Безопасно ли летать в России? [Is It Safe to Fly In Russia?] Posted by josefina on Sep 14, 2008 in Uncategorized
It’s happened again. A plane crashed at 3:10 по московскому времени [Moscow time] right before it was supposed to land in Пермь [Perm’], a city with over a million inhabitants located about six hours west of Yekaterinburg, on the European side of the Ural Mountains. I’m quoting an article from the Swedish paper Dagens Nyheter: “All of the 88 people who were onboard are said to have died in the crash, among which six were children, one infant and five members of the crew. [—] During last year 318 people have died in 33 plane accidents in Russia. These accidents have become six times as frequent since 2005 and according to experts the reasons for this are lacks in education of the crew and the old fleet of planes. The planes used for flying national flights within Russia are around 30 years old, while the planes for international flights are 18 years old, according to AFP.” And today the question – безопасно ли летать в России? [is it safe to fly in Russia?] – seems more appropriate than ever. Even though the information above about the age of planes used by Aeroflot for national flights are not news to me (I’ve been on too many of these flights inside Russia not to notice the poor condition of these old aircraft), it is still a tragedy and a great loss. Perhaps this accident is no more a tragedy than the 33 tragedies of last year, but this feels more like it to me since it’s so close to where I am, because, yes, I’m back in the Urals, back in Yekaterinburg. Forgive me for being biased while I translate a little bit from a Russian article on the accident – В Перми в результате авиакатастрофы перекрыт Транссиб [In Perm as a result of the air catastrophe the Tran Siberian Railroad is closed off].
I don’t know about you, but I always get nervous while waiting for a plane to take off, and it doesn’t matter if I’m flying Aeroflot or not [though most likely I’m flying Aeroflot since I’m even a member of their bonus club!]. What bothers me is the unnaturalness of it being so high up in the air – and now I’ll have to worry about falling down too?!
«Самолёт упал в черте города на юго-западе Перми, в овраге в нескольких десятках метров от жилых домов Индустриального района. [The plane fell down within the city limits in the south-west of Perm, in a ravine a couple of ten meters from apartment houses in the Industrial District.] Поуточненнымданным, онпринадлежалавиакомпании “Аэрофлот–Норд“.» [According to more precise information it (the plane) belonged to the aircline “Aeroflot-Nord”.]
«В связи с катастрофой в Пермь вылетели комиссия во главе с министром транспорта РФ Игорем Левитиным, и главой Росавиации Евгением Бачуриным, а также группа следователей и криминалистов центрального аппарата следственного комитета при прокуратуре РФ.» [Because of the catastrophe a commission flew out headed by the minister of transport of Russian Federation Igor Levitin, and the head of Rosaviatsia Jevgeny Bachurin, but also a group of investigators and specialists on crime from the central staff of the investigatory committee under the office of the public prosecutor.]
«На месте катастрофы уже работают около трёхсот спасателей, пожарных, сотрудников милиции и других служб, из Екатеринбурга прибыли сотрудники Приволжско-Уральского центра МЧС. [On the place of the catastrophe there are already working about three hundred rescue workers, firefighters, officials from the police and other services, from Yekaterinburg officials have arrived from the Around-Volga-and-Ural center of the Ministry of Extreme Situations.] По факту авиакатастрофы возбуждено уголовное дело.» [On the fact of the air catastrophe a criminal case has been filed.]
Is anyone else as worried as I am? And yet, despite all one reads in Russian papers about Aeroflot buying new aircrafts, I’ve never had the pleasure to fly on one of them except for on flights from Moscow to Stockholm. Разумеется [of course]. Has anyone of you ever been on an Aeroflot flight within Russia and seriously doubted whether or not the plane would make it all the way to the final destination? Should one choose other airlines for national flights – and keep fingers crossed that those aren’t at least worse – or hope that Aeroflot will take notice and do something about the situation?
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Comments:
natasha:
Very timely, good job!
Tim Dennison:
I have to agree with your comments, I have flown 4 times with Izhavia from Izhevsk to Moscow and I have to say I have always sighed in relief when we have safely landed. These planes seem so old that you get the feeling they should have been retired years ago.
Dale:
This was not a plane owned nor run by Aeroflot. The company pays Aeroflot for the us of the name in its company name, “Аэрофлот-Норд“. I suggest using only Aeroflot. If the company is something with Aeroflot in its name you have a much greater chance of an old poorly maintained plane.
Aeroflot is working to be at the same standard safety level as USA flights. They are not there yet, but much better than short local companies.
Anyse Joslin:
As you know, we are also here to help you with English. I would like to point out a difference in the formation of a plural with a word. Here is the first part of a sentence that you wrote above:
Even though the information above about the age of planes used by Aeroflot for national flights are not news to me (I’ve been on too many of these flights inside Russia not to notice the poor condition of these old aircrafts), . . .
The word “aircrafts” is not a word in English! The plural form is “aircraft.”
This reminds me of Mark Twain’s great essay on “The Damned German Language.” Of course, he had a lot of fun poking at German and its inconsistencies. However, he should have written about the “American” or “British” languages instead. Such a mix of words from German can only be a bit funnier in English, wouldn’t you think so, especially after you have read Twain’s diatribe.
I really enjoy this blog and look forward to each week. I actually save every one of them in my email, well, at least so far. Now, I have bookmarked your new site and look forward to more. I learn so much from you and I even read ALL of your bookmarks in your articles, both in Russian as well as English. I am self-taught for 3 years and have reached, on a reading level, Advanced Russian. In terms of writing and speaking, I have a long way to go. I did respond to your other article on «День трезвости» and it is too bad that there was not more about how the actual day went later on. If there was such an article, can you let us know? Also, you may as well hit me with all of my erros as well in that post, OK?
Thank you so much and, at least, I and all others who read your blog should be very happy to have it and your insights. Because of your blog, I have been thinking about getting a pair of felt boots. However, I feel that I will need rubber boots to go over them as it rains here in Sacramento, California rather than snows.
Take good care.
Anyse или Анисья
Lisa:
I traveled a lot in Russia when I lived there in the 1990s. My scariest flight was a Moscow-Ekaterinburg Transaero flight that was schedule to leave at around 2 a.m. They deiced the wings and it looked as if we would leave, but we ended up sitting on the runway for hours. I remember being fed a meal at 5 a.m. Meanwhile, it snowed and snowed outside. When we finally left at around 7 a.m. there was snow piled on the wings — I was sitting beside the window over a wing — but nobody deiced again. Everything was obviously okay, but I was more scared than I have ever been. The delay, by the way, was because Yeltsin’s flight out of Ekaterinburg disrupted travel in the area.
Dennis:
Hi,
Does anyone know what this means? It’s really bugging me, I don’t think it means no! It’s definitely Russian though.
http://229728.spreadshirt.com/us/US/Shop/Article/Index/article/No-3532501
Thanks for any help!
natasha:
Dennis, the letters on the shirt are Russian “L” “E” and “F”, but you have to read them from bottom to the top. It could be an abbreviation or it could be the word for “lion”, it is actually spelled “lev” but pronounced “lef”.
Dennis:
Hey – thanks very much Natasha.
Maria lomas:
I’ve travelled to russia with my son twice now on aeroflot which I thought were nice planes from St Peters berg am going again easter week end i am nervous about flying again but before all these planes fly they get checked before flying if I start worrying about it crashing I’d never fly and the planes looked in good condition and the cabin crew were lovely x