Baku is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located 92 ft below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world and also the largest city in the world located below sea level. BTW, I noted that Baku (UBBB) Airport is, however, at an elevation (AMSL) of 10 ft. The Baku airport is a combination of modern architecture along with an authentic touch of the country's and city's rich heritage.

Now, regarding the many aircraft, we come across, here, in our SIM, the type of aircraft, is, of course, of great interest, but the skin (= livery & registration) of the aircraft is also equally significant! This is because that's what really tells us, so to speak, the life of the aircraft...when it was born, where it has been, and, as applicable, when it died etc. There are now publicly accessible (internet) records that even show their individual maintenance records, if one looks hard enough! But, more importantly, the livery also tells us a great deal about the unique history of the region the airline is associated with. When one looks at the image of an United (or a Lufthansa) B747, only half the story is about the aircraft itself, and half about the history (and not just aviation) of these two countries! I'd purchased the QW787, a long while ago, and for one of my earlier posts on "Avianca", I'd taken this 787 just to takeoff (but not beyond) for one (obligatory) snapshot image. For this (SIM) flight, my 1st full-flight with this QW787, the striking blue uniform of Azerbaijan Airline's (smart-looking) 787 caught my attention. And, it also prompted me, on the side, to explore a bit about Azerbaijan, the rise of this (beautiful) country (strategically located at the cross-roads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia) to its current economic and industrial progress (it's oil and natural-gas rich!). Its (past and eventful) history is, however, unfortunately, inundated with (numerous) episodes of wars, uprisings, and conflicts...but, we're here to talk of Aviation!

So, a bit about this country's flag carrier Airline: Back in April of 1923, for the first time, the Junkers airplanes (ubiquitous in the early 1900s) had performed the (country's) first flight from Baku to Tbilisi and back (déjà vu, for Junkers, because I recall from my Avianca post that, Colombia's flag carrier had also originated its commercial aviation with a Junkers flight, in the Andes, back a century ago). Then a scheduled Baku-Moscow air-route was opened in 1937. It was operated by local aircraft KHAI-1 and Steel-3 which carried "15" passengers a day (a very impressive number, for the time!). BTW, if interested, you may wish to take a look at this Soviet built (Kharkiv KhAI-1) plane (1st flight 1932), on the Wiki. An exceptionally clean design for its time, it was similar to the British Airspeed Envoy and American Vultee-1. The KhAI-1 was designed by the students of the Kharkiv Aviation Institute, and was the first European transport transport aircraft to feature retractable undercarriage. Those were interesting times for (aviation) milestones, for sure! The Azerbaijan Airline (formerly a branch of Aeroflot), was, actually founded in 1992, after the country gained independence, in 1991, from the dissolution of the Soviet Republic. Imagine this interesting fact: Up to year 2000, the airline primarily utilized (a large number of) Tu-134, Tu-154M, and IL-76 aircraft - all acquired from Aeroflot, and some are still in operation. But, rather efficiently, and admirably, it has since modernized its fleet with Airbuses and Boeings, including 2 operational 787s, and 5 more 787s on order.

The 787 has always a soft spot for me (providing my user name), because, many years ago, I'd the chance to see the very first 787 in the state ready to roll out of the Boeing building, during my visit to the Everett factory (I recall there is/was a nice vantage point for the visitors from a viewing gallery above to see the actions below...another 777 was undergoing engine ramp-up test)....

For this post, the flight is from UBBQ (Qabala International Airport) to Baku's Heydar Aliyev International Airport (UBBB). For scenery, I've used Drzewiecki's Baku (acquired more recently from the Aerosoft Shop), but, one I'd not explored yet. Starting with an initial Cold & Dark cockpit, pre-configured via the SIM's nice (FMS/CDU) interface, I've next followed the Tutorial steps (without any apparent issues, but surely, it took me a bit of time!). So, please find below, sample images from a (short but circuitously routed) test-flight with this (beautiful) SIM aircraft over the (beautiful) scenery of this country (not often visited) - tracking the ridges of the Caucasus mountain range (much of which is in Russia, though). Thanks for reading and viewing. Hope you enjoy. Commentary contributions are always welcome. [QW(787-8)/Drzewiecki/AS(Baku)/REX]

***Thank You** Your Great Posts are always Very Interesting as Well as visually Stunning,  

As always, great and interesting story with superb screenshots, P_7878

Wonderful all around!

John

Patrick, Bernd, John: Many thanks! Glad you liked it!

Made a note to self to fly this (nice) plane more often and get better with start-up. I took a (rather) long time on this (1st) attempt...Had to have my meal-tray delivered to  the "cockpit" while planning capture of Baku ILS over the Caspian Sea...🙂...You never know, at PAUSE, my PC has a habit of gleefully re-booting at the slightest (external) provocation...!

Excellent short history and essay about the plane (and the country!). I know what you mean about the life of an aircraft - as a fan of the MD-11, I am grateful for the ability to track an individual aircraft for birth to death, or more importantly to me - to see which ones are currently in service and with whom. The internet is a wonderful resource sometimes!

Whilst the overall Azerbaijan livery is attractive & eye-catching, the old fashioned Times Roman font used just seems wrong IMO. Besides, it is quite a hateful font, both when it comes to weeding it out from the vinyl plotter we use at work for printing and also embroidering it onto garments (personalised workwear). 

Mark: Thanks for the comments. Glad the "life" of an aircraft rhymed with your own MD-11 as well...!

And, interesting critique of the English font...🙂...