SAMARA, August 16. /TASS/. Participants in the Arctic expedition on amphibious planes covered more than 20,000 km along the Polar Circle and returned safely to the Samara Region, the regional government’s press service told TASS on Wednesday.
"Members of the Arctic air expedition, which kicked off from here on July 3, have returned to the air field in the Krasny Yar village, the Samara Region," the press service said. "Six Russians and one French on three amphibious planes have covered more than 20,000 km across nine countries, including Russia."
The route crossed Russia’s cities Urai, Surgut, Norilsk, Tiksi, then along the Arctic Ocean towards the Schmidt Cape and Providence Bay, further on across Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, the UK, Norway, Sweden, Finland and then back to Russia. The expedition’s objectives were to make certain climate and medical, biological tests, to lay out routes for air traveling in the Russian North and to test the crew and equipment before the air expedition to the Antarctica, planned for 2019.
The expedition featured seven participants, including Russia’s cosmonaut and Hero of the Soviet Union Oleg Atkov, France’s amphibious aviation pilot Loic Blaise. The flight was operated by Russia’s unique amphibious planes - two LA-8 (eight seats, haulage capacity of up to 2.6 tonnes) and a Borey (two seats; haulage capacity of up to 700 kg). The flight was at the altitude of up to 3,000 km at about 200 km/h and the planes made 37 landings during the voyage.
"The expedition was successful, all participants are fine," the expedition’s head, Valery Tokarev, told reporters. "I could not rule out any failures of equipment, but we did not have any."
"Everywhere people welcomed us very well, though some authorities met us cautiously - in the U.S., Canada, but then we found contacts and in the end we left their authorities quite friendly," he added.
TASS wrote earlier the expedition is the first stage of the global oceanic flight, dubbed Twenty Thousand Leagues Above the Sea. This global project, with the route crossing coastal areas of four continents, three oceans and seven seas, will contain an aviation route to the Antarctica, which is due in 2019. The voyage will be devoted to the 200th anniversary of the Antarctica’s discovery by Russian explorers. This jubilee will be marked in the early 2020.