It looks like a great adventure but I wonder how much he spent bribing various officials. Simon Oliphant-Hope’s epic RTW helicopter flight, some 10 years ago, involved 5 digits of “payments” just in Russia. The one thing usually missing from these kinds of long trips through the 3rd World is just how much (money and/or time) was spent on the overflight permits (most people use an overflight agent, even if they don’t mention it) and other logistics.
Simon wrote it up extensively – it’s all out there online. His opinion of that part of the trip was less than complimentary… and he had a 24/7 guy back home, on the end of an Iridium phone (with one installed in his MD500 IFR certified helicopter), doing the logistics.
The flying itself should be straightforward 
This is a journey to my taste. This man is lucky to have engines that use Jetfuel, for most of us this trip would be much more difficult with Lycoming and Conti engines.
Well, of course. I’d actually say this trip is practically impossbile with an aircraft that needs 100LL. If the aircraft can burn low-quality petrol, then it might be possible, but difficult.
So, if you (like Wolf):
then this trip is “fairly” easy. Definitely easier (and possibly even a bit less costly, though possibly more “boring”) than taking the classic “southerly” route (Turkey, Iran, India, Indochina, Taiwan) to circumnavigate China to the south. China, unfortunately, and contrary to all promises, remains almost totally closed for GA. Russia seems like GA heaven compared to China. In Russia at least, you can fly more or less where you want, subject to those pesky permit formalities.
Of course it also helps if you speak a few words of Russian.
I don’t believe a word about those bribes. Agreed, the fees in Russia are high. And sure, the difference between a fee and a bribe is sometimes a bit blurry, but again, I wouldn’t think a lot of real bribing is needed.
And look at those unlimited visibilities across the Taiga!
boscomantico wrote:
I don’t believe a word about those bribes.
+1 I’ve been twice and there was no such thing as bribes. Fees are high, but they’re straightforward.
I know another pilot who flew from Poland to Japan in a Cessna M2 and he also didn’t mention anything about bribes. He used an agency to which he sent a sum before the trip and the agency would settle everything for him along the route.
Trip to Russia – looking for maps etc
I am planning on joining a group of pilots for a trip to Russia in June 2019.
The detinations and as follows :
Лапеенранта (EFLP) – Санкт-Петербург (ULLI / LED) – 140nm – 01 :00
Санкт-Петербург (ULLI / LED) – Москва (UUBW / ZIA) – 442nm – 04 :20
Москва (UUBW / ZIA) – Казань (UWKD / KZN) – 449nm – 04 :30
Казань (UWKD / KZN) – Екатеринбург (USSS / SVX) – 418nm – 04 :00
Екатеринбург (USSS / SVX) – Самара (UWWW / KUF) – 447nm – 04 :30
Самара (UWWW / KUF) – Волгоград (URWW / VOG) – 377nm – 03 :50
Волгоград (URWW / VOG) – Краснодар (URKK / KRR) – 412nm – 04 :00
Краснодар (URKK / KRR) – Сочи (URSS / AER) – 160nm – 01 :30
Сочи (URSS / AER) – Самсун (LTFI) – 300nm – 03 :00
I use SkyDemon on my tablet but they do not include maps of Russia.
I was wondering if anyone has maps of Russia, appart from the TPC 1:500 000 maps from the US.
Maybe using SkyDemon, apparently it is possible to import files that include maps of Russia that would come from another source. Or is there another software that provides maps of Russia ?
Thanks for your help
What about the other pilots in the group? How are they going to navigate?
You could start parsing the Russian AIP manually and importing data to SkyDemon if you have time to kill.
These guys used what it looks like Foreflight to navigate through Russia: https://goo.gl/pJUijm
The leader of the group provides us with sheets of paper with maps printed on it. That’s not really convenient when you are used to a movable map. I’m sure I can use those maps, but I’d be more confident, especially when navigating around cities or special areas, if I have a moving map with me.
I was wondering if anyone had done that before, or lived in Russia and had more information about what can be found for that country.
Yes, Foreflight seems to be ok, but I have an Android tablet …
The easiest thing may be to buy an Ipad for the trip – especially given the huge cost of such a trip.
Otherwise, you can turn any map into a GPS moving map using Oziexplorer. This comes in windows and android versions. I use both. Only the windoze version can be used to calibrate the maps however.
If you want terrain maps, and airports, you can use the old US ONC and TPC maps. For CAS and other current data you need a proper nav product.
I am sure Jeppesen cover it, with whatever their current PC or Ipad product is. Only their Ipad product will give you a moving map. But also no android option there.
There is a number of trip reports here on EuroGA which do Russia.
