Hi all,
Welcome back and thanks again for your visits and support. As a return, you are up to a galore of everything be it either a new country then in transition to renew itself or new entries, as only the first aircraft duplicated herself. Enjoy the trip.
Background : a spotter trip to LED and MOW set up by London area based Alpha Mike Tours focusing in specialized journeys across the world.
Alain
First day May 30th,
which started very early with a couple of suburban train rides to link my locale with the airport
TAT European Airlines, F-GIOV, Fokker 100, 11248
IO 1122 IO was IATA two letter designator for “ TAT-Export “
Paris/CDG 2- London/Gatwick
205 miles
07.30 / 07.30
Captain Lamy
Getting to aircraft parked on commuter apron amid a collection of ATR42s and Saab 340 was by bus transfer
Boarding, collapsible stairs thru front exit 07.20
Seat 06F
Start Engines 07.28
Push-back 07.29
Depart 07.32
Rotation 07.42
Runway 28/10
During the short hop, a light breakfast was served
Descent 07.00
Short Finals 07.15
Landing 07.18
Airborne 36 minutes
At Stand 07.29
After clearing the custom, it time to catch the coach connection linking LGW to LHR, a nice journey although it just gave glimpses of the famed English countryside. At terminal 2 basemant, I eventually met Alpha Mike Tour's rep and was introduced to my fellow travellers, most of whom were loyal and regular customers to AMT. So it sounded as a welcome to the Club instead of a common organized tour ...
AEROFLOT, CCCP86060, Ilyushin IL.86, cn 03027, based LED & opb by local directorate
30 May
SU 638
London/Heathrow Saint Petersburg/Pulkovo
13.25 / 19.50
[photoid=5770467]
Operated back and forth to Western Europe alongside quite a few sisterships and a fleet of Tupolev 134s and 154s, CCCP86060 was part of Aeroflot Pulkovo based flying unit, referred to as "Directorate" before eventually re-emerging as today's Pulkovo. Pending that, cn 03027 was parked at a remote stand and
[photoid=577469] we got at her foot thx to a bus transfer and were up to be introduced with the real, soviet way to board an IL86.
First we lined up in front of the collapsible stairs
After staging through a compartment where cumbersome hand bags could be left, then came another flight of stairs heading UP to the cabin.
Seat 08J, no safety card
Cabin, Full Y, 9 abreast (3+3+3)
Push-back 13.35
Start Engines 13.36
Depart 13.47
taxying to runway past a SAA 747-444 on RoD
Rotation 13.54
En route, the lady was far from being full
Descent 19.35
Short Finals 19.42
Landing 19.46
Airborne 2 hours 52
At Stand 19.52
Welcome at LED, the international terminal ...
[photoid=5771003]
Getting the luggage was a pretty interesting experience which was reminsicent of Pointe Noire/Congo. The baggage conveyor belt was due to be a thing of past until the major facelift was over. So, the pieces were unloaded and piled up on some remaining flat surface ...
Clearing the baggage claim and custom of course required some time but finally our party met Rudi, a Hungarian fellow who came to USSR for studying and later switched to tourism representation !!!
Reaching Hotel Pulkovskaya
was by our specially appointed coach operated by a company called Sputnik.
Providing some apetizing taste with transition under way, roads were not yet full of cars, but they were not so empty any more.
The japanese made car was imported for sale on the used market straight from Japan with the right hand steering along.
To be continued
Welcome back and thanks again for your visits and support. As a return, you are up to a galore of everything be it either a new country then in transition to renew itself or new entries, as only the first aircraft duplicated herself. Enjoy the trip.
Background : a spotter trip to LED and MOW set up by London area based Alpha Mike Tours focusing in specialized journeys across the world.
Alain
First day May 30th,
which started very early with a couple of suburban train rides to link my locale with the airport
TAT European Airlines, F-GIOV, Fokker 100, 11248
IO 1122 IO was IATA two letter designator for “ TAT-Export “
Paris/CDG 2- London/Gatwick
205 miles
07.30 / 07.30
Captain Lamy
Getting to aircraft parked on commuter apron amid a collection of ATR42s and Saab 340 was by bus transfer
Boarding, collapsible stairs thru front exit 07.20
Seat 06F
Start Engines 07.28
Push-back 07.29
Depart 07.32
Rotation 07.42
Runway 28/10
During the short hop, a light breakfast was served
Descent 07.00
Short Finals 07.15
Landing 07.18
Airborne 36 minutes
At Stand 07.29
After clearing the custom, it time to catch the coach connection linking LGW to LHR, a nice journey although it just gave glimpses of the famed English countryside. At terminal 2 basemant, I eventually met Alpha Mike Tour's rep and was introduced to my fellow travellers, most of whom were loyal and regular customers to AMT. So it sounded as a welcome to the Club instead of a common organized tour ...
AEROFLOT, CCCP86060, Ilyushin IL.86, cn 03027, based LED & opb by local directorate
30 May
SU 638
London/Heathrow Saint Petersburg/Pulkovo
13.25 / 19.50
[photoid=5770467]
Operated back and forth to Western Europe alongside quite a few sisterships and a fleet of Tupolev 134s and 154s, CCCP86060 was part of Aeroflot Pulkovo based flying unit, referred to as "Directorate" before eventually re-emerging as today's Pulkovo. Pending that, cn 03027 was parked at a remote stand and
[photoid=577469] we got at her foot thx to a bus transfer and were up to be introduced with the real, soviet way to board an IL86.
First we lined up in front of the collapsible stairs
After staging through a compartment where cumbersome hand bags could be left, then came another flight of stairs heading UP to the cabin.
Seat 08J, no safety card
Cabin, Full Y, 9 abreast (3+3+3)
Push-back 13.35
Start Engines 13.36
Depart 13.47
taxying to runway past a SAA 747-444 on RoD
Rotation 13.54
En route, the lady was far from being full
Descent 19.35
Short Finals 19.42
Landing 19.46
Airborne 2 hours 52
At Stand 19.52
Welcome at LED, the international terminal ...
[photoid=5771003]
Getting the luggage was a pretty interesting experience which was reminsicent of Pointe Noire/Congo. The baggage conveyor belt was due to be a thing of past until the major facelift was over. So, the pieces were unloaded and piled up on some remaining flat surface ...
Clearing the baggage claim and custom of course required some time but finally our party met Rudi, a Hungarian fellow who came to USSR for studying and later switched to tourism representation !!!
Reaching Hotel Pulkovskaya
was by our specially appointed coach operated by a company called Sputnik.
Providing some apetizing taste with transition under way, roads were not yet full of cars, but they were not so empty any more.
The japanese made car was imported for sale on the used market straight from Japan with the right hand steering along.
To be continued
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