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It’s interesting, how things are now on a ‘parallel branch’ of the whole air transport universe, - the one that’s in charge of air cargo transportation. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a map of Arctic. The one in which you could literally see ‘both sides of it’, as if you ’soar over the top of world’. I’ve got this picture by scanning a page in an old Soviet atlas, published in 1985. By the way, this year bears some significance in respect (how it would turn out later) - to the fates of the world’: ‘Perestroika’ was officially ’spinned-off” then, and in the following years this same world has changed unprecedentedly. Read the rest of this entry »

That’s it. I’ve had enough. I got tired of pointless waiting. I grew worn of futile dreams in which I’d all but crave, hopelessly, for ’some time’, in ’some indefinite future’..  Nah, forget it, - I want it now!  So, I’ve decided to get my own An-2 on floats!

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Another photograph from the ‘Valentin’s depository, ‘AVLUGA file’. It shows a ’sim bay’ at our college in Aktybinsk. These flight training devices had neither ‘motion capability’, nor any kind of visual system to simulate the effects of flight, and the elements of environment, but they did fairly good job when we used them during an introductory training course. Read the rest of this entry »

Valentin, a friend of mine, an ex-helicoter pilot from Siberia, and a former flight college mate, has just granted an access to his photo-archive. I almost have no words to express how much I appreciate such a deed on his part, and - how excited I am.. He has accomplished an effort of epic proportion, having scanned old negatives. And then he, driven by his good faith, uploaded them on the Internet. Read the rest of this entry »

Perhaps, last two posts have carried us away from realities of current season in regions of our prevalent residence. Matter of fact, the season (called winter, by the way) keeps maintaining its ‘primary feature properties’ - simply, it’s cold, and there’s sufficient amount of snow still covering most of the country. Read the rest of this entry »

The Caribbean. Enthralling beauty of turquoise waters. Divine islands contoured with miles of sandy beaches exposed to effects of elements, - such as balmy breezes - that gently caress pale-skinned bodies of temporary visitors fetched over here, across the spaces from their habitats normally found in much higher latitudes.. An enticing concept of living ‘with no time’. An ultimate getaway, a magnet paradise for escapist-type characters populating some of John Grisham’s books. Warning: “Do not get overly enchanted!” Read the rest of this entry »

Do you know that today is the ‘National Aviation Day’? As a matter of fact, it is exactly today, on February 23, 2009, all the country’s aviation community (and all to whom it matters in the entire world, for that sake), commemorate the 100th Anniversary since the first ever ‘manned, heavier-than-air, motor-powered flight‘ in Canada. On this day, exactly one hundred years ago, a motorized craft called ‘The Silver Dart’ made history as it lifted off from the frozen surface of the Bras d’Or Lake in Cape Breton Island, and flew successfully 800 meters, at an altitude of 9 meters. Read the rest of this entry »

Of course, one of the important subjects, - if you talk about operating aircraft in remote, and sparsely settled areas, i.e., in the ‘bush’, - should be a topic of the aircraft itself. As I keep writing this collective notes, which, I hope, one day will make up a core to the ‘Comparative analysis of bush operation on both sides of Arctic’, I feel a need to talk in more detail about the planes employed for this kind of job, on both - North American, and Russian side, respectively. Read the rest of this entry »

Interesting, what’s going on with this Beaver? Been noticed recently in Kelowna, in such a ‘humble’ condition. Hope it’s destined for better. Say, it’s ‘waiting for a major overhaul’, maybe, ‘rebuild’, expecting a new - of course, turbine! - engine to be put on..  And it’ll see more sky one day.

Wonder, are the ‘Viking’ guys, along with a ‘go-ahead’ of their DHC-6 Series 400 program, also exploring a prospect to put a ‘renewed’ DHC-2 in production at some point down the road?