Where was the 1980's disaster film, 'Air Crew', made?

'Air Crew' (Russian: Экипаж, translit. Ekipazh) is a 1980 disaster film directed by Alexander Mitta.

Inspired by the American 'Airport' movie series, it was the first disaster film shot in the Soviet Union.

It was watched by more than 70 millions viewers, mostly throughout the Eastern Bloc where it won several awards.

While the first half of the film deals with the personal lives of the crew, the action-filled second half of the film sees the Tu-154 Aeroflot airplane landing in the fictional foreign town of Bidri, which appears to be located somewhere in the mountain region of Asia. Soon after, an earthquake destroys the city, and the damaged runway is no longer suitable for normal take-offs (another plane — a Boeing — is shown crashing in the attempt). Still, there is no alternative to escaping by trying to take off, because the airport will soon be buried by an approaching mudflow.

The experienced senior officer decides to take advantage of the fact that the airport was built on a mountain, so the plane will be able to descend rather than ascend as soon as it leaves the runway. Despite the "not ready for flight" warning lighting up on the dashboard, the plane successfully takes off at the last moment.

The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a socialist federation in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of multiple national Soviet republics.