Leg 219, Korsakov, Sakhalin Island to Olekminsk, Sakha Republic, Russia
DAY01_29.PLN (8.5 KB)
I love Russia, it feels close to home landscape wise. Beautiful country with still so much rugged scenery. I’ll be exploring the North of Canada next, also very rugged with very low population density. North-east Russia first, lots to see.
03-28 Korsakov ULOQ 4:13 PM
03-28 Khomutovo UHSS 4:18 PM
03-28 Sokol USOJ 4:26 PM Unclear runway
03-28 Dolinsk-Sokol Air Base USOK 4:29 PM up to 36 knot tailwind
03-28 Smirnykh USMI 5:20 PM
03-28 Zonalnoye UHSO 5:41 PM
03-28 Nogliki UHSN 6:08 PM
03-28 Nikolayevsk-Na-Amure UHNN 6:52 PM 31 knot tailwind
03-28 Mago UHNH 7:16 PM
Bad performance, memory going up, fps down, stuttering, live time falling behind, end process, restart 7:36 PM
03-28 52°45’38.81"N 137°50’40.74"E 7:42 PM Smooth again, ice free for 2 seconds haha
03-28 Imeni Poliny Osipenko UIMM 7:59 PM
03-28 Ekimchan UHBP 9:00 PM
03-28 Zhurban UZEY 10:03 PM
03-28 Khvoynyy UZEA 10:16 PM Bad performance, memory going up again, reduced terrain to 10
03-28 Tynda UHBW 10:57 PM terrain detail 10 slowly purged the problem, back to 100
03-29 Chara Airport UIAR 12:24 AM Chara Sands 56°50’40.7"N, 118°08’53.8"E
03-29 Kropotkin ULRL 1:20 AM Not sure what the ‘runway’ is
03-29 Olekminsk UEMO 2:18 AM
Flight time 9:59 16 stops
Departure early morning, Anivskii close to Kosakov
Sun rise at Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk near Kmumutovo UHSS
Big city on the south side of Sakhalin Island with wonderful museums to explore
Muzeyno-Memorial’nyy Kompleks “Pobeda” showing the brutality of war
Uchebnyy Muzey Arkheologii Sakhgu detailing archeological finds in the area going back 9,000 years
And Yuzhno-Sakhalinskiy Oblastnoy Khudozhestvennyy Muzey, wonderful art museum
Gorny vozdukh is a major ski resort in far east Russia right next to the city
Traveling on along the island further North, Dolinsk-Sokol Air Base
I brief glimpse above the clouds
Smirnyhk Airport
Crossing the Reka Onor (river) frozen solid
Zonalnoye Airport
I passed by Gora Lopatatina (5,279ft) along the way but it was only visible on the virtual display
Nogliki Airport on the east coast of Sakhalin Island
Risking another trip above the clouds on the way to Nikolayevsk-Na-Amure
Worth it but can’t avoid them all or climb high fast enough
Descending back down, icing was inevitable, at least prop de-ice works today
Nikolayevsk-Na-Amure on the Amur river as the name says, and mainland, leaving Sakhalin behind
Flying my popsicle plane over Imeni Poliny Osipenko District
The weather cleared up a bit to view Reka Amgun
Huge river making many loops through the landscape
Making a pass over The Oldjikan State Nature Reserve
This makes me want to get my bike out and cycle there for hours and hours
Probably because it doesn’t look all that different from my favorite places to cycle where I live
Flying over the frozen Reka Golubaya
The border between Amur Oblast and Khabarovsk Krai
Landing at Ekimchan Airport along Reka Selemdzha
Almost ice free on the way to Zhurban
Over Zeysky District
Zhurban Airport in front of the Zeya Reservoir
Khvoynyy Airport on the west side of Zeya Reservoir
Not frozen in game but it does freeze over
Tynda Airport
Brrr, looks like Yellowknife coldest temperatures
And similar in summer as well, up to +30c in another picture
Chara Airport, bright and sunny
Chara, Kalarsky District of Zabaykalsky Krai
Chara Sands in the distance
Chara sand dunes, snowed over
Beautiful winter desert
Further along Kalarsky District
Bodaybinsky District
Kropotkin Airport approach, or rather search along Reka Nigri
I turned on the marker to confirm it’s the big field, no markings on the ground
Not far from Kropotkin is the Patomskiy crater (about directly below my plane)
Aka Patom crater and “Fire Eagle Nest”, still a mystery today
Discovered in 1949, dated 300 to 350 years ago, still unknown how it formed
Nessie’s winter hideout in the Lena River, there be dragons here
Lena river, the easternmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean (4,294km)
Olekminsk aka Olyokminsk (Олекминск) in Sakha Republic on the Lena River
Final stop today on this huge airstrip dwarfing my plane
Further west tomorrow to Udachny diamond mine.