Fly the Unfriendly Skies
When in Madrid for a conference last week, I spoke to an academic who in a former life worked in the reinsurance business. One of his jobs was to evaluate the risk of airline crashes. I asked him whether this affected his comfort level in flying. He said: “We had huge amounts of data on the maintenance records of every plane in service, and the safety records of pilots and airlines. Based on our analysis of that data, I feel very comfortable at flying any reputable airline.” He then, with a roll of his eyes, said: “But I would NEVER fly on a Russian plane. That is real Russian roulette.”
He said that, I might add, not knowing that I am supposedly a notorious Russophobe.
Don’t say you weren’t warned.
I also have on good authority:
* Don’t fly on African, South American airlines (obvious, really).
* West European airlines are better than American ones.
* Asian airlines are OK, as long as the pilots are white. At the very least the captains should be.
Comment by So? — October 22, 2009 @ 6:09 pm
A few years back, I believe it was the EU listed about 10 Russian airlines that they would not allow fly into Europe. I gulped as I realized I had flown on about 8 of them. It was not uncommon to fly on ancient propeller-driven planes to and from the significantly large Russian provincial city I lived in to Moscow. I expressed my dismay to a Russian on of those flights and he said, “No, no, no, don’t worry, these may be old but that means they are tried and true, so these are considered to be safer.” That really didn’t make me feel better.
Comment by Howard Roark — October 22, 2009 @ 11:58 pm
http://larussophobe.wordpress.com/category/air-disasters/
Comment by La Russophobe — October 23, 2009 @ 10:08 am
SO?:
You’re a damned liar.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKL1749748320070417?&src=041707_1441_DOUBLEFEATURE_other_news
Russia is THE MOST unsafe place IN THE WORLD to get on an airplane, bar none, Africa and South America included. Your racist BS cannot obscure these basic facts. Crawl back under your loathesome, dark little rock you filth.
Comment by La Russophobe — October 23, 2009 @ 10:18 am
Russophobe:
Oh, the irony. BTW, enjoy your affirmative action president.
Comment by So? — October 23, 2009 @ 9:18 pm
On Friday night the Vladivostok airport found pieces of airplane tire littering its runway. By the time the plane that left just before the discovery landed in Moscow many hours later, the airline still had not heard about its possibly being in life-threatening jeopardy, and the airport still had no idea which plane lost the treads.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/10/24/world/AP-EU-Russia-Plane.html?ref=global-home
Just another normal day in the life of a Russia airport, confirming how deadly accurate SWP’s information is.
And the reason is simple: Putin has squandered his nation’s resources not on creating a better life for Russian citizens but on provoking a new cold war with the United States, a war he cannot possibly ever win.
http://larussophobe.wordpress.com/2009/10/23/editorial-russia-vs-america-the-smackdown/
Comment by La Russophobe — October 24, 2009 @ 8:00 am
Russia’s lethal skies are just one more reason the world should not send its athletes to Sochi for the 2014 winter Olympics.
Others are: (a) the invasion of Georgia; (b) state-sponsored murder in Chechnya; (c) risk of terror attack; (d) brutal crackdown on democratic rights and civil society.
Learn more about supporting the boycott here:
http://boycottsochi.eu/
Comment by La Russophobe — October 24, 2009 @ 8:04 am