...Onboard a plane bound to Krasnodar from Moscow, I seemed to be not the only jumpseater having the good luck to enjoy the luxury of a business class cabin, since almost all its seats were going to be left unoccupied after the embarkation.

Oh, you probably know well that scene of a random mix of airmen that flock together, by chance, on their way home from various "anywheres" they'd just happened to be in: vacations, business trips. Or very often, it would be just the deadheading off-duty crews.

So, there we were, four of us, relaxing on wide seatbacks and gradually coming back into a contended mood - the state of spirit that so understandable to a person who had just passed through the street-scrum of Moscow's rush hour.

And it is almost a sure thing that anyone sitting in such a company, in the familiar atmosphere of a preflight, will be likely to get into a chat with his companions. What's more, there is always a story to tell, news to share, and a topic to discuss.

I knew two of the other three guys, for they were employees of our airline. But to my shame, I couldn't first recognize the third. Though not long after, I had been able to stimulate that "peripheral brain's section", usually served to store some 'second priority' information. So it yielded a brief "dossier" on the man.

Yes, I did know him. I'd heard of him before. Moreover, we'd even been introduced to each other by one person a year ago. We promptly cleared off that momentary awkwardness during our recognizing process - it took a while for him to recall me too - and we got feeling really comfortable towards any kind of conversation.

 It was Aleksandr Kogut sitting across the aisle. He was a test pilot working in the PANH institution - a specific aviation business in Krasnodar. Interesting coincidence, for it was exactly him who lifted off that Yak-18T plane I wrote about in my Gallery, after it had been "re-animated" by a maintenance team!

This time Aleksandr had an amazing story of a recent adventure of his, from which he'd just departed home to have a short break. He definitely needed some rest. Besides, his boss had recalled him to the base to coordinate a business schedule.

It was a story not of a breathtaking test flight, but it was well off his day-to-day flying routine as well. Anyway, what he was narrating about was a really exciting flying experience; and an outstanding one in some ways, where he played one of the leading role in.

This role was as the captain of a cross-country flight organized to commemorate the 55th Anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War (this is what we call WWII in Russia).

  The mission dubbed "By Fathers' Roads" had been initiated by a comitee of two organizations:

the Regional Public Fund "Historical Heritage", and

the Public Aviation Comitee "To the Memory of Allied Airmen". >Continue>