#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. Fedor Konyukhov and Igor Potapkin made the world’s first flight on a paraglider (motor paraglider) from a point at 86 degrees north latitude (an ice floe in the Arctic ocean) to the North Pole, setting a record. This was reported on Konyukhov’s Telegram channel.
“At 02:36 Moscow time the Konyukhov-Potapkin crew began to descend. Landing near the pole at 02:42 Moscow time. 10 hours 13 minutes in flight”, the message said.
The flight participants reached the ice floe off the coast of Franz Josef Land on the nuclear icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy, which was also supposed to pick them up at the North Pole. While waiting for the icebreaker, they will conduct a series of studies on behalf of the Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences named after P. P. Shirshov. In particular, travelers will have to study the seismic activity of the Arctic ocean’s bottom, the intensity of melting and drift routes of pack ice, and the amount of microplastics in ocean water, TASS reports.
This is the second flight of Konyukhov-Potapkin to the North Pole on a paraglider. The first one took place in 2022, but then they had to land after three hours and 172 kilometers of travel, and a passing icebreaker carrying tourists took them to the North Pole.
After that, the paralet’s design underwent significant changes. A composite fairing was specially developed, thanks to which it was possible to improve the streamlining of the device and increase the flight range.
Previously, we told about the start of a new expedition of the Arctic Floating University. We also reported that This Is Taimyr’s Russian-speaking version – the Severny Gorod news portal – is among the eight best regional media in the country.
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Text: Victor Borodin, Photo: Fedor Konyukhov’s official website
