Russian Jet Crashes

The story today that a Russian jet liner crashed, killing all but two on board is sad. Very sad.

It also brings up something anew that I've always been leery of - Russian built airplanes. And in particular Russian built airplanes built in the Soviet era. Seriously, they freak me out.

Diane and I travel the world and I honestly try to avoid booking us on any flights run by Russian carriers (Aeorflot) or flying Russian built airplanes (Yakovlev, Tupolev, etc.).

Why?

They seem to crash a lot. We want no part of that obviously.

Why do they crash?

Not sure, but I would guess few things:
1) They were poorly built in the first place
2) They are old now - increasing the odds of failure
3) Maintanence standards are not the same in Russia as they are in the west
4) Russian built planes (especially older ones) are cheaper for smaller airlines from small or poor countries to buy so they use them...and their maintanence and pilot training standards are even lower than Russia's.

My advice...avoid flying on Russian built airplanes. If you go to/from Russia, do so on western carriers. If you have to fly on Aeorflot, make sure it's a recent-vintage Boeing or AirBus built airplane.