Russia: Mission Possible

Flying around the world solo in his tiny home built KR2 aeroplane, skill — and luck — had got Colin to Alaska; now he had to tackle the long leg to Siberia.

- Colin Hales

Since my first article was published in Pilot in June last year, people have asked me for more updates or a write-up about our time in Russia. I couldn’t do this before now though because, until recently, we didn’t know quite how or where it was going to end. With the aeroplane now in Japan, I can at last say that we did make it across Eastern Russia and it wasn’t easy! There were many times I thought, “Well that’s the end then!” I normally achieve anything I set out to do in life, yet there were times in Russia when I really thought, “Bugger, bitten off too much here!”

The title for this article was Sergei Dolzhenko’s idea. Sergei is AOPA’s east Russian representative and main protagonist for general aviation in Russia and he had convinced me that, whatever issues might arise, the Russian pilot community would do anything to make sure our flights through their country would continue−and I mean anything!

Trying to fly across Siberia in ten days didn’t quite go to plan. In the end, it took 72… but I’m glad we got to spend this extra time in Russia; if things had gone to plan, we would have missed out on so much. The delays gave us time to immerse ourselves into Russian society and the opportunity to experience and understand their way of life and what it is to be a general aviation pilot in Russia.