Russian Jet Goes Home Carrying Relief Supplies

A huge military-style cargo plane that delivered a Russian entry here for the America’s Cup sailing regatta has gone back to Moscow laden with more than 97 tons of dehydrated soup, medicine, baby food and toys, relief workers said Monday.

The Aeroflot Antonov 124, one of the world’s largest airplanes, left Sunday night, according to officials at California-based relief organizations that had coordinated the huge shipment of food, medicine and toys.

The toys were added at the request of an aide to Russian President Boris Yeltsin, relief agency officials said. They called the experience a humanitarian triumph over U.S. bureaucracy and confusion in a country that used to be part of the Soviet Union.

“I think it was a really wonderful effort,” said Sondra Tipton, president of Park West Children’s Fund Inc. of San Pedro, one of the relief organizers.

“That plane was going to be flying back without any cargo if (relief workers and yacht sponsors) hadn’t decided to do the humanitarian thing,” Tipton said. She spoke of “a small amount” of supplies for the “many people” in Russia, which is plagued by food shortages. “Still, if it ends up that they have something to eat tonight or tomorrow night, it’s a worthy effort.”

Before the first box of dehydrated noodle soup made it onto the plane, relief workers had to overcome the fine print of international airline regulations and apparent internal confusion at Aeroflot, once the national Soviet carrier.

Confusion ran rampant: Had Aeroflot, which flew the plane as part of a charter agreement, acquired landing rights in the United States? Had it posted a required bond with U.S. Customs officials.

Last week, the plane was heading for San Diego when it was sent back to Siberia to wait while things got sorted out, said Neil Frame, executive director of Los Angeles-based Operation U.S.A., the relief agency that a month ago had announced plans for the relief effort.

“What you saw there was kind of a microcosm of the confusion in what used to be the Soviet Union,” Frame said. “Everybody was trying to find out who was where and who’s in control.”

Eventually, U.S. officials cleared the plane to land at Anchorage, Alaska, where it refueled. It already had acquired landing rights at San Diego’s Lindbergh Field, where it arrived Friday and unloaded the yacht.

During the weekend, relief workers swarmed throughout the plane, loading 64 tons of dehydrated noodle soup, 150 boxes of an over-the-counter remedy for indigestion and two pallets of toys, Tipton said. The toys are supposed to be delivered to a hospital for terminally ill children, she said. Other supplies included 33 tons of baby food, pasta, flour and canned meats, Tipton added.