It's a Small World
Wednesday, December 5, 2012 at 1:44PM One interesting thing that emerged from my trips to Union Glacier and back is that the Russian Illyushin used for the Antarctic flights is the same one that was involved in the Russian / Afghan war. What's more, it is still operated by the same crew - all tough-looking, stocky Russians who look as if they have seen many hard times.
Sasha, our Russian team member, got chatting to one of them on the way out and mentioned a story that is famous in Russia: the Airstan incident of 1995. He was amazed to hear it was the same plane and the same crew. They were intercepted by a Taliban fighter, forced to land at Kandahar and held prisoner for a whole year before they managed to overpower their guards, repossess their plane and fly back to freedom.
An amazing tale that you can read in more detail in the Wikipedia article below. I wonder who owns the film rights to the story?
Reader Comments (1)
Wow..that is an amazing fact..brother who is working at a base in Afghanistan will very very impressed with this story...though I am glad I didn't know it before or during my flight on the Ilyushin ...it took all my courage to get on the thing in the first place!