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Experiences with Russia

This has been a common frustration of mine over the 20 years I’ve been flying. Lots of people write up trips but with no detail, so you may as well just do google/images and find the photos Hence the trip writeups I’ve done were always detailed so people could replicate them.

One guy who flew an MD500 around the world, and who I know personally, reported spending $60,000 on basically bribes just to pass through Russia. And he had a man back home on the other end of a satphone organising stuff ahead. Others have said this figure is much too high; I don’t know. OTOH he did fly all the way down, not just the GA-doable spots.

A local contact is a huge help.

@Flight_TV might know more about the current situation.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

If IIRC you need:
- Entry VISA (may be not from 2021 if entering through SPb – https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/07/22/russia-offers-simplified-e-visas-to-visitors-of-st-petersburg-a66512)
- Travel insurance (travel agent/visa company will sell you one)
- Permission to enter for the aircarft (as per AIP)
- Gendec
- For SPb you also need an aircraft that is (unless flying with some special group):
– can fly IFR
– has got O2 (standard routes are FL110-FL130+ to enter, FL120-140+ to leave)
– deicing? (IFR at FL100+, visible moisture)
– either Jet – fuelled or can land there and fly back with no fuel uplift (no Avgas at most big airports)
- Pay, including enroute charges (1 euro/nm?). For SPb – landing+parking charges (small amount, I think), handling – https://pulkovoairport.ru/en/partners/rates/airlines/, which if I read it correctly, around 366 euro + VAT for small a/c.

As it has been previously noted, the best way to get to SPb is probably to fly to either Utti/EFUT or Lappeenranta/EFLP and then 20 min taxi to nearest Allegro train stop (https://www.vr.fi/cs/vr/en/train-timetables-finland-russia), from which it is around 2hrs (+/- 30 min) to St. Petersburg. Or to go to Estonia (Tartu/EETU, Tallinn/EETN) and then take a bus or train, which will take way more than 2hrs.

EGTR

That sums it up. It’s adventure, not something one would do frequently as a private pilot, due to all the hassle and cost involved.

The only thing I am not sure of is the limitation to IFR. AFAIK, several people have flown in and crossed Russia VFR in recent years. As long as you request this in your permit, stick to the permit and fly only to international aerodromes, it seems no problem.

Also, BTW, wasn’t Malmi supposed to close at the end of 2019? Still no NOTAM to that effect, fortunately.

Last Edited by boscomantico at 10 Jan 16:05
Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany
reported spending $60,000 on basically bribes just to pass through Russia.

I flew to Russia twice and had no problems. Flight/landing permits can be organized by your handler at the destination. I prepaid 2000EUR to the handler and it was used for all fees and fuel after landing. Didn’t have to touch my wallet once there. As for personal visa/insurance, there’s several “Russian visa” offices in my town. Just provide trip dates and they arrange with the embassy.

A guy I know flew a Cessna M2 from Poland via Russia to Japan and back. They had a lump sum with a Polish company who organized everything along the way. No problems as far as I know.

Generally speaking, flying outside the Western World involves more formalities and is more expensive. In order to have a good experience one needs to employ specialists. 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.

LPFR, Poland

Helsinki Malmi (EFHF) is still open, operated by a private organization now. May change any day as there’s a court process ongoing with the City of Helsinki.

https://www.efhf.fi/?lang=en

EFHF

boscomantico wrote:

Can you share details of your two experiences?

Sure, a little bit. Both of the visits were during the Football World Cup last year so that is of course creating some extra tension. What I do not really like is the general suspicion against you. Everything needs to be arranged through special and costly permits via certain agencies. You must get the FIR entry/exit point approved as well, send aircraft documents and all kinds of paper.

Saint Petersburg is infamous(among bizjet operators) for its high prices, we paid 6000 euros in advance to park there during the day…
During the first World Cup game in Nizhnij Novgorod there were NOTAMs that banned parking for more than one hour or so, the airport was huge and you could have easily put all expected aircraft there. I had to move the aircraft for a few hours to another airport and then come back to pick up the pax. You could tell that it was one of those “highest level” decisions that had little to do with reasonable expectations.

Not so bad things:
- ATC was good and easier to understand than I thought.
- Totally different experience when I had passed the port of entry and was greeted at the other smaller airport.

Last Edited by Fly310 at 10 Jan 21:22
ESSZ, Sweden

I met a lovely Russian chap this year when i landed in Le Touquet, he was flying on his RA- R44 across Europe, long story short, he has a firm back in Russia that can coordinate landing and overflying permits, navigators and so on. If someone would be interested, i will try to locate his contacts.

LKKV

I think to do successful GA travelling in Russia you need to use a lot of contacts, maybe even take a russian pilot onboard. I had a dialogue with the Russian AOPA before going there, they were friendly but couldn’t help much during the World Cup which is totally understandable.

ESSZ, Sweden

I can’t even begin to imagine trying to fly GA to/in Russia. About 20 years ago my wife and I decided to go to St Pete for the longest day (“the white nights of St Pete”). We had everything booked, hotels, commercial flights… we’d already done a trip a few years before to Moscow and St Pete. Very interesting, also VERY happy to be sitting on an AF A320 at Pulkovo afterwards!

Anyway… my wife stood in line at the consulate in Paris for a morning and got her visa, no problem. I happened to be working at a company that had (and needed) a really first rate travel department – among other things they frequently sent people to Kazakhstan. (No prize for guessing what business they were in). They sent my passport off to the London consulate.

Two weeks later, still no passport (luckily I had a legitimate second one – easy in the UK). They sent someone down there, who was thrown out. I never saw that passport again. An immigration guy at NCE mentioned to me “oh yes, we often get Russians coming through here on stolen UK passports.” I guess some visa clerk just topped up his income by $1000 or so (apparently the going rate for a UK passport at the time, especially if it is full of entry stamps as mine was). We didn’t go.

That was my “last and final” attempt at visiting Russia.

Last Edited by johnh at 11 Jan 01:32
LFMD, France

johnh wrote:

I can’t even begin to imagine trying to fly GA to/in Russia. About 20 years ago my wife and I decided to go to St Pete for the longest day (“the white nights of St Pete”). We had everything booked, hotels, commercial flights… we’d already done a trip a few years before to Moscow and St Pete. Very interesting, also VERY happy to be sitting on an AF A320 at Pulkovo afterwards!

Anyway… my wife stood in line at the consulate in Paris for a morning and got her visa, no problem. I happened to be working at a company that had (and needed) a really first rate travel department – among other things they frequently sent people to Kazakhstan. (No prize for guessing what business they were in). They sent my passport off to the London consulate.

Two weeks later, still no passport (luckily I had a legitimate second one – easy in the UK). They sent someone down there, who was thrown out. I never saw that passport again. An immigration guy at NCE mentioned to me “oh yes, we often get Russians coming through here on stolen UK passports.” I guess some visa clerk just topped up his income by $1000 or so (apparently the going rate for a UK passport at the time, especially if it is full of entry stamps as mine was). We didn’t go.

That was my “last and final” attempt at visiting Russia.

Being a Russian citizen myself i can understand the frustration. Even to this day you have to fight a lot of bureaucracy and weird regulations when dealing with Russia, and not only when it comes to aviation. When it comes to GA i heard that the business is getting better and better, although in very small steps, hopefully someday we all will be able to fly there, the places and sceneries to visit in Russia are limitless, and i really hope that someone within the country system will realise it someday.

LKKV
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