30 July 2008
In early 2008 I started being interested in aviation. With a big but quiet international airport nearby (Oostende) I could do 'field-studies', watching planes from nearby and admiring them. We have a few passenger flights here but the focus is mainly cargo. I got used to seeing the American-built planes of Boeing and McDonnell Douglas and the European-built Airbus planes. I especially liked the big types and thinking about how far these planes had travelled, what they all had seen. Of course I had heard before of the Russian plane makes such as Tupolev, Ilyushin and Antonov, but I had seen none before. However, I did do a look-up on one specific plane type that comes here occaissionally, the Antonov 124. It is bigger than the American Boeing 747 jumbo jet and is very impressive indeed, carrying cargo.
Some days before 30 July there was such a plane in Oostende airport, but it flew at night and so it wasn't exactly worth to see it. But then, on one hot Wednesday-afternoon, a Volga-Dnepr operated Antonov 124 came flying in from Arkhangelsk. I was immediately very much impressed by its size, shape and distinct Russian-ness. It came from Arkhangelsk, in the north of Russia, and made a stop here in Oostende to 'swallow' (one of its cool characteristics, see photo) some cargo before taking off to Casablanca in Morocco in the evening.
This hot Wednesday afternoon was the start of a fascination, not only of the plane in question, but of the biggest country in the world.
Some photos of that day:
On approach to Oostende
Ready for touchdown
Bent down and ready to eat cargo
Continuing interest in the Antonov 124 and growing interest in Russia as a whole
The interest for this big plane didn't cease to exist. I found out more and more and with it, the interest for Russia grew. I started associating Russia with 'alternative and bigger', the sort of association I still have today. Every time an AN124 came flying in, I tried to capture it, either by taking photos or by recording videos.
Antonov 124 shining in the early morning sun after a trip from Trinidad & Tobago (+/- 6AM)
Movie at the end of November 2008 showing an Antonov take off procedure
I was very fortunate that in May 2010 I had the opportunity to see an Antonov 124 up close. This was one of my many dreams to be fulfilled in life. It was difficult because it required persistent urging, but in the end the airport authorities gave in and drove me to board a Ukrainian Antonov 124 (UR-82072) that had arrived from a German Airforce base. It was amazing. The main cargo room looked like a massive hall, the cockpit is massive and it has so many distinct features which make it unique. It was just so big and impressive. I was very happy to have finally succeeded and see one up close.
Some pictures from my visit on an Antonov Design Bureau Antonov 124
Flying in from Germany with its impressive landing gear extracted
A lot of wind to deal with, but no problem for this Russian beast!
Up close
Cargo area
The cockpit: this plane is flown by 6 people, excluding crew
The Antonov 124 was built in Ukraine, but at the time the Soviet Union still existed. I had long been interested in the Cold War. I knew quite a lot about the American side of things, but with the Antonov impulse I started to develop a dinstinct interest in the other side of the story: the Soviets. It was something completely new to me, although not completely unrelated to my interest in modern history. Watching Victory Day parades was impressive and added more enthousiasm on learning the history of this particular country. Plans were pretty quickly in place to travel to Moscow with all its special buildings, but first I had to pass all my exams at university. With the potential Moscow trip in mind I managed to do just that and the trip was planned for the end of August - early September. During the summer I showed specific interest in the communist/socialist-era (1917-1991). A scare for my trip came in mid-summer 2010 when forest fires erupted and left Moscow in thick smog. For a moment it looked like the trip would not go ahead, but with about 2 weeks to go, the smog lifted. As someone interested in WWII I was especially interested in seeing the military side of things, but I wanted to see the classical Moscow tourist attractions as well of course (such as the St.-Basil Cathedral, Kremlin, VDNKH, Christ the Savior Cathedral, etc.). Thanks to the help of a Muscovite I managed to plan ahead what I wanted to do some weeks in advance. On 30 August 2010, 25 months after the initial impulse of my liking for Russia, I nervously but gratefully boarded a Brussels Airlines plane to go on my way to Moscow's Domodedovo Airport! The first time on Russian soil, but with so much still to learn.
No comments:
Post a Comment