UNEXPECTED SAKHANLINSK

New day, new destination! We are ready for our flight to Sakhanlinsk, Russia, an intended refueling stop, before continuing on, exiting Russia and arriving in Japan. The weather is with us.

After a 45 mn ride from the town of Magadan back to the airport we are ready to access the planes, load, start up and go. The idea is to get the turboprops out first and then the jets bringing up the rear.

Due to the condition of the Jets' designated parking area, the tar filled potholed taxiway, the Citation Mustang had to do a 180 degree turn to avoid as many potholes as possible. However, with the way the planes were lined up, the other jets were going to get a blast when the Mustang used full power for the turn - solution! We placed the fuel truck between the Mustang's exhaust and the CJ3. Once the Mustang had cleared the area, we did another walk around the grounds to find the best route for the remaining jets to avoid the potholes.

Clearance, startup and taxi, then take-off and enroute to Sakhanlisk. Good flight, good radio coverage and good GPS signal on arrival.

We had lost GPS signal a few times on arrival into Sakhanlinsk on our prior visits to the area. I made sure the group was aware of this possibility and had plans in place should it happen.

We are parked near some heavy commercial (military?) airplanes

Fuel arrived pretty quickly and the slow pumping started - this time it was about 15 gallons a minute...drip, drip, drip - painfully slow.

Now time for the paperwork - first we had to return the temporary import document we received in Anadyr. Then we were required to sign about 15 copies of our departure general declaration and a list of the commercial cargo.

I stayed on the ramp as 3 of the planes were refueling while the rest of the group went with the handler to retrieve the required exit stamps in their passports.

The group returned, minus the handler, and we requested permission to start up and our clearance for Nagoya. All well received, details provided and transponder code, etc given.

Taxi clearance given to 3 planes.

The TBM took off with the proper clearance. The other TBM and PC-12 waited on the taxiway for their turn and take off clearance. We asked for the start-up for the CJ3, obtained it and proceeded to start the right engine...

As we prepared to start engine number 2, we see an "official" looking person asking us to shut down.

We comply, the 2 turboprops received the same request and returned to the apron, the airborne TBM was asked to return to the field as they were passing 13,000 feet..no explanations were given.

On his return to the airport, the TBM lost their GPS signal and were in IMC.

still smiling after a turn around

The three pilots that had moved their planes were being "detained" with no real reason provided. They spent hours with the officials trying to understand what was going on, I was able to go back and forth between the two groups to check on everything but I too was at a loss for a reason.

A lot of time was wasted and we weren't going to be able to make it to Japan today. We were finally able to leave the airport but to where? We needed 9 rooms and every hotel we contacted were "sold out." It wasn't an easy task but we eventually found our rooms between 3 different hotels. How were these hotels? Not bad at all! We were all surprisingly impressed.

So, what happened today??

Well our handler's local representative DID NOT do his job. We were lacking a stamped General Declaration form per airplane. Those that had taken-off or taxied were being accused of attempting to leave the country without the proper documentation. An obvious no, no. Although threatened with fees and violations, ultimately no one received anything other than wasted time.

Sakhanlinsk provided a lot of wasted time, an additional night in Russia and some tense moments to say the least.

The following morning we were back at the airport at 8:15am ready to leave Russia and its bureaucratic nightmare. It still took 2 hours to get the first plane moving, this time with the proper paperwork and a thorough check from officials to ensure we had the correct paperwork.