THE SIGHT & THE SOUND 4/10 : Balkan Bulgarian AN-24 LZ-AND documentary from Sofia to Bourgas

Almost two decades ago, in September 1996, my family and I flew all the way from South Korea to visit the Black Sea island of Nessebar in Bulgaria. How could I then miss the opportunity to sample life onboard on Balkan's Antonov 24s, which were disappearing at alarming speed in Eastern Europe ?
There were more surprises on this visit, than I have expected.

Yet, my brand new SHARP camera broke down frequently, not to mention the batteries. This camera was the first generation of video cameras with digital recording. Obviously the digital recording technology 18 years ago was still at an experimental stage. The video head got worn out immediately. After a few seconds the camera turned hot and taping was interrupted, especially during the most important phases of taping : Take off and landing. Eighteen years later, I tried to assemble the fractions of this puzzle of video fragments as best as I could.
This is the result.

Nevertheless, owing to its historic nature, I decided to go public. Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience.

This documentary features the second flight of seven on this visit. This video features a flight onboard Balkan Bulgarian Airlines, from Sofia to Bourgas in September 1996 and gives you a feeling of what flying was like in the 60s, on the ground and on board.
A deadheading captain onboard however did not like me filming on board. He threatened to have me arrested upon arrival in Bourgas. The flight crew however was able to clarify this situation. This was the first of two times I ever had a bad experience onboard a Bulgarian aircraft. The second time was just three days later, when the before mentioned dead heading captain was in charge an internal flight back to Bourgas - on a Tupolev 154M - .

Flight details
Flight : LZ 057
Date : Monday, September 16, 1996
Aircraft : AN-24B
Registration : LZ-AND
Built : 1967
From : Sofia (SOF)
To : Bourgas (BOJ)
Take off : 17.08 h (1408 UTC)
Touch down : 17.58 h (1458 UTC)
Flying time : 50 minutes
Flying distance : 470 km
Altitude : 4.500 m
Speed : 450 km/h