THE SIGHT & THE SOUND 3/7 : Flight onboard Motor Sich AN-24 UR-MSI from Zaporizhia to Kiev (IEV)

Daniel’s Travel Vlog

FLIGHT #3/7 MOTOR SICH AN-24RV UR-MSI ZAPORIZHIA (OZH) – KIEV (IEV), MARCH 19, 2014

This video has been remastered in significantly improved in Sight & Sound and replaces the earlier version, published in 2015.

In March 2014 I still had some unused vacation days from the previous year and so I decided to do a little tour of the network of Motor Sich Airlines, based in Zaporizhia, in the Central South Eastern part of the Ukraine.

My pal, Steve Kinder needed no persuasion and instantly agreed to join.

The plan was to sample the Classic AN-24 in depth because the AN-148 and AN-74 of Motor Sich are by no doubt bound to survive their older sister by years to come.

Our original plan for Day Three was a rotation onboard AN-24 from Zaporizhia to Moscow (Vnukovo) and back and to remain onboard during ground time in Moscow.

However, the upcoming Ukraine crisis changed our plans completely.

Motor Sich was informed about tightened security measures imposed on Ukrainian aircraft at Vnukovo and that taking pictures on the ground would cause major problems.

We were strongly advised to change our plans, so we decided for another Kiev rotation and were offered to choose either YAK-40 or AN-24 as booking figures for the Vnukovo and for the Kiev flight were equally low.

Although I wanted to film a daylight flight onboard YAK-40, we finally decided to take the AN-24 for various reasons.

Firstly, Steve has been commissioned to write an article for the PROPLINER Magazine, so another flight onboard the YAK-40 would make little sense.

Secondly, the larger cabin onboard the AN-24 and the more classic nature of this aircraft would be more suitable for filming and last but not least, we flew on the YAK-40 two days before not knowing the operations schedule for the days to follow.

This video features the early morning flight from Zaporizhia to Kiev-Zhuliany.

There is nothing much to see at dawn at the abandoned airport of Zaporizhia except a few straying dogs safeguarding the terminal and the fence and a few YAK-40s at some distance and a large number of IL-76 parked far away in the middle of nowhere.

We were one hour early at the terminal, killing time outsmarting the dogs to let us take some pictures of the forgotten treasures of the Ukraine.

We could hear UR-MSI, our plane to Kiev, long before sighting her.

UR-MSI taxied to the old Zaporozhia terminal from the other side of the runway and was ready for boarding just in no time.

Due to strong head winds our flight back to Kiev took us almost twice the time compared to the flight on the YAK-40 two days before.

After an uneventful yet wonderful flight onboard this Antonov Classic, we were invited to kill time at our “home-base”, the JETEX-lounge until evening departure, taking a well-deserved rest.

History of Antonov 24RV UR-MSI

Airframe 27307608 was manufactured 1972 at the Aviant Plant and delivered on April 19, 1972
to the Bykovo Division of Aeroflot, registered CCCP-47699.

Leased from June 5, 1992 until September, 1995 to Mas Air Havayollari, Turkey, registered TC-MOB and named “Yalikavak”.

After return to Bykovo Avia in September, 1995, TC-MOB was registered RA-47699 and later reported stored at Bykovo after January 27, 1998.

RA-47699 was sold to an unknown Ukrainian buyer in May, 1999 and registered UR-47699, based at Kiev-Zhuliany.

UR-47699 was sold to Motor Sich Airlines in August, 2001 and registered UR-MSI.

Based at the Motor Sich Airlines ramp of Zaporizhia Airport, UR-MSI operates scheduled and charter flights for the Motor Sich Group.

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Flight details

Flight : M9 201
Date : Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Aircraft : AN-24RV
Registration : UR-MSI
Previous registrations :
CCCP-47699 (Aeroflot)
TC-MOB (Mas Air)
RA-47699 (Bykovo Avia)
UR-47699 (unknown, later Motor Sich Airlines)
Built : 1972
From : Zaporizhia (OZH)
To : Kiev (IEV)
Take off : 07.33 h (0533 UTC)
Touch down : 09.13 h (0713 UTC)
Flying time : 1 hour 40 minutes
Flying distance : 485 km
Altitude : 16.000 ft / 4.900 m
Speed : 170 knots
Flight Captain : Dudchenko, Sergey
First Officer : Pelekh, Vladimir
Flight Engineer : Dovgal, Roman
Navigator : Vodyanik, Sergey
Cabin Crew : Supkaeva, Olesya