing AvGas. I am not able to access the AIP, so no way to verify the need for PPR.
Luis, take my advice and avoid UKLI. I have been there on Monday (coming in to Ukraine) and it’s not a good one. First, the concrete runway and taxiways seem more like there has been an earthquake recently. It’s all really 100% Soviet style, all the way to the teminal building and offices. But mostly because, once the aircraft is parked, the airport becomes difficult. Almost nobody speaks a few words of English. Paying the landing fees (40€) is a difficult exercise.
Please do use Chernivtsi (UKLN) instead. Very friendly people, some of them speak English. I was there for flying out of Ukraine on Thursday and believe it or not, we manged to land, pay landing fees (30€), make a flightplan, clear customs and rake off again, all in a ground time of 45 minutes!
Don’t worry about airport PPR. Do worry about getting the CAA permissions for your flights!
If you decide to pursue it, I can give you some more tips. Make sure you contact ploucandco for tips specifically for Kiev.
@ Boscomantico
Thanks a lot. My firdt option was also UKLN, problrm is the airports working hours. I am on a very tight scedulle and the thursday according to the NOTAM, the close between 11 and 17H30. UKLI gives me much more flexibility on that. The way back on Saturday, UKLN would be my forst choice.
I am also facing other problem, trying to find out UKKJworking hours. Already send an email to the aeroclub that works there, waiting dor a reply.
Did you refuel in Ukraine? If so, where and price per liter?
Can you please send me the contact for the CAA and the requirements?
Right now I am still evaluating options in order by the end of the week to make a decision if worths flying there or not. Having a Cyprus registration I have to go around Turkey, AFAIK I cannot overfly turkish airspace, which makes it a bit more complicated.
Yes, UKLN working hours are a bit limited.
I refuelled with 100LL at Odessa Gidroport. But that won’t help you with your route of flight.
All the details for the CAA permission are found in GEN 1.2 of the Ukrainian AIP. I can also send you my application as a fac-simile. The email address to be used is ckp.intl at avia.gov.ua. But you will also need to chase them a bit via telephone after all. Still, they will not issue the permission numbers any more than one day before your flight, which is always a problem and not good for your peace of mind.
I don’t know anything about Kiev or UKKJ. Talk to ploucandco.
Generally, I would say that in order to land at one of the domestic airfields in Ukraine, you need a local contact person who speaks some English, who can sort things out for you, otherwise it will not work.
