| Office of Public Affairs U.S. Coast Guard |
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| Press Release |
Date: Nov. 5, 2007
Contact: Angela Hirsch |
NEW COAST GUARD VIDEO SHOWS FLIGHT OVER NORTH POLE
Coast Guard Commences Routine North Slope Patrols
Interviews, Video, Photos, and 3-D Model of Arctic Region Available
The crew of the October 25 flight used GPS satellite technology to navigate in the harsh Arctic region, where normal magnetic navigation systems are inoperable. GPS navigation offers an unprecedented level of accuracy, pinpointing the exact geographic North Pole within 50 feet - less than the aircraft's 132-foot wingspan. A pioneering 1969 flight by a Coast Guard crew used celestial navigation techniques to guide their trip to the North Pole.
In an interview during flight preparations, Lt. Tommy Wallin, commander of the aircraft, said, "Normally we'll use electronic navigation equipment in addition to GPS. This far north, we can't use magnetic based navigation because our margin of error could be as much as 75 degrees. GPS is our only real form of navigation once we get up into the Polar region."
Rear Adm. Arthur Brooks, commander of the Seventeenth Coast Guard district based in Juneau, Alaska, was on board the flight north. "Since the 1950s, when three Coast Guard cutters made their historic trip across the Northwest Passage, Coast Guard operations in the Arctic have been in support of exploration and scientific missions. We now must be prepared to do all Coast Guard missions in the Arctic. We have to learn how to operate in the Arctic. It is beautiful and magnificent, but it is dangerous."
Even with the benefit of modern navigation systems, the October flight pushed the edges of the aircraft's operating capabilities. The 2,200 mile roundtrip flight from Barrow, Alaska was planned with a series of safety benchmarks, including pre-determined weather and flight conditions that would force the aircrew to turn back. The parameters for conducting the North Pole over-flight specified returning if the external temperature reached 42 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. The C-130 and its crew reached the North Pole at 40 degrees below zero - just barely within safe operating conditions.
After the flight, the plane was grounded in Barrow when the crew discovered that an engine had malfunctioned due to the extreme operating conditions of the Arctic flight.
The mission led an increase in Arctic orientation flights by the Coast Guard to assess changes in maritime activity in the region as recently observed climate changes provide greater access to the Arctic.
"The northern reaches of the Arctic is a new area for us to do surveillance," said Rear Adm. Brooks. "We are expanding our patrols because we are seeing increased activity in the region and we need to know what is going on up there."
The Coast Guard is the principal U.S. federal maritime enforcement agency in the Arctic with broad safety, security and environmental stewardship missions. The service expects its responsibilities in the Arctic will increase in coming years, as increased access brings additional needs for traditional missions such as search and rescue, pollution response, fisheries law enforcement, marine safety, waterways management, maritime security and oceanographic operations. To meet these increased demands it is considering the establishment of a forward operating base in Barrow by next spring to monitor and respond to maritime traffic in the region.
The Arctic region is the focus of increasing interest as a shipping route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, offering a potential route between Europe and Asia that is 4,000 miles shorter than a transit through the Panama Canal. Among the needs the Coast Guard has identified is the potential for a traffic routing system to define shipping lanes in rapidly changing waterways.
The Coast Guard brings over a century of experience in the Arctic region. The service is marking the 50th anniversary of three cutters breaking through ice to cross the Bering Strait and into the Arctic Ocean to determine the feasibility of the Northwest Passage as a route for cargo vessels to re-supply the early warning radar network - a critical front for national defense at the height of the Cold War. The cutters' three-month voyage across the northern edge of the North American continent helped resolve much of the uncertainty about the 4,500 miles of semi-charted waters through which they sailed.
The Coast Guard cutter Healy, an icebreaker based in Seattle, completed a mission in September with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to map the sea floor in the Arctic region. The cutter will return to the region in the spring.
A feature story on the flight is available at http://www.uscgalaska.com/go/doc/780/180821/
Downloadable video of the C-130 Hercules flight to the North Pole is available at the following links:
Arctic Patrol:
http://cgig.uscg.mil/media/main.php?g2_itemId=185453
North Pole-Pre Flight:
http://cgig.uscg.mil/media/main.php?g2_itemId=185553
North Pole Flight, Crossing the Pole.:
http://cgig.uscg.mil/media/main.php?g2_itemId=185556
CASPER Surface Contact:
http://cgig.uscg.mil/media/main.php?g2_itemId=185191
CASPER North Pole:
http://cgig.uscg.mil/media/main.php?g2_itemId=185187
RDML Brooks interview:
http://cgig.uscg.mil/media/main.php?g2_itemId=185059
Coast Guard historical footage of 1957 Northwest Passage transit:
http://cgvi.uscg.mil/media/main.php?g2_itemId=177113
Note to editors: The Coast Guard is planning regular Arctic Domain Awareness flights throughout the coming months, beginning on November 8. Media wishing to embark should contact Lt. Eric Eggen at 907-463-2071.
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The U.S. Coast Guard is a military, maritime, multi-mission service within the
Department of Homeland Security dedicated to protecting the safety and security of America.
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