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<\/a><\/p>\r\nMaria, who almost finished her doctorate program in a local university, has got a real, once operational Soviet TU-104 plane to restore. The plane is parked at the very far end of the airfield and it's pretty far away from her day job and place of residence, however she visits her plane almost every\u00a0day to work on it, just like a dedicated person would!<\/p>\r\n
Maria has met and greeted the photographers near her plane, trying to calm the watch dogs of various\u00a0types living near her plane. \"I am coming here a few days a week. It takes one hour and a half to get here. First on a bus,\u00a0then in a taxi\", says\u00a0Maria. \"It's very hard to get here in winter, when the snow is high. I get shoes full of snow whilst getting to the plane. It's very cold in the plane in the winter.\".<\/p>\r\n And when the photographers got into the plane, it really was much colder inside than outside.<\/p>\r\n Five years ago she learned that there was a written-off - out of service, grounded plane here in Berdsk. \"I came here and asked to take a look at what's inside\", says Masha. \"It was a very sad sight - all of the gauges and devices were ripped off, the wiring was stolen by the scrap metal hunters.\"<\/p>\r\n \"So I offered to them that I\u00a0would\u00a0restore the plane.\" At first they were skeptical, however as Maria started bringing in the rare pieces of equipment for the cockpit they became more assured of her seriousness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n As you can see, a lot of gauges are already in position!<\/p>\r\n \"For now I restore only the cabin, the cockpit, the dashboard\", says Maria, \"I find the parts via the internet, online, some for money, some people give them to me as gifts\". She didn't mention the prices of those things, so as\u00a0not to attract a\u00a0new bunch\u00a0of burglars and scrappers.<\/p>\r\n She still hopes that someday this plane can fly. \"However, as for now, the ready to fly\u00a0state of this plane is zero percent ready, almost nothing is in here - no engines, nothing\" says the girl. \"We have finished 60% of the cockpit and cabin, but it is really not enough for the plane to fly\".<\/span><\/p>\r\n \"It's more likely that we'll\u00a0make a museum piece of\u00a0the plane. Even now whole families come to me and ask to sit inside, take photos, etc.\"<\/span><\/p>\r\n She started alone, but recently her boyfriend started to help her from time to time, and then two senior ex-pilots joined her effort in restoration jobs. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n \"This plane has stayed\u00a0here for 36 years already!\", says the girl, \"At first they used it for\u00a0some training for paratroopers, then it was used just as a storage facility, and later it was just abandoned.\"<\/p>\r\n Maria has yet to learn how to fly\u00a0a plane, for now she is finishing her doctorate and after that she plans to take\u00a0flying classes.<\/span><\/p>\r\n As for this plane, it is a TU-104 - the first Soviet passenger jet. It was used from 1956 to 1979 and around 201 planes were built. The crew is 7 people, and it can carry 50 to 100 passengers. According to studies, almost 18% of these planes got into an emergency or crashed, which makes it the worst among all Soviet planes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n A big thanks to Maria for restoring the aircraft and to the photographers!<\/p>\r\n <\/p>\r\n Additional Reads -<\/p>\r\n The MiG15<\/a><\/p>\r\nWhat it\u2019s like to fly CAS with IS militants<\/a>\r\n\r\nThe A400M \u2013 Atlas<\/a>\r\n\r\nThe 7 weirdest bombs<\/a>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n Author - Jake Meilak<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/a><\/p>\r\n