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Experiences with Russia

loco wrote:

Self organizing can lead to delays and if you get in trouble by not knowing local rules, bribes may be a way out. In my opinion, Russia is not different than other countries.

Hmmm….One person’s “Normal” is obviously not the same as another persons….

Just for information, AOPA Switzerland is planning a fly out this year to Russia, 24 Aug – 2 Sep.

It is being organized with AOPA Russia. Nothing at the moment to indicate any IFR restriction. Limited to 20 aircraft. Most attendees will certainly be German-speakers, just to set expectations regarding the social element. Any Swiss pilots on such a trip would most certainly speak good English.

General route at this time: Tallinn, St.Petersburg and Novgorod to Moskau. Return via Tula, Bryansk, Minsk and Brest (Belarus).

LSZK, Switzerland

Yes, actually my experience with Russia was much better than flying in India, Nepal or Indonesia. These countries were a real pain. Tons of formalities. Come 3h before takeoff. No such nonsense in Russia. As for bribes, I have no experience, but thanks for the personal attack. If someone reports giving out $60k, then I imagine they must have been doing something wrong.

LPFR, Poland

If anyone is interested in flying to Russia, Belarus or Kazakhstan, there is a very useful website to look into: http://www.makgas.com
There is a lot of practical information, fuel map and other perks

UUUZ, Russian Federation

That’s a really useful resource, and welcome to EuroGA, @pilotatotale

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Thank you, @peter.
Details of recent VFR flights to Russia, across Russia and in various parts of Russia are on Stories page, where many flights are recalled with pictures, maps and quotes from pilots

[ URL fixed – needs http/https ]

UUUZ, Russian Federation

JasonC wrote:

Flying to Russia from Europe

That` d be wonderful. We`ve been dreaming of it for many years. But with landing fees of 1000 Euros or more it will remain a dream, plus fees for overflight, fuel etc.

Berlin, Germany

Unless you want to land at big busy commercial airports like UUEE, UUWW – there are no landing fees of 1000 euros. It is absolutely wrong stereotype and misconception.
Fuel is cheaper than in Europe even in the most remote areas.
There are no fees for overflight, there are fees for air navigation – but they are in Europe too and Eurocontrol collects them

UUUZ, Russian Federation

@pilotalotale: This is good news. AFAIK coming from Western Europe one has to land at an Airport of Entry first. There are various reports in the past of outrageous fees. But things can change. Could you please tell us for example how much the cost are all in all for a flight to St. Petersburg with a Cessna 182, MTOW 1406 kg. This would be our first destination in Russia. How much are the fees for approach, landing, parking ….
And how much is 100LL? Any additional fees?
Please notice there are no Eurocontrol fees for navigation for planes less than 2000 kg MTOW.

Berlin, Germany

Affirm, coming from Europe, you have to land at airport of entry first for customs/immigration clearance.
There are 3 entry airports on the western Russian border (i.e eastern European) – ULLI St. Petersburg, ULPB Petrozavodsk, ULOO Pskov. You can find them in any navigation package – Jeppesen, Garmin Pilot, Fore Flight, AirNavPro. Only SkyDemon is lacking, but they promise to incorporate Russian airspace soon… Please push them to do so – they have all necessary official data supplied by AOPA-Russia on a regular basis.

ULLI – big commercial, most expensive one. Landing, overnight parking, crew bus fee is about 350$, no other hidden charges
ULPB – quiet airport, all included fees are around 200$, no hidden charges
ULOO – most popular for light GA, quiet and very friendly. Fees for up to 2000 kg do not exceed 230$-250$, depending on parking duration, 3 hours are free of charge. no hidden costs either.

Avgas 100LL price varies 2.0$-2.5$ per litre depending on location. ULLI does not provide it, but nearby smaller airfields have it, ULPB provides Avgas 100LL on request, ULOO provides B91/115 by bowser, nearby smaller airfield ULOR serves Avgas 100LL and mogas.

Russia charges air navigation fees for distance flown (for every 100 km) and depending on MTOW. Lowest rate is for 0-2000 kg, next grade is 2001-5000 kg, then 5001-20000 kg. Rate for <= 2000 kg is 11.1$/100 km.

Approach fees (aka TMA fees) set up individually for every controlled airport and are charged for every ton of your MTOW always rounded up. For ULLI – 5.2$/tn, ULPB – 4.7$/tn, ULOO – 4.7$/tn.

There are no any other mandatory fees and no other payments are inevitable to fly into Russia.
There are no bribes, do not believe anyone who tells these stories.

You may land at any uncontrolled airfield, strip or runway. You may fly VFR, there are published VFR routes to UPLB, ULLI, ULOO and crossing the FIR boundary may be at 1000’ MSL or higher.

UUUZ, Russian Federation
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