Return-Path: Received: from remt26.cluster1.charter.net ([209.225.8.36] verified) by logan.com (CommuniGate Pro SMTP 4.1b8) with ESMTP id 2445618 for flyrotary@lancaironline.net; Thu, 26 Jun 2003 23:09:08 -0400 Received: from [68.116.252.170] (HELO office) by remt26.cluster1.charter.net (CommuniGate Pro SMTP 4.0.6) with ESMTP id 71566848; Thu, 26 Jun 2003 23:09:08 -0400 From: "marc" To: "ACRE NL" , "Flyrotary" Subject: russia flights Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2003 22:08:53 -0500 Message-ID: <004c01c33c59$7110fb00$aafc7444@office> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook, Build 10.0.3416 Importance: Normal X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1165 From: "David Bensinger" Subject: Flying to Russia... Just wanted to get back to you with an update on flying to Russia. We will be leaving the lower 48 next Thursday for our trip to Alaska. We hope to make the crossing into Russia on July 8th along the new VFR routing. I say hopefully as the paperwork has been extensive. This is new for the Russians too and it hasn't been well communicated internally. That has created some road blocks. One we are working out right now is obtaining a Russian Flight Number from Moscow. All flights in Russia have a number assigned to it. We faxed our request to Moscow and a response came back that all flights along this route are required to have a Russian "escort navigator" on board. Oh, of course, we will need to pay for that person's first class, round trip ticket, daily salary, daily expense account and accommodations. As this was news to us, we let Brian Staurseth at the Alaskan FAA know. He verified it wasn't needed and is working with his counterpart in Moscow. We still don't have our flight number, but are remaining positive and are taking it in stride. Anyway, we have put up a website to document our trip for friends and family. We are trying to include some useful information and links to help others who may want to make the journey. We refer a lot to the FAA site, but add our own experience to the mix. Feel welcome to take a look: www.aeroplaneadventures.com. Just keep in mind that we have day jobs, so it is a work in progress. If you haven't seen the Alaska FAA's site for the VFR route to Russia, it is at www.alaska.faa.gov/flt_Std/FLY_VFR_RUSSIA/Index.htm. They have done a very good job. Cheers. David Marc Wiese