Thanks Asturias,
The tectonic plates, I didn’t get that clue about East and West!
All of you also a very merry Christmas!
Stay safe!

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....529ed11a9.jpeg

I found an even colder spot than Iceland:

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....d2eeff889.jpeg

Large power station in the distance? Associated mine?? By the sea side?

Sorry, as I understood the 24 hr rule also applicable on clues.

Definitely not a large power station.
Probably only fuel tanks for the aircraft.
No mining
Indeed at the seaside.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....b97fd6779.jpeg

In Russia?

Yes Ice bear country

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....3df113021.jpeg

Big place Artic Russia.... definitely Sea side not river side?

I thinlk it's Varandey Airport (IATA: VRI, ICAO: ULDW) an airport in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia. It serves the Varandey [ru] settlement on the Arctic coast of the Nenets district.It is capable of accepting aircraft of the third class ( An-24, An-26, L-410, Yak-40 and the like) and other types of aircraft of the 3rd class, helicopters of all types. The maximum take-off weight of an aircraft is 25 tons. Classification number of runway ( PCN ) 18 / F / D / Y / T.

The airport is used for delivery by helicopters ( Gazprom Avia ) of personnel to the Prirazlomnaya OIRFP, where a helicopter platform operates from 2010 [2] (in Varandey the personnel arrives by An-24 and An-26 from Arkhangelsk and Orenburg).
OH if correct

Asturias, you think correctly with Varandey.
The helicopter terminal has been recently renewed.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....24869b4c6.jpeg

OH has been called.

Interesting. Note the building is supported above ground on piles. This is done to prevent the permafrost melting due to the building heat.

The only time I’ve noticed this is at Churchill, Manitoba, although probably a common practice at many Arctic airfields.

I note that the passengers are boarding an Mi-8. When I worked in Vietnam, the local helicopter company had Mi-8s and Super Pumas. The Vietsovpetro JV used the Mi-8s and the foreign operators used the Super Pumas. The Mi-8s weren’t acceptable due to inadequate emergency exits.

Tough challenge Bear... I only got it due to some personal history. Ok it was Russia and beside the sea - well it was clearly Tundra country so the Far North (a bit like the N Slope in Alaska TBH). But it was unlikely to be right on the N Coast as you get ice driven up the beaches in a bad winter storm - certainly far enough to reach the "tarmac" (you see this in the Great Lakes as well) - so not facing the Arctic, and not in the Murmansk area ( hard rocks on the coast). Way back I was involved with some studies for a Russian outfit and looked a exporting oil and gas from the Timan-Pechora (Nenets) area and I remembered they were just designing Prirazlomnoye and going to do helicopter support from a coastal location in Nenets rather than Archangel. Still a large area but not impossible to search between Christmas Dinner and deep sleep!

:ok::ok::ok:

No, it isn’t and never has :confused:

Name that flying machine post 1886
25 November from Pprune Towers
Says it does.

Anyway it is not unreasonable to ask everybody to search for themselves for a few hours before feeding extra clues. But in the future in such cases I won’t refer to the rules.



Just to remind you and others, SLB, https://www.pprune.org/aviation-hist...hour-rule.html

Merry Christmas

SP

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....c55c4e2b03.png
I thought it was a road.

hmm - I'd like to see the approach plate and missed approach for this one - I'd assume both that require large amounts of reserve power and prayer?

Some rather blocky apartment buildings and a place painted in the ubiquitous Russian Blue & White suggests the FSU somewhere?

FSU embraces a host of possibilities.....

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....ac341263ea.png
Runway Length 1740 Metres.


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....4aacc4956a.jpg
Photographed at the airfield. Date unknown.

That's a lake or the sea in the foreground- if it's the sea then it's the Caucasus but in my adventures in that part of the world I don't remember any airstrip aimed directly at the mountains other than Gelendzhik and it certainly isn't there so we're almost certainly east of the Caspian - are we in a -stan or Mother Russia??

Perhaps this image will help you? There has been an airfield here since the 1930s. However since the early 2000s it has been closed to fixed wing traffic due to the failure of the airfield operator to comply with safety regulations. It is still used by civil and military helicopters. Further clue at UK lunchtime. And yes - east of The Caspian with which there is something in common.



https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....3a209162a2.png

Cholponata? Just over the ridge from Almaty.