General aviation around Saint Petersburg (Russia)

Since more and more threads on this forum are with general aviation, I figured I might as well chip in with a visit to Kummolovo and Gostilitsy.

At Kummolovo we were met with open arms. Most polite and friendly airportfolks I’ve seen in a long while. We were allowed to go everywhere, except for the runway (grass). The hangars where opened as well.

My first An-2 flight was done with this plane. It may not look like much, but it flies near acrobatic with the pilot putting in a few tight turns and steep dives.

Inside the hangars where several nice Yakovlevs. We asked if some of the planes could be pushed outside for better photos. As long as we helped, they were fine with it!

As is the case with every Russian airports there are a few An-2s stored in various stages of disrepair.

This one was painted into German colours for a movie.

The neighbourhood

The second airport was Gostilitsy. This is a more modern airport, both in fasilities and planes. You’ll mostly find Cessnas and Pipers here, which is of course a lot less interesting.

We were given instructions to stick together. Unfortunately some in the group had some difficulty understanding this simple request. Therefor we were booted in under an hour, having seen only about half or a third of the planes here.

This is Bullish Field in Kronshstadt, near Saint Petersburgs. Just six planes here, five of which are kit planes / home builts.

his one was seen over the city of Saint Petersburg. It flies tourists around the citadel once or twice a day. The heli port is just outside the citadel, and there are NO fences at all. It’s great for photography, but you’ll have to wait a long time. I could not figure out a flight schedule so you’ll just have to wait and be lucky. Unfortunately I can’t show you the photos I made there. As you might have read, my camera got stolen.