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.] По уточненным данным, он принадлежал авиакомпании “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?