Fly The Proletarian Skies

Mikhail Gorbachev may have the Nobel Peace Prize, but that still doesn’t bump him up to first class. While President Bush flies in a new $325 million Boeing 747-200B, the Soviet counterpart is a humble Ilyushin II-62M straight off the production line. “Aeroflot One” carries an advanced communications system but lacks the missile-deflecting capabilities of its U.S. counterpart. Air Force One rests in a new hangar at Andrews Air Force Base; Gorbachev’s craft sits on a Moscow tarmac like any other Aeroflot jet. In winter, workers clear ice and snow off the plane by hand. When Gorby wants to fly on short notice, the crews have to be fetched by messengers because only two of the ten pilots have home telephones.