THE SIGHT & THE SOUND 3/4 : Balkan Bulgarian IL-18 LZ-BEU inflight documentary from Ohrid to Sofia

This documentary features a flight in onboard Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Ilyushin 18 from Ohrid back to Sofia almost two decades ago. This was one of the most awesome weekends I ever experienced in my life. I spent the entire weekend together with a fascinating crew in Ohrid, Macedonia, before returning the following Monday morning, returning all the way back to Seoul, South Korea via Sofia, Budapest, Amsterdam and Osaka / Japan. This flight was delayed due to fog in Sofia. The crew contacted Sofia airport enroute and had my connecting flight to Budapest on Balkan AN-24 delayed for 30 minutes. It was well worth my while and only possible if you are 32 years old ;-)

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.

I hope you can enjoy with me the Sights & Sounds of Classic Aviation.
Thanks for watching.

Flight details
Flight : LZ 342
Date : Monday, December 9, 1996
Aircraft : IL-18V
Registration : LZ-BEU
Former registrations :
CCCP-75870 (Aeroflot Soviet Airlines)
YE-AYE (Yemen Government
4W-ABO (Yemen Airlines)
Later registrations :
LZ-BFU (Bulgarian Flying Company and Bulgarian Flying Cargo)
EX-75427 (Phoenix Aviation)
EX-75427 (Daallo Airlines)
Built : 1963
From : Ohrid (OHD)
To : Sofia (SOF)
Take off : 07.26 h (0626 UTC)
Touch down : 09.07 h (0707 UTC)
Flying time : 41 minutes
Flying distance : 400 km
Altitude : 6.000 m
Speed : 620 km/h
Captain : Lovdjiev, Stefan Atanasov
Check Captain : Solakov, Georgi
First Officer : Stoyanov, Stoyan Zlatev
Flight Engineer : Daskalov, Nikolay
Navigator : Spassov, Lubomir Stefan
Additional Crew : Angelov, Acho
Additional Crew : Todorov, George Kolev
Cabin Crew : Manolov, Borimir
Cabin Crew : Vitanova, Natasha
Cabin Crew : Velichkova, Irena