Los Angeles, CA—The just released historical aviation adventure book by Michael B. Butler, Round the World & Across Russia in 21 Days, 30 Years Later: 12 Planes & 22 Aviators Thru 11 Countries When the Soviet Union Fell & Russia Returned, is a bestseller in multiple categories related to Russia, Siberian and Discovery Expeditions. The story of 12 small planes circumnavigating while crossing the entire landmass of Russia, only months after the final collapse of the Soviet Union, was constructed by the author, who also documented the event, using seven major pilot journals, five ancillary journals interviews and 25 hours of videotape.
With sales in multiple European countries and across the United States, Round the World & Across Russia is full of fascinating history based on the fact that it has been three decades of unpredictable world history since the pilots landed in Moscow as guests of Russian Vice President Alexander Rutskoi. Given royal treatment in Moscow, that same clout showed itself periodically as they progressed across the desolate Siberian terrain.
Starting in Santa Monica, on July 4, 1992, the single and twin engine aircraft few east and crossed the North Atlantic from Goose Bay, Labrador to Iceland, with a picturesque stop at the southern tip of Greenland. Then it was on to Southend Airport, near London, before heading to Helsinki and thence to Moscow and then off into Siberia.
Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, details and color slide shows can be found at www.MichaelButlerBooks.com.
Round the World & Across Russia Book Trailer
Here is a small section of when the organizers went to meet with Russian officials in January 1992, who only three weeks earlier were Soviet officials as the Soviet Union had voted itself out of business the previous month.
"In January 1992 the World Flight organizers were staying on a boat-hotel, on the Moscow River, for two weeks of key meetings. A time of confusing bureaucratic overflow greeted the worried organizers, twice a day all types of Russian committees turned up for meetings in the deep winter of a chilly, snow blanketed Moscow. Subjects discussed ranged from routing, airspace restrictions, permits, cultural events, fuel hauling and media coverage, which were accompanied by a blurred line of authority with little idea of who, if anyone, could make any final decisions.
"Organizers were subjected to demands for more information, and then promptly sent into confusion by more questions than answers. Meetings, involving upwards of 20 people, with translators blazing away in English, French, and Russian, made the harried atmosphere even more confusing, chaotic and difficult. But how could it not be so, the government was gone only weeks before and it was 'catch as catch can' on steroids.
"U.S. Embassy staff were unable to provide assistance as sketchy info, in a rapidly changing scene, clouded the air. A secretive yet strangely evolving open air mentality pervaded a Moscow where cash ruled, with American green backs preferred over the Soviet ruble about to be phased out. CIA operatives must have been working throughout the country. Committees of Russian Air Traffic Controllers and the Aeroflot Pilots Association consisted of up to 15 members, both lacking in any decision-making ability and so the members reached no determinations. They would go away for a few days, then return with two questions for each request, and this tactic, of course, served to shelter decision makers from committing themselves. They were also visited by committees of artists and businessmen unrelated to the World Flight or its aims, but since it this was supposed to an annual event all new connections were welcomed—who knew what was going to happen over the next days or months.
"Keeping people waiting, cooling their heels in the dark, is a hallmark of not only Soviet but Russian style of business. During WWII, when Allied planners were in Moscow to discuss cooperation in deception campaigns regarding the June 1944 D-Day landings in France, British and American planners were kept in Moscow for an extra month waiting for answers. Distrust pervaded the strained relationship between the Soviets and Allies: Stalin, Churchill and FDR were all hedging bets and looking towards the shape of the post-war world.
"Routing through Russian airspace was a critical topic for discussion: for example, entering Russian Airspace from Helsinki, Finland was not to be accomplished over the Baltic Republics because they were not part of the new Confederation of Independent States (CIS)—the new Russian state. Russian politicians had a difficult task ahead trying to create a federation of states, all rife with nationalist pride and poisoned with resentment from Moscow's brutal and vicious long-term domination."
Media Interviews: For review copies or interviews please contact Eric Blair Enterprises at MichaelButlerBooks@pm.me or 213-534-7292.