I flew through Riga Latvia last month. I had seven hours to kill so I took the bus from the airport for a scenic cruise around town. On the way back I saw some old aircraft tails over a fence so I thought I should check it out. I found a gate with a sign that said Ring bell and WAIT!. Well, I did that and waited and waited so I decided to just go in. I slide the gate open, put some money in a donation box and started to check the place out.

Well, when I was on my way out an old guy comes up and looked kind of pissed off. He tells me I need to pay 5 whatever their called. I gave him the money and we start talking. With some flying hand gestures and broken English he tells me he was a pilot during the war. What war I don't know or who's Military he was in I haven't got a clue but I did get that he had 9,000 hrs. We had a great conversation even though we can't speak each others language. He showed me some of the planes and told me about them. He has a set of Antanov AN-2 floats!

Well, about that time the Police show up and I was really glad when he waved them away as it looked like they were about to pull out their guns. I was thinking I was going to get a free room for the night. I might have to rethink this "better to ask forgiveness than permission" thing. If your ever there just go out of the terminal and turn left. It is just a couple minutes walk and you'll find it. Just make sure you wait at the gate.
Here's a link.

https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?ci ... Qj1W4vw6Kc

That's interesting. I will be in Riga on the 16th. I worked out of there for a few days last month. I saw those old airframes and wondered about them. Many ex russian airports look like Riga. I will have to check out the museum on my downtime.

I notice that they have good taste. The only BC Plane was a strait tail Cessna nose roler, Needs some fixin.


Tim

That's a little Straight Tail 150. I wondered how it got there. The one I liked was the Antonov AN-14 "little bee". I read it was supposed to replace the AN-2 but never did. Looks like they have a lot of room inside. Might make a nice Air Camper if you could afford to feed two radials. They only made 300 of them.

That big Helicopter was cool too. It is seriously bigger than my house. If you look at that SUV and the car in front of it you can tell how big it is. The tires came up to my neck.

D-EMEH

http://www.planepictures.net/netsearch4 ... &stype=reg

'Landing accident in the 90s'

The D is the national insignia for Germany--Deutsch... Maybe had a little airspace incursion?

MTV

Very cool. I did some work in Warsaw last year but didn't see anything like that.

Warsaw is cool. I'll bet I can guess what you saw a lot of.

I would love to have a plane over here!! I see there's a couple smaller airports here but I don't know Russian and getting around is really difficult when your instantly totally illiterate.

But it's so cheap to get anywhere. Subway is .24 cents. The minimum wage is $100/month and people actually can live on that. A taxi all the way across town costs about $12. My ticket from Munich to Kiev was $39 before taxes and about $130 total. My first flight in a Turbo Prop! Just pack really light because they kill you on over weight bags. Some airlines only allow 15 Kilos or just over 30 lbs. US lets you take 40 so beware, That 10 extra pounds might cost as much as your ticket.

Another bonus for being in Riga, the female population is easy on the eyes. Poland is just like it as well.

Hahaha...

Yes, I highly recommend Poland for the eye candy. I think more people speak English in Poland than in Latvia. If you get a chance, pay them a visit.

I want to drive a Fokker F50 for airBaltic. That has got to be interesting!

I went to teach iPhone and Android programming - none of my students knew anything about aviation and it was difficult to get around (like you said). So I didn't get anything new related to airplanes.

Ha! I just rode in today from Berlin to Riga on a Air Baltic Fokker, both flight attendants did not contribute much to the basic operating weight.

Eye candy??? I have been so busy taking pictures, I haven't even noticed

https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?ci ... Y1UT8lO3Jg

Hahaha... you will break that camera.