Flying over Mt. Rainier and Mt. St.Helens

June 25, 2016December 24, 2018 CarloRLeave a comment

Among the most famous sights in Washington State, these two mountains are aligned along an ideal north-south line developing from Seattle down towards the Oregon border. Similarly to most of the West Coast, the area is a section of the Pacific Ring of Fire.

Actually, Mt. St.Helens did explode with a spectacular eruption in 1980, revealing its real deadly nature. What may be worrying is the similarity between the isolated peak of Mt. St.Helens and some other mountains in the area, like Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams and the highest and most prominent of all, Mt. Rainier. It is likely these – and other – formations around the areas of Seattle and Vancouver may turn out to be ‘privileged points’ for an eruption some day…

In the meanwhile, they are very characteristic spots in the beautiful, uncontaminated landscape surrounding the nice area of greater Seattle.

Being fascinated with the natural beauties of this area, and also with aviation – as you might guess from this website of mine! – we set off in a party of three with the idea of exploring Mt. Rainier and Mt. St.Helens from above.

Surfing the web I noticed there are several companies offering tours of the area in front of Seattle. Actually, the region is a small ‘angle of paradise’ for those with a thing for general aviation and small-scale air transport, especially seaplanes. Kenmore Air is one of the few remaining commercial companies offering regular services from downtown Seattle to the islands around with some good old De Havilland one-engined, propeller-driven seaplanes!

Being interested not just in taking off and making a couple of circles around downtown Seattle, I had to dig something more, making sure to avoid some always-present tourist traps – being a pilot myself, I knew a bit of the likely cost of the flight I was looking for, so I could easily spot traps. I finally found a very good solution with Fly Seattle Scenic (website here).

I contacted Rick Dominy, a certified commercial pilot and a nice guy operating his beautiful Cessna 210 Turbo Centurion for that company, and we met directly at Renton airport – the quarters of this small company are to the west of the airfield, besides the general aviation apron. We agreed on the flight plan, which would go to Mt. Rainier eastern side, Mt. St.Helens, with multiple circles over the crater, and back to Renton passing to the western side of Mt. Rainier.

We paid and boarded the aircraft. Turbo 210 is a 310 hp beast of a Cessna, not the usual 150 or 172 training aircraft, despite some basic similarities with the latter in the layout. Rick’s exemplar is in perfect shape. The cabin is very roomy and clean, we were all given intercom headphones, I was seated in the co-pilot seat – just in case… – and having a high wing with no lift strut below and a retractable landing gear, unlike more basic Cessnas the view to the side and downwards is absolutely unobstructed – perfect for enjoying the view and taking photographs!

Here follow some photos of this flight (August 2012).

Sights

First a look to the aircraft and around Renton, just a few miles south of downtown Seattle, close to Tacoma Airport. Renton is where another branch of Boeing has its hangars. You can see many brand new 737s, still unfinished. This branch is pretty large. The airport at Renton is also a base for general aviation activity, like Fly Seattle Scenic.

Renton Cessna 210 Fly Seattle Scenic

Following takeoff we turned south towards Mt. Rainier, which could be already seen in the distance, about 35 miles South. While climbing we could enjoy the beautiful landscape of Washington State, with an embarrassing high number of small airports around.

Mount Rainier Washington State Fly Seattle Scenic Cessna 210

Mt. Rainier is about 14400 ft, and the top part of it is surrounded by several distinct glaciers. We approached from north and we passed by the eastern side of the mountain. The bottom part is very nice with woods and small mountain lakes.

Mount Rainier Washington State Fly Seattle Scenic Cessna 210

Among the ice rifts on the eastern side of the peak we could spot two huts, with ‘ant-people’ moving along trails on the icy surface. We flew over the large parking by the trailhead for some of the trails climbing to the top of Mt. Rainier.

Mount Rainier Hut

Mount Rainier Trailhead

Leaving Mt. Rainier towards the south we could already spot Mt. St.Helens, some 50 miles away. Between these two isolated peaks, again a nice wild landscape, mostly pine woods. The crater of Mt. St.Helens is not symmetrical, cause the volcano exploded towards the northern side of the mountain. Approaching from north, we could see inside the crater very well. The scenery is very different from around Mt. Rainier, with almost no vegetation even at lower altitudes were the eruption hit more violently. All trees were wiped out and the soil became too acid for regrowth.

Mount St.Helens Fly Seattle Scenic

Still today, many of the trunks of the trees pushed away by the eruption are floating on a lake at the bottom of the peak. Approaching the southern rim of the crater we spotted more ‘ant-people’, taking a rest after reaching the top of the volcano.

Mount St.Helens

The rocky dome in the middle of the crater is still exuding some worrying vapors… The summit is about 8300 ft, so there are snow and small glaciers also here.

Mount St.Helens Fly Seattle Scenic

After some circles over the lake and crater, we set our course again for Mt. Rainier, first overflying the valley of Hoffstadt Creek, where the snow which was melted by the volcano generated a flood at the time of the eruption, which somewhat reshaped parts of the valley. Today some dams regulate the flow of the creek.

Mount St.Helens Fly Seattle Scenic Hoffstadt Creek Dam

The western side of Mt. Rainier appears to be the steepest, again with various glaciers perfectly visible. They are much larger than they might seem in the photographs!

Mount Rainier Fly Seattle Scenic

Past Mt. Rainier we descended rapidly towards sea level, heading for our home base. The landing was perfect. Just before it, we had a glance at SeaTac and downtown Seattle from the distance.

Landing Renton Seattle SeaTac Tacoma Fly Scenic

This was an unforgettable experience I recommend for everybody in the area. The flight takes about 2 hours. We were definitely very lucky with the weather – Rick told us we had selected for our visit one of the two weeks of good weather people from the area are allowed per year! If you are similarly lucky, don’t miss this wonderful attraction!

Monino – Central Museum of the Russian Air Forces

June 24, 2016May 9, 2020 CarloRLeave a comment

Probably the most famous air museum in Russia – and formerly in the whole USSR – the Central Air Force Museum in Monino doesn’t need a presentation for aviation enthusiasts from every part of the world. As a matter of fact, still today this is probably the world’s largest collection of military and experimental aircraft manufactured in the Soviet Union.

Similar to many air museums in western Countries, this aircraft collection has been located on the premises of an active airbase since it opened its doors back in 1958. For this reason, in the years of the Soviet Union and even for some time after its collapse, the collection couldn’t be visited without prior permission. A specially restrictive visiting policy was applied to foreign visitors, due to the technological content of the exhibition. Today things have greatly improved in this respect, and visiting is absolutely free for everybody, both Russians and foreign tourists, like it is the case for most similar sites in the West.

To be sincere, I expected something like what you can find in former peripheral Countries of the Soviet bloc – an array of rotting fuselages, landing gears, rusty jet engines and no information around. It turned out I was totally wrong. What caused my inaccurate prevision was I had failed taking into account the singular passion and nostalgia that Russians show still today for their Soviet past, at least when it comes to military power and technological glory. In this respect, many other more ‘western’ and politically correct neighbor Countries in Europe, like Italy and France, have a much colder attitude towards aviation and their own past aeronautical endeavors.

So, at Monino the conditions of the aircraft both inside and outside are extremely good, especially if you consider the harsh weather that aircraft bodies have to sustain in the terrible Russian winters. From photographs on the web you can rapidly realize most aircraft are covered in snow in winter, so visiting may be also not much rewarding in that season. I visited in September, and except for a Soviet-grey, cloudy day I could enjoy a normal visit.

From the technical viewpoint, the collection is composed of many aircraft and engines up to WWII, hosted indoor, plus a huge outdoor collection of aircraft covering the majority of military models deployed by the Air Force of the Red Army over the years of the Cold War, in their respective roles – strategic bombers, fighters, …

Also some really rare prototype aircraft are part of the exhibition – some of them, like the Tupolev Tu-144 and the Sukhoi Su-100, are unique and very famous. There are also some iconic (gigantic) Mil helicopters, and some liners. There is much information around for less experienced enthusiasts, almost all placards both in Russian and English – a very rare sight in English-unfriendly Russia! If you can speak or understand Russian – unlike me – you can also have guided tours with former Air Force staff, which are reportedly much interesting.

The following photos were taken during a visit in September 2015.

Getting there

One of the reasons for so few interested people actually include Monino in their visit plan is the fame of the place as almost unreachable, inconvenient and expensive. This fame is due to the many companies on the web chattering about permissions, passport requests, tickets in advance, many hours to get to the place and so on. These companies usually ask for many hundreds dollars for taking you on the trip.

These are genuine tourist traps. There is no need for any permission, the place is not any more an active base (since long) and you are not asked any document. Plus, getting there with the local railway system serving the greater Moscow area is very easy – the train has Monino as destination – and the totally inexpensive trip takes about 1h 20min, only due to the countless stops.

First of all, note that I don’t speak russian nor can I read the Cyrillic alphabet. Nonetheless, I managed to get to this place about 20 miles from center Moscow to the East without troubles and traveling solo.

Trains going to Monino depart Moscow Yaroslavskaya in central Moscow rather frequently, about two to four times per hour – accurate timetable available briefly googling for local trains from Moscow to Monino. The terminal is the local railway terminal, placed right behind the main cottage-like building of the railway station (from where you can go as far as Vladivostok…). You can buy a ticket from one of the countless automatic vendors – in Russian, impossible for me – or from one of the countless ticket offices – this was my option. I got a ticket for both ways – you just have to say “To Monino and back”, even though Russians are not friends of English, this request was immediately understood by the officer. The fare is very cheap. The line I considered terminated at Monino, reached after many many stops and about 1h 20 minutes later. Note that the railway ticket is required also for leaving the station on arrival, so you’d better keep it safe.

If all you had seen before in Russia is St. Petersburg and central Moscow, you might be a bit shocked, and feel like you had leaped in the past and well back into the Soviet era – large and cheap concrete buildings, partially paved roads, many elderly people walking around along silent streets and more bicycles than cars around. Sure the village is nothing special and far from monumental, but it’s not dark nor scary or unsafe. Plus you can notice signs of its past vocation, as ghost insignia and abandoned control booths typical to a former military installation can be spotted immediately close to the railway station and around the village, together with a Lenin’s statue still proudly placed in a small square on your path to the museum.

The only problem is that there are no signs for reaching the museum – not any until you are in front of the gate -, which is about .7 miles from the station to the other end of the village (South). You can take a (rare) taxi, or enjoy the walk. The latter was my option. The road is extremely straightforward. Actually it’s basically straight. If you don’t have a digital map, you can simply print the Google map of Monino with a satellite view of the buildings – this again was my option – and this is definitely enough to get to the place. I prepared this small map with the path I’ve followed and some notable sights.

The ticket to the museum is less than 3 dollars, very cheap.

For going back you just reverse the plan. Travel time in total for the trip both ways may be 3h 10min, including train and transfers between the gate and Monino station by foot. Adding about 3 hours for visiting the museum with a relaxed pace, a visit to Monino from central Moscow may take about 6 hours, so you may plan something more than half day for this visit.

Opening times can be obtained from the official website http://www.monino.ru, some Google-translation is needed if you like me don’t know Russian.

Sights

Including descriptions of all aircraft in Monino would be impractical and probably uninteresting. For this reason I will include only photographs and some comments. For an almost-full list of the aircraft in Monino, with something about each of the preserved exemplars, I would recommend the book in English A guide to the Russian Federation Air Force Museum at Monino by Korolkov and Kazashvili, published in the US.

In the blue-roofed building of the ticket office some early aircraft engines and panels about the history of aviation in Russia are presented.

Central Museum of the Russian Air Force Monino Moscow Soviet Aircraft

Then you can enter the neighbor hangar, with some unique aircraft from up to WWII. These include an exemplar of the world-famous Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik.

Central Museum of the Russian Air Force Monino Moscow Soviet Aircraft

The rest of the exhibition is hosted on the other side of the road. Immediately past the gate on one side you have probably the world’s largest helicopter, the twin-rotor Mil Mi-12. Facing this monstrosity, some iconic bombers, including the Tu-4, i.e. a licence-built Boeing B-29, and a prototype Tupolev Tu-22M, with ancestral engine fairings later replaced on the production version. Also notable are a Tu-22, Tu-128 – a really massive interceptor – and two very famous Soviet prototypes, the Myasischev M-50 and the Sukhoi Su-100, with its characteristic Concorde-like deflectable nose.

Central Museum of the Russian Air Force Monino Moscow Soviet Aircraft

In a hangar nearby it is possible to find some further experimental aircraft, including rocket-propelled aircraft, high-atmosphere balloon capsules and other curious items.

Central Museum of the Russian Air Force Monino Moscow Soviet Aircraft

Placed on an off-limits grassy area nearby the hangar there are some very uncommon aircraft awaiting restoration, and on the other side a good collection of Mil and Kamov helicopters, including the Mil-24A featured in the third chapter of the John Rambo series, a Mil-10 flying crane helicopter and a huge Mil-6 which used to work as a flying command station.

Central Museum of the Russian Air Force Monino Moscow Soviet Aircraft

Nearby is the ‘Yakovlev alley’, where most aircraft from this high-tech design bureau are presented.

Central Museum of the Russian Air Force Monino Moscow Soviet Aircraft

Approaching the far end of the exhibition grounds you can spot some of the Soviet ‘big ones’, including an Antonov An-22 Anthei, an Ilyushin Il-76, an Il-62 and a very rare Tupolev Tu-114 turboprop with counter-rotating propellers. This was among the fastest-flying propeller-driven aircraft in history.

Central Museum of the Russian Air Force Monino Moscow Soviet Aircraft

Recently added to the collection, on one corner of the exhibition are two truly iconic Cold War veterans, a Tupolev Tu-142 and a Tu-22M Backfire, both retired production exemplars.

Central Museum of the Russian Air Force Monino Moscow Soviet Aircraft

Other interesting items are a rare Beriev Be-12 huge seaplane, a pretty old Ilyushin Il-18 and a Il-2, and obviously the world-famous prototype Tupolev Tu-144 supersonic liner.

Central Museum of the Russian Air Force Monino Moscow Soviet Aircraft

Before taking to the ‘MiG alley’ and ‘Sukhoi alley’ reaching to the exit, three unique prototypes should not go unnoticed, namely the Lavochkin La-250 supersonic interceptor, with a 1956 variable incidence delta wing, the high altitude Myasischev M-17, a twin tailed, ultra-high aspect ratio wing, the Buran flight emulator, created to reproduce the flight dynamics of the ill-fated Buran orbiter in terminal maneuvers, and the Bertini-Beriev VVA-14 ekranoplane. The latter was off-limits when I visited, and could be spotted sitting derelict in the backyard, awaiting restoration.

Central Museum of the Russian Air Force Monino Moscow Soviet Aircraft

Approaching the exit you can notice a full array of MiGs, including some more rare to find in the West, like the MiG-25 ‘anti-Blackbird’ Mach-3 interceptor, and various Sukhoi designs ranging from early prototypes to the more modern exemplars. Among them a Lisunov Li-2, a licensed Douglas C-47, was undergoing active restoration when I visited.