BashfulDwarf wrote:
Ever flown in Russia? The planes are decently maintained, I would say on par with everyone else. But they do some stuff ass-backwards. I boarded a plane in Krasnodar (walking out to the tarmac and up the steps). We were accompanied by flies that must have been shocked to exit 3,000 miles away from their home city.
Never had the pleasure, but I have flown in other eastern Euro countries. Similar set up. They park the plane somewhere close to the terminal building and make you walk it. It happened to me in Medellin once too. Russian planes have the worst accident rates of any country (maybe except in Africa, since they buy planes from Russia and US after they are done with them). Oh, and it's been reported that the flies found their way home.
BashfulDwarf wrote:
They refueled the aircraft with the aircraft doors open. The smell was overwhelming. The doors remain open for ventilation, unlike our air-conditioned process. Upon takeoff, they 'power-brake' the aircraft, holding still while they bring the engines up to full throttle. Then they let off the brakes and the acceleration is unbelievable. They climb steep as well to get above the city quickly.
Nothing like a little jet fuel in the morning for a quick pick me up. Who needs coffee? The reason that they have to keep the door open is that their 50 year old planes don't have an APU which runs the A/C on the ground, nor A/C for that matter, both of which weren't invented yet when they were built.
The reason for the engine spool up is that these old planes are heavy as Phuck (they are not made of carbon fiber, or even aluminum... I think those fuckers are made of steel) and they need a ton of runway to get off the ground. And most runways are not 12,000+ feet long, so in order to be able to take off, they basically do a short-field take off every time (hold the brakes, spool up the engines to take off power, let go of the brakes, hold on to your ass). They probably climb steeply to get altitude to be able to return to the airport if/when the engines fail, or for terrain clearance.
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