Russian to Market
Escaping Melbourne’s winter is always appealing, even if just for a few days to check on progress of Southern Sun 2, taking me to a mild summer in the Russian town of Samara, east of Moscow on Europe’s longest river, the Volga. Hosted by the Chaika Aircraft company who build the SeaBear, I stayed at the compact hotel for visiting pilots on the company airfield.
There was a sense of jubilation amongst the team as two AeroVolga LA8s and the brand new two-seat Borey had just completed a polar circumnavigation. A unique idea, and clearly appealing to Russia-based aviators, they followed the arctic circle east bound for 42 days, flying through Russia, Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and back into Russia. The most visually spectacular flying of my Southern Sun circumnaviation in 2015 were the polar regions, so I can see why they were all beaming at their journey.
Over breakfast they shared stories, and they were very pleased with how the Borey handled the long flight with two
