Video: Russian plane in terrifying takeoff from mud flooded runway goes viral

Okay, granted the video comes from Russia, a nation whose motto appears to be 'How can we make this exponentially more dangerous?'.

A country whose people laugh in the face of an enormous avalanche, a country whose children call pushing each other off a roof, 'playing'.

The video, from Bodaybo in the Irkutsk region of Russia, shows Antonov An-24 propeller plane taking off on a runway flooded with mud.

Pretty much until the last few seconds of the video, it seems that it could only end in disaster.

We don't know all that much about takeoffs, the risk averse West has made us unduly attuned to safety, but this looks ropey as hell to us.

If that wasn't terrifying enough, here's a view from inside the plane:

Image via YouTube