Solovki Islands
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Solovki Islands
Greetings from Russia
Here is a link to a short video we made of our recent trip to Solovki Islands. What follows is a brief description of the trip.
Unforgettable Solovki trip - YouTube
As you probably know, Russia recently opened up a bit for private VFR operations. So in early March, I decided to take a helicopter trip up North. Our destination was a little Hotel located on the shores of the White Sea. Accessible only by air during the winter months, located nearly at the Arctic Circle, it appeared to have been a perfect destination to explore the Solovetsky Islands and to try and spot baby seals who are usually born on the White Sea ice that time of the year.
For a low-hours helicopter pilot (I only have just over 50 P1 (H) and about 500 fixed wing hours) this trip represented a bit of a challenge. In retrospect, having the audacity to even suggest that such a trip was possible, was absolute madness. 500 nautical miles over frozen nothingness virtually non-radio would represent a challenge to anyone.
So I had help. A recently retired Russian Air Force captain, who never flew an R44 has agreed to come for the trip. His vast experience, especially negotiating transit with various controls, both on the Radio, and by sat phone, has proven to be invaluable. We picked him up from a small helipad about 30 minutes North of Moscow, flying in ovc 900 SN, if you believed the local metar.
Apart from that, in terms of the weather, we have been extremely fortunate. Getting out of Moscow wasn't easy, but just North of Volga, we had CAVOK, unlimited vis and -30 degrees.
What started as a fun trip to see the animals turned into an excursion into the darker alleys of the Russian history. It is a well known fact that the Islands is a home to the monastery-turned prison-turned monastery-turned GULAG-turned monastery. It is one of UNESCO world heritage sites. It is one thing to know from the books. It is another to fly over the Northern Railroad built by the political prisoners in the 1930s. It is another to visit Anzer, a prison within the prison, where thousands of people were left to freeze to death. It is another to see a tree, which has grown, in the shape of a cross, on those prisoners' graves.
The trip, just in three days, changed things for me. It wasn't an excursion, it was a life changing arctic initiation. Nothing compares to seeing the stars and the polar lights from a White Sea beach, or landing on packed ice 90 nautical miles offshore. It was a trip to the end of the world, to the very far end of the Western civilization, and it isn't over. My Arctic expedition has just begun.
Here is a link to a short video we made of our recent trip to Solovki Islands. What follows is a brief description of the trip.
Unforgettable Solovki trip - YouTube
As you probably know, Russia recently opened up a bit for private VFR operations. So in early March, I decided to take a helicopter trip up North. Our destination was a little Hotel located on the shores of the White Sea. Accessible only by air during the winter months, located nearly at the Arctic Circle, it appeared to have been a perfect destination to explore the Solovetsky Islands and to try and spot baby seals who are usually born on the White Sea ice that time of the year.
For a low-hours helicopter pilot (I only have just over 50 P1 (H) and about 500 fixed wing hours) this trip represented a bit of a challenge. In retrospect, having the audacity to even suggest that such a trip was possible, was absolute madness. 500 nautical miles over frozen nothingness virtually non-radio would represent a challenge to anyone.
So I had help. A recently retired Russian Air Force captain, who never flew an R44 has agreed to come for the trip. His vast experience, especially negotiating transit with various controls, both on the Radio, and by sat phone, has proven to be invaluable. We picked him up from a small helipad about 30 minutes North of Moscow, flying in ovc 900 SN, if you believed the local metar.
Apart from that, in terms of the weather, we have been extremely fortunate. Getting out of Moscow wasn't easy, but just North of Volga, we had CAVOK, unlimited vis and -30 degrees.
What started as a fun trip to see the animals turned into an excursion into the darker alleys of the Russian history. It is a well known fact that the Islands is a home to the monastery-turned prison-turned monastery-turned GULAG-turned monastery. It is one of UNESCO world heritage sites. It is one thing to know from the books. It is another to fly over the Northern Railroad built by the political prisoners in the 1930s. It is another to visit Anzer, a prison within the prison, where thousands of people were left to freeze to death. It is another to see a tree, which has grown, in the shape of a cross, on those prisoners' graves.
The trip, just in three days, changed things for me. It wasn't an excursion, it was a life changing arctic initiation. Nothing compares to seeing the stars and the polar lights from a White Sea beach, or landing on packed ice 90 nautical miles offshore. It was a trip to the end of the world, to the very far end of the Western civilization, and it isn't over. My Arctic expedition has just begun.
