Airliners-India.com

[PAL@YWG]

Background:
This trip happened in the summer of 2007.

Out of about 12 years of living as an expatriate in few challenging locations, I spent about two years in Tashkent during 2007-2009. While doing Aeroflot’s TAS- SVO- YYZ (being the most decent connection out of TAS at that point of time) every 6 months or so, I got tired after few trips (especially on SU’s dull and mundane 763’s for 10+ hours of boredom to cross the pond) and started thinking to add some spices to the routing!

My quest for WWII landmark in the former USSR region quickly reminded of a place called Yalta, a Black sea coastal resort town in Ukraine. Just before the end of WWII, Roosevelt, Churchill & Stalin met at Yalta and signed a historic document, basically detailing how Europe will be controlled post Germany’s defeat in the war. Ukraine saw it’s fair bit of atrocities in the war that was spread pretty much the whole country. What we know as “Crimean War” was fought in Odessa & Sevastopol and those two places are not very far from Yalta.

Yalta is still a very popular tourist destination, as it was in Soviet times. Tourists (mainly CIS nationals and Europeans) come here to enjoy the nearby mountains and warm waters of Black sea.

Having pin-pointed my destination, it didn’t take long to fine tune the itinerary. I will do YWG- YYZ- SVO- SIP- TAS (YWG- YYZ & SIP- TAS being separate tickets)

Date: July 25, 2007
Route: YWG- YYZ
Flight#: AC 258
Airline: Air Canada
Aircraft: A320
Departure: 10.30
Arrival: 13.50
I am not going in to details for this sector. This is one of those mundane (most of the intra-Canada runs of AC are like that) flights where you get a cup of water/Coffee/Tea and a pack of Pretzels. There will be some mild turbulence on the Great Lakes area and then your aircraft will eventually line up to land at YYZ. This one was no different.

My next flight is about five hours away. After a visit to the miniscule food court, I sat down for plane-spotting.

the look-alike AF tail is actually of Transaero (UN). Now bankrupt Zoom Airlines's tail at far

Date: July 25, 2007
Route: YYZ- SVO
Flight#: SU 304
Airline: Aeroflot
Aircraft: 767-300ER
Departure: 19.30
Arrival: 12.40+1

People started lining up before even the agents manned the counters. Toronto- Moscow segment generally has an interesting mixture of passengers. About 70% would be Indians (lured by the low fare, of course) and the rest would be a mixture of Russians and citizens of other CIS countries. And everyone brings XXL-sized bags to check in!

Once checked in, I cleared customs and headed towards the boarding gates.

This picture actually from a subsequent trip on the same route

Once airborne, like most of the other passengers, I was not expecting any top-notch service. FAs will come when they are ready, they will be repeating the same questions flight after flight.
- Veg or non-veg?
- Non-veg please
- Chicken or Fish?
- Fish please

Here you go..eat your fish and the bun. Enjoy your diet-coke and relish your dessert (a small slice of chocolate cake). Remain half fed till the end of the flight in true SU style!
Aeroflot’s 763’s have no PTV, the big screens are most of the time don’t work. This one is no exception. Once it became dark outside, people had no other option but to find ways to doze off as soon as they could. I had a copy of “An Accountant’s story” written by the accountant brother of Pablo Escobar, the Drug baron of Columbia. Boy, the smell of money and drugs kept me glued to it until I saw rays of morning sun over Scotland. Still about four hours to go…when everyone else is waking up, I felt sleepy and didn’t wake up until the flight entered Russian airspace. Breakfast was served hurriedly; I badly needed a cup of warm coffee.

Rest of the flight was routine. Once you deplane, at the end of your walk you will find a sign which essentially directs you what you should do next. It’s in Russian and English. For Transit passengers, you will be hoarded in a holding area where depending on the crowd already waiting there, you will be given a new boarding pass for you next sector. And you have to go thru passport control. For example, DEL- SVO-JFK passengers will be checked for their US visa (non-US citizens) though they have gone thru that drill at DEL already. Apparently, it does not make any sense but Aeroflot was and still is a target airline for illegal immigration.

In one such flight (SVO- LHR), I was the first hand witness of a Refugee claim at LHR. This elderly lady (from Indian sub-continent) has connected to LHR flight at SVO from DEL or KHI (I am not sure) and was standing on the immigration line just in front of me. When we got closer, she started behaving abnormally and caught the attention of the immigration people. Since she could only speak Hindi/Urdu a bi-lingual agent took her aside. She was asked:
- Where are you from?
- I don’t know
- Where is your passport?
- I don’t have one. (generally, they flush down the passport in the lavatory inside the plane)
- Who are you?
- I don’t know who I am.

Rest of the episode had taken place inside the agent’s office. But there comes one more asylum seeker on British soil. If I am not mistaken, Airlines are fined around $15,000 per kabootar and that’s why SU does one more round of PPT check at SVO.

I had a long wait at SVO with a change of terminal. While waiting I saw MIAT’s ULN- SVO-TXL to arrive and saw quite a good crowd at Check-in counter to connect to MIAT’s SVO- TXL run.
Those who are familiar with SVO and had to connect a flight from other terminals (in my case, I was going from Terminal F to Terminal C) know that you are expected to go upstairs and find out a small office among many duty free shops to present yourself and request for the transfer. Depending on how quick is your connection, you will be escorted by an agent to a shuttle bus. The shuttle bus driver will give you a grim look and lock you up (!) in the bus and will take a never ending serpentine route to bring you to Terminal C. But the journey is a feast for your eyes (if you are interested in USSR beasts).
Here is one picture:

IL-86 & Tu-154Ms scattered all over, Terminal F far behind

Terminal C is a shame in the name of an airport terminal. I am guessing during the recent renovation of SVO, Terminal C either has been renovated thoroughly or has been torn down completely.

Date: July 26, 2007
Route: SVO- SIP (Simferopol, nearest airport to Yalta)
Flight#: SU 699
Airline: Aeroflot Nord
Aircraft: Tupolev 134
Departure: 20.10
Arrival: 21.30

I am really getting excited to go inside the Tu-134 that will take me to SIP. My first Tu-134 trip was in mid nineties on a Malev flight for SVO- BUD. I have only fond memories of that flight. This will my second trip after a gap of 10+ years. I remember I met two young Americans (who arrived by SU’s LAX or SFO service) at the terminal who are also going to SIP. Those two guys also got equally excited seeing their Tu-134.

Once inside, the first thing that struck me was that the condition of the upholstery. I have seen my fair share of Soviet built aircrafts but this one surpassed my previous highs (or lows!). I was told by a friendly FA that these Tu-134s will not be flying for long as Aeroflot Nord already announced that they will be replacing them by western aircrafts. But it will be their 737-500 that wil crash next year near Perm, Russia. In those days I always felt comfortable to sit in a Soviet-made plane if that is captained by a Pilot from CIS countries.

Anyway, we took off and the climb was very slow but after it gains cruising altitude, it is just like any other flight. Though on a longer TU3/TU5 ride you may experience a warmer floor. With those two bewildered Americans (who caught fancy of a young pretty FA during most of the flight), we landed smoothly at SIP. The locals clapped as they always do in this part of the world.

I checked in to a hotel very close to the airport for the night. I found the crew is also spending the night there. Tomorrow morning, I will head to my destination, Yalta.

After breakfast at the hotel, I came back to the airport (walking distance) to find a taxi that will take me to Yalta (about 80 kms). After a bit of haggling, I selected an elderly gentleman who said he can bring me back from Yalta after my trip and for that he agreed to a discounted price. His old Lada (looks like Premier Padmini, those who didn’t see a Lada) is the perfect car as far as my choice is concerned but I was doubtful whether it will be able to go that distance without any incident. Well, there was only one brief stop by the roadside when he thought the engine is heating up too much. He opened the bonnet and invited me for some rode side tea and shish Kabobs while the engine gets rested.

Ukraine is at the crossroads. Once USSR dissolved, it couldn’t make up it’s mind which way to go, whether it should embrace Western values or still remain in Russia’s orbit. Eastern Ukraine (where Yalta is) is ethnic Russian dominated; hence most of them have lot to complain about the western Ukraine. My driver was one of them. He kept talking and I kept on updating by knowledge of the geopolitics of the region.

I was booked at Yalta Hotel. Its massive hotel built during Soviet times. It has it’s private beach for it’s residents amongst may other amenities. Here are some pictures;

Part of Black sea from hotel's arena

Lighthouse from Yalta's promanade

That big structure at the extreme right side is Yalta Hotel

In house entertainment in the hotel for young and kids

Hotel's private beach

Livadia Palace: Yalta Conference
On the third day of my stay I visited the palace. This palace was mainly a summer home for Russian czar Nicolai II and his family. As we know, at the height of the revolution, the Czar, Queen and their five children were killed by secret police near Yekaterinburg.

On the invitation of Stalin, Roosevelt & Churchill agreed to meet Stalin at Livadia Palace. In fact, the palace was the residence of Roosevelt during his stay. Hitlar’s defeat was inevitable and the big powers were at the table to decide about the future of Europe. At the end they came up with a joint statement called “Yalta declaration of liberated Europe”. And they also pretty much decided about the birth of today’s UN. Quite a historic meeting from that angle.


The declaration

Room where it was signed


Some historic documents


I found Stalin looking thin in this wax model

Livadia Palace; courtsey: Wikipedia

Czar Nicholai II & his family

I really liked this little gem called Yalta and was in no hurry to leave. But as all good things come to an end, I realized that Victor (the taxi driver) will wait for me at the hotel lobby. I better pack up.

Date: July 31, 2007
Route: SIP- TAS
Flight#: HY 748
Airline: Uzbekistan Airways
Aircraft: Boeing 757-200
Departure: 21.00
Arrival: 0305+1

Victor kept answering all my question while he drove his loyal Lada at it’s capacity. This time he didn’t have to stop by the roadside for any reasons. He wants to drop me to the airport and pick up another tourist for Yalta the same day. Now driving taxi is his profession but he was a draughtsman at an ammunition factory during Soviet time.

HY flies to SIP in the summer only. Yalta is still a popular tourist destination among rich Uzbeks and a lot of Uzbek farmers come to Crimea to earn a living by doing farming for rich Ukrainians who depend on their cheap labour.

Some plane spotting at SIP:

Cessna and Yak-40s live side by side here

My aircraft has just landed

Tail of Ukrainian Intl Airlines on the right side

An YAK 42D behind HY's 752

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed another non Indian destination that I penned.
_________________
Tally Sheet:
41 Countries ||55 Aircraft types ||60 Airlines ||75 Airports

[sumantra]

...this is one report to drool on, Mr. Pal.
Why? Exotic locales, interesting routing, some not-so-common airlines.
Nice pictures, and a fantastic description to go with it.
Unusual? No, not for you!
You have this amazing propensity to come up with gems like this.
Some miscellaneous points:
- Yalta is a dream destination for many, to see the WW2 historical places
- Interesting descriptions of the types of passengers!
- The capsule-description of intra-Canada flights!
- The SU `service', and SVO description!
- The `kabootar' description - this is a very typical term used for such people in north India.
- Lovely pictures of Soviet-era aircraft!
- The Lada series has an interesting history. In 1968, the Soviet Union wanted a replacement for the ageing Zils and Volgas, and wanted a small contemporary car which could be put into mass production. The FIAT 124 was chosen as a candidate, and went through numerous road tests. This was the base Lada model, on which many variants were made. Premier used this as a base with a Nissan Cherry engine and transmission, and went on to build the Premier 118NE. The Premier President/Padmini were based on the FIAT 1100, another FIAT best-seller.
- Superb hotel and beach pictures!
- Ditto for the museum(s)
- Plane-spotting at SIM: I think you missed out attaching a picture of the Yak-40s. The other bizjets are common in India - can you please put in some Yak-40 ones? We know this plane as the `kerosene exterminator'
- The last Yak-42D picture was interesting - do you have one with the complete plane in view?
Thank you once again, for getting carried away by my greed to extricate more reports from you. I hope you continue this trend - I am sure there are many more such reports which we would love to read! What a fantastic way to start the day, for the reader in India!
With warm regards, Sumantra.

[Nimish]

Lovely - exotic report! I presume you can speak Russian fluently - or was English OK while in that part of the world?

How was the food/ cuisine in Yalta - anything exotic or different? The town/ sea/ hotel look rather nice from these awesome pictures!
_________________
We miss you Nalini!

[shasi1711]

One of the most interesting reports, Mr. Pal!

The place, airlines, aircraft and most importantly, your style of writing make it wonderful to read.

[PAL@YWG]

[PAL@YWG]

[PAL@YWG]

[sumantra]

[yash777]

Jeez! This was deja vu for me! I took the tu-134 from SVO to SIP just exactly 4 yrs back. (The taxi time from the runway to the terminal at SIP was an eternity. Was it the case for you too?). Your description of the Tupolev is spot on. Mine had a leaking roof. And I just love that terminal at SVO from where you'll see all kinds of Russian exotics. Stayed in Ukraine for 2 years. The only thing good about the country is the girls to be honest. Pierogi, Bosch, I miss them a lot!

Thank you PAL@YWG!
_________________
Jetphotos Flickr gallery

[Jaysit]

Fantastic report!

Thanks for taking us to Yalta!

[PAL@YWG]

[PAL@YWG]

[sri_bom]

Nice exotic report.

I also very much liked the free guided tour of the city

Sri_Bom

[PAL@YWG]

[stealthpilot]

Awesome ... awesome TR!!!
_________________
eP007

[PAL@YWG]