That doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges. Russia continues to insist on using a different form of altimetry (QFE, or height above the ground in meters) than most of the rest of the world, aspects of its instrument procedures are unique and the entire country has yet to be surveyed in accordance with the WGS 84 standard. With proper training and preparation, though, these anomalies shouldn’t prevent Western operators from roaming through this vast country.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Souren Jamgochian captained a Gulfstream IV on several excursions into Central and Eastern Russia, often during the frigid Russian winter. “Some of the places we went to were Yakutsk, Vladivostok and Khabarovsk,” Jamgochian recalled recently from his home in Southern California. “I would speculate that things have not changed much out there.” Jamgochian related some of his experiences and offered advice to operators headed for the Russian tundra.

Arranging permits for flights into Russia is straightforward, although it is important for operators unfamiliar with the process to understand that among the residue of the Soviet period is a monolithic bureaucracy and rigid adherence to procedure. “This isn’t about efficiency — it’s all about control,” Parke said, by way of explaining the inflexibility. “And they control everything down to the minutiae, from obtaining the entry permit to all things associated with operating.”