EPWA 2016.04.18 Volga Dnepr IL76 departure

After the night in Warsaw, RA-76511 (VDAs Il-76) departed together with its cargo. Unfortunately, again, a cargo aircraft choose the other runway it was supposed to... In addition, while waiting for the departure three other aircraft leaving Warsaw from runway 29.

TC-JSZ

EPWA 2016.04.17 Volga Dnepr Il76 arrival

Cargo traffic is not the main traffic here at Warsaw. Sometimes something bigger will arrive. This time it was a Volga-Dnepr Ilyushin 76. It then spent the night in Warsaw and departed the next day. Here a couple of shots of RA-76511 arriving in Warsaw.

RA-76511

Flying the Belavia Tupolev 154

Arrived in Minsk two days earlier just for this day. Early morning wake-up, I take the first train from the center to the airport and am the only passenger on it :) . At the airport I have over two hours to my flight, I check my bag in and go for a short walk around the terminal. There is a couple of old planes in front of the terminal building, a Il-76, a T154, a T134, a An-24, a An-2 and a Yak-40. Later I go through the security and passport control and walk around the interior.

29 May 2015
B2871 (0820-1010) MSQ-GVA
EW-85748 T154

After a short walk around the area of the terminal and one shot of a aircraft standing near the terminal it is time to board. We take the bus to the plane. Total of around 30 people on board (the return flight was full). We are just about to get on board (some even do) but well, the authorities tell us that we can walk around a bit and many do. It looks like if we wouldn't want to fly the T154 and preferred the standing nearby 737. Boarding completed. Engine start-up is accompanied by a majestic hum of the engine. A short taxi to the runway and off we are in the air. Flat climb. 2 hours later we reached Geneva but before that we could experience the plane in all it's majesty. Walk around the cabin, chat. Plenty of room for everybody. There was even a cameraman from a Belarusian TV station making a material about those last commercial flights. Sometime during the flight a meal was served. Cold turkey (or so I think) with  cucumbers, a bun, ketchup and a sweet waffle bar as dessert.
A picturesque approach to Geneva airport with view on the Alps to the left, and a bit to the right. Deboarding, picking-up baggage and together with a fellow traveler we headed to one of many spotting locations in order to catch the departure back to Minsk (which got delayed due to a slot loss due to enthusiasts activity while boarding :D ) and later on to the city for some sightseeing. Later that evening I had my first leg of the return flight back to Warsaw. GVA-CPH with SAS.

Slowly boarding todays ride

Air Koryo Ilyushin 76

I wake up. A morning like many others. At a first glance there is nothing spectacular about it. But wait! I look out of the window and the same view comes to my eyes, the sight of Pyongyang city. The day has come. The day that most of us anticipated most. The day of flights. The day that I am going to hop on 5 flights, on 4 different planes, all of them being my first time. The Ilyushin 76, Ilyushin 62, Tupolev 154 and the Mi-17 helicopter. The 18th day of September 2014. A date I surely will remember, not only for the reasons stated above ;)

But step by step. First things first, after breakfast we arrive early in the morning at the airport for our first flight of the day. It surely is going to be a flying start of the day! The Ilyushin 76. A plane designed to transport freight. It is massive. It has a strange design. It requires more crew. It has only a couple of windows on the entire lenght of the fuselage. We are sited sideways to the direction of movement. But I should go so quickly forward. At first, after arriving at the ramp we get a quick photo shoot from the outside, later we board the plane and sit at our convenience (almost, we had to have a seatbelt). And here we are, sitting side to side, face to face, listening to the engines starting, looking around at all the controls visible in the main cabin (one crew member has his station here) (detailed shots are available down below). You can easily feel the movement when inside. The sheer power moves us aside during takeoff. A strange feeling when having almost absolutely no windows. In the air, when we get the appropriate signal from the crew we can start moving around. And as one can believe, jumping, taking pictures with the equipment and crew, walking around, all that took place. After we "smoothly" touch downed (this time on the main gear, I've seen plenty of videos and photos when they land in the front wheels first :D ) reverse thrust has been applied and we taxied slowly to our designated parking position. We later got a chance for a very quick visit in the cockpits for a couple of photos, as the schedule was tight. In all the rush, I took a couple of decent photos. Unfortunately not exactly what I wished for. But hey! You can't have it all at once! Can you?
After the cockpit visit and again, a short session from the outside a bus took us to our next ride. About the experience on it I'll write a different entry some time soon. Now have a look at the Il-76 photos and videos.