How Can Airplanes Take Off in Siberia? (EXTREME FLYING)

Added: 2026-05-06

[00:00:00]Have you ever wondered how planes are able to take off in the depths of winter in Siberia? How are planes able to fly in -50 below zero? Well, today we're going to find out because we do find ourselves in Yakultia, the coldest region of Siberia. It is the middle of winter and the temperature is hovering between -40 and -50° C. Today we're going to be flying on a very special plane. Not only because it was built in the Soviet Union and still operating nowadays, but also because this might arguably be the rarest airplane in the world. We're talking about the Anton of 38, a twin engineed turborop designed to withstand the harsh climates and the rough gravel runway strips of the Soviet Union. Only 11 were built and only two remain in service nowadays. Both of them operated by a single airline in Siberia and on top of that they operated on a single route only just one. This is why a video like this could only start from the airport of Mney, a small town in Yakultia where the Al Rosa airline is based and where they rotate their two Anton 38s on the way to Udach, an even more remote settlement 500 kilometers to the north near the Arctic Circle.

[00:01:40]>> Wow, look at that. It's so cold that the fog is raining supreme near the area of Met Airport. One of the most legendary airports that you could ever dream of visiting. Look at that. You can see the cerillic characters which put together read Ira Port because this is a Soviet airport. So that's why you've got airport written there in Soviet styling.

[00:02:13]And over there you've got Alar Rosa's logo which is the company that pretty much runs me runs ME airport and also the airline that we are going to be flying on today. The only airline in the world that flies the Anton 38. The airline that we're flying on today has actually got quite an interesting history because Yakutia is massive. It's the largest federal subject in the whole of Russia. It's even bigger than freaking India. And this specific area of western Yakutia is very much rich in diamonds and natural resources. So the Alarosa parent organization is actually the state company that manages all the diamond extraction operations all over the region. So settlements like Miren and Udachn were founded just for that as mining outposts and the entirety of the population in ME and Udach is employed by Al Rosa and as a subsidiary of the Alasa parent company. You've got Al Rosa the airline which runs all the flight routes in and out of this part of Yakuta. And look at what you've got to the side of the main terminal building.

[00:03:36]You've got a Soviet mosaic, the type of which exist all over the former Soviet Union. But this this is something special to it because you can see that it's halfway covered in ice, man. Look at it. It's so cold.

[00:03:54]It's so cold that this mosaic is covered in freaking ice. And obviously this mosaic is drawn in a style and a theme that again reminds us of Soviet aviation because you've got the sun and you've got three Soviet looking aircraft that are flying towards the sun. Now I can't really keep filming in minus40 temperatures much longer. So, I will have to go inside of this beautiful terminal building and I will go and check in for my flight to Palar. Oh god, I can't feel my hands anymore. It's very likely that I will be forbidden from filming inside the terminal. So, I will try and keep you updated whenever I can.

[00:04:38]And so I entered ME airport, the place where I was hoping to finally take my spot in the Olympus of Soviet aviation YouTubers.

[00:05:00]Mini airport is small. There are just two gates and a single airside hall. And this was definitely one of the airports where so few Italians had passed by before. A young Yakut couple even gave me their very cute Yakut baby as a present. Such was the occasion. Nah, I'm just kidding. and they just wanted me to hold their baby for a couple of seconds so that they could take a picture as if me and my friend all of a sudden were Jesus and Michael Jackson. And then finally, my lifelong dream of flying on an Anton of 38 came closer and closer as it was now time to board.

[00:05:46]And there you go. We're as close to an Anton of 38 as as we've ever been and we're as close as we could have ever gotten to the only operating Anton 38 in the world in the midst of a very foggy and icy runway strip here at Mir airport. Oh my god, this just has to be the best day of my life and it has all the potential in this world to get even better.

[00:06:19]The staff at Mir airport seem to be very aware of the rarity of this absolute gem of Soviet aviation. So much that they seem to hold on to it quite preciously and they are very restrictive when it comes to snapping cheeky shots of the legendary Anton of 38 of Al Rosa.

[00:06:45]My creativity was yet again undermined even though all of this sort of contributed to the whole aura surrounding the airplane that we were about to board. And when we did finally board the 38, it was utter chaos.

[00:07:03]Everyone quite understandably was rushing to their seats in order to not spend too much time on the outside in crazy subzero temperatures. And amidst all of this, at one point it even looked like there was no seat that I could take.

[00:07:27]At the end though, I did manage to find a lucky seat at the back of the plane so that I could avoid standing the whole way from ME to DN as if I was on a random bus. I'm pretty sure we got scammed by the check-in agent because this flight was supposed to be only out of full, but it's not. It's completely full to the point where I wasn't even able to get to my assigned seat. But at the end of the day, who cares about assigned seats in a minus 50° weather, am I right? So, I got relegated to the very back of the airplane, right next to the toilet, which is actually not used as a toilet on these trips. You can see you've got a ladder and you've got a small suitcase as well here. But the good news is that I've got a big ass window right next to me. Oh my god, engines are starting to get so loud. Oh, everything was happening so fast. Mi airport is so small that it gets something like three flights a day. So there was surely going to be no delay, no queuing up to get to the runway or anything like that. Soon enough, our 38 registration number RA41901 lifted off. something that this very airframe had been doing for over 30 years as he first flew in 1997 for a regional airline of Kabarovsk in eastern Russia. Right after takeoff, we started heading north towards the direction of Udach. Even though technically our actual destination was written down as Polar, PYJ, due to the fact that the airport serving the town of Udach is actually located 15 kilometers outside of the town and it's closer to the even more remote settlement of Polar. It's a bit like London Stanstead, which is not actually in London, but it's in Stanstead.

[00:09:32]Polarne is such a fitting name for an airport at this latitudes, by the way, because Polar translated into English, literally means polar. Oh, thank God. We were able to complete takeoff successfully. We had no problem despite the prohibitive temperatures here in the middle of Siberia. We took off just fine. It was a very fantastic takeoff. I would say we had we didn't have to deal with turbulence. The aircraft did not move around too much. And that just speaks volume to the expertise of these very skilled Siberian pilots who have likely been born and raised here in Siberia. They have trained and flown all across Siberia their whole life. And that's why for them it's like an ordinary Tuesday. It's just like any other Tuesday. Whereas for us, at least for me, it's the best Tuesday of my life.

[00:10:35]The 38 honestly did not look a day over 30. The insides of the airplane had been left unchanged since the beginning of times. Lovely red silk seats in a one two configuration like your proper urban bus. And the smell. Oh my god, this smell. Despite the temperatures, you could still very much sense the typical smell of Soviet made airplanes. Can I actually put the blinds down? Does it work? Oh, it does work. Look. Amazing.

[00:11:11]So if we were traveling in summer when the sun is a lot more often shining up in the sky, we would have even been able to find shelter from the blinding sunshine rays, right? Can I actually put it back off without doing too much damage? Yes, I can. Okay, awesome. Now even the blinds, look at all the comfort of Ala's of 38.

[00:11:54]Hello.

[00:12:03]I can't believe it. I can't believe it.

[00:12:06]Like honestly, how the hell did I end up on a freaking jump seat? This This is the emergency exit door. I mean, this is actually the normal door that we've used to board the airplane, but this will also be used as obviously the emergency exit. And I can see that this is a jump seat because I've just realized that I mean I've got a literal seat, but you see there's nothing for me to lay my back on. This is a normal wall of the airplane.

[00:12:43]We've got this piece of cloth. It says Alosa Alia Campa. Because this airplane, as you saw from the outside, you saw the majestic livery of this Arlo 38. This airplane belongs to Alonosa Airline. The only airline who's got the guts to operate in this kind of temperatures. I was able to get a hold of one of the rarest safety instruction cards of the world.

[00:13:15]This is probably the only existing safety card of an ant of 38. You can see it on the top right. Anto of 38. Yeah, you can see confirmation that this airplane has actually 27 seats. And my seat is the one that you see on the very back of the plane like this. This one on its own. And here you can also find an inflight magazine. well done to Al Rosa.

[00:13:45]Even May in Europe doesn't really do inflight magazines anymore. But Al Rosa in the middle of Siberia does. And here actually you can see the entire fleet of Al Rosa which does not only consist of Soviet airplanes of course because you've got some Boing 737s as well.

[00:14:09]You've got a few Anton of 24s. You've got the Anthro 38 that we're flying on today and you've got a few mini Soviet helicopters as well. The reason why Alarosa needs airplanes that are a bit more long range so to speak, Boeing 737s for example, is because look, this is the entire network of Alar Rosa. So they also fly in the Europe or rather in the European part of Russia. For example, they go from Moscow to St. Petersburg and also down to the south in Soi and then in the Asian part of Russia they go to Lavoskut on Lake Bal and they go as far east as Vladivasto and also here you can see what is probably the shortest route the one that we're operating now the one going from Mir all the way to Parn on board on this very 38.

[00:15:14]You can see that this part of Siberia, Yakuta, is very much rich in rivers. We can see a big river just down here. I am pretty sure that we've started descent now.

[00:15:29]So, we may not be as far away from landing as we were a couple of minutes ago. I think we're definitely lower in the sky now.

[00:15:40]Right. So, in a few minutes, we will have to face the cold again. It's cuz it's so warm inside of this airport actually. I think it must have been like 20° above zero. And in a short while, we will have to go back outus 45. I'm not looking forward to that at all.

[00:16:01]By the way, it's absolutely crazy that now that we've almost made it to Dutch, we didn't see any infrastructure the way from here to Dutch. There was no town, no populated centers. There were no roads at all that we flew over in the past hour or so. This really is one of the most remote regions of the world.

[00:16:25]And how could it not be considering the temperatures? Okay, now the noise coming out of the motors and the engines are much less which means that propulsion intensity of the engines must have decreased because we're very close to landing now.

[00:16:43]Oh god. A good old friend of mine who was also into aviation used to always tell me that the number one rule in aviation was for any aircraft to keep even the number of takeoffs and landings. We had managed to take off successfully, but did we also manage to land just as successfully? I mean, if I am here to tell the tale, that's a huge spoiler for you, right?

[00:17:25]We made it. We freaking made it. Look at the landscapes around Balar airport.

[00:17:32]The corner airport.

[00:17:36]Oh, never in my life I think I've seen a better fitting name than this.

[00:17:42]Everything is white.

[00:17:44]Everything is absolutely white.

[00:17:49]What happened then was absolutely insane. I couldn't wait to get off the plane to film once again the very iconic livery of Alarosa's an 38. But as soon as we did step out, we were surrounded by a group of 10 to 15 gentlemen wearing yellow vests. And they were all screaming repeatedly out of the top of their lungs, "No filming. No filming."

[00:18:18]That was such an absurd scene. I had never seen anything like that. You do get sometimes the odd ramp agent telling you to put your camera away and things like that. But 15 people. Surely the staff at Polarne airport had been alerted of the presence of two Italian weirdos who wanted to film so bad an unusual sexy airframe in the middle of Siberia. So they had sent out a few people to intercept us and escort us to the outside of the airport grounds.

[00:19:23]Welcome to one of the most legendary locations that we've ever set foot on in the history of our channel. Welcome to one of the northernmost airports in Russia.

[00:19:40]Welcome to Palear. And I'll tell you what, this is supposed to be polar airport. Well, it doesn't look very polar. I'll tell you that. Look, everything is white.

[00:19:53]Ah, everything is covered in ice and snow. Even more than what it was in freaking M, man. They really are restrictive when it comes to filming in this part of the world. They said that I wouldn't be allowed in any shape or form to film anything within the airport grounds, but they did say that I would be allowed to film as much as I wanted outside of the main airport terminal. I mean, I'm saying main airport terminal, but there's only one. It's this one. undeniably Soviet as you can tell again from Iro port written on top of the building and look at the landscape right what's even over there I did try and ask very nicely if there was any way shape or form that I could film again at the 38 but they also very politely and nicely said sorry there's nothing we can do okay that's fine but hey at least what we can film is another piece of iconic Soviet aviation. Look, this is another ant. This is an ant of 2 again belonging to Al Rosa, but it's now obviously dismissed and it's now sitting here not far from Paleari airport just as a memorial, just as a monument basically. And it's all covered in ice and snow. Again, how fitting for an airport that goes by the name of Polari. Polyarni airport. Polar airport. Now we need to try and make it to Udach to the main town which is some 10 or 15 kilometers away from here. Oh, and we'll have to do that. Not withstanding a temperature of -41 and the wind chill is -50 according to Google. I'm not really sure how windchill is calculated. All I know is that there is a little bit of wind and it's chilly. So that's enough for me to say that it's freaking cold.

[00:22:07]And so our little Siberian adventure was then coming to an end. All we needed to do was just find some accommodation in the center of Udachme that could host us for the night. And in order to do that, we found a Kirkis taxi driver to take us to Dashni proper. Man, all taxi drivers from Russia are from freaking Kisan, even in the most remote parts of Siberia. How fascinating is that?

[00:22:45]foreign.

[00:23:34]I hope you enjoy. enjoyed this little ride on a true piece of Soviet aviation history and I will see you on the next one. Cheers. Thank you. Bye.