Bell 430 Around The World Flight Tuesday - August 27th, 1996 (US) - DAY 11
Wednesday - August 28th, 1996 (Russia) - Day 12*

Day 12
Expanded View

* Crossed the International Date Line.

Flight Plan:

Departure City Distance(NM) Destination City Nautical Miles
To Go		 Nautical Miles
Traveled
Nome (AK) 202 Providonyia (Russia) 6523 14025
TOTAL N.M. TODAY 202

* Subject to change United States of AmericaRussia

Mission Progress To Date:
The Bell 430 left Nome, Alaska and U.S. air space this morning. Flew 202 nauticial miles to Providenyia, Russia. Entering Russia was not easy. The crew spent the whole day clearing customs, then extreme weather moved in so they decided to stay in Providenyia for the night. A more complete account of their adventures in Providenyia is posted below. So far the crew has flown 14,025 nautical miles with 6,523 nautical miles to go.

Messages From The Crew:

From the Bell 430 N430Q
Around-the-World '96 Speed Record Flight
In-Flight Report - August 27, 1996 - Day 11 (US) / August 28, 1996 - Day 12 (Russia)
In 1994, I lost a complete day in Siberia due to weather and Russian Air Traffic Control. Dejavu, all over again. This time it was at our first stop, Provedenyia, across the Bering Straits from Nome, Alaska.

Hoping to blaze through Russia, John and I got an early start from Nome and had a great tailwind which put us in Provedenyia early. By early, I mean only the airport dogs, a Russian sentry carrying a machine gun, and a civilian guard were there. We landed at the same exact spot I did in 1994 with the JetRanger. We were an hour early, due to a slight miscalculation on local time. There is very little communication between Nome Flight Service and Providenyia, except by telex of flight plans.
The guard told us in very broken English to stay in the helicopter, which we did. At 9:00 am local, a bus with customs and immigration officers, some soldiers, and airport personnel arrived from town. It brought memories of entering Russian Airspace and landing without contact just a few years ago.
In true Russian style, many people were involved until finally the airport director arrived and said no problem. They unlocked the door of the room we were in and let us proceed with going through customs. The customs officer was a good guy and he went through our equipment in the helicopter and we had to count our money for him. He liked our Around-the-World sticker and commented on the 1994 trip. A guard was kept on our helicopter for several hours, which was OK with us. We gave him a baseball cap and told him not to wear it until we left.
In order to fly through the Russian domestic airspace, we were required to pickup a Russian translator / escort. Our man, Guennadi, met us when we landed, not fully ready for the furor he was getting into.
When we finally got through customs and immigration, the real difficulties began. It is difficult to go 23,000 miles and not have bad weather. We faced low ceiling and severly restricted visibilities. In addition, a very deep low pressure area was approaching our destination, Anadyr. We went to file our flight plan and they said we could not leave because our destination weather at Anadyr was not VFR (1000 ft ceiling, and 3 miles visibility) and the regulations would require instrument flight, which of course would force us into the clouds and in danger of icing. I have a real aversion to placing myself where icing is a possibility. We requested a special VFR, but they had never heard of it. They have very little civil aviation (especially when it comes to helicopters) in Russia and they didn't know what to do with us. They said maybe in two or three days the weather would get better. We fueled the helicopter, repacked it for our Russian escort, and we "standing-by".
As the day wore on, the weather got worse. They close the airport at 5:00 PM. We spent time with the Air Traffic Controller, trying to find a suitable solution. After it became clear that no progress would be made that day, we left at 4:00 PM and went to a nearby rent-a-room where our escort had been staying for two days. John and I went straight to bed and both had a recharging long rest. Glad you are there. Regards, Ron Bower and John Williams, Crew of the N430Q

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Daily Flight Plans and Progress (by date)
8-17 / 8-18 / 8-19 / 8-20 / 8-21 / 8-22 / 8-23 / 8-24 / 8-25 / 8-26 / 8-27 / 8-28 / 8-29 / 8-30 / 8-31 / 9-1 / 9-2 / 9-3