Even though both Lučko and Pleso have their fair share of rare and interesting aircraft for me to snap to my delight, a change of scenery never fails to do wonders for my photography :). Through operational necessity (mostly ferrying the Skyhawk for servicing), this change nearly always involves Brnik Airport, a “Pleso-like” single runway airport that serves the city of Ljubljana in neighboring Slovenia. And while its traffic picture is mostly similar to that of Zagreb, it always redeems itself with its GA apron, service centers and – not least of all – its small but interesting “corrosion corner”. Located conveniently all in one place, these are unavoidable stops on any flight to LJLJ – naturally with predictable results on my part… 😀
Quite far from their (former) base in Russia, these three Atlant-Soyuz Brasilias wait out their uncertain future. Stripped of interior fittings, avionics, systems – and, in the case of RA-02856, even engines – they appear to be sentenced to a slow death by decay as Ljubljana’s sub-Alpine weather takes its toll…Another rare find was this beautiful Citation I, one of the very few original production Citations still flying in Europe. Clean and tidy (though reportedly mx-intensive), E7-SBA is operated by the government of the Republika Srpska (one of the two entities that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina), and will soon likely become the newest addition to the Croatian GA registerDespite the Isle of Man registration prefix, it’s not that hard to figure out where this imposing Global is from! Increasingly popular in the GA world, the Manx register is the world’s only aviation registry open exclusively to business aircraft, offering easy paperwork, low taxes – and many possibilities for creating witty registrations!There’s definitely no shortage of CRJs here! An interesting scene as this Turkish VIP-configured CRJ-200ER barely manages to share the hangar with German regional operator Eurowings’ CRJ-900 D-ACNCA selection for all tastes: a pair of Galebs for fun, a Global 6000 to fly home in… and a former Malev CRJ registered in Sudan and dumped at Ljubljana as a conversation piece in the bar at night. Fully airworthy, the two Galebs belong to local operator Aquila Air Adventures, and will eventually be used for joyrides and promo flights (retaining US regs to avoid the bureaucratic hassles European aviation is known for)
Achtung, Skyhawk! 