Polar Flight 90

From 10.02.2010 to 20.04.2010 - Status: postponed

Going with a Cessna to the North Pole

Veteran Art Mortvedt is looking to achieve the South Pole/North Pole double this spring by attempting to reach the geographic North Pole from Alaska via the Canadian Far North aboard his single-engined aircraft.

At the age of 59, Art just loves travelling through the polar regions and is by no means finished with his work yet. After numerous stays in the Antarctic and having provided many services to researchers all over the frozen Continent, the Alaska-based aviator is not resting on his adventurous laurels either. In fact currently he is in the process of achieving a fabulous dream: to land the same plane at both the North and South Poles. With the South Pole already in the bag (22nd November 1999), Art is now envisaging an expedition to land his Cessna 185 at the North Pole during the 2010 season.

In addition to this, he also plans to take aerial photos of the algae and cyanobacteria (a subclass of bacteria -procaryotes- also called "blue-green algae" of which over 7500 species are known to occur in the ocean and Arctic sea-ice). To take these photos, he will be using a laser imaging device developed by the Kinohi Institute in California.

This expedition has multiple aims: to demonstrate the reliability, low fuel requirements, ease of handling and manoeuvrability of this type of single-engined aircraft operating on behalf of the researchers working in the polar regions. Also, to succeed in landing the same plane at both Poles. In addition, Mortvedt aims to honour the memory of all the single-engined aircraft of the same type that have flown in, out and around the Poles as they served the noble cause of science. And to make his own, modest contribution to observing climate change. Finally, Art wishes to highlight just how important these areas of the Earth are to scientific research and stress the fact that they are the lungs of our planet.

Art Mortvedt is scheduled to make his flight during April 2010.