My first classic flight!

[Ferry_vO]

As a birthday present I got a twenty minute ride on an Antonov An-2 and although we were planning to do this in the coming spring the company added an extra weekend to their flight schedule so we took the trip this Sunday.
However, one thing you can't control is the weather, and this is how things looked when we arrived at Teuge at ten o'clock:



While waiting for the weather to improve, we were offered a tour of our aircraft, an Antonov An-2T built in 1957:





The cabin, with a custom passenger interior with nine (smallish) leather seats:

[Ferry_vO]

The cockpit:



After having helped with turning the engine to distribute the oil, the whole group got in and we taxied the aircraft to the restaurant where the flight would start. At least we had been in a moving Antonov!

About ninety minutes later the weather cleared up enough to fly, so we got in and took off:



Some nice sights from the windows:

[Ferry_vO]

Our very nice pilot Jeroen, who is a KLM pilot, flies the Antonov as a hobby and also owns a Yak-9 currently undergoing restoration.



Safe back down again after twenty minutes; further flights were cancelled though as the weather was still too bad to fly.



Really enjoyed the sights, sounds and feel of this old 'Colt', and we will certainly do this again in the future!

Slightly off-topic, but there is another Russian aircraft at Teuge but you cannot fly it anymore. You can however book it for one or more nights, as this Il-18 has been converted to one big hotelroom!:

[Dutcheeseblend]

Congratulations Ferry! You've had a very nice present. I made this summer a flight at Skyservices there, also very nice.

Well, how does an AN2 feel while flying?

[Ferry_vO]

Well, how does an AN2 feel while flying?

It floats around a bit, but very gently. Not bumpy at all. The pilot also did a great job, very gently controlling the plane. Take-off was very smooth (I had hoped for a typical AN-2 STOL take-off though..), landing was a bit more eventful, with a bit of a tail wag. Still a softer landing than most jets I've flown on holidays though.

[mike_cyul]

Very cool, and nice pics!


Mike

[Ferry_vO]

Thanks mike!

[lefty]

Lucky old Ferry - and photos, needless to say, superb !

[Ferry_vO]

Thank you Mike! Unfortunately due to the weather delay my brother-in-law had to leave early and he missed the flight, but we intend to do it again somewhere next year!
Hopefully with some better weather that time, so the photos will look more like this:







We've seen this Antonov many times in the past at shows or at the Aviodrome and it was great to do a short flight with 'Annushka'!