Russian Robinson distributor Aviamarket has landed a Robinson R66 on the North Pole for the first time. In an expedition between 2nd and 14th April, the company’s chief pilot Dmitry Rakitsky flew with Michael Farih to make the record breaking flight for a number of reasons. While the key target was the geographical achievement, the crew also provided some support to another project – the search for the schooner “St. Anna” (lost in a secretive expedition in 1912-4), which included the installation of ice buoys.

Finally, and perhaps key to their future sales efforts, they sought to prove the R66’s resilience in the Far North – which it achieved without any problems at all – every system worked normally throughout the expedition.

Pilot Michael Farih is also closely involved with a further record breaking attempt – round the world in a three-helicopter group. We await developments on that with interest.

Nikolai Vanesev – HeliHub.com correspondent in Moscow