Politics aside, this has to be one of the most interesting weeks in a long time when it comes to unique airplanes in United States airspace. While I wrote about the first plane from this “convoy” yesterday, I want to take an updated look, as we have a lot more details…
As you’d expect, this meeting involves a lot of logistics. Alaska is a convenient halfway point between Washington and Moscow, though since it’s on US soil, I imagine that Russian security forces are on high alert.
As far as Putin goes, he’s believed to be on a six-year-old Tupolev Tu-214 with the registration code RA-64531, operating as flight RSD539. He’s only making the short journey from Magadan (GDX), and that plane is expected to land at Elmendorf Air Force Base (EDF), which is also where the meting is taking place. That’s only a 1,957-mile flight, so it should only take around four hours. After the meeting, he’s expected to depart immediately.
A great solo travel tip spotted this week on One Mile at a Time.
