ER-ICB IL-18D Tandem-Aero/Grixona: At Chisinau	Cockpit restored by Captain Russo	Main cabin, with 'business class' behind the doors at the rear!	In flight over the Moldovan countryside	Rotating at the start of an amazing 'display'	Pulling a steep climb after take off	Indicated Air Speed.... 500kph!
Captain Russo Vladimir in the middle... thankyou sir!	ER-ADP An-12BK (ex UR-11346): Stored at Balti	YA-KAD An-12BP Kabul Air Company: ex ER-ACR, still in partial Uzbek colours with Tiramavia logo	ER-AZX An-24RV SkyLink Arabia	ER-TCF Tu-134A-3 Vichy Air Company	ER-65051 Tu-134A-3 Air Moldova	ER-46417 An-24B Air Moldova
ER-65071 Tu-134A-3 Air Moldova:Titles removed	ER-26046 An-24B Air Moldova: All white	ER-46599 An-24B Air Moldova	ER-65707 Tu-134A-3 Air Moldova	ER-65791 Tu-134A-3 Air Moldova: Titles removed	ER-YGD Yak-40D Moldova Government: Gift from President Putin, now wfu	ER-46508 An-24RV Air Moldova
ER-46685 An-24RV Tandem-Aero	ER-65094 Tu-134A-3 Air Moldova	ER-65140 Tu-134A-3 Moldova Government	ER-MLT Mil-2 Moldaeroservice: SAR helicopter	ER-ADD An-12AP Renan Air: Awaiting the scrapman	ST-NSP An-32B El Magal Aviation: ex ER-AZW	D2-MAQ An-72 Angola Air Charter: Arrived 2007 for maintenance (must be a big job!)
ER-ICS IL-18D Grixona: ex UR-CEO, with VIP interior, awaiting first service	ER-75929 IL-18D Vichy Air Company:Converted from IL-22M-II (lack of forward windows and pod on the fin tip)	ER-AFZ An-72 Aeroportul International Marculesti	ER-65036 Tu-134A-3 Air Moldova: On display outside the terminal

Continuing from Part 1 Thailand... After arrival at Dubai I switched from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1 to start the next part of the holiday. I chose Turkish Airlines for this, as I could fly with them from Dubai to Chisinau, Moldova, obviously via Istanbul, which was another place I wanted to do. The flight was listed as operated by A340-300, so I wasn't that happy to see an A321 at the gate, with poor leg room on quite a long flight. So after saying goodbye to the wife (who was then off to South Africa to see family), it was time for the serious business to begin!, and onto flight TK1163 to Istanbul at 0245 on Fri 4/4/09.

Arriving into Istanbul at 0700 I then had most of the day free before my connection to Chisinau. My intention for this time was to get the museum stuff done, and leave the actual airport for when I returned a few days later. So again jumping into a taxi with another Google Earth map at hand, first stop was a museum in the city, to get another DC-3. Quite easily found, as right on the Bosphorus river, the Koc Muzesi is a large transport museum with a few aircraft including a Starfighter on the gate, and also including ships, submarines and even a London bus! Unfortunately the place didn't open for another hour, however the Dak was still good for a shot from the gate, so with that 'in the bag' it was back to Ataturk Airport, and the excellent Turkish Airforce museum (Havacilik Muzesi) which adjoins the military Southside of the airport. Highlights here for propliner freaks are the Turkish AF Viscount and C-54, as well as two C-47's and an Istanbul Airlines Caravelle. There's also probably every jet fighter operated by the Turks over the years. The weather was perfect so I spent a good few hours going around 'wasting' everything, before heading back to the terminal for my next flight.

The next destination formed the basis for a lot of this trip, Chisinau (Kishinev), the capital of Moldova. This was to join around fifty other lucky punters, heading there to join the Airevents organised Ilyushin IL-18 flights. So with great anticipation, I took Turkish Airlines flight TK1471 to Chisinau on a B737-800. Flying North over the Black Sea, up the coast of Bulgaria past Bourgas, Varna and Tuzla before heading inland, Moldova is situated between Romania and Ukraine. Arriving at 1800, a little surprise was a French AF Twin Otter, present with what I more expected to see, many Russian built classics, including three IL-18's! Other members of the group were also arriving and being met by the local and German organisers, prior to taking a minibus ride to the Hotel Cosmos. These included non other than Steve 'Mr Propliner' Kinder!
I was told the original plan for the IL-18 flights was to organise a charter to Kiev and back, but because of lack of numbers the plan was changed, and instead an internal flight to Balti (Beltsy) in the North of the country was arranged. Thankfully the minimum number of thirty bookings was exceeded and it was 'on'. The aircraft involved was ER-ICB IL-18D (188010603) of Grixona. Built at the Khodynka factory on 6/3/68, it started life as an IL-18TD troopship prototype as CCCP-74296. Converted to passenger/cargo configuration for Aeroflot it was later operated by Tretyakova Airlines as RA-74296, before being sold to Pecotox Air in 2003 as ER-ICB. After a lease spell with Galaxy Air it was then sold to Grixona in 2005, and according to a plate inside the aircraft, is now operated by Tandem-Aero.

Sat 4/4/09: The 'big day' started with a briefing, during which we got the great news that there would be an extra 'display' flight at Balti! I had been expecting this, but it had only just been confirmed by the crew. So with that in mind and the perfect weather, the excitement was building! After arriving at the terminal and getting stung $40 for 'extra insurance', our flight was on the departure screen as TQ1410 to Balti at 1000. TQ is the code for Tandem-Aero, and its believed that Grixona are using their operating licence after losing their own. This is even backed up on the data plate inside the aircraft, and the fact that the Grixona titles were just removed, even though everyone still refers to the aircraft and crew as belonging to Grixona!
An odd fact about Moldova we were told is that there hasn't been any internal passenger flights since the Soviet days, so our flight was attracting even more attention. Not just that, but confusion, after our passports were given exit stamps (for an internal flight!), only to be collected again to have the stamp cancelled! So after all the build-up we finally boarded, with a lot of people trying to get the best seats in the house... the just six window seats forward of the wings being the best for that classic shot of the engines. However, we then found that the Germans had placed towels over them... only joking! Infact it was asked at the briefing that people should rotate these seats to be fair on everyone, which worked ok.
Flight TQ1410 took off at 1012 after the usual pause (with Russian aircraft) on lining up for the engines to be run up, causing loud vibration (great!). As well as the musical chairs during the flight, the cockpit door was left permanently open to capture every moment on photo and video! I must say, unlike the external paint job on the aircraft, the cockpit is in very nice condition, after apparently being restored and painted by Captain Russo Vladimir himself! The short flight to Balti then landed at 1035, when we discovered its not exactly a busy airport, with just An-12 ER-ADP present, apparently in storage but in very good condition. Not that people cared really, still on an 'IL-18 high' and expectant of the display flight coming up!
As with at Chisinau before boarding, everybody could not take enough pictures of the aircraft after landing, once everyone was cleared out of the way for those 'clean' shots. It was then time for the crew to re-board the aircraft and start engines for what was to be the highlight of the trip, with everybody left on the ground told to stand behind a line on the taxyway JUST before entering the runway! This was to be our extra-close viewpoint, as the IL-18 had turned at the end of the runway and was sat, lights on and belching smoke on line up for take off. It was then I noticed the passenger steps not far away and made a dash for them, climbing to the top for an even better look-down view as the IL-18 powered down the runway and rotated in front of us. WOW! After passing us a steep climb was followed by a left-hand turn back onto finals, coming head on in the opposite direction. With gear up the aircraft just kept dropping and dropping while speeding up for a LOW high speed pass, which the crew later said was done at an IAS of 500kph! OMG! Again, after passing, another sharp climb was pulled as the aircraft headed off for downwind to land. After the adrenalin rush I was concerned about my shots, and quickly went into view what I had captured... were they all blurred?! A couple of course, being so close to a fast moving subject. But there it was, the 'money shot', which after hearing my reaction, those around me wanted to see, and then of course send it to them! A few more shots were taken as the '18 touched down and rolled past us before turning and taxying back to us. Incredible, and all in fantastic weather!
After leaving the aircraft again the pilots, crew and organisers got together for a group shot, as did the whole group. We all then boarded for departure... off again at 1240 for the return to Chisinau. However, this time our route back was to be via a couple of other airfields in Moldova. First was Marculesti, which we circled before continuing South. Some friends of the crew were then waiting at Vadul Lui Voda (with an An-2 present for paradrops), and of course we had to put on a show for them! After performing a couple of very low passes we then headed for Chisinau, landing back at 1322.
As well as the report and photos here, there are many videos of this amazing event on YouTube. See it all for yourself!

Time to cool down and calm down with a nice drink after all that! It was actually quite hot, fortunately, as there was snow two weeks earlier! The day still wasn't over as well, with a full ramp tour of Chisinau ahead of us. On one hand, Chisinau airport is a great place to see a decent amount of old Russian built aircraft. On the other hand though, only a few of them rarely fly, with the Grixona IL-18 the busiest operating fairly regular flights. This is a great shame, but not surprising with blacklists and EU regulations affecting a lot of the old operators, and Air Moldova completely modernising their fleet. As well as this the airport doesn't have that many scheduled flights really, and those that it does have are not as interesting as you would hope for, with actually no Russian built aircraft used on scheduled services now.

Sun 5/4/09: Before I made the trip, I tried to find out as much as I could about how busy the airport was and how much the Russian built aircraft fly etc. I had then planned in an extra day to do some more photography at the airport and maybe visit one or two of the other Moldovan airfields. However, on getting here it was obvious this plan wasn't going to produce much, on top of what I'd already got. It was then I decided to change my outbound flight and leave today, being very satisfied with what had been photographed and the incredible thrill of the IL-18 experience.
There was however still one thing to do... photograph the Tu-134 mounted by the roadside close to the terminal, which I hadn't got around to doing yet. The aircraft was actually airlifted in place by a Mil-26 in September 2005, and looks great, including at night when it is very well lit. So with that task out the way, it was onto Turkish Airlines flight TK1472 to Istanbul on a B737-800. I was now going to have four days in Istanbul, and by chance there was a government meeting on, as well as a certain guy in town! Plenty of Turkish delight! ...next report.
 

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