Polar Ring 2011

Next two days of ‘the great standing at Vorkuta’ have passed. Talks about non-flying weather do not convince - actually clear sky outside, light blizzard. Golomjany sends the most favorable weather reports too. But…
Appears to be that now Arctic airports work by the rules that are hardly believed in: on Friday – short day up to 5 pm, on Saturday – the same, on Sunday – day off with no exception. The good weather is missed and now wait until Monday...

It feels like all around are in a kind of spoor. For 10 days no one airplane or helicopter in the sky. Arctic aviation, where are you?

We try not to loose time. Oleg for two days composes circuit of his radio navigation system. We became acquainted with the local radio-amateur Dmitry (R7BA/9), who very actively helps to solve our problems.

Mike is online with Golomjany via Internet and Iridium. Serguei continues to develop his photo chronicle. Dmitry and Sasha learn Skype and discuss technical details of the forthcoming route. Vladimir Semenovich ‘repairs weather’: negotiations with the crews, Moscow …

The support team has substantially thinned out – today other three our guys leave for Moscow by evening train. Time that they managed to devote elapses. Seven of us remain.

Pilots also suffer from the stagnation and look for any possible way out of the situation. They want to fly at this Tuesday-Wednesday night. Weather report for Wednesday is favorable. Will the ‘miracle’ occur and we fly to the island Sredny?!

Our friends – rescuers of the Kranojarsk regional rescue division - are there for 10 days already. Our joint actions are planned at the start of the expedition.
Expedition schedule will have to be corrected as we need to reach ‘Barneo’ by 20.04.

And meanwhile we are going to a bath-house – to draw ourselves away from the painful considerations of the sad aviation theme.