vantom

Hey guys,

I've been in North Korea (DPRK) last month to fly some really nice old Russian aircraft:

Tupolev Tu-204-100
Ilyushin IL-18D
Antonov An-148-100B
Antonov An-24RV
Tupolev Tu-134B-3
Ilyushin IL-76MD
Ilyushin IL-62M
Tupolev Tu-154B-2
Mil Mi-17

During the week of my stay we had a tight program to get a lot of impressions of North Korea itself:

-Sightseeing Pyongyang
-Fatherland Liberation War Museum + USS Pueblo
-Ride with Trolley Bus, Tram and Metro
-Panmunjom (DMZ)
-Kaesong
-Mount Paektu
-Sondok / Hamhung
-Kumsusan Memorial Palace
-Myohyang / International Friendship Exhibition

As there are a dozen of videos and hundreds of photos I'll link to my existing trip report.

You'll see many recent impressions of the country and a lot of great, well-maintained aircraft - I absolutely recommend North Korea as a travel destination for flight-addicted people and also for "normal" tourists.

Have fun

vantom

In addition the flight routes:

PEK-FNJ (Tu-204)
FNJ-YJS (IL-18)
YJS-FNJ (IL-18)
FNJ-FNJ (An-148)
FNJ-FNJ (An-24)
FNJ-DSO (Tu-134)
DSO-FNJ (Tu-134)
FNJ-FNJ (IL-76)
FNJ-FNJ (IL-62)
FNJ-FNJ (Tu-154)
Hyangsan Heliport-FNJ (Mi-17)
FNJ-PEK (Tu-204)

Flight map

RDinJER

I really enjoyed reading that, the photos were superb and brought back memories of my trip last year. That was until this paragraph;

Unfortunately some trip participants were not able to be quiet, despite repeated requests. They had to talk continually and delighted my video with unqualified interjections.
Maybe in future these people should make holiday in Majorca again, rather than on a group tour to North Korea.

I just find that arrogant beyond belief. We get from the report that "you Germans" were having a great time and, great, so you should but on any aviation tour there are many types of enthusiasts. I couldn't really care for photos, I'm there to collect registrations and ride new types, some want only photos some make videos - we all have to get along to make these tours work.

To suggest someone should not go on such tours because they talked during your filming is pathetic and extremely selfish.....

offerendum

Interesting report, but I would never do a journey to North Korea. First I can`t accept the political Situation, second I don`t support them.

vantom

Believe me, nearly everyone, including the tour leader, was in complete agreement with my perception.
As you wrote it was a tour group, so everyone should respect the others and also be able to be quiet for a few minutes, especially when filming during takeoff and landing.
If you like screeching voices in your ear the whole day that's your decision. I don't


I thought about this before booking, but in general we all were not there for supporting the political system but for flying those aircraft. You might be able to fly single types in Africa or India with serious risk of a crash. That's not a good option In North Korea you have all of them, well-maintained and also get the chance to have a look into one of the most isolated countries of the world. I think that's attractive.

Betteronacamel

Fascinating ^

RDinJER

Yeah, fair point, and sorry if was a little harsh. We had a tour to Moscow a few years ago where we ended up missing a few airfields as a few Hungarian guys were unable to tell the time

I enjoyed you photos very much.

Rgrds
Ryan

rankourabu

Nice report. I travelled with Juche last summer, who was your leader?

Looks like the Air Koryo burger is still the inflight meal
And they show the same NBA book to all tour groups heehee.

Interesting to see that the FNJ is still not finished a year later! Hard to believe given the advanced machinery used

LDNConsultant

Mt. Baekdu is the one place I would love to visit~!!!

vantom

Our guides were Su Ryon and Un Sok, the other group was supervised by Jong Chol and Jong Hua.

I really liked that burger. Not special but good.

They will finish much earlier than BER

Yes, it's absolutely worth a visit!

rankourabu

We asked how many guides worked for KITC, and apparently its a very small group.
What about the western guide - James/Dave?

vantom

Nope. We had our own guide from Berlin who organized all the stuff for us.

zolagola

Indeed it seems a very small group of guides - a colleague went in 2010 and had the same German speaking guide we had in 2014. The English language Aviation Tour which traveled in late September this year had the same English guide we had a few weeks earlier...

zolagola

Jumping on the bandwagon here, I have also put the first part of my DPRK trip report online in the meantime:

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-fo...ad.main/258637

vantom

North Korea seems to have closed its borders for tourists to avoid an Ebola infection.

Sparse information say that North Koreans who have visited African countries of course are allowed to enter and exit the country but have to be under close medical monitoring