2010 Articles

We drove to the west of Saint Petersburg to the small general aviation (GA) airfield of Gostilitsy, where a whole host of common Russian built aircraft were scattered around. There were a couple of very smart Yak-18 and Yak-52 aircraft here and this looked to be busier than the previously visited Kasimovo, with some microlight aircraft being readied for flight as we arrived. There were a handful of western aircraft types here too including a Spanish registered PA-25 Pawnee, a Cessna 188 Ag Truck and an American registered Lake 250 Renegade. A single An-2, 0205K, was parked on the grass the other side of the single concrete runway, and we were asked if we would like a ride. Most of us accepted the offer but we had a couple in the party that decided that they'd flown on enough of these before - well that was until we were told that we would be landing away at a second airfield.

Georgi asked if anyone wanted to actually fly the An-2. Well as we only had two pilots on this trip and Bob, who flies Boeing 757s, wasn't bothered if he flew the An-2 or not, I naturally stepped forward to volunteer. I pulled myself up into the right seat in the elevated cockpit and I had a non-English speaking pilot in the left seat. Georgi helped the pilot with the startup and we taxied the short distance onto the runway. Full power and we were off in no time in a gentle climb. After a couple of minutes the pilot gestured to me to take control, and, although we spoke no common language, we each understood what was required using hand signals. Which direction to fly, when to climb and descend, and who had the controls. I left the engine management alone as I had no idea what settings were required for the big radial engine. We arrived overhead the airfield of Kummolovo which was 20nm to the southwest and found there was a Russian Government Mi-8 sitting on the grass runway with its engines idle. Our pilot took control and performed an approach that involved landing over the Mi-8. The short-field performance of the An-2 of course meant that this wasn't a problem.

After a little confusion with the man on the ground radio about where he wanted us to park, we shut down and piled out to have a look around. We were told we could wander anywhere we wanted. The Mi-8 was taking up parachutists and was winding up as we started to explore the airfield. There was only one other airworthy An-2 parked here but another four were behind one of the hangars languishing in the weeds. RA-51472 looked like it had been burned and would certainly never fly again. Quite rare to see was the fact that three of these were all in the same drab green colour scheme and all in sequence registration wise. (RA-51470 to RA-51472). The last one was in the old classic Aeroflot white scheme and still showed signs of its CCCP markings.

Other notable items present were a nice looking Yak-12 in a hangar and a preserved Ka-26 in a prominent position in the centre of all operations. One of the Yak-52s was painted in Luftwaffe markings, complete with swastika on the tail. We were told the aircraft was painted like this for use in a film. There were also gliders present with a very home-made looking powered glider that could arguably have been described as vintage, while the remainder were Russian Air Force airframes carrying only a bort number under the wings. We shot the Mi-8 some more as it continued to take up more parachutists before we were herded back to our An-2. I was ushered back to the right-hand seat to take the controls once more - who was I to complain?!

After about 20 minutes of flight the pilot pointed out where we would be landing, although I really couldn't see an airfield that resembled the one we had started off from. No wonder I couldn't see it as this was in fact somewhere completely different! Another short concrete runway saw us landing at an airfield called Seltso, 16nm to the east. This was a much smaller airfield than any others we had visited and the reason for this became clear after we disembarked when Georgi told us all about the place. This was a new airfield built only three years earlier and actually owned by Georgi and a couple of others. They basically owned the surrounding land and decided to build their own place to fly from! Seltso may be a very small airfield but it has an impressive array of equipment that would put some larger places to shame. It has two non-directional beacons (NDB) that Georgi actually built himself. Both have the identifier in morse code of SL and both run off a single 12 volt car battery. The small one has a range of 50km and the larger a range of 150km. Georgi told us that in the old days when these type of nav aids were conceived, that the calculations regarding the power needed to make these work was incorrect. Normally NDBs suck-up a fair amount of electricity but Georgi had devised a way to use a much lower voltage - this was impressive in itself but he had another ace up his sleeve.

He pointed us to a caravan on top of a hill near the end of the runway telling us that this would be his microwave landing system (MLS) when completed. This just rams home the ingenuity that the people in Russia use to forge on, experiment and build things that many would say couldn't be done. This would be like Popham having an NDB plus an MLS, except Popham is far, far bigger! Mind-blowing, but almost a normal attitude in this country. There were a pair of Ka-26s under wraps that Georgi was in the process of making into a single flyable helicopter, and, on the other side of the runway in the parts storage area where the four Ka-26 engines were laying, was a huge set of floats, which, Georgi advised us, he intends to eventually fit to the An-2. This place blew my mind to be perfectly honest.

2010-07-27 - Sagar Pathak
What a wonderful host and a great article. That's cool that no matter where you are, what language you speak (or don't!) that two guys can get into a plane and still fly.