Having done this trip in September last year and not shooting all the aircraft I'd planned, 'I'd thought at some point I'd like to go back' but when Boris and Merlin Tours advertised it was on again in 2018 and in a better time of the year regarding weather and longer day light hours, "it was sooner than I'd thought"  Great trip last year, but we have found some better vantage points around the main Airports in Minsk and Kiev, thanks to some of the locals,  so looks very much like it could be another visit next year now also?  As i mentioned earlier, Merlin Tours and Boris who operate these trips are well organised but really only cater for people who want to sample pleasure flights in the old soviet types still in service in Belarus and Ukraine, but im not one for flying them, 'i just want to shoot some action shots before they all go' so the plan (like last year) was to join the group for a day and have an hour in an Antonov AN2, then leave the group and do our own thing for the rest of the week long trip.

 

Friday 18th May DAY 1........

                                       The trip started for me at a very busy Leeds Bradford Airport on Friday morning 18th of May,  where i boarded a my chariot 'a Ryanair Boeing 737-800 EI-EVM as (RYR5043) for the 2 hour flight to Vilnius' I had several hours here at Vilnius after landing until my flight to Minsk later that evening, so the plan was to hire a car and have a blast out to shoot a couple of Antonov AN2 parachute aircraft at a local light field, but changed my mind and just chilled in the terminal shooting the rather slow movements that passed by the terminal window for the next few hours which included, Small Planet/Wizz/Lufthansa A320's, Air Baltic B737/DHC8-400s, Ryanair B737s, Finnair ERJ190 and SAS/Norica CRJ900s, but more of interest to me and a good start to the trip were a couple of nice CRJ200's, OD-TAL 'which looks like its been here for a while' and a Kazak Government example UP-C8503, while others of note were D-CXNL Hawker 800, M-HOME BD700 Global 6000 and lastly all white ex Grand Cru Airlines Boeing 737-300 LY--GGC and ex Transaero Boeing 737-400 EI- DNM both looking like not seen any action for a while...

            So... after a couple of tasty bits going in the box, it was off on my next flight, and first time flying with Belavia which was suppose to be a CRJ200, but a last minute change seen me climb onboard a rather smart Embraer ERJ175 EW-340PO as (BRU804) for the short 33 minute hop across the boarder to Minsk.  Once landed it was then through the terminal to have a few heated words with the so called robbing Taxi driver characters.. If landing here never take a taxi from these guys parked at the front of the terminal, but head to the little office in the terminal near stand 3 arrivals before you go out of the terminal building and order a taxi here.. "very helpful and cheap" also you need to bring some form of identification to your health insurance otherwise take one out just before you go through immigration which is very cheap...anyway not much could be seen on arrival at Minsk as it was dark so off to the Hotel for some shut eye! 

 

Saturday 19th May DAY 2........ 

                                             Well the first morning in Belarus had arrived...... The plan today was to meet up with Steve "The Selfie" Warren, who arrived lastnight direct from the Azores after chasing the NASA DC8 again!!  So after breakfast we both headed to the Airport to pick up the hire car for a three day rental and headed straight to the end of the runway for some shots of the pleasure flights, which was due to start with a classic Rubystar Antonov AN12 EW-484TI at 09.30am. The weather wasn't the best though with low cloud and using the opposite runway to last year which is a bit of a pain for shots etc.. but a nice surprise was the departure of UP-EC501 Eurocopter EC501 of the Kazakhstan government while waiting for the mighty Antonov to leave for its hour long pleasure flight, once the smoke had cleared from the Russian coal burners departure we then went for a drive to the other end of the runway for arrival shots.. big changes have been made since last year with a new road going in which is very helpful for landing shots and even gets you rite passed the new hangers and ramps where the Rubystar maintenance is, and their stood one of the highlights for me of the trip.. an Angolan Air force Ilyushin IL76 T-905, which was good for a shot along with a Antonov AN12 EW-483TI and another IL76 EW-383TH, both belonging to the locally based airline Rubystar, further down the ramp were a couple of Russian A/F TU134s RF-12041/RA-65733 in various states of repair, after passing these classics the road then takes you into the main airport car park for the staff, which is far as you can go, but not without a cheeky photo of a classic ex Belavia TU134 EW-65145, which is sat on its belly with the wings and engines off looking quite sad for its self.... soon to be scrapped possibly??  To be honest though, we still didn't know if this place was out of bounds really so some very quick shots were taken before heading back for the arrival of the mighty AN12.. we then stayed their most of the day shooting the other two pleasure flights in the shape of a Motor Sich Yack 40 UR-MSX and a LET410 Turbolet LY-AVA and the days arrivals, which were mostly taken up from the home based airline Belavia's fleet of Boeing 737-300/400 and 800's, ERJ170/190s and CRJ200's, and a mixture of some others, mainly European majors but the more interesting of which were.. Aeroflot Superset's RA-89046,RA-89063, UTair classic Boeing 737-400 VQ-BIG and Turkmenistan Boeing 737-800 EZ-A018, EW-78779 IL76, EW-465TQ 747-300F and lastly Air Astana ERJ190 P4-KCI... 

 

       So with Saturday coming to an end, the weather clearing up and with nothing of interest due in, we headed round to the terminal to shoot the Airliners that are on plinths that are better for shots later in the afternoon. Nice set of old soviet airliners which included.. Antonov AN2 EW-237CD, Yakovlev YK40 EW-88202, Antonov AN24 EW-47291, Tupolev TU134 EW-65149 which has a false reg on as CCCP-65036, Ilyushin IL76 EW-  and lastly Tupolev TU154 EW85581

then it was off for the 40 minute drive into Minsk city and meet up with the group who already had arrived at the hotel after their flights during the day.....

 

Sunday 20th May DAY 3........

                                               I decided to go for an early morning stroll this morning due to the group having a leisurely start time and headed down to a local Great Patriotic war museum a mile away which had a Lisniov Li-2 on display, not the best for shots as it had a fence round but never the less worth the effort....  

  So with a quick power walk, i reached the hotel some 20 minutes later and meet up with the group for breakfast.....The plan today was for the group to visit a light airfield called Borovaya to the north east of Minsk,  this place has a smallish museum with some nice inmates from the Belarusian A/F and Airliners in various schemes and a parachute school which operates a couple of Antonov AN2s and Mil-2s. We had an hour here, which is ideal as most of the aircraft are well parked just to walk round and shoot very easily, so not a lot of time is needed. 

              So... with everything worked it was off to Lipki, 'another light airfield to the north'  Lipki though is a Government/Air Force run airfield and not accessible to the public without prior notice, 'hence why we joined the group this year again' and has some nice residents in the shape of Mil-26's Mil-8's and Mil-2s, and An2's and Yak 52s some of which are in Air Force colours...    The group today had several pleasure flights booked but a major disappointment was the cancellation of the mighty Mil-26 pleasure flights, i for one was really looking forward to seeing this beast fly and hadn't booked to go on it unlike a handful of the group, so they must have been gutted as this now has cancelled two years running...  I had though booked to go for an hour on the Antonov AN-2 and hoping it would be a different one to last years example... One change to last years program was a flight in a Kamov, but this was at an Airfield 30 miles away called Starinki airfield , so some of the group went by bus, had the flight in the Kamov and flew back in the Mil-2 or did it in the opposite direction, meanwhile the Mil-8 and An-2 were kept busy doing their hour long flights around Minsk and the surrounding area. As i mentioned, i opted for another AN2 flight and was chuffed when it turned out to be a different one from last year example, EW-325AB was this years beast, a fine looking machine which coped well in the blustery conditions which kept me grabbing hold as we bounced about as if it were a roller coaster....  all to soon though it was back down to earth, but on landing heard some great news that the mighty Mil-26 was going to do some engine run ups and we were welcome aboard..  some went onboard but a couple of us really wanted to work this beast with its rotors turning, and had some good luck that once they had started we where then invited aboard via the tail ramp...  not a nice feeling though with the big tail rotor spinning only a few feet away with the down draft of the massive main rotors also..  having said that i wouldn't have it any other way  "fantastic"  

          Well that was another day nearly over, so once back to the Hotel in Minsk centre we both had a walk out to sample the restaurant we visited last year, and wasn't disappointed. If im honest Minsk is a very clean modern looking city and very cheap, so even if your not doing any spotting you certainly wont be disappointed with a weekend visit here enjoying what this city has to offer the tourist.. 'i certainly was very impressed with it' very friendly people and nice food... "and a great way to finish a most enjoyable day".....

 

 

Monday 21st May DAY 4........

                                                The group this morning had three pleasure flights planned, Rubystar Ilyushin IL76, Motor Sich Antonov AN74 UR-74026 and lastly an Giomex Antonov AN26... so with the first departure at 8.30am we had an early start and said our goodbyes to the group'for now' and left the hotel for the 40 minute drive to Minsk Airport to get set up for the departure of the first of the pleasure flights....    First was the mighty IL76, which on return did a very "and i mean" very low fly by with gear up and Cargo doors open then landed followed by the Motor Sich AN74 and then Genex AN26. The AN26 though wasn't allowed to do the same routing as the other two previous flights had done due to some military exercise going on which resulted in it doing several touch and go's.. so this got truly worked!!  Once this had landed it was straight round to drop the car rental off and check in for our Motor Sich flight to Zaporizhia as (MSI318), this flight being a rare type to fly on 'and certainly a first type for me' was the AN74 UR-74026 and if im honest very cheap compared to what some of the group had paid for an hours flight in it earlier.. and our flight meanwhile was due to be around 2 hrs long so a double bonus...  this flight though was the schedule flight from Minsk 'which is normally a Antonov AN140, but also had the group onboard for their extension to Zaporizhia.. 

            So with all onboard and what looked like the captain giving us the safety brief.. it was off to the end of the runway, and once lined up, a similar pattern that most Antonov's seem to do before the take off run occurred.. brakes on with full power applied, "which seemed to be for several minutes with the aircraft possibly shaking its self to bits" but once the brakes released it was off like a whippet with a very quick rotation and climb out with things then smoothing out for the rest of the 2 hour flight...If im honest, i was well impressed with the interior of this An74 given that it really is a cargo aircraft, and doesn't look an easy job to revert to its original design, "and very quiet too"....    But all too soon we were touching down on Zaporizhia's runway with no less than two dozen WFU Ilyushin IL76s parked around the ex military base along with An12s,An26s and several fighters also....  We had tried to arrange a flight with Motor Sich in one of their helicopters to shoot these beasts, 'which is well advertised' but you need five people to make it viable to charter a Mil2... the group meanwhile had arranged a ramp tour here at Motor Sich's base, which had about a dozen of their aircraft in various states.. which inc a An12,Yack 40/42,An140 and An24, with also number of their helicopters on the ramp..  we though opted to do this part on our own with it being expensive to just do the ramp tour and weren't guaranteed to shoot everything on the ramp, 'a wise choice given what we were told by the group who did the ramp tour earlier' 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday 22nd May DAY 5........

                                              So.... another day a another very early start for our taxi to Zaporizhia Airport to catch our 7am flight to Kiev Zhuliany, which was meant to be a Antonov AN24, although as with the Minsk flights, 'it changes at very short notice to other types in the motor Sich fleet'... we were hoping for a Yack 40, but no such luck today as the veteran turboprop airliner came taxiing over to the terminal from the maintenance area for the flight to the capital, i certainly wasn't bothered what i flew on as not flown in either, but must admit i was a tad disappointed when i seen the An24.. never the less a class aircraft in absolute mint condition... UR-47297 was our machine as (MSI201) for the 1 hour and 20 minute flight to the capital..... this particular machine is a 24RV version and looks to have spent all its life in Ukraine, which is some time given its first flight was in 1971!! never the less what a machine... and what a memorable flight with a very tasty ham sandwich and tea as a bonus, not bad for £24!! 

 

    After landing at Kiev Zhuliany, we had our breakfast in one of the airport cafes, then headed round to our hotel in a taxi, which i booked for the next three nights with it being rite under the flight path and not far to walk to the vantage point each day. We then headed round to spend the rest of the day at the vantage spot shooting the slow movements here at Zhuliany until the return of the two classic Antonov's An24s early evening,  'although slow' you do get some classic movements here, the two Motor Sich AN24s both at 9am and out at 10am, then both back again at 7pm and out at 8pm daily except Sunday.. also the local based airlines with classic Boeing 737s and MD83s of Bravo Airlines, Yanair with a similar fleet of classic Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s, with the rest of the airliner movements being Wizzair/Vueling and Alitalia A320s, daily Fly Dubai Boeing 737-8Max, Buta Airways ERJ190, Belavia Boeing 737s, LOT Polish Airlines ERJ170, Pegasus Boeing 737-8, Jordan Aviation/Lumiwings classic Boeing 737, Ernest A319...also one daily mail flight, SprintAir Cargo Saab 340F which seems to arrive at 9.30am and departs back to Warsaw 7pm ish..   last but certainly not forgotten is the Ukraine National Guard who have three Antonov AN74s based here along with a couple of Antonov AN26s of the Air Force and rescue service.. we were fortunate to get a AN74 doing several touch and goes the first day along with a couple of movements from a visiting Rescue An26 and a visiting Mil-8..  Also a big bonus here is the rework facility for Antonov AN24/26/30/32/72 and 74 and Yack 40s, of which a dozen examples were stored around their ramp and hanger area, unfortunately though, these are very hard to get good shots of with walls and fences blocking most of the aircraft... but if your lucky, you might get a couple doing a test flight like we did last year when the star of the trip did a couple of  flights, a Bangladesh A/F Antonov AN32!!  

                                               

Wednesday 23rd May DAY 6........

                                               Today was going to be a rather chilled out day spending all day at the vantage point, another quiet day really with a couple of classics due, so we stayed until the arrival of the Antonov's, which unfortunately were the same two aircraft all week!!

 

Thursday 24th May DAY 7........

                                                Even quieter today regarding half decent movements, so after the morning arrival and departure of the two Motor Sich Antonov's, we headed round to the fantastic museum which kiev is renowned for..

                                               

 

Friday 25th May DAY 8........

                                              Today we said goodbye to the excellent hotel and staff, but not before another visit to the vantage point to shoot the arrival and departures of the two Antonov's, "worked these two to death this week!" we were however hoping for some bizz today with it being the eve of the champions league final, but looked even quiet with executives.... so after a few hours we got a taxi and headed over to our last nights stay at Kiev's mains airport (Kiev Borispol)

 

Saturday 26th May DAY 9........

                                               Our last day today....   up early again as we were keeping an eye on the football charter arrivals, with most of the decent stuff arriving around the time we were due to check in around 1pm onwards... so we headed off around to the ex military ramp south side early and shot the stored aircraft their while shooting the arrivals in the mid morning sun through the fence...  you can see most of the military ramp and work some of the nearest transport stuff but not all... which is a shame as theirs some nice TU134s and An26s their with a several Mil helicopters and also the two classic stored Ilyushin IL62s, these are further down the ramp with the only hope of shooting these being first thing in the morning before too much heat haze over the fence next to the government entrance road....

   So after another decent trip with plenty of classics going in the box it was off to check inn for our 3 hour 20 min flight back to Blighty (London Heathrow) onboard my first sharklet equipped Airbus A320 G-EUYO as (BAW883) 'and after saying goodbye to Steve' onward to Newcastle in a full Airbus A319 G-EUOH as (BAW1336) in a very quick 50 minutes, which brought to an end another excellent trip round some of the ex soviet states.