- What's up guys. I am here in Kyiv, Ukraine. On a beautiful, but really
cold, winter's morning. I am here because I'm going to be flying with Motor Sich over the next few days on their fleet of Soviet aircrafts. Now I know I've covered Motor Sich before, on an inflight video and those of you who have been
following my channel before, might remember my Antonov-24 flight that I did over to the
Lviv last year with them. But, I don't really feel
that that video did them that much justice because
it was only a one flight, on one aircraft and Motor Sich operate a whole fleet of really cool Russian
and Soviet aircraft. So I'm going to get my stuff together, head down to the airport. Let's go flying. First stop today was Kyiv
Zhuliany International airport, where Motor Sich fly from in Kyiv. But first I had to practice
my very poor attempts at the Russian language. And it's fair to say that
I failed pretty miserably. Taxi? Zhuliany? Airport, airport? - Airport, airport. - My attempt at international
relations in tatters as I got in the taxi
and sat pretty quietly for the rest of the journey. It takes about 10 minutes to get from the City Center in
Kyiv to Zhuliany Airport. It should cost about two pounds, but thanks to my poor attempt
at the Russian language, it cost me near five pounds. My first stop today was
to the Port City of Odessa on Ukraine's Black Sea coast. It's about a 90 minute
flight South of Kyiv. I was looking forward to
getting on this flight and seeing exactly what
aircraft we were going to get. In previous days this flight
had been operated by a Yak-40, which is an aircraft I
was really hoping to get from this trip. What's in true Motor Sich fashion, I would only find out exactly
which aircraft it would be once I was on the bus
to board the aircraft. I didn't have long to wait to find out, as the bus arrived to
take us across the airport to board the aircraft. The moment of truth was near. Exactly which Soviet
aircraft were we going to get to take us down to Odessa today. We pulled onto the aircraft stand and I was a little bit disappointed. It was an Antonov 24. Not just any Antonov 24. In fact, it was the exact same one that had taken me over to
Lviv a year previously. But still, an Antonov is an Antonov. And I intended to make
the most of this trip. On boarding the aircraft, all of my memories came flooding back from my last trip to Lviv. This particular Antonov
24 has been retrofitted with Boeing style interior. It really isn't the same experience as flying on any of the other Antonov 24s with the open lobby drafts and curtains and all of the round windows. But still, it's an Antonov all the same. It wasn't long before the engine started and we made our way out
to the active runway here at Zhuliany. After a very fast taxi
across Zhuliany Airport, we made a rolling take off from Runway 26. In true Antonov style, it was a slow lumbering take off into the frigid skies over Kyiv. So here we are, first flight of the day. It is this beautiful retro
Antonov An-24 aircraft owned by Motor Sich airlines. It's exact same aircraft, actually, that I flew last year to Lviv. And it's still in
exactly the same kind of, old battered condition
but it's still going. This thing is just incredible. It is like stepping back in time when you're onboard this aircraft. You really should get onboard
these Antonovs while you can because they're not
going to be here forever. This airline is one of
the few in the world that operate Antonov 24 and it's within spitting
distance of Europe as well. So it's really easy to get on these. I mean look at this retro metal sink here. I don't think I want to see
what's underneath there, but it's, yeah, this is
just a wonderful aircraft. We are now airborne en route to Odessa. It's a beautiful clear day. Some fantastic stunning views
over the Ukrainian countryside as we head south over the snow, down to Odessa on the south coast. All Motor Sich flights
offer a light snack service. It isn't the best in the world, but it's better than nothing. Teas and coffees followed shortly after. I'm not quite sure what this was, but it was some sort of sweet cake and was really, really hard. It wasn't long before, the
landing gear was coming down and we were making our
approach into Odessa. Odessa is a bit of a
strange airport really. It has a huge brand new terminal. It's only been open for a couple of years but, there's no apron
or tarmac outside that for the aircraft to park on. So you have to park on the
other side of the airport and get a bus ride all the
way back to the new terminal. So I am here at Cathedral
Square in the center of Odessa. It looks like a really beautiful city. I'm looking forward to having
a little walk around here, see what it's all like. It's a little bit strange here, because only last week Odessa
came out of martial law. They're having a few problems with the neighbors at the minute. And Odessa was one of
the places affected by it with it being a port city right down here on the Black Sea coast. So it's a little bit strange
being somewhere like this but, to be honest it seems to
be any different than normal. Not that I know what
normal is around here. Everybody's going about their lives as you would expect, really. So I'm going to go and have a look around. Try and find something to eat. I'll do a little bit of shopping and see what it's like here in
the city of Odessa, Ukraine. Okay, so there wasn't really
that much to do here in Odessa, I have to admit. The streets look quite pretty and the buildings are quite nice, but there are quite a lot
of dodgy looking gangs, hanging around on street
corners and things. I really didn't feel
that safe, I have to say. I decided to head back to the
airport a little bit earlier. At least there it'll be nice and warm and hopefully pretty safe. Now, although all
arriving flights head into the brand new terminal here at Odessa, the departing flights still go from the old Soviet Terminal
building across the road. Okay, so I am here in the
terminal at Odessa, Ukraine. For such a tiny airport, this airport is incredibly confusing. They have like, three security points, none of which are linked to one another. There's two down here, one upstairs. One of them downstairs is
locked, might not get through. The other one down here. So, went through when
they said "International". I don't really need to fly domestic so, on my way, then I go through that one. So I went upstairs and
they let me through. But then when I go into
the actual package belt, where you put your back on
to go through the x-ray, they said, "Oh no, no,
no, check-in, check-in". So, I spoke to the lady
from Ukraine International who was up there, who spoke a bit of English and she said, "Maybe they want you to wait until check-in is open
down here for the flight." Which is in another hour's time from now, which seems a little bit strange that they only allow one flight through at a time to departure. So, really not sure what's going on. Might just have to wait for somebody from Motor Sich to turn up and then we can kind of figure
it out from there, really. It's, yeah, a little bit different flying through these little Ukrainian
airports, I have to say. So I sat down and waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, after a couple of
hours in this really cold and really uncomfortable
terminal building, somebody finally turned up to
the Motor Sich "Check-in" desk and allowed me to check in for my flight. There wasn't much air side either, but at least there was a bar and I was able to drown out
some of my boredom with a pint. Finally, it was time to board and I made my way through what is possibly the
strangest boarding gate I've ever flown from. I was looking forward
to finding out exactly which classic Soviet aircraft Motor Sich would have in store for us tonight. Ah, it was the Antonov 24 again. The same one that brought me
down from Kyiv this morning, Making this my third flight
on this exact aircraft. Still, sitting in a different
position on this aircraft may at least give me a
different perspective. I had an exit row, which normally wouldn't
have been a problem had there not have been two seats right in front of the emergency exit. I couldn't see really how
this was going to be much use in the event of an emergency. I decided to swap to the
front row on the opposite side where I hoped there would be
a little bit more leg room, but as you can see, I was
a little bit disappointed. I noticed a curious hole at the bottom of the wall in front of me. Me being me, I just had to have a look
to see what was in there. It was the baggage holder,
at the front of the aircraft and the flight deck just beyond that. - Swapping to the right-hand
side of the aircraft gave me a fantastic view as we came in to land at
Kyiv Zhuliany Airport. And here I was back in the
Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, in the night. Good morning from Kyiv. I have a few hours today
ahead of my next flight out to Zaporizhzhya this evening. So I've decided to head to somewhere that I've always wanted to visit. It's a place about two
hours drive North of Kyiv here in Ukraine. I was heading to Chernobyl. In 1986, it was the site of the world's biggest nuclear disaster as the Soviet Union's newest and shiniest nuclear power plant went into catastrophic meltdown. Spewing thousands of tons of
radiation into the atmosphere. For over 30 years now, there's been a 30 kilometer exclusion zone around the site of the disaster. That's remained completely
abandoned ever since. So we're now inside the
exclusion zone here at Chernobyl. This is a tiny village called Zalisia. It's just really strange
walking around these, old, abandoned buildings. Houses where families lived and things. This was one of the old shops that they used to have in the
Soviet union back in the 80s. I'm just going to take a look inside here. Wow! Completely abandoned. Debris on the floor, have to
be really careful in here. It's been stripped of everything. There's an old hairbrush. Wow, these boxes look like
stuff was put in there. Russian writing in them. Well this is just so,
kind of heavy, in a way. Back in the Soviet times, people would be rationed
on food and things and I've seen where they'd
come to get their rations. It's quite interesting. But the abandoned shop
was just the beginning. There were dozens of houses laying empty. Deserted since the days
of the Soviet union. Newspapers, toys, family photographs, everything just laying exactly
as it was left in 1986. We visited a former
kindergarten in the village. Once ringing with the sound
of school children playing, today it was haunted by the creepy sound of a dozen Geiger counters going off. From Zalisia we headed up to
the abandoned city of Pripyat. This entire city was built to house the workers of the
Chernobyl nuclear power plant. And has laid deserted since 1986 when the residents were evacuated. This was the school's gymnasium, where groups of teenagers
would play basketball. Entire apartment blocks lay abandoned. Completely frozen in time. We walked across Lenin Square to the famous Palace of Culture. Next to this, another
abandoned supermarket. Back out the Palace of Culture, we were allowed inside for a walk around. Dozens of paintings of
Soviet leaders lay abandoned. Propaganda from the old Soviet Union days, laid strewn all over the floors. Before long we were at the
old abandoned amusement park. This was built for the townspeople
of Pripyat back in 1986. It was due to open the weekend
after the Chernobyl disaster. But, of course, it never formally opened. It was however opened, very briefly, the morning after the disaster- to try and take the residents'
minds off what was going on. So this is where it all happened. On a fateful night in 1986. This is the Chernobyl
Nuclear Power Station. The big metal building you see, weighs something like 36,000 tons and it's the "sarcophagus". And it has been built over the top of the existing sarcophagus that they built in the months
and years after the disaster. And underneath that, is
the reactor that exploded- Reactor 4. It exploded on the April 19, 1986. They don't really know what
to do with this at the moment. They've just put it over it to stop the spread of any more radiation. This building apparently
will last for 98 years by which time they hope
to have found a solution to get rid of all the radioactive
material that is inside. But for now, this building just sits here, set over the top of the reactor, while they figure out what to do with it. After a very tiring, but very moving day, it was time to make the two
hour bus ride back to Kyiv. It was a great way to see a snapshot of the Soviet union frozen in time. But the tourist shop on the way
out selling t-shirts saying, "I Survived Chernobyl" only
made me feel really upset for the thousands of people who didn't. I have to say it did feel
a little bit disrespectful. Back in Kyiv, I was back at the Zhuliany
International Airport, to start making my way
back out of Ukraine. Next stop, however, was
Zaporizhzhya in Eastern Ukraine. And to get there, I'd be on
another Motor Sich aircraft. Once again of course, with no clue as to what
aircraft type I would be on. I'd had enough of
Antonov 24s by this point and really wanted to get
something a little bit different. Fortunately, it did
turn out to be something a little bit different. It was an Antonov 140. And in fact, the only Antonov
140 in commercial service anywhere in the world. The An-140 was designed as a replacement for the Antonov 24. And designed to compete against
aircraft like the ATR 42. However, only a few dozen of
these aircraft were built, before a series of unfortunate accidents. Which meant that most airlines
grounded their entire fleet- of An-140s. The only airline that still
operates the type is Motor Sich and they only have one
of them in their fleet. So this was a lovely rare
aircraft to catch a ride on. We took off over the bright lights of Kyiv to make our way to the South
East towards Zaporizhzhya. The Antonov 140 definitely feels like a Soviet airliner
when you're onboard. But it is however really,
really crumped inside. And that's something that wasn't helped by the beast from the east
who decided to sit next to me. I took a cup of tea on this flight because I didn't really
want a cup of coffee to keep me awake while I
got to this Zaporizhzhya. But, to be honest, after the day I'd had
wandering around Chernobyl, I don't think I need any
help going to sleep tonight. Zaporizhzhya is in the east of Ukraine and it's the closest major
city to the conflict zone, at Donetsk. I was a little bit nervous, being so close to an active conflict zone. But to be honest, once I landed, all of my fears were put aside. Not entirely sure of the easiest way to get to the center of
Zaporizhzhya at this time of night, I took one of the many taxis
outside of the terminal. Which at the face of it, looked like one of the dodgiest
taxi rides I'd ever taken. I did get ripped off on this taxi, but the taxi driver was really friendly- showed me all the sites of Zaporizhzhya. And we had a really fun
conversation using Google Translate as we headed to my hotel
in the center of town. I am here then at the Teatralny
Hotel, here in Zaporizhzhya. Spelt like that, Teatralny Hotel. This is probably the only
hotel in Zaporizhzhya. There isn't a lot here, to be honest. It's a very small town. Which it seems to be run
entirely by Motor Sich Airlines. On the way here I saw
Motor Sich trolleybuses, I saw Motor Sich Headquarters. There is even a Museum of
Motor Sich, not far from here. It's a shame I'm going to be out of here really early in the morning
because unfortunately, I have a really early flight tomorrow with Motor Sich up to Minsk. Tomorrow's proceedings are
I'm heading out of Ukraine, up to Minsk from Zaporizhzhya
first thing in the morning- 6:45 am flight tomorrow
from Zaporizhzhya Airport. Which is about a 17, 18
kilometer drive from here- so about 20 minutes. So I need to be leaving here
like really, super early, to get on the flight up to Minsk. I'm really, really hoping I can finally get this
Yak 40 at some point. It would be really nice to
get on one of them tomorrow. But knowing Motor Sich,
they will be against me and I'll probably end up
on another Antonov 24. Weird that I'm sat here
complaining about an, about a flight on Antonov 24s when they're one of the
rarest aircraft in the world. I get that. But I want the Yak 40. I really want to fly on a Yak. So, let's see in the morning what we get. Let's see what Motor Sich
have in store for us tomorrow. I'm going to go and get some sleep now, because I need to be up super
duper early in the morning. Got to get all my bags repacked again- 'cause they're just a mess. And then, yeah, get some sleep before tomorrow's ride over
to Minsk with Motor Sich. On, I don't know, what aircraft. Right, so it is really
early in the morning. It's like 25 past five in the morning and I've got to get to the airport 'cause my flight leaves in
just over an hour's time from Zaporizhzhya. I don't know what aircraft
I'll be getting in today, but it's the last flight of this trip. Up to Minsk in Belarus. And yeah, it should be fun. I'm really hoping it's the Yak 40. I'm really keeping my fingers crossed 'cause it would be amazing if it is but, to be honest, whatever it is, it's going to be interesting aircraft. So, let's just get to the airport and see what Motor Sich
have in store for us today. The hotel had printed out all of my boarding passes for today and even packed me a packed lunch, seeing as I was leaving so early and would've missed the breakfast. Thank you very much, have a lovely day. Thank you. Thank you for your help, I appreciate it. Bye, bye. And I somehow made my way out to an even dodgier-looking taxi that was waiting for me outside. We sped through the
streets of Zaporizhzhya at 90 kilometers per hour. I was pretty nervous, to be honest. It's one way of waking up in the morning, but I wouldn't really want to
repeat this experience again. The airport at Zaporizhzhya
is absolutely tiny. This was the extent of
the entire checking point. And to get through to
the departure lounge, you just head through the
single security checkpoint and your air ride's here at Zaporizhzhya. For the last time on this trip, it was time to get to go
on the Motor Sich lottery. I was really hoping that
it will be a Yak 40. I'd seen one out on the ramp,
I kept my fingers crossed. I think you can tell by now, exactly which way this was going. Yes, it was once again, the Antonov 140 that brought me down from Kyiv last night. I was pretty disappointed
that I didn't get a Yak on this trip at all, but still, the Antonov 140 was pretty cool and I was actually able
to fly it daylight now, which would make the experience
a little bit different. The views as we flew North
today were pretty incredible. We headed North out of Zaporizhzhya, up towards the Kyiv area, right overhead Chernobyl, which was unfortunately covered by cloud. And then into Belarus where we made our descent and
approach in to Minsk Airport. The An-140 has some rear facing seats at the front of the cabin, which is something you
don't often see these days. It was once again time for the
standard Motor Sich breakfast of a cheese and ham sandwich
and some sort of cake. I tucked into my Ukrainian cake as we flew through a beautiful sunrise
over the Belarusian countryside. The windows had iced up
quite a lot on our flight and we made our approach and landing into Minsk National Airport. So for the second time ever, I landed in the secretive
country of Belarus. Belarus is actually pretty
difficult to travel to and you normally need a visa, but if you're traveling
through to Russia as I was, then none is needed. You do of course need
one for Russia though. I've had a wonderful few flights with Motor Sich around
Ukraine and up until Belarus. I was pretty gutted that I
didn't manage to get on a Yak 40. But I'm really hoping to
be back again there soon when I can hopefully have
a little bit more luck. Always cool to get on board an Antonov 24 and the An-140 was just
a really unique aircraft. Although it's not one
that I'd been pushing back to fly on again anytime soon. I really hope that you've
enjoyed watching this video, traveling around Ukraine and Chernobyl on Motor Sich Airlines, with
their fleet of Soviet aircraft. Thanks so much for watching, take care and I'll see you next time
here on, inflight Video.
