Travel Notes. Part 45: Flight PC381. Real-life creepy story (text required reading)

Yuri Loginov’s travel notes accompanied by video fragments made here and there once upon a time with amazing background classic music to remember forever. Travel Notes. Part 45: Flight PC381. Real-life creepy story. I went, once again, from Russia to #Turkey for a few days, and no one would know anything about this trip, as I was not going to do a report or to write a story, after all. But the usual trip ended in an unusual three-day return to the homeland. You will now see what happened. December 10, 2019, at we flew from Istanbul to #Krasnodar in southern #Russia, and indeed, two hours later on we were already over the city, and were going to land. But not everything happens as originally is planned. That very night a heavy fog fell on the regional capital. All flights were delayed on departure. Seven aircrafts heading to Krasnodar were redirected to alternate airports in Anapa, Rostov-on-Don and Trabzon. Accordingly redirected to Turkish Trabzon our plane Pegasus turned out to be. After a half-hour whirling over the night and brightly lit Krasnodar (in the fog lay only an airfield located on the banks of the Kuban river reservoir, the exotic vapours of which naturally saturated the surroundings inexorably) we flew to eastern Turkey. At the airport of Trabzon, some on benches, some on the floor, passengers of the ill-fated PC381 flight spent 13 hours. Finally, after tiring waiting, we plunged aboard a refuelled aircraft and flew back to Krasnodar, confident that this time our native land would definitely accept us. But it did not. Favourable conditions for take-off and landing only for a short time allowed three planes to descend, and, like the mouth of Goliath, slammed shut an instant before our arrival. Having flung its wings, as if at a loss, our plane headed for Istanbul, to the almost-native Sabiha Gökçen Airport. As it turned out, several more flights to other southern Russian cities, including Grozny and Mineralnye Vody, were cancelled or returned. Non-flying, or rather non-landing weather covered almost the entire south of Russia. To give credit, Pegasus, at least in Istanbul, arranged meals for passengers at one of the airport’s McDonalds, and, although not quite quickly and clearly, sent everyone to Ibis Tuzla Hotel about 15 kilometres south of the airport, on the shores of the Sea of ​​Marmara. On the morning of the next day, December 12, 2019, we were taken back by bus to the airport, passed the border control again, boarded the plane, and again flew towards Krasnodar. A clear and sunny sky over the waters of the Black Sea, stretching beneath us, over the entire coast of the Sochi-Tuapse region, over the snow-capped mountain peaks of the North Caucasus, upon approaching to Krasnodar gave way to a thick ominous fog. Like a patchwork but extraordinary dense blanket wrapped in lowlands and the plains of southern Russia. The last moment of truth came when the plane rushed down and disappeared into oblivion for a while. And the time, so fast and inexorable, stopped for passengers whose flight might not end this time once again. But it ended, as soon as the plane emerged 10 meters above the runway. Another instant, the chassis touched the ground, thunderous applause to the Turkish pilots, shouts of “bravo”, smiles, and sighs of relief. Already on the bus, passengers waved their hands to the ship’s bearded commander, who, in a white summer shirt in chilly winter weather, stepping onto the gangway with a cup of hot coffee, waved in a long and energetic response. This video shows animated round-trip flight route over the Black Sea between Krasnodar, Istanbul and Trabzon on December 7-12, 2019. The distance between Krasnodar and Istanbul is 928 kilometres as the crow flies. 4 flights to Istanbul make up 3712 kilometres respectively. And the distance between Krasnodar and Trabzon is 453 kilometres, totalling 906 kilometres. All together is 4618 kilometres, most of which lies on return to Russia. Watch the previous video about Turkey on