Recently there have been a couple of questions on traveling in Russia, including flying within Russia. Those considering such flights may want to read this: http://www.maxablog.com/2009/02/reportedly-drunk-captain-on-moscownyc-flight-relinquishes-control-after-passengers-protest-its-not-s.html
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
Consider, though, that this was the national airline, Aeroflot, which has never enjoyed a stellar reputation. Up until a few years ago, not only could you still smoke on their planes, but there wasn't even a non-smoking section.
Fortunately, Aeroflot does not enjoy a monopoly on flights into Russia (although they've tried!).
Posted by
OP
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
Re Aeroflot, click this link for some riveting reading (but don't if you're nervous about flying), the NY Times account of what happened to a 1994 Aeroflot airliner with 75 souls on board:Aeroflot Airbus Crashes After Captain's Son is allowed to sit in his Dad's seatHere's the first 3 paragraphs of the quoted story, you can click above to get the whole story:"The cockpit voice recorder on an Aeroflot jetliner that crashed in Siberia last March confirms that the pilot's teen-age son was at the controls when the plane began to dive, published reports said today. A transcript of the tape printed in the magazine Obozrevatel shows that the Russian crew nearly managed to save the Airbus plane and the 75 people on board, but that it was hampered by the presence of children and its unfamiliarity with the foreign-made plane. That analysis was supported by an analysis by a Russian aviation expert published in the newspaper Rossiiskiye Vesti. Everyone on the flight from Moscow to Hong Kong was killed in the crash on March 22."Note: This kind of accident--I mean, caused by allowing a teen-ager to take the controls of a commercial airliner in flight--has never happened in a US or European aircraft, and could not happen now that children and other non-pilots are not allowed in the cockpit.
Posted by
New Paltz, NY
9100 posts
I'm not sure what's worse a drunken pilot or drunken taxi driver? Before my trip to St Pete. I read in the Lonely Planet guidebook that in most any taxi or hired car there will always be a massive stench of alcohol. This will either be because the driver will be drunk or he will be transporting moonshine in the trunk. Was that ever true! I made sure I had those seat belts were fastened as tight as possible!