World's Most Bizarre Airline - North Korea's Air Koryo

The condition they keep their airplanes in is seriously impressive.

Thank you for making this documentary about my airline. I hope you enjoyed our services. I have ordered new planes from uncle Vlad to improve our reputation ❤ — Chairman Kim

Probably safer than a Boeing

I admire your balance of acknowledging the odd realities of North Korea without making the video all about criticizing those things.

Russian here. My grandfather Dmitry Vilde was building the engines for the TU in 50s. It was near Kuibyshev (now Samara), a small work town called Upravlenchesky. Some captured Germans from ww2 worked there in luxury (measuring by that time) conditions - high salary, meat and milk supply etc, they were engineers who helped our engineers to work. I have published some of his personal letters and pictures of that time. Incredibly interesting, Sam. Thank you for your videos and for your interest in Soviet aviation. This job actually saved my grandfather from ww2, during which he stayed in Moscow and was making engines for war planes in Moscow suburbs. Peace to all❤

That one star airline food I saw in this video is better than all the airlines I flew

That looked like a much better meal than on all of my last 20 flights.

Fascinating video, Sam! Air Koryo truly is a glimpse into a different world of aviation. Your deep dive into the airline's unique features, from its vintage Soviet-era aircraft to its peculiar in-flight services, was both informative and intriguing. It's amazing how Air Koryo reflects North Korea's broader isolation and distinct culture. Your thorough research and engaging presentation made for an eye-opening experience. Keep up the great work in bringing such rare aviation stories to light!

I lived in the GDR, near Berlin Schönefeld. The IL-62 was really incredibly loud on take-off and landing. It's amazing that you were able to fly it

And the engine sounds makes my day. All the birds looks so good.

Thank you Sam! I appreciated, especially, your enthusiasm and your non-condescending narration. Great job! 👍

Great video Sam! This one was a special video. I tuned in to see what NK looks like.

You guys are so brave to take those old airplanes , even their leader only takes train 😂

From flying like a prince in an Emirates first class suite to sitting in the back row of an Air Koryo IL-62, you have experienced everything. In my next life I want to be Sam Chui.

An eye opener! Thank you & well done throughout!

Sam, thanks for this video, you have no idea how much I enjoyed it and how technical and informative it was especially as a Mexican who lived 5 years in Russia and who practiced aviation decades ago. Thank you and blessings!

Hi Sam, just winter to say thank you for the topics and bringing us around all these differents topics with an unparalelled passion.This vidéo on Norah Korea reflects my gratitude

Summer of 1990, I flew Aeroflot from NY to Moscow. Hearing the jet's engines in your video brings it all back. Not sure if they've since fixed it or if your audio just didn't pick it up, but in addition to being incredibly loud, the engines were slightly out of tune with each other. The end result being that on top of being the loudest jet I've ever flown on, there was a fluctuating ?warble? ?harmonic? between the engines that I hope to never experience again. Ever. Good times. edit to add: all the seats on the plane reclined fully onto the seats behind them. We were told it was so that the planes could be quickly converted to cargo planes for the military. For 60+ high school students, it was better than 1st class. We reclined all of our chairs and the back half of the plane became a huge sleeping area. We were also allowed to take a small set of stairs down into the cargo hold (where we played cards until the cold got to us).

All flight attendants are so beautiful and cute🥰

Well done, Sam. A great presentation. I flew on a huge Antonov An-22 from Prestwick Airport Glasgow, UK way back in 1996 to Goma, Zaire (now DRofC) which has a really long runway. We stopped in Athens, Khartoum and Nairobi for refuelling. It was full of Plant vehicles for building roads in the refugee camps post Rowanda"s genocide situation in in 1994. I had to sit on a wooden plank spanned across one of the windows. It was a madness flight but a great experience. I spent 8 months out there as a civilian with a UNHCR contractor. I'm pretty old 😊. I flew in some of those old helicopters and aircraft of the British Forces in my 26 years of service (1966-1993). I thought you presented the N.Korean people with great respect.