This is the dreaded Aeroflot plane that took us from Moscow down to Mineralni-Vody in the south of Russia. Interestingly, Autoroute can give you a route from Mineralni-Vody to Khasavyurt - straight across Chachnya! We drove in a couple of loaded up mini buses until we got stopped at a border somewhere in the dead of night and taken off to the local cop-shop because we didn't have the right paperwork. Even offering a "Fee" to the police chief didn't work (not sure what "more than my jobsworth" is in Russian but I think it was more the threat of the concrete overshoes if he let foreign journos across his territory). We eventually carried on our journey making a huge detour around the area. 

Some of the boys en-route. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of Helga the shotputter who was our flight attendant and brought round the pre-packed sandwiches. She was at least 6 feet and well built but also wore high-heeled shoes which meant she had to stoop most of the time in the cabin. The toilet door handle came off trapping someone inside but it was stuck back on with a new piece of chewing gum - the original piece having dried out !