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RV workshop in Russia

V

Vlad

Well Known Member
At small airport Myachkovo nr Moscow a sizeable group of RV wannabe builders gathered for their annual workshop as we speak.
First pictures here http://www.reaa.ru/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1226938146/27#27 scroll all the way down the page. Today they are covering general subjects and tomorrow will bring some riveting experience.
Edited: pictures courtesy of Dimitry Shapovalov, High Commander of reaa.ru and Velocity builder
 
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Vlad,

That's an impressive turnout! I count about 40 people.

The Russian economy has certainly turned around since I was there in 93, 95 & 97. My son was there last year with his wife (who used to be Russian but is a US citizen now) and visited one of her cousins. He wanted to buy a Hummer and the dealer told him to get in line, they were selling them as fast as they could get them. When I was there it looked like only the Mafia had money.
 
Zdravstvui Richard

I am not an economist but there are certain changes for sure. Especially RV-wise:D My relatives still live in rural country, almost all of them belong to "Old School" thinking. They think something like - "nothing has changed in Russia in past two centuries", "to machine this bolt still costs one bottle of vodka inspite of inflation":) or "Moscow is not Russia it's a financial corporation" etc. Peredai privet svoim rodstvennikam.
 
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Vlad,
It's great to see that interest in home built aircraft is in Russia! You might want to check out the RV Squadron group on Yahoo. They are a group of RV enthusiasts in the UK. They have banded together to reduce shipping costs. They are arranging shipment from Vans in groups, so as to use an entire shipping container. That helps reduce the shipping costs for each builder.
The group in Moscow may want to contact them, for tips regarding reducing shipping costs. You can find them here.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rvsqn/?yguid=105135967

Charlie Kuss
 
Tnanks for linky Charlie

I will definitely check them it's a membership required group.
RVGroup in Russia is 5 years old. They grew from little garage-container with a 7 to pretty impressive establishment and created jobs for skilled riveters. Their business now is called Cetus Aero. They combine orders and ship them like British guys do to reduce costs. They build QBs for locals, make some improvements to accomodate local conditions and demand. But there is another very little known absolutely unique Science of Customs Clearance. Rocket science is kindergarten game comparing to that:D Money has little to do with the procedure. Bureacracy does. The shipped kits can wait weeks and weeks in customs storage to be cleared. Therefore prices are affected and time lost. Probably our British RV guys have faster Customs service:)
 
Russian Customs....

Vladyspassky said:
But there is another very little known absolutely unique Science of Customs Clearance. Rocket science is kindergarten game comparing to that:D Money has little to do with the procedure. Bureacracy does. :)
Click to expand...

Amen!!

I oftentime feel like I am lucky to get both in and out of Russia with my laptop intact....and that's when I am on official governemnt business!!

Too bad you can't ship the kits in a diplomatic pouch - we sometimes use that route when something absolutely, positively has to get through Mosocow and on it's way to Baikonur to get aboard the next Proress supply freighter to the ISS.....

Paul
 
It is Good to See

As an elder American USAF veteran of the mid 1950s with a one year tour in Korea, I have to say I have seen the cycle in US/Russian relationships (as well as Germany, Japan, Italy...) but when all of the politics are put aside, the primal desire to fly is a common bond. People going to class to learn how to build an airplane in any country is inspiring. When they learn the skills to do high quality sheet metal work it is something they will remember forever and they will never look at an airplane the same childlike way they did before. No one can deny them the inner pride that comes with that acquired skill even if they never get to participate in building an airplane - I do not expect these folks will be content with training that is not put to some use however. It is indeed good to see.

Two years ago I was on a Russian tour between Novgorod and Moscow when I became very sick with massive vomiting on our bus loaded with Americans, Canadians and Australians. They pulled into a highway restaurant/truck stop of the type common in Europe, took me off and laid me on the ground beside the bus. After some time an ambulance similar to a Volkswagon minibus picked up me, my wife and our luggage and took us to a small hospital in a town probably 100 miles or more from Moscow while the bus continued on the tour. The doctors and nurses in that hospital were role models for how doctors and nurses the world over should care for patients. Very few could speak any English and we could speak no Russian at all but we communicated with gestures and drawings to supplement occasional verbal communication for about 30 hours before everyone was convinced that I was OK to discharge. The tour company had monitored the situation and arranged for a van to pick us up and rejoin the tour in Moscow.

It was a wonderful tour and we never met a single person that was unkind or impolite in all the cities, towns, hotels, restaurants, museums, stores and street vendor stands we visited in Russia. With that limited exposure to Russia I feel good about what I see in the photographs and I am happy for them.

Bob Axsom
 
Thank you Bob

Good point about a common bond of flying and cycled relationships. Have to add - they are building American made airplanes - RVs, so politics set aside again.

Your opinion about Russian medical professionals and healthcare in general is very rare. I have a doctor in the family and will forward this to her. Usually foreing patients are not that appreciative. Who works there they use special clinics with their own doctors and usually get transported out of the country if they get any type of illness, even dental. Probably they are guided by insurance experts...
 
Das Va Don Ya (or something like that)

Vladyspassky said:
At small airport Myachkovo nr Moscow a sizeable group of RV wannabe builders gathered for their annual workshop as we speak.
First pictures here http://www.reaa.ru/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1226938146/27#27 scroll all the way down the page. Today they are covering general subjects and tomorrow will bring some riveting experience.
Click to expand...

Very inspiring what Vans has done throughout the world! When I finish my RV, I think I will take up Russian, so I can read their posts. Would love to go there someday!
 
Jim, to learn Russian requires almost the same effort and time as building RV minus money:) Very challenging language. You said fluently Good Bye in Russian but you wrote it using two other languages
- Das Va - looks like German
- Don Ya - very likely Chinese or Korean
 
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girls and Rv's

And what about the Russian girls! I used to converse with a bird over there from here down under on Ham radio. Drop dead gorgeous!;)

Chris
VH-ICY
 
Chris Russian girls are different topic for other thread in different forum:D Let's keep it RV-ish.
 
Vlad,

I sent the link of the workshop to my son's father in law, who is Russian & he says the attendees were interested in metal aircraft construction, not just RV's. I thought it was an RV workshop. What was it?
 
Only RV Richard

The last link is to the website of Cetus Aero, the company grown from former RVGroup. If your relative is engineer and aviation guy tell him to start reading from the home page first then proceed with patience further. Website is very extensive,interesting, wisely compiled and contains a good half of MotherShip website volume. The whole idea of Cetus Aero is Vans aircrafts kits delivering, selling and building. Modifying to local conditions as well. There could be some people interesting just in all-metal construction like CH guys or some exotic machines, but ALL credits go to RV people who organized the workshop on their premises with THEIR limited resourses. Also the organizers mentioned if somebody can bring his own sheetmetal project they are very welcome. Some owners offered their busted glider parts to repair and were rejected. The reason - not RV related and not with purpose of education. Why they call it Cetus? Well I guess like we register ours under MA-6A (no offense intended), honestly I do not know why they name them different...

If your relative means link to reaa.ru this is Russian Experimental Association website where all kinds of flying machines are exposed and discussed. Moderation is very difficult on the site but owners are doing their best weeding out the off topics and steering discussions in right directions.

That's basically what it is. Would be glad to explain more if necessary.
 
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This is simply amazing!

Growing up in the late 60's and early 70's, I could never have imagined that a US kit plane would be built in Russia. Let alone sharing information about the build process between our two countries.

Next I want to see an RV builder's workshop in the Middle East.

Just think, "World Peace" brought to you via Van's and aluminum dust.
 
Bill, I grew up on the "other side of the fence" and I can tell you we were totally misinformed equally on both sides. And you know why.

I am positive there ARE RV workshops in Middle East we just do not know about them. I heard about a related event in Emirates but did not have opportunity to verify. An old airplane very simlar to 6A was reported spotted in Iran a while ago.

Russians were building small planes in their garages in large numbers since WWII. Prehistoric PreInternet Age. They were (and are) flying them, let me paraphrase that, "parallel to the Law" never crossing it. :) Note I didn't say they flew illegally. Airspace still belongs to the Military. Some American designed aircraft were popular among homebuilders in mid 80s and earlier.
 
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Thanks for the update Vlad! I visited Udachny (siberia) in 1991 and the economy was very bad 400 rubles to the dollar. Every airplane I got on had several layers of cord showing on the tires. On the Tupelov 154 (like a 727) I sat next to the exit door. The handle was a convenient hand hold position. The passengers laughed at the typical captains announcement and looked at me. The pilot said, "would someone kindly tell the American not to pull the handle in flight." - - in Russian I presume.

I visited some of my hosts homes there and found all I met to be very nice generous people. Compared to the West they had nothing in the way of possessions but were very generous.

It is very interesting that the RV has become an instrument of freedom and liberty. I liked the all US made tools etc, at least they looked familiar!

Thanks Vlad (the amassador)!
 
Gosh, those guys in the picture look like regular people. Wow! Ha!
I like how they all have their props aligned.
 
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