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Experiences with Russia

Unfortunately the picture you draw and the numbers you quote are not correct.

A recent pirep of someone who flew to ULLI (without any other fancy services was for 750USD. And that was cheap. A little before that, someone enquired, and got 4000USD as a reply (which was also confirmed to him).
And that is exactly the problem: you never know beforehand who will charge you what in the end. ULLI at least, they publish their rates (but again: will these be all-inclusive?) on their website, in English. Most others don’t.

Also,
pilotatotale wrote:

You may land at any uncontrolled airfield, strip or runway.

This is, AFAIK just not true if piloting a non-Russian aircraft. You will not get a permission to fly to one of these airfields (at least not without special circumstances, i.e. AOPA-organized or so). And therefore…

pilotatotale wrote:

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.

helps you nothing. There seem to be essentially zero international airports which sell 100LL.

Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

I draw the picture that I definitely know and guarantee.
You may refer to whatever sources who are stupid enough to get quotes from handlers serving BBJs and calculating only thousands of dollars, while I give you figures that are true.
If you have time, read the stories in the link I posted above. Talk to people from France here who were flying last year through ULOO and ULLII and ask them what they paid.

Russian CAA grants permits to anyone capable to fly and having valid documents. Read AIP, apply for permit and off you go landing at any small airfield where Avgas is waiting for you.
If you think that Heathrow or Frankfurt Main serve Avgas, please give me a number where to call for a quote

UUUZ, Russian Federation

That last bit is ridiculous. You certainly don‘t instill confidence in those who would desire flying to Russia, especially by calling them stupid.

Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

I apologize. But what you are saying is ridiculous as well

UUUZ, Russian Federation

pilotatotale wrote:

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.

Has Russia dropped the requirement that there must be a Russian (or at least Russian-speaking) navigator on board for VFR flights?

ESKC (Uppsala/Sundbro), Sweden

To me this sounds like a local person sees a very different interface to a foreign visitor.

IOW, more or less what we have in much of Europe, especially the more southern parts

If you just contact the airport, IF they even reply (in some countries / some airports, very unlikely) they will pass you to a handler. The airport doesn’t want to be dealing with aeroplanes; it is seen by admin staff as just an employment facility. Only the handler has an incentive to generate business. So you get stuck with the handler and his pricing. But a local who knows local customs can deal with the airport directly, or perhaps “just fly” there and no questions will be asked. Spain, Greece, etc, anyone?

This is why it is massively helpful to have a local contact who organises things on the ground.

There have been various fly-ins to Russia over the years and all of them had local “support”. I would not even try Turkey (did that in 2009) without local support. Greece is not hard because you can just phone them up in English and “things happen” which would never happen in writing. But in Russia you need to speak Russian, surely?

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Has Russia dropped the requirement that there must be a Russian (or at least Russian-speaking) navigator on board for VFR flights?

It has not. But Russian-speaking navigator is required if you want to land at controlled airfield where English ATC is not provided – you need to talk to them in Russian.
Or if you want to fly domestic routes where English ATS is not provided either. And navigator requirement was never meant for VFR, same applies to IFR flights.
But if you fly only international routes (such VFR routes connect entry airports ULPB, ULLI, ULOO with border crossing points), you do not need any navigator.
If you land at international airport (all entry airports are international), you do not need navigator because ATC is English-speaking by default.
If you land at uncontrolled airfield, you do not need navigator either because there is no control and you land at your discretion.
So just avoid landing at controlled domestic airports and nobody requires you a strange navigator guy onboard.

Last Edited by pilotatotale at 11 Feb 16:25
UUUZ, Russian Federation

Peter wrote:

If you just contact the airport, IF they even reply (in some countries / some airports, very unlikely) they will pass you to a handler. The airport doesn’t want to be dealing with aeroplanes; it is seen by admin staff as just an employment facility. Only the handler has an incentive to generate business. So you get stuck with the handler and his pricing. But a local who knows local customs can deal with the airport directly, or perhaps “just fly” there and no questions will be asked. Spain, Greece, etc, anyone?

This is why it is massively helpful to have a local contact who organises things on the ground.

There have been various fly-ins to Russia over the years and all of them had local “support”. I would not even try Turkey (did that in 2009) without local support. Greece is not hard because you can just phone them up in English and “things happen” which would never happen in writing. But in Russia you need to speak Russian, surely?

Exactly – you may just fly to the airport of entry and refuse any handling which bigger airport will try to impose. Crew bus will be the only service you are forced to pay – big airports do not like pedestrians even in high-vis jackets walking on the taxiways. But before departure you spend time to receive an invoice, go to another office to pay it, get cleared through security check before someone calls you a crew bus to take you back to your stand and all that entertainment we like so much in big airports.

Bus driver will hardly speak any English, nor will customs officer. You talk to them with Google translate or seek someone’s assistance

UUUZ, Russian Federation

pilotatotale wrote:

You talk to them with Google translate or seek someone’s assistance

Or just fly somewhere else where it’s easier and cheaper and visit Russia with airliner

Even with prices you quoted (much lower than usually mentioned) and with navigation and terminal fees, flying to/in Russia looks like most expensive in Europe. E.g. flying 800 NM in each direction (1600 NM or 3000 km) plus two landings (in and out) at international airports and plus some landings locally costs probably more than 1000€ just in fees for under 2 ton aircraft. Compare this with Europe (anywhere except few super-expensive airports and Greece ) and it will cost in range of 300€ (or less) in fees. Plus no hassle in Europe with getting feedback, transparent pricing, speaking English at the airports and ATC etc. To attract GA (if there’s such intention) Russia has to offer more than sense of big and mysterious country.

E.g. flying from my base in Croatia to Stockholm and back is exactly 800 NM each direction and it costs me 100€ in fees and 600€ in fuel (Jet A1) which is significantly less than fees only for the same example in Russia. I know that GA isn’t cheap and that’s not all in the money but with so many other nice destinations I tend to put Russia low on my wish list.

LDZA LDVA, Croatia

Well, I fly helicopter and Croatia (been flying about 10 times in your beautiful country) is the lowest in my wish list just next to Morocco.
The reason is very simple – you do not have many airports, some of them are quite expensive (LDDU Dubrovnik) and landing is prohibited anywhere except certified airfields. It takes about 3-4 weeks for Croatia CAA to grant a permit to land on a helipad and applicant has to submit numerous documents, including medical, logbook etc. Very weird for a liberal European country, isn’t it?

I could not figure out how you came to “more than 1000€”, 2 entry ports and 3000 km count about 700€ unless you fly something heavier than 5000 kg.
I wonder how much Jet A-1 costs you per liter in Croatia and Sweden and how does it correspond with 0.8-0.9$/liter in western Russia.

I can not advocate for Russian authorities, we are pressing them to exempt < 2000 kg from navigation fees, but so far only Kazakhstan has done so for MTOW < 5700 kg.

UUUZ, Russian Federation
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