I just wanted to add a few wordsto the so-called Russians surpassing the West in aviation safety.
In the past I've flown Aeroflot regularly, but not anymore. The basic work horse is still the TU134, built like a tank and will forgive you a drop of 20 feet down to the runway, but it is getting to be 30 years old.
As I have been told, the Tupoleve Co. does not make any more spare parts for these twin-engine types anymore and that's why you see many of these planes sitting at Russian airports in various stages of disintegration. They are being robbed or bought of spare parts and this can't go on for much longer.
As for the tri-engine TU-154, the rumor amongst Russians is not to fly on it. The word is that it has had too many engine failures.
As for the YAK-40, I flew in it once from Riga to Minsk. The cabin attendant was adamant about not smoking in the aircraft because there was a fuel line leak which went drip, drip, drip, into the rear part of the cabin.
The Russians may have been lucky to hold it together for so long, but one day soon it is all going to fall apart.