When options are few... скачать в хорошем качестве

When options are few...

I got asked to post this many times. This was the end of the flight from Magadan to Zeya. The Russian Authorities wanted me to turn right, head for Zeya and then back on track to Blagoveshchensk to miss a new Cosmodrome which was en route. I couldn't do this as I didn't have the range. I took off from Magadan with not a clue what to do... After 10 hours of flight of some 1,250 miles, I had an idea. Not wanting them to think the plane was not capable of the flight, I declared a medical emergency and told Blagoveshchensk Control I was landing at Zeya. They told me I couldn't do this but I said I had no option and was descending and then I lost them on the radio dropping below flight level 80 and I tuned in to Zeya. Approaching this Russian Airfield 150 miles East of the Chinese border, with the fuel tank empty, but my bladder full, the reason I couldn't land there was because they were re-laying the main runway and had dug it up and there were dumper trucks all over it. A friend told me while flying, always have options, well the video starts as I'm eying up the main road into town to land on. But then I spotted that they had left a 450 meter emergency strip. It was down hill, no wind and a fence ran along its approach and dumper trucks were crossing it, but it was my best option. Slowest approach I could do was 85 and over the fence at 75, bang it down and hit the brakes hard. The engine rich cut with the hard landing, but it was not a concern. The runway was rough and the wheels would lock up and bounce around and I had to get off the brakes and then back on them pronto and hard. When the aircraft finally came to a walking pace I restarted the engine and turned the plane around to see that the end of the runway dropped off into the woods and it was 5 meters away. I had used all of the 450 meters available... But lived to fly on the next day after a quick trip to the fuel station in town. The FSB (KGB) came out to find out why I had landed and were happy and wanted to take selfies with the plane. They brought out two English teachers from the local college to translate. They had never met an English person before. The guards fed me and let me kip in their bunk house. All was just fine. I loved my time in Russia and all the people I met were just superb and so friendly. Just a shame they have such a xxxxxxx as a leader.