THE SIGHT & THE SOUND 1/4 : Bulgarian Government TU-154M LZ-BTZ documentary from Frankfurt to Sofia

January ... misty weather...nobody would seriously be thinking of flying old Classics in this time of the year. Yet, I had a duty trip to Germany in January 2001... and the weekend off. So, nothing else to do, except flying old Balkan Antonovs - once again - from Sofia to Varna and back and meeting up good old friend Racho (ex IL-18 Chief Pilot) and his family in Sofia. Flying in from Frankfurt is nothing special... on a Balkan 737... For some reason however there was a change in the seat configuration at check-in and I was put on waiting list again. My wildest dreams came true. Yes !! The unexpected... Tupolev 154M, and she was special ! Despite the rain and bad taping during this late evening flight, I would like to share with you this little surprise on a January evening, 13 years ago. Enjoy the Sights & Sounds of Classic Aviation. Thanks for watching. Flight details Flight : LZ 438 Date : Saturday, January 20, 2001 Aircraft : TU-154M (operated by the Bulgarian Government, Aviation Unit 28) Registration : LZ-BTZ Built : 1988 From : Frankfurt (FRA) To : Sofia (SOF) Take off : 18.32 h (1732 UTC) Touch down : 21.25 h (1925 UTC) Flying time : 1 hours 53 minutes Flying distance : 1.397 km Captain : Uzunov First Officer : Lukanov Flight Engineer : Christoskov Technician : Chaitov