FRIENDSHIP FLIGHT: Tony Circles the Globe : Tony Departs Soviet Union, Lands in Alaska

Tony Aliengena, arriving in the United States after an unprecedented flight across the Soviet Union, headed for a fishing retreat Saturday to rest before beginning the flight home to Orange County.

The 11-year-old from San Juan Capistrano and his family plan to fish before starting their final descent Monday down the West Coast, with the last stop to be John Wayne Airport on Thursday.

Tony arrived late Friday night at Nome Municipal Airport after crossing the Bering Strait. He and the pilot of his chase plane performed a formation fly-by, swooping low in unison over the tarmac before setting their wheels down in America.

“Real food,” Tony said with a grin as he and the other Americans traveling with him raced for the nearest grocery store.

Tony is scheduled to fly to Anchorage on Monday, three days later than originally planned. His father, Gary Aliengena, an avid fisherman, changed the schedule when he heard about a good salmon fishing spot on the Bering Sea about 60 miles from Nome. Although Aliengena has been fishing throughout the trip, he has yet to catch a fish.

The next legs of the flight will be to Juneau and to Seattle. From Seattle, Tony and his 13-member entourage plan to skip an overnight stay planned for Oakland and fly straight to Orange County.

Farewell Ceremony

Tony’s 7,000-mile flight across the Soviet Union earned him the distinction of being the first foreigner to pilot a private plane across the country. The accomplishment was noted in Providenia--the 13th and last city on Tony’s Soviet itinerary-- where local residents staged a farewell ceremony on the steps of the airport.

“Tony, we are proud of your courage. You are brave boy to come here,” 13-year-old Vitalik Stavonov said through an interpreter as about 100 Soviet children pressed forward to watch. “We wish you success.”

Tony had some farewell words of his own: “This is the last stop in the Soviet Union, and we’re going to miss the Soviet Union.”

Gary Aliengena added, “Now we feel like our trip to the Soviet Union has been completed and it is time to go home. Spaceba (thank you) for coming to see us.”

In Nome, Aliengena told local reporters that the friendliness of the Soviet people was the highlight of the flight.

‘Nice, Warm People’

“The people of the Soviet Union are nice, warm people, and they want to be friends with us in the worst way,” he said.

Indeed, Aliengena and other members of Tony’s entourage expressed much enthusiasm for the people they had met in the Soviet Union as they prepared to leave Providenia for the 220-mile flight across the icy Bering Strait to Alaska.

“See you in America!” Aliengena called to Aleksie Grinevich, a Moscow journalist accompanying them on the trip.

“See you in America!” Grinevich responded with a thumbs up.

Later, however, Grinevich indicated that he was relieved that the trip across the Soviet Union was over.

“I was afraid for us,” Grinevich said about the treacherous long flights over forests and mountains in the eastern part of the Soviet Union. I am very glad that all of U.S.S.R. was good for the Americans.”

A Goodby and a Hello

The flight that ended in Nome actually began Saturday, Soviet time. The travelers gained a day as they crossed the international date line, between the Soviet Union and the United States.

“Goodby Soviet Union, hello America,” Tony’s Soviet pen pal, Roman Tchermenykh, 11, said softly as they entered U.S. airspace.

Roman, who lives in Moscow, will land in Orange County with Tony and spend a week with him before returning home.

The group had been scheduled to fly to Providenia on Friday, but dense fog and stormy weather had closed its airport. After they spent an extra night in Anadyr, the Americans had intended to fly direct to Nome. However, a Soviet official in Providenia telephoned Tony in Anadyr to tell him that many children there were counting on his coming, so Gary Aliengena decided to stop there after all.

“What’s the rush in getting to the U.S.?” he said of his decision. “We’re going to be there for the rest of our lives.”

Passports Held

In both Anadyr and Providenia, stern-faced Soviet immigration officials had posted armed guards at the Americans’ planes and confiscated their passports until departure time. Grinevich said that that action was a routine attempt to ensure that no Americans stayed behind and that no Soviets boarded without authorization.

The reception otherwise was as warm in those cities as it had been in others across the Soviet Union.

In Anadyr, a crowd of more than 200 children mobbed Tony in a public park, and he was given a willow sapling as his own to plant. The children also presented him with their own friendship letter. The letter, written by Kate Astakhova of the Soviet Foundation for Youth Initiatives, said in part: “Some day the children who sign this letter will be presidents and general secretaries, and they never put this world on the verge of catastrophe. But today the children of the world must fight for peace for the future. Tony is the herald of peace.”

Gary Aliengena, touched by that letter, penned a message of his own for the local newspapers: “As we near our departure from your great country, sadness begins to fill our hearts as we begin to realize we will miss the warm and happy faces of the Soviet Union’s best asset: its children. Thank you for having us, and thank you for sharing with us.”