THE SIGHT & THE SOUND : Flight onboard Antonov Airlines AN-22A UR-09307 from Leipzig to Chalons

Daniel’s Travel Vlog FLIGHT ANTONOV DESIGN BUREAU AN-22A UR-09307 LEIPZIG (LEJ) – VATRY (XCR), OCTOBER 4, 2020 This flight marks the crowning of my entire aviation travelling career and may well be a good reason for me to retire from this chapter of my busy life. Travelling during the Corona Pandemic was unthinkable and I was about to believe that there were realistic chances to be cured from my greed for Aviation History for good. My best of intentions lasted precisely until the last week of September, 2020, when an invitation reached me to grab my camera and attend a flight onboard the legendary Antonov 22 the first week of October. The plan was to join the ferry leg from Leipzig to Châlons Vatry (XCR), a once-in-a-lifetime-chance not to be missed after decades of ongoing efforts. In “Pre Corona times” I was ready to be carried in a wheelchair onboard this legend, yet the Pandemia left me with second thoughts and serious doubts, when pressing personal matters forced me simultaneously to throw all good considerations over board and to hop on one of the few remaining services from Japan to Germany after passing a Corona Express Test in Tokyo the previous day for an outrageous cost of the equivalent of 450 US$ ! The ferry flight was scheduled for Sunday, October 4. Arriving in the evening of October 3 in Frankfurt in transit, I was on the mercy of the earliest possible connection of infamous Deutsche Bahn to Leipzig-Halle Airport due to lack of domestic flight connections. Leaving Frankfurt Airport Station in 1st Class first thing on Sunday morning, Deutsche Bahn once again lived up to its standards and reputation, when the display on board suddenly announced a 30 minute delay due to construction works enroute, which would result in missing my onward connection in Nürnberg and consequently missing my flight in Leipzig. During the ten minute ride to Frankfurt Main Station I rearranged my travel plans to another train, leaving me 40 minutes in transit. The train left in time, when I discovered that my suitcase was stolen right from the rack in the 1st Class cabin of the ICE, leaving me in a state of shock. Luckily only clothing and a shaver was inside and with less of five hours of sleep over the past four days and a state of constant excitement, I arrived in the completely abandoned Airport of sunny Leipzig around noon. Planned departure was 14:30 LT, yet speedy ground preparations allowed an early departure of one hour ahead of schedule. Everybody jumped on board and I assumed position at the tiny window outlet in the upper level crew compartment behind the cockpit. Taping the counter rotating propellers in a shutter speed no smaller than 1/60 with a manual focus to avoid filming the contamination on the window outlets and manually adjusting the exposure settings to avoid too bright images, without having control of the display, proved to be the greatest challenge I ever encountered on a flying machine so far. In my eyes, the AN-22 is undoubtedly the most thrilling and awesome beast that has ever emerged to the skies, yet also the most challenging when it comes to filming. She does not reveal her secrets easily and to everyone, yet with a certain amount of skill, effort and endurance, you will be rewarded with her charm and love. The sounds of four counter rotating monstrous blades of propellers are beyond description and the interior reminds me of a gigantic submarine with countless hiding spaces upstairs and downstairs, designed to survival in war times. This and many more features can be discovered in this video. Please accept my apologies, if the quality of this video leaves things to be desired and does not always fulfill the standards of professional video taping. I still hope, you can enjoy this video. Welcome onboard the AN-22. The history of Antonov 22A UR-09307 can be found at the end of this video. Enjoy with me the Sights & Sounds of Classic Aviation. Thank you for visiting my channel. Flight details Flight : ADB 303F Date : Sunday, October 4, 2020 Aircraft : AN-22A Registration : UR-09307 Former Registrations : - CCCP-09307 (8th Voyenno-Transportnoy Aviatsii Polk/VTAP (Military Transport Aviation Regiment)) Built : 1974 From : Leipzig (LEJ) To : Châlons Vatry (XCR) Take off : h (1138 UTC) Touch down : h (1310 UTC) Duration flight time : 1 hour 32 minutes Flying Distance : 793 km Altitude : / / / / / m Speed : 511 / 577 / 564 / 531 / 540 / 546 / 550 km/h Flight Crew Flight Captain : Mosin, Volodymyr Check Captain : Antonov, Dmytro PIL : Yushkov, Oleh Navigator : Dernovyi, Vasyl Navigator : Lavochnykov, Sergii Flight Engineer : Pankratov, Igor Flight Engineer : Nesterov, Ivan R/O : Iaskov, Oleksandr Flight Manager : Andriushchenko, Dmytro L/M : Kyryliuk, Oleksandr