GLOBAL SPOTTING REPORTS
UKRAINE
Kiev Borispol – Oct 2013
LANDSIDE
Terminal D (International) – Views from the fence either side of the terminal offer some views.
There is a military ramp opposite terminal D with several stored aircraft as well. It may be possible to log some of these from here.
Terminal B (Domestic) – Again there are some views either side of the terminal. You can get a view of the runways from here and the ramp. From here you can walk over towards Terminal F and get partial views of the Biz Jets. From the side of Terminal F you can see some of the government ramp. You can only see tails though.
There are 2 parallel runways but they only appear to use one of them. This being the one opposite Terminal D. The other is adjacent to the Government ramp and hangers / stored aircraft. To see these you will need a car. Leave the airport and take the highway towards Kiev. Take the next exit, go over the bridge and continue straight down this road. You will get distant views of the airport across some fields. There are a couple of dirt tracks that you can drive down if the conditions have been dry. Otherwise you may have to take a long walk or you may get stuck in the mud. From here you can get good views of all the Government stuff and partial views of the stored stuff. Its possible to tie some of this up from photos. Also there is a T154 WFU near the fire training are which is visible from here. UR-85407.
AIRSIDE
Terminal D – Excellent views of this runway which seems to be the only runway in use. Also has excellent views onto the military ramp and its possible to log most stuff including 3 IL76’s AN12, 2 T154’s, 2 Yak40’s, 2 T134’s and several AN26’s. A third T134 is parked behind the trees and is visible from the threshold of runway 18L. Reg 551010.
Terminal B – Not sure but it doesn’t face the runway so expect to miss stuff. However several of the international flights will park on this ramp and then bus passengers to the international terminal.
HOTELS
Hotel Borispol – It dosent have a website but you can get their email from the airport website. Rooms on the fourth floor overlooking the runway have ok views. A few stands on terminal D can be seen. Unfortunately trees obstruct your view of the runway. If they are using 36R then departures are easily seen but some arrivals will be missed. I’m not sure when they are using 18L. Departures may take off too late to get and any arrivals parking on terminal B will probably be missed. Anyway it’s the only hotel here any you should get most stuff.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Apart from Air Ukraine there really isn’t that much here. They have a couple of waves each day when most of there fleet will be around. Windrose and Air Kharkiv have some charters.
International flights include Rossia AN148’s and the occasional Air Astana E190 on certain days. Air Arabia and Flydubai may be off interest.
Other than that it’s the parked up Government, military and stored aircraft that will make up most of the numbers. I logged 32 russian aircraft in total.
Kiev Zhulyany – Oct 2013
LANDSIDE
Outside the new terminal there are good views of the ramp. The factory is out of view though.
To see anything at the factory requires a long walk. Basically from the terminal, walk out through the car park and take the first left onto the main road. Follow this around and when you get to the traffic lights where the old terminal is, you need to turn right. Follow the road around to the left and when you get past all the buildings you should see a small pathway. From here its possible to see over the fence and log some aircraft. Unfortunately a lot of them are in bare metal with no markings. If you continue around the path and road you will be alongside the perimeter wall with several locations to see over it. From here there are good views of some of the stored aircraft and aircraft on maintenance and also good views of the runway and approach.
Museum – From the terminal walk straight out across the car park and take the first available right. Follow this to the bottom where the road turns to the left and you will find the museum. Its about 10-15 min walk.
It has an abundance of old soviet types including IL86, IL76, IL62, IL18, T154, 3 T134’s, AN71, Various AN26’s, Various Y40’s and many military aircraft. There are also good views of runway 26 threshold from here.
AIRSIDE
If you are flying into here then I suggest a left hand seat for arrival and right for departure. This should give you good views of the factory.
HOTELS
Royal Congress Hotel – Located a 10 minute walk from the airport. From the terminal walk straight ahead and onto the main road. Go for a few blocks and look to your left. You should see it about 50metres down one of the roads. It would have been ok but for some reason they don’t seem to be able to turn the radiators off and the room was like a sauna. Also has a supermarket close by. Walk back to the main road and turn left (opposite direction to the airport) and its one block on your left.
WHAT TO EXPECT
UT Air and Wizz are based here. Check timetables though as you won’t see any of them at certain times. Motor Sich operate here on weekdays only with AN140, AN26 and Yak40. The aircraft should spend the day here and the night elsewhere. You can’t see them on the weekends.
Expect plenty of Biz, mostly smaller types. The Museum and Factory / WFU Aircraft should make up most of the numbers
Kiev Other Locations – Oct 2013
Kiev National Aviation University
Located a few miles from Zhulyany. Managed to find it with directions from google maps. The locals appear to treat it like a park, taking a stroll through the gardens. Its surrounded by a fence but you can park outside and walk in through various doors.
They have an AN26 UR-26194 parked outside the main entrance building – see google earth. Then find building 11. If the main door is open then you can go in and ask to see the aircraft. Go up one set of stairs and you can find windows overlooking a T154 UR-85009, Yak42 CCCP-42303, AN24 UR-46713 and various other smaller types. If not then walk around the back of the building and you should be able to see through the windows.
Kiev Svyatoshino
Not sure if any views exist of this place. Its one of Antonov’s plants and from google earth it looks very unlikely you will see much. I didn’t have time to take a look.
Kiev Gostomol
Antonovs main airport. Again I managed to find this with directions from google maps. There are no signs in English so it takes a bit of guesswork hoping you are where you think you are on the map. Very difficult here but you can find views from the perimeter. From the main building go back out towards the main road and keep turning right where possible. You will need to take various dirt tracks which do appear to be like main roads here. Its possible to find your way to the perimeter fence where some views can be had of the aircraft. It took a bit of scrambling through trees to get views of some stuff. You can log some of them and its possible to tie up most of them from photo’s. There are several stored aircraft here including 3 AN22’s, AN124, AN72, along with ADB’s based aircraft. Its possible there are more locations on the perimeter with better views but it would take time to explore.
The airshow is held here and would be the best time to plan a visit.
Other Photo's
