Airports in the Arctic. Waste or the need for aviation?

The concept of visiting the Arctic airfields actively discussed in Russia for the past few years. Naturally, the Arctic Circle is very harsh conditions and the construction of a full-fledged airport will cost is very expensive, but, nevertheless, there are also a number of favorable prospects.

Aviation in the Arctic. Latest achievements

Recently, quite often there are news that Russia intends to build on the territory of a number of airfields in the Arctic, and first of all it refers to the military facilities. The purpose of the airfields are primarily lies in the possibility of rapid deployment in different points of the country to protect the integrity and independence of the state. To the best possible way to understand this situation, please refer to geographical knowledge.

Considering the fact that when moving between destination points located on parallels of smaller length, you can significantly reduce the time for an air flight. So, if you take into account the equatorial value, it turns out that if you need to make a round-the-world trip, you will need to fly 40 thousand kilometers, taking another parallel of the globe, for example 55, this distance will be only about 23 thousand kilometers, thus almost halving. Proceeding from the principle that the territory of the polar region starts in 66 parallel, in other words, the distance necessary to complete the round-the-world trip will be only 16.3 thousand kilometers, and this will reduce not only the quantity of the passenger fuel required for the airliner, but also reduce the amount of harmful substances emitted to the atmosphere .

Nevertheless, it is necessary to take into account other factors, for example, as an example, the possibility of making direct air travel between a number of Russian cities outside or near the Arctic Circle, which will be beneficial for domestic air carriers and could lead to broader and more massive development of civil aviation in the country.

The prospect of the Arctic airports

Probably on this occasion, you may receive a variety of economic issues, in particular concerning the recoupment of such construction. Thus, you can lead a typical example, which will explain all the same interest in the use of airports in the Arctic territory of the Russian Federation.

Imagine that a passenger airliner intends to fly from the capital of Finland to the Canadian city of Prince George, and there are annually followed by tens of thousands of tourists from Europe. Helsinki is located at 60 degree of northern latitude and 25 degree of eastern longitude (conditionally rounded), and the coordinates of Prince George, according to geographical sources - 54 degrees north latitude and 123 west longitude. Thus, if you follow the western direction, then the airliner will have to fly on average to 56 parallels and to the final destination he will have to overcome 148 degrees on the grid of the globe. Considering that the distance to 56 of the parallel of the globe for one degree is 62,4 kilometers, in this case passengers will have to overcome about 9.7 thousand kilometers taking into account possible errors and deviations.

In that case, if an airliner, the next from Helsinki to Prince George to follow through Russia to the aerial in 75 parallel passengers will have to cover a distance of the coordinate network of the world constituting 212 degrees parallel 69, and given that the length of one degree here 40 of kilometers, the distance that will have to overcome to be about 9 thousand kilometers.

This is not the only example of how to participate in the international airport arctic air communication, but the idea could exist. In the case of lack of suitable passenger areas, arctic airports can serve transport aircraft.

Also important is the fact that minimize the risk of the crash into the ocean, and the availability of the airports in the Arctic, the plane could land them urgently in the event of such a necessity.

Quite possibly, the idea to the implementation of the airports in the territory of the Arctic will manifest itself in the near future, as it is cost effective and brings greater security.

Kostyuchenko Yuriy specifically for Avia.pro