Little imagination in power: the presidential superplane in which the Russian tsar flies, Wladimir Putin, shares the same name as the American equivalent, Air Force One. However, his delusions of grandeur led to his being renamed “Putin Force One. Apart from these small linguistic details, the fourengined in question is a modernized and strong changed. The aircraft, the largest in the fleet, has a long range and is powered by four jet engines. It has a fuselage wide enough to accommodate two passenger aisles with seven or more seats abreast. As the name suggests, the project comes from the Ilyushin Aviation Complex company, founded in 1933, and is produced by the Voronezh Aircraft Production Association. The Russian presidential plane would have cost around $504 million.
The button for the atomic bomb
Just like Air Force One, but like other presidential planes around the world, the Putin Air Force is equipped with a stateoftheart communications system, but also has some antimissile defenses. Do you think that in the classic control room where the pilots are, in addition to the dozens of buttons that form the “image” of the plane, somewhere there is also the button that you should never touch, otherwise they are pain: what you must activate the atomic bomb.
Gold bath at 10,000 meters
As expected, the aircraft type is the same used for longhaul passenger flights and this type, Ilyushin II96300PU, is the largest in the fleet, comparable to the larger Boeing or Airbus. But the differences are obvious: only President Putin flies in there with his closest associates and friends, the plane has been modified ad hoc, most of the fuselage, wings and tail are white, not missing the colors of the Russian flag tail and the Russian coat of arms in front, front. As IlMessaggero recalls, the interior design is inspired by Russian art and the furniture is all made of birch wood. He’s not short of money, and while Russia’s wealthiest oligarchs compete with one another, Putin hasn’t spent good rubles fitting his plane with them gold including the toilet seat itself and the entire bidet in solid gold. Who knows how it feels to put your buttocks on a million and million euro worth.
The difference to Air Force One
One of the most specialized aviation newspapers, Aerotime, tried to compare the two planes, American and Russian, stating that Air Force One is the most famous plane of all time and that everyone knows: the legendary Boeing VC25, a heavily modified 747200s used by American presidents since the early 1990s. The plane was a symbol through dozens of presidential visits around the world as well as through his appearances in Hollywood films. Donald Trump’s attempts to change the livery have met with harsh criticism, and it looks like American presidents are destined to travel in this iconic look for decades to come. Instead, the Russian counterpart is much less well known but still draws the attention of aviation enthusiasts. In American fashion (once again), any aircraft carrying the Russian President is assigned the name “Plane No. 1”. According to some sources, Putin would have five planes ready to go whenever the tsar prepares for a trip: it will then be the president who will randomly select the plane he wants to fly on for the occasion. Here it is, another of the many quirks when you have too much power.