CCCP-85287 Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-154B1 on runway 23 approach to London Heathrow

Soviet aviation memories
CCCP-85287 is seen over the outer marker on runway 23 approach with flight SU241 from Moscow.

Ilyushin Il-62s were mainly used on the scheduled Aeroflot flights from Moscow (SU241/3) in the late 1970s, with Tu-154s used on just the odd occasion . However, each Friday there was a flight in from Leningrad where a Tu-154 was generally used, the exception being when a Tu-134A was substituted.

In the early days of Tu-154 operations into Heathrow, the same aircraft from a small pool used to turn up, with CCCP-85130 being one of the most regular. CCCP-85287, one of the later additions to Aeroflot's fleet of Tu-154Bs in the early 1980s is seen here on final approach to runway 23 at London Heathrow.

CCCP-85287 Tupolev TU-154B-1 was delivered to Aeroflot in 1978 and flew with the airline until the break up of the Soviet Union around 1990. Later flew with Nizhny Novgorod Airlines, KMV Mineralnye Vody Avia and Enkor as RA-85287. Ended up with PAL Permskie Avialinii - withdrawn at Bolshoye Savino airport in Perm, Russia in 2007 after nearly 30 years service and scrapped.

I was lucky to have lived right under the flight path of the London Heathrow cross-wind runway 23. Whenever we had a nice stormy south-westerly wind, you would start to hear the familiar sound of approaching aircraft. As we were around 4 miles out, aircraft would call out over the outer-marker just as they flew over my house.

It was possible to get some unusual photographic angles as the aircraft flew over, but the weather was usually a bit grim - grey skies! So apologies for this murky grainy scan - taken (appropriately) with a Soviet made Zenith E camera and 300mm lens.
Scanned from the original slide without restoration

You can see a random selection of my aviation photos here: flickriver.com/photos/heathrowjunkie/random/

Taken in: United Kingdom / England / London / Southall (show map)

Taken on: March 27, 1980

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CCCP85287

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