The Russian registry, the Coordination Center for TLD RU, has undertaken a rather unique way of promoting its ccTLD and internationalised ccTLD, .RU and .РФ respectively, to the public by sponsoring an expedition of two small flex-wing trikes, an expedition timed to coincide with the 75th anniversary of Valery Chkalov’s flight to the Far East.

As of 4 August, the pilots had travelled over 6000 kilometres, making stops in many cities, including Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, and Chita raising awareness in the various Russian regions of the national domain space and promotion of the new Cyrillic domain, .РФ.

“I am flattered to note that we stir interest in almost every place where we stop. We were interviewed in the city of Irkutsk, and in the village of Khorinsk we are very popular with the locals: everyone is curious to know of our route and our flying machines. Everybody knows AN-2 or helicopters; however, people are unfamiliar with an exotic small flex-wing trike,” wrote Alexander Scherbakov in the crew’s blog.

En route, the pilots are engaged in educational activities related not only to the small aircrafts but also for the sponsors to the logos on the ultralight trikes’ wings.

To register your .RU or .РФ domain, check out Europe Registry here.