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- GRAPEVINE, Page 25Fly the Proletarian Skies
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- By DAVID ELLIS/Reported by Daniel S. Levy
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- 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.
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