VH-VOG ORENAIR

[Abdul_K]

Hi guys from Doha,

Will be back in on Friday night but just wanted to ask if anyone knew when the Orenair 738, VH-VOG, was due out of Melbourne. Might be able to catch her on my trip to Russia but will still be interested to see her in MEL as well.

Thanks!

[Ian Gains]

Off topic Abdul, out of interest where are you planning to visit in Russia, & is it part of an organised trip or are you going on your own ? The reason I ask is that I spent two weeks there in August last year to coincide with the Zhukovsky Airshow, so I may have some info that will help you out.

The Orenair looks ready to go - if I get any specific info, I'll definitely post it.

[Dimirti Palikaras]

Off topic Abdul, out of interest where are you planning to visit in Russia, & is it part of an organised trip or are you going on your own ? The reason I ask is that I spent two weeks there in August last year to coincide with the Zhukovsky Airshow, so I may have some info that will help you out.

The Orenair looks ready to go - if I get any specific info, I'll definitely post it.

Lucky Abul! At least QR flies to DME, I only wish that QF operated into SVO or even DME

Ian, are you refering to MAKS 2009? I was in the CIS, from May to October. Also was at MAKS in August which days did you go Ian?

[Abdul_K]

Off topic Abdul, out of interest where are you planning to visit in Russia, & is it part of an organised trip or are you going on your own ? The reason I ask is that I spent two weeks there in August last year to coincide with the Zhukovsky Airshow, so I may have some info that will help you out.

The Orenair looks ready to go - if I get any specific info, I'll definitely post it.

Hi Ian, I will be visiting Moscow DME where I have a few friends but will also do alot of spotting as well as Vladvistock international airport for some more spotting. This will be a private trip where I get some time off from work for a couple of weeks. Yes, any Russian airshow will definately be a delight to attend. You are a lucky man! My friend attended that airshow on the 20th of August 2009 and took some magnificent shots. And I will be interested in any info you may have .

Also early thanks for the heads up on the Orienair

[Dimirti Palikaras]

Hi Ian, I will be visiting Moscow DME where I have a few friends but will also do alot of spotting as well as Vladvistock international airport for some more spotting. This will be a private trip where I get some time off from work for a couple of weeks. Yes, any Russian airshow will definately be a delight to attend. You are a lucky man! My friend attended that airshow on the 20th of August 2009 and took some magnificent shots. And I will be interested in any info you may have .

Also early thanks for the heads up on the Orienair

Ahh mate, your bringing all the memories of the SVO-VVO services on Il-62's Thoes were the days! Are you flying Transaero to VVO from DME? Or another company?

[Ian Gains]

Hi Dimitri & Abdul,

Apologies for the late reply - busy weekend with a bus load of English enthusiasts here to sample some un-typical Melbournian weather. Never mind - the rain stopped for their organised visit to Essendon.

I visited MAKS 2009 on Friday 21st August. Fairly ordinary flying display, but fantastic static display and so many other stored airframes of interest that just blow you away. Well worth it if you can make it in 2011.

We had organised ramp tours at SVO & DME, but even without these, I would recommend visiting both. The upstairs cafe at SVO (Terminal 2 I believe) offers good views across the airfield, & although it isn't as busy as it used to be, it's still worth a look. DME has more Russian built aircraft to see, & it gets more of the interesting visitors from the former CIS states like Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, & Uzbekistan. More freighters too with several AN-12's & IL-76's on the move most weekdays. Good views from the 1st floor terminal area and good quality terminal food & cheap beer !! Ahhhhh.......memories of frosty cold Baltica Blue. Promise me that you'll try one when you are there......!

There were around 22 IL-62's in open storage at DME that can be seen from the viewing area mentioned above, plus Domodedovo Airlines 3 IL-96's plus lot's of S7 TU-154M's etc. If you're a rego collector as well as a photographer, it will amaze you.

Let us know how you get on, & how you find Vladivostok.

[Dimirti Palikaras]

Hi Dimitri & Abdul,

Apologies for the late reply - busy weekend with a bus load of English enthusiasts here to sample some un-typical Melbournian weather. Never mind - the rain stopped for their organised visit to Essendon.

I visited MAKS 2009 on Friday 21st August. Fairly ordinary flying display, but fantastic static display and so many other stored airframes of interest that just blow you away. Well worth it if you can make it in 2011.

We had organised ramp tours at SVO & DME, but even without these, I would recommend visiting both. The upstairs cafe at SVO (Terminal 2 I believe) offers good views across the airfield, & although it isn't as busy as it used to be, it's still worth a look. DME has more Russian built aircraft to see, & it gets more of the interesting visitors from the former CIS states like Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, & Uzbekistan. More freighters too with several AN-12's & IL-76's on the move most weekdays. Good views from the 1st floor terminal area and good quality terminal food & cheap beer !! Ahhhhh.......memories of frosty cold Baltica Blue. Promise me that you'll try one when you are there......!

There were around 22 IL-62's in open storage at DME that can be seen from the viewing area mentioned above, plus Domodedovo Airlines 3 IL-96's plus lot's of S7 TU-154M's etc. If you're a rego collector as well as a photographer, it will amaze you.

Let us know how you get on, & how you find Vladivostok.

They way it used to be when I flew for SU, back in the 70's and 80's was SVO was the "western" airport for flights to Europe and abroad, while Vnukovo and DME were for internal and Warsaw pact services. Nowadays SVO is still the showcase with brand new terminals going up, did you see the new one Ian? It's quite impressive; DME will see a new terminal this year. Currently majority of the CIS flights into Moocow operate into DME because these services are exempt of customs and passport control. SVO is Aeroflot’s base DME is Transaero, S7 Sibirsk and a focus for Rossija.

As for the open storage at DME I took a walk through there with a few of my old companions that still fly for the Russian carriers SU and the other two fly for Uzbekistan, the storage of every aircraft besides the Il-96-300's is basically a death bed all the Il-62M's and Il-62MK's have had their engines removed and most parts stripped. SVO gets it fair share of Russian built aircraft too.

VVO (Kvenchi Vladivostok) is a nice airport but for spotting not the easiest airport for that kind of thing. It is mainly iced over or snowed under in the winter and in summer it is a hard place to access. They get quite a few long haul services from Europe (i.e. Moscow and European Russia) and they get a fair share of Asian flights to China, Japan, Vietnam, South Korea and quite a few Air Koryo services from FNJ and Wonsan*, which are operated by Tu-204, Il-62M and Tu-154 along with their cargo trips on Il-18 and Il-76's. Your best bet on getting over to VVO is to catch either Transaero from DME which will connect with QR from Doha. They fly their 777-200's and 767's out there mainly but you might get a Tu-214 which as they take delivery of more and more seem to be used alot more on flights to Russian parts of Asia.