Early April, Peter Wells and his team were invited to display at the opening ceremony of Turkmenbashi (Turkmenstan) Airport. Needless to say the ULPower staff was excited about this experience, but to be honest we didn’t sleep very well those nights (you never know…). The team kept a kind of diary on their blogBelow you can read the story of trip Peter, Guy and Paul made to Turkmenistan.
April 5th:
To the edge of the Europe – and beyond!
We are just about to set off on our most challenging adventure. Despite having a very short period to organise everything – we are there! Everything has come good at the eleventh hour!
We test flew the 2 planes today, and with new GT propellors, 2 new Funkwerk transponders, and a ridiculous amounts of luggage, we made use of today’s headwind to escape the waterlogged strip at Long Crendon and repositioned the Twisters to Southdown Gliding Club on the South Coast, ready for an early start tomorrow.
Artist’s Impression of the New Terminal Building
So tomorrow we set off for a 2600Nm journey to Turkmenbashi in Turkmenistan – on the shores of the Caspian Sea, to display at the opening of their new International airport in a weeks time.
The problems planning the trip have been numerous, the most significant being the lack of 100LL AVGAS east of Istanbul and International flight clearances for Permit aeroplanes. But that is all in the planning – the challenge tomorrow is all about the flying!
Our one regret is we will not be able to support ULPower and Silence aircraft at Friedrichshafen, where we were due to display but the turkmemistan display was pulled forward by a week at the request of the guest of honour.
April 8th:
So near but yet so far
The Twister Duo are nearing their destination at Turkmenbashi Airport in Turkmenistan. Guy and Pete are currently at Tblisi Airport in Georgia awaiting the final hop to Turkmenistan tomorrow morning.
The aircraft have coped with everything thrown at them so far cruising at Flight Level 130 to avoid clouds building over the Greek Mountains. The duo also faced some very heavy rain during their transit over the North Turkey Coastline.
The only hold ups to the long transit have been bureaucracy. Guy and Pete waited for 4 hours for the flight plan from Tblisi in Georgia to cross Azerbaijan to be accepted, but it came through too late to make the last 3:30 hop to Turkmenbashi in daylight. Frustrating, but the weather forecast is better tomorrow.
April 8th:
Wot no Caspian Sea Monsters!!
Yesterday was one of the most frustrating days of my life, having left Trabson in Turkey with limited supplies we made it direct to Tblisi in Geogia by lunchtime. Our refueling went quickly and we had flightplans and handling payments done after a couple of hours, but then the problems started. The storms were rolling up the valley with heavy showers as we twice sat in the planes ready to go, but ATC refused start permission as Azerbaijan had cancelled our overflight permission.
After some frantic phonecalls back to WhiteRose Ops in London, our permission came through but too late to make it across the Caspian Sea in daylight. We had an uncomfortable evening, trying to sleep in the “Burger King-ski” in the terminal building, interspersed with running battles with the authorities trying to get back to the planes on the ramp. We eventually escaped at 8am after a sleepless night.
Despite filing a VFR flightplan, they wanted us at FL90, and once clear of Cbs on the boarder with Baku, the 140Nm Caspian Sea crossing was a non-event.
For the first time on this trip it feels like we are somewhere very foriegn. The terrain on the way in looked more like the surface of the moon with lots of dunes and sandstone cliffs. The city of Turkmenbashi is dwarfed by the oil refinnery complex along side. The locals were out in swarms again on landing, but having only ever seen Soviet helicopters and airliners, the Twister must take some getting used to.
The airshow will be on Monday 12th, so 2 days to find our feet in this strange land.
April 12th:
Show time at Turkmenbashi!
I am very happy to report that we have displayed at the lavish inuguration of Turkmenbashi’s new airport and are preparing for 2600Nm journey home.
The Capsian coastal town of Turmenbashi has seen a massive investment program over the past few years to build a new tourist area called Awaza, including luxury hotels and a 7km artificial canal that was opened today along with the airport. Dancers and performers were brought in from around Europe to add to the days entertainment, both in the air and on the water.
Guest of honor today was the Turkmanistan President, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov who is treated like a King. Security in this former USSR State is tight with hundreds of police in ill-fitting suits lining the streets today as the area was locked down in preparation for the president.
The Culture here is both fascinating and frustrating in equal measure. We have spent many hours sitting around doing nothing, prevented from reaching our aeroplanes, and as we start work, to be told we are late.
Thanks must go to Umida, our translator who has been up at 4am every morning with us, and Achmed, the airport operations manager who has been very helpful.
April 18th:
Job Done! Twister Duo back in the UK!
Transit Routes to and from Turkenistan
The journey home started with a typical delay. We arrived at Turkmenbashi Airport before sunrise to prepare the aircraft for a dawn departure, but the President’s security protocols required a completely sterile airport until he and his entourage had departed back to Ashkabad, so we were spirited away to a back-room to wait and wait.
The 5 hour delay cost us the best of the forecast tailwinds across the Caspian Sea, and when we finally got underway our progress was too slow to make Tbilisi in Georgia, and we diverted to Ganga in Azerbaijan where the Airport authorities robbed us by holding the Twisters to ransom for extortionate landing fees.
After that unpleasant episode, the journey back through Turkey seemed easy going. Our first bad weather encounter threatened to block our passage over the Pindus Mountains of Northern Greece and then the Adriatic, but we escaped the low cloud and rain half way up Italy, and were finally rewarded with a crystal clear crossing over the Alps and the Berneses Oberland into Switzerland.
The final hurdle was the Ash cloud from Icelenad’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano drifting over UK and Northern Europe. The NOTAMS were all doom and gloom but the flight to UK was uneventful, VFR flights in uncontrolled airspace being unaffected.
The only evidence we encountered was a long brown cloud trapped by a low inversion over the English Channel that smelt sulphury, but could have just as easily come from a Supertanker or Power Station rather than a Volcano.
Total Flight time was just over 54 Hours with over 5600Nm flown across Europe and beyond – All for one 5 minute display!
Thanks must go particularly to UL Power for the UL260iSA engines, that did not miss a beat. Also to Silence Aircraft, Jeppesen, Funkwerks and GA Buyer, Nigel Lamb and Marie Yildiz.
April 21st:
Recovering
Having completed our mission to Turkmenistan on Friday, I was busy working on both aircraft over the weekend as we had an appointment with the biggest and best airshow organising company at Kemble on Monday. We demonstrated the Duo display and got valuable feed back from the customer’s point of view.
I would like to thank lots of people who helped us with our trip to Turkmenistan. Firstly UL Power – for various reasons we had to choose between the Aero Freidrichshafen and Turkmenistan as we were booked for both and at very short notice the Turkmenistan display was pulled forward. UL Power supported our decision to go to Turkmenistan. The Engines never missed a beat though we were forced to operate in some extreme conditions and I can honestly say I would not have done this trip with the old engine fitted! I would also like to thank Funk Werk (and their UK representative John Delafield) for generously supplying us with 2 transponders which performed faultlessly. Also Silence Aircraft for producing such an amazing plane which never ceases to amaze me , during this trip we added a new application for the Twister – as a flying Tanker!
Individuals to thank include Nigel Lamb who insisted we borrow his life rafts - some times we spent 6 hours a day over water and having these gave us much peace of mind! Finally to Guy Westgate who did all the planning and logistics which was far more of a challenge than the flights themselves. We did not have the correct props until 2 days before departure so were working in the dark and finding out many of the performance figures as we went along. It was like a military operation, just the right amount of fuel in the right place.
To sum up the trip to quote Nigel Lamb “It wil be an adventure and how ever much you charge it won’t be enough”
Thanks to every one above but most importantly probably Dee and Sally for letting us go. (as if we had a choice! D & S)
CONGRATULATIONS…..C D AeroTech manager FRANCE