BACK TO THE USSR! Flying to Chernobyl on Soviet Airliners!
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- Опубликовано: 9 фев 2025
- I took a trip to the deserted town of Pripyat, Ukraine, scene of the Chernobyl disaster, onboard some classic Soviet airliners - here's what happened!
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It's weird watching this in mid 2022 knowing life for pretty much everyone in this video has changed..
I 100% appreciated you saying "Si" instead of "Da". I've done that before on my travels.
Si means "Yes" in the single non-English language we Americans call "foreign." Glad it is not just us. You can also ask anyone in the world "Hablas Ingles" to find out if they speak English. 😂
mightymia9 I did that in Mittenwald, Germany (Alps)-asked a local guy where the post office was *en espanol* My brother thought that was hilarious..😬
@@maggiespeak-f1w that's hilarious. I asked someone for something in American before. I have never been so embarrassed for myself.
mightymia9 What is American?
yank english
The most terrifying flight of my life was an Aeroflot flight from Moscow to Kyiv I took as a college student in the late 1970s. I think the pilot was having flashbacks from his days as a WWII Red Air Force pilot because he performed the steepest dive coming into Kyiv I've ever felt and it didn't help that the Russian guy sitting next to me looked at me, wide-eyed, and stated in very broken English, "I hope there's an airport down there." Luckily, there was. 😂 I feel so bad for the descendants of the pets in Chernobyl that were abandoned by evacuating families. Luckily there are good Samaritans that come every day to feed them. Tragic.
@@PatGeo95 Not all of them were killed, there is a big population of dogs in the zone right now, look up the dogs of chernobyl program
Love the fact you were unaware of the aircraft operating your flight until the bus door opened! Brilliant trip report, was very interesting to see the Chernobyl site as well. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you :) It's great fun when it's a total lottery which aircraft you'll get - especially when you know it will always be a classic Soviet airliner!
@@noelphilips hhhg
Thank you for this fascinating vid! My family used to live in Pripyat' and my mom's classmate died while fighting the fire on this station... Thank you for your respect to our abandoned, yet never forgotten home!
Sorry Nastya , it was an awful disaster. I was born a year before it in Minsk and I was told that the toxic cloud went as far as reaching over the Belarus border. So even I and others were likely affected by it.
This guy ... "I got ripped off but the taxi driver was really friendly"
Credit where credit's due and alll that 😂
As with most Eastern European countries, when they hear a British accent, the price just goes up a little on most things (especially with taxi’s) as they understand the strength of the GBP 🇬🇧.
@@paulsz6194 Yep! I'm an American who works in Russia. I speak Russian to an extent, and I know the appropriate cost of taxis. I don't know how many times a taxi driver tried to rip me off before realizing I'm not an idiot tourist that they can easily deceive. Of course, I always use either the Uber app or Yandex taxi, where I get the price upfront, thus no negotiating required. For example, the usual cost of a taxi between Knevichi Airport (VVO) and the center of Vladivostok is around 1100 rubles, and from Moscow (SVO) to the center of Moscow is between 800-1600 rubles, depending on the time of day. I sometimes, out of curiosity, act like a stupid foreigner when a vulture taxi driver approaches me. They always try to get me for 3000-5000 rubles. Then I switch to Russian, tell them they are imbeciles, and show them the taxi app with the real price. It always ticks them off. I also will intervene if I see other foreigners about to be ripped off, and show them the best way to get a taxi. One time I did that, 4 taxi drivers tried to assault me after I told a group of German tourists that they were being ripped off. The 4 taxi drivers had negotiated a price of 25,000 rubles for the 4 cars to take the group to the center of Moscow. Luckily, SVO is crawling with police.
@@UAHFAN I'm a Polish Australian who also almost got ripped off by a taxi driver In Krakow after flying in from Germany late in the evening. He tried to charge me 3 times the regular amount. So I asked him which way he was going to take me, and I told him which is the more direct route, he was dumbfounded. He thought I was a Pole who didn't know the local area. I said I was going to find a different taxi, so he told me the other taxis won't take me because he was first in the queue I found some other more honest taxi driver on another street who charged me a little more than I would pay during the day, but at least I wasn't going to pay the extortionate rate!
One trick I've heard of us buy the local newspaper in the local language, and people will assume you're an expat who has lived in that country for some time, so that way they are less likely to pull a swift one on you...
" Ya nyet Durak" is all you need to tell those taxi drivers! 😉
I love the way they just floored it round the airport and then took off!
Excellent video, as always, amazing to see Chernobyl over thirty years after the tragedy, as you walked around the city it brought back all the memories I had as a Brit growing up in the cold war of what the old Soviet Union used to be...I have to agree with you about the total lack of respect to be selling crappy t-shirts with I survived Chernobyl, as you leave what is essentially a graveyard.
I just discovered your channel and I love the content! Seeing this makes me sad with the current war situation in Ukraine. Be sure to cherish the memories of Ukraine, a lot of these sights and locations may no longer exist.
The sweet cake you had on the flight to Odessa is called Priyanik.
This blew my mind. Thanks for doing the things we all wish we could do!
Amazing work!
Thank you 😊
I feel like I went back in time 50 years. Those airplanes are scary!
"Their having a few problems with the neighbors" ... oh my
Coverage on Chernobyl is the jewel of this Vlog. Thanks again!
What always baffles me is that even after the accident at Chernobyl, the three remaining reactors was operating up until the 2000s.
I flew on a Aeroflot AN-24 Kiev to Odessa in the mid 80's and then onto Leningrad on a TU-134.
Excellent video, as always. I thought your treatment of the Chernobyl section was very sensitive, with much care and reverence. The accompanying music was perfect too. I do hope you get to fly in your dreamed of aircraft soon)))
Thanks Keith, glad you liked the video. It really is a moving place. Watch this space - something special happened in Russia :)
@@noelphilips how did you know Noel ? What was going to happen… first time watching you n enjoying your journeys, I would like to see more sth east Asia pls
@1:16 "Yes", "Si", "Da"....lol
Reminds me flying through LAX coming back from Korea. Me: "Annyeonhaseyo", Customs: "Good m", Me: "Yeah, I'm sorry, Hi, good morning"
17:30 Actually not completely abandoned. Some locals refused to leave and there are still some really nice old ladies who've lived there ever since. You should have stopped by and said hi to Бабушка Маша. She's very nice! There are also still a lot of workers there. The chernobyl plant didn't totally shut down until relatively recently. Even to this day there's lots of people doing the dismantling work and various support services. Chernobyl itself is still pretty hopping worker wise as it's a bit further away from the plant than Pripyat.
That last plane has has seen its last days!!! Love the huge cup of Tea ( NOT ) you got lol 😂 Another great video, very well edited too. Keep them coming
A few problems with the neighbours. That's an understatement. Let's hope you can go back again soon.
I've flown with one of their other An24s, UR-MSI, with those window curtains and open luggage racks, and it exactly reminded me of a long-distance bus :D
Nice trip report. My first ever flight was onboard an IL18 back in the seventies. Love flying since.
Oh fantastic, that's a wonderful old aircraft - it's great fun trying to tick off all the remaining Soviet airliners :)
Fantastic video. I love the sound of the prop planes. I have only flown on one in my life and I slept like a baby.
Love the Clouseau type music during your, er, excursion in Odessa and Kiev. Almost expected Peter Sellers to walk by.
I salute your bravery Sir ! taking you chance on those old bone shakers.
After a series of accidents, most airlines grounded this plane...so I'll go and fly on the only one that still flies...lol...
Great narration and review otherwise 👍
Noel “I get to fly the last one flying, I’m looking forward to it”
Me: “Oh, hell, no!”
@@brianevans656 You seem to be confused, it was the other one at 23:22
These aircraft all began as Aeroflot?
Thanks for showing the landing what a gentle touch you have a good editing skill and this time you let us enjoy the aircraft very good views of the Aircraft I'm a pilot and enjoyed the flight thanks again.
Noel, I love 'em too! I would love to see some here in the US, maybe at some airshow. The Antonov's and the Yaks are terrific. Also, the BE-200 and the Beriev A-40. It's amazing that the only real aviation museum is the Monino near Moscow and it's only open to viewing by special arrangements. Good work!
I might be too late, but i think the sweet and hard cake thingy was a pryanik.. it's this baked sweet made usually from honey and flour and have a hard outer shell covered with sugar/glazing. :D
Ahhh man they've changed the massive Macdonalds at Kiev train station to a KFC. Will never forget visiting their for the 1st time 16 years ago and there being a queue around the building and into the car park for McD's breakfast. Amazingly when they heard us talking we were literally herded to the front of the queue by at least a hundred locals who felt we should be served straight away & like yourself we lacked the language skills to insit we were happy to queue like everyone else.
Pripyat is an amazing place eh. It's so eerie and one of the most unique experiences you can have anywhere in the world imo.
So basically this trip was about getting on and off the same plane! Haha
Haha yep pretty much turned out that way :D
The gopniks were waiting for you in Odessa 😮
Excellent video, thx Noel- Gena
The 'Butter' on the runway tells a lot about their training. Bravo!
I wish i had of known u were Chernobyl the same time as me it would of been nice to have meet u and had a chat brilliant video as always
Taxi bit was fun,and in New York I told driver I was late for a meeting, well that was a crazy ride!
'Having a few problems with the neighbours at the minute' ummmmmmm
understatement of his life there
My most interesting flight on Russian aircraft was in 1983. I had flown to the Soviet Union a few days after the Korean airliner had been shot down. Whilst on holidays in Russia and Uzbekistan, Nato had imposed a flight ban on Soviet aircraft crossing Nato countries. I live in Ireland (not a Nato country) and at that time Aeroflot was using Shannon as a refueling stop on flights to South America. Since the Tupelov 132 which had brought us over (fabulously interesting aircraft) from Dublin via a refueling stop in Prague was out, they put us on a Illusion 62 (an aircraft I had always wanted to travel on) and flew us north from Leningrad (St Petersburg now) up over the Barents Sea and down the Norwegian Sea and North Atlantic into Shannon with a flight time of about 6.5 hours. Northern Lights were visible for some of the flight - Wonderful! On that trip I also got to fly on an Illusion 86, a few Tupelov 154s and an Antonov 24 - a great flying experience
The interior was probably from a Xian 60 that is made in China based off of the AN 24. There's actually a airline called Joy Air that flies a few of them in Northern China. Also the lumbering takeoff was to conserve fuel, the 24 will really get off the ground in a hurry if they need too at the cost of a LOT of fuel. I used to fly a Caravan in Namibia and the company I worked for had 2 AN 24's one was mixed pax/cargo and the other was a pax only and it had a similar interior from Xian 60 made in China
Something quiet today in Pripyat. I used to see her, teeming with mutants and fighters of the hostile group Monolith, when I play STALKER.
The music you choose is excellent. Really makes these videos!
Watching this now 😢
Bald man travels to Chernobyl and finds a comb. Oh the ironies of life. Great trip report Noel.
just came across your channel and i gotta say i love the videos please keep 'em coming!
Sad to see now.
Wow thanks Noel for showing us around Chernobyl 😯 and flying us around in cool Soviet AN24 and AN140 aircrafts
Haha same Antonov-24 for third time :D I remember how cramped first row seats on this exact aircraft were... Loved the view of Kyiv and Zaporizhye in night linghts!
Did a very similar trip in 2017 combing Chernobyl with day trips to Lviv and Odessa to get on Antonovs. The aircraft are always the same on day trips as they stay there all day to operate the return.
Brilliant video! Great production and itinerary! Keep up the good work and thank you 👌 P.S. Next time can you show a bit of the way over to the country you’re in (as you do normally) plus hotels etc, love your hotel commentaries/quasi- ‘reviews’!
Thanks Cath! Glad you liked it :) I will try to show some more of the hotels and the outbound flights :)
Only just found your channel , and I love it... brilliant
Thank you Steven, glad you're enjoying the vids :)
WOW Noel! This is a real relic now. It's a shame you didn't get to see the An-225.
Everyone: Chernobyl was a terrible disaster!
Tourist center: hold my “I Survived Chernobyl” shirts
Odessa looks be a particularly grim place. Is looking austere and lurking around suspiciously, a national pastime ? You're a brave man Noel ! :-)
Fantastic video!
Thank you :)
Fantastic video....not sure I would go there! Yes bugger the shop !
Hi
A really great report showing not just aircraft but life in another country. Some great old aircrafts too.
Many thanks
DS
Enjoyed this very much, seeing places I'll never see in person.
good report !:) you're lucky to fly with an Antonov like that !:)
Thanks! You can still fly on them in Ukraine - very cheap too!
Love all your videos Noel, must say your soviet ones are fab, pleased to see you with new soviet material
Me: Wow its a An-24
Noel: Bit disapointing its just a An-24
Beautiful video, as always mate!
When I went to Russia in the early 90s on a school trip with Aeroflop. We got on our flight to St Petersburg, from Heathrow, through the cargo hold... I know! Did I imagine that, because I’m pretty sure I didn’t. And the seats weren’t screwed down properly and ran along rails. And I swear I saw a couple of screws rattling in the wings..
any idea what aircraft I might have been flying on..
Hiya, that sounds incredible - sounds very much like it could have been an Ilyushin IL86 that used to operate the London route. They used to have a lower deck too so that could have been it - very lucky!
Great Video mate! Liked
Thank you :)
Brilliant video!!
Thanks Hannah :)
What a interesting video thanks for sharing xx
Glad you enjoyed it
Really enjoying your videos!👍 The next time you go to Ukraine, visit Kharkiv, the first capital of Ukraine, and you can also review UIA's domestic flight :)
Thank you :) I definitely need to review a domestic UIA flight. Very nearly used them to get to OZH but decided on an extra Motor Sich flight instead.
depressing but interesting - well filmed thanks
it's fairly common to have to wait until check in is open for your flight to enter an SRA (security restricted area) such as the departure lounge. Otherwise there is no way of keeping tabs on people and ensuring no unauthorised personal are in that area at unusual times.
Another interesting video. "....retrofitted with Boeing style interior", in particular the Boeing 7 shit 7.
Thanks for the nice video and the perfect music selection. Please share the playlist next time!
50,000 used to live here, now it's a ghost town.
And it's sad to think about the people who died in the town
So great to see these older airplanes...I love your channel..well done, regards from germany;-)
Thanks Pete, great fun on the old Soviet liners :)
Cool video.looks like you stayed at the Ibis railway station hotel which is coincidently the one I stayed at before visiting Chernobyl 👍
Not sure if you've tried it but I believe Cubana still operate an Il-96 from Madrid to Havana
Do you ever age? I'm watching this 5 years after you recorded it and you look ever the same. I wish I was that durable. Taxis appear to be the same planetwide; they do enjoy taking the visitor for a ride, don't they? Ha. I'd like to visit Pripyat one day and see Chernobyl. Great video.
Watching in March 2022 as only recently found your channel and thinking how things have changed so terribly for the people of Ukraine in light of current events. Hopefully peace will be restored again soon and these brave people can reclaim their country❤✌
This video hits different right now
1:14 Wow. Uber now have trams 😂
Odessa reminds me of a famous 1925 silent movie scene "The Odessa Steps" from "Battleship Potemkin" by Sergei Eisenstein. I don't think you visited the steps though Noel.
Loved the Bolshevik Bog tour!
1:39 oops, almost slipped!
Very interesting and informative video Noel thank you so much Again . I love this videos but miss for me full flight videos in your channel . Good luck for you and more beautiful flights ✈️✈️. Co so sorry my English is not the best :)
Thank you :) Glad you liked it. Sorry the full flights aren't on here any more - YT don't like me uploading them here and it caused a lot of issues before, so I have to pay for hosting elsewhere and give access via Patreon instead - I still upload 2 a month over there though so please check it out if you're able :)
I remember the Chernobyl dissaster. I was 10. Would love to visit there
Hey Noel, great video. Your previous An-24 video inspired me to do the trip to Lviv and I absolutely loved it. Maybe this one will encourage me to return and do the trips to Odessa and Zaporizhia. The latter is indeed Motor Sich's home town but the airline is just a sideline of a major engine manufacturer of the same name, hence the branding on the trams and buildings. Were you not tempted to stay at the Royal Congress again ;) I did the Chernobyl tour on a previous trip, it was fascinating. Good luck in trying to bag a Yak-40!
Thank you! Glad you were inspired to get to Ukraine, it's a fantastic country. I was going to stay there but wanted somewhere a little more central this time.
Noel, if you fly the same Antonov 3 times in one year to and from Zhuliany , it now means your married, jeeze, dont tell your wife :)
I am following in your footsteps, I`m off to Kyiv next month for a week, also booked a trip to Chernobyl.
As I fly around 10 times each year, I have taken advantage of your 10% discount with Prioritypass.
Noel`s discount link is in the description.
2022 update: *this* should be in any 'historical storage' now, because some of these places - or planes - might get demolished by the war....where sadly, one of them is unicorn *Antonov AN-225 Mriya* "dream"... See you in heaven, unicorn...
An-24 looks remarkably like a Dash 8, its like deHaviland found one in the 1980s and copied it.
According to PlaneSpotter, Motor Sich no longer have the 24s. Their only aircraft is that unique 140
Lovely to see the fan........
Thanks for the tour of Chernobyl. I don't think those t-shirts would sell today. Great video with those old Russian planes.
This video aged well…. Support to everyone in Ukraine
Love the old tram with Uber on the front.
Try taking Air Koryo and exploring North Korea next time
i was in the raf in april 1986 when america bombed libya my first child was born and chernobyl went bang
Wow! Absolutely loved this and I’m inspired to visit Kiev. Love your videos. Would love to message you as I’m really intrigued that you travel so much. I’m a teacher and travel lots in my hols, but nothing compared to you.
Thanks Estelle! It's a beautiful city, you should go :)
15:05 That is so weird :D
Haha and strange there is just a random hole in the wall :D
I'm really enjoying your videos, this in particular was very poignant 🙏
Yes Odessa is a port city not mutch happend there winter time but summer time is nice Noel 🤝🇸🇪
I flew to Donetsk with wizz air back in 2013 from Luton, before the trouble.
Ah nice, a shame that the airport is destroyed now :( Hopefully it gets rebuilt and we can visit again soon.
6:30 Noel looks like store away lmao