spitzbergen*

An overview. Quality of image is bad, it's scanned. No digital in those days.

My best friend and I, at HFT and ready for departure towards Spitzbergen.

Svalbard - Spitzbergen
For those not initiated; Spitzbergen or Svalbard, as its correct name is, lies pretty far to the north, right up between

76^ºN & 81^ºN and 9^ºE & 35^ºE.

A vast area, managed and governed by Norway, according to an international treaty. It's in the Arctic of course, much of the islands are covered in eternal ice although coastal regions and especially areas to the west is reasonably free of ice during the arctic summer. It lies as far north as the northernmost regions of both Canada, Alaska and Greenland. A fascinating land, full of mystiqué, beauty, wild sceneries, weather and ( not so many ), people. Yes, there are actually people living there, in fact some are borne there and lived there all their lives. I am extremely happy having been allowed to explore these islands.

Room 610, SAS Royal Hotel, Tromsø
It all started in 1983 and therefore the story will cover a somewhat more extensive period than those six months we physically spent on Svalbard, although I will try not to use to much time on that, some may find it boring. I seem to recall we were five guys in the room, which was room 610 at the SAS Royal Hotel in Tromsoe, Norway. We had various backgrounds you might say. There was one more pilot like myself, one bankmanager, one politician cum commercial development director and one more politician. At the time of this meeting, a debate was going on in the media, concerning how and if Norway should extend their oil exploration efforts into the arctic region, or north of the 62nd Parallel. And if it was decided, how could a reasonable level of safety concerning spillage of oil be attained. Should traditional methods be used, or should new methods be developed. The Arctic is a sensitive environment and all precautions must be taken.

Friends in England
To cut a long story short, we, the group in room 610, came up with a novel idea. Since I had 5 years experience from aerial application ( spraying from aeroplanes ), I knew the technology. As it happened I also knew the company in England that had gained a contract with the british pollution authority for being on guard with several Islanders and a couple of DC-3's, ready to apply dispersant on oil slicks at sea whenever a disaster occurred. So therefore, a company was established, registered and financed, its objective being to offer and provide aerial application of dispersant coverage, for the entire Norwegian coast.

Cooperating with Widerøe
To adhere to my promise above ( about not being to long winded ), the new company struck a cooperative deal with Wideroe's Flyveselskap AS, and started developing an application system for the Twin Otter. For this we hired a Twin Otter from Wideroe ( LN-BNS), and teamed up with their engineers to produce all required drawings and structural calculations required in order to see if the system would work, and to provide a basis for gaining approval both from the authorities and the manufacturer, De Havilland of Canada Ltd.

This period was extremely interesting. I had already made some sketches of how I wanted the system to look perform, and with the engineers undisputed knowledge of their craft, and their intimate knowledge of the Twin Otter, the development phase went both quickly and smoothly.

The story concerning the Oil Dispersant services and all that went with it, will be narrated separately, and includes both the politics and operational challenges NFK AS went through over the next two years.

Finding work for our aircraft
But since time dragged on concerning us obtaining a similar contract in Norway to the one our friends in the UK had obtained, we decided that we hade to find other employment for our aircraft. So, one was leased to Widerøe and was put to good use flying passengers on the Short Field Network along the coast, one was leased to TAP in Portugal, and did sterling service on the island of Madeira.

The third aircraft was rigged for a combination of passenger service and scientific, aerial survey service, and deployed to Svalbard. Through active marketing, use of contacts and great help from friends in DK Aviation, we secured two contracts for the Twin Otter on Svalbard.

Supporting 9 female scientists
One was for supporting a french, combined civil and military expedition in which 9 french and french-canadian female scientist and glaciologists would attempt to ski from the northern tip of Svalbard to the North Pole. We would get them started, support them enroute and lift them from the Pole when the mission was complete. Well, that was the plan anyway. The girls were partly supported by the french army, who supposedly wanted to know more about how female can endure arctic conditions. All the girls were trained athletes and scientists in their own fields, and most of them had been in the high arctic before. They arrived in Tromsø (TOS), in a french army Transall C-160, with all their equipoment,. The Transall wasn't allowed to fly up to Svalbard, as it is military aircraft. Different rules apply at Svalbard.

After having spent one night in Tromsø, with friends of the girls from Tromsø University, the local, french consul and the french ambassodor from the embassy, preparations were made for.....................

Mapping the surface under claciers
Scott Polar Research Institute is a department under the University of Cambridge, England. Its primary role is to provide a research environment for anything polar, it being Arctic or Antarctic. In addition it serves as amuseum for the Antarctic role Britain has played over the years.