Barentsburg Heliport, Heerodden ( no, Barentsburg helikopterhavn, Heerodden; ) is a private

heliport A heliport is a small airport suitable for use by helicopters and some other vertical lift aircraft. Designated heliports typically contain one or more touchdown and liftoff areas and may also have limited facilities such as fuel or hangars. I ...

located at

Heerodden Heerodden is a cape at the southern side of Isfjorden, on the eastern side of the outlet of Grønfjorden, in Nordenskiöld Land on Spitsbergen, Svalbard. It is named after Swiss paleobotanist Oswald Heer Oswald Heer (or Oswald von Heer) (31 Augu ...

(also known as Kapp Heer), serving the mining town of

Barentsburg Barentsburg (russian: Баренцбург) is the second-largest settlement in Svalbard, Norway, with about 455 inhabitants (). A coal mining town, the settlement is almost entirely made up of ethnic Russians and Ukrainians. History Rijpsburg ...

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

is owned and operated by

Arktikugol Arktikugol (russian: Арктикуголь, lit=Arctic Coal) is a Russian coal mining unitary enterprise which operates on the island of Spitsbergen in Svalbard, Norway. Owned by the government of Russia, Arktikugol currently performs limited mi ...

, which also owns the

company town A company town is a place where practically all stores and housing are owned by the one company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schools, markets and re ...

. The airport features a

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

, two hangars and an administration building with a control tower. There are two

Mil Mi-8 The Mil Mi-8 (russian: Ми-8, NATO reporting name: Hip) is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s and introduced into the Soviet Air Force in 1968. It is now produced by Russia. In addition t ...

helicopters based at Heerodden, which are operated by Spark+. Flights are provided to

Svalbard Airport, Longyear Svalbard Airport ( no, Svalbard lufthavn; ) is the main airport serving Svalbard in Norway. It is northwest of Longyearbyen on the west coast, and is the northernmost airport in the world with scheduled public flights. The first airport near Lo ...

and

Pyramiden Heliport Pyramiden Heliport ( no, Pyramiden helikopterhavn; ) is a heliport located at Pyramiden in Svalbard, Norway. The airport is owned and operated by Arktikugol, who owns the mining town. The airport consists of a gravel runway and apron measuring a ...

. The heliport was built by Arktikugol in 1961 and the company originally flew two

Mil Mi-4 The Mil Mi-4 (USAF/DoD reporting name "Type 36", NATO reporting name "Hound") is a Soviet transport helicopter that served in both military and civilian roles. Design and development The Mi-4 was designed in response to the American H-19 Chick ...

helicopters. The airport received a major upgrade between 1975 and 1978, following the opening of

. This saw the number of operative aircraft increase to five and the arrival of the Mi-8, operated by

Aeroflot PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (russian: ПАО "Аэрофло́т — Росси́йские авиали́нии", ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; russian: Аэрофлот, , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. The ...

. Operations were cut in the early 1990s, with only two aircraft remaining by 1993. There was a fatal crash at the airport in 2008, killing three of nine passengers.

History

The heliport was built by the mining company Arktikugol in 1961. In addition to flights around Barentsburg, it was used to fly to the heliport at

Pyramiden Pyramiden (; rus, Пирами́да, r=Piramída, p=pʲɪrɐˈmʲidə; literally 'The Pyramid') is an abandoned Soviet coal mining settlement on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard which has become a tourist destination. Founded by Sweden in ...

. Arktikugol originally operated

helicopters, with place for eleven passengers.Risanger: 319 The airport was gradually expanded with new infrastructure,Risanger: 305 with the first hangar having a capacity of .Risanger: 310 The ''Aviation Act'' applies to Svalbard and from 1961 to 1974 Arktikugol followed this by applying for and receiving a helicopter operating concession from the Ministry of Transport and Communications. After 1974 the Soviet Union stated that the regulations were in violation of the

Svalbard Treaty The Svalbard Treaty (originally the Spitsbergen Treaty) recognises the sovereignty of Norway over the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, at the time called Spitsbergen. The exercise of sovereignty is, however, subject to certain stipulations, and n ...

allowing free shipping. Heerodden IMG 4445 from north

The Soviet Union agreed in 1971 to allow the construction of Svalbard Airport, Longyear. The condition was that the airport be built with capacity to allow

to operate flights to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. This would again increase the need for the heliport in Barentsburg, as it would be used to fly passengers from Barentsburg to Longyearbyen.Risanger: 260 A major upgrade commenced in 1975, consisting of a new terminal building, hangars and a radar. The upgrades were completed in 1978 and by then there were 20 pilots, 25 mechanics and 20 other employees working and living at Heerodden. Spark Mil Mi-8MTV-1 at Barentsburg

Arktikugol increased its fleet to five new Mil Mi-8 helicopters, all with Aeroflot markings.Risanger: 316 Each helicopter has a capacity for 28 passengers and a range of . Following a

Jon Michelet Jon Michelet (14 July 1944, Moss – 14 April 2018, Oslo) was a Norwegian novelist. He had experience in various lines of work, including sailor and dock worker and references to these experiences can be found in his writing. His writing spans sev ...

article in ''

Klassekampen ''Klassekampen'' ( en, The Class Struggle) is a Norwegian daily newspaper. It describes itself as "the newspaper of the Left." The paper's net circulation is 34,000 (2021), and it has around 111,000 daily readers on paper (160,000 on Saturdays). ...

'' in 1976 there was a major interest by the Norwegian press concerning the heliport. Rumor spread concerning that the airport was illegal and that it was a military installation which in a short time could be transformed into an

air base An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base) is an aerodrome used as a military base by a military force for the operation ...

. The lack of initial Norwegian inspections fueled the speculation. The press which underlined that the heliport had a significant higher capacity than the five helicopters actually in use, and that with the heliport's strategic location it could easy be militarized in a conflict. Contributing to the speculation was that Arktikugol used military, rather than the civilian, version of the Mi-8. However, there was never any evidence to support the claims. The surveillance section of the Governor was however not in doubt that there were agents from the

Main Intelligence Directorate Main Intelligence Directorate may refer to: * Main Directorate of Intelligence (Ukraine), the military intelligence service of Ukraine * GRU The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́� ...

.Arlov: 290 There were also speculations that the heliport was planned expanded to a full-length runway which could support fixed-winged aircraft. The issue became more tense on 28 August 1978 with the Hopen Accident, when a

Soviet Air Forces The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...

Tupolev Tu-16 The Tupolev Tu-16 ( NATO reporting name: Badger) is a twin-engined jet strategic heavy bomber used by the Soviet Union. It has been flown for almost 70 years, and the Chinese license-built Xian H-6 remains in service with the People's Liberatio ...

crashed at Hopen. The press started asking if Norwegian authorities had control over the Soviet activities on the island. The

Civil Aviation Administration The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC; ) is the Chinese civil aviation authority under the Ministry of Transport. It oversees civil aviation and investigates aviation accidents and incidents. As the aviation authority responsible f ...

carried out inspections at the heliport in 1979. The

gave an operating permit on 1 August 1980.Accident Investigation Board Norway: 13 Following the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

in 1991, subsidies and resources allocated to Svalbard and Arktikugol were diminished. By 1993 there were only two remaining helicopters, and all crew and airport employees were relocated to live in Barentsburg. Operation were reduced from 1998 when Arktikugol closed Pyramiden.

Facilities

The heliport is situated at Heerodden, a peninsula north of the town of Barentsburg, at an elevation of

above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. The facility consists of an administration building, a control tower, two hangars and a radar. The airport has a single concrete runway, which is and aligned east–west. It connects to the main apron via a wide concrete

taxiway A taxiway is a path for aircraft at an airport connecting runways with aprons, hangars, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have a hard surface such as asphalt or concrete, although smaller general aviation airports sometimes use gravel ...

. The largest apron area measures . The administration building has meeting rooms and a canteen in the first floor, teaching and technical rooms in the second, apartments in the third and the

control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airsp ...

in the fourth. The building has of residential and office space and of technical rooms. There are two hangars, the smaller being , while the larger is and tall. This allows for the indoor parking of five Mi-8 helicopters. There is hangar capacity for maintenance of one such helicopter at a time. Isfjorden IMG 1839 Heerodden Heliport

The airport is located in

uncontrolled airspace In aviation, uncontrolled airspace is airspace where an Air Traffic Control (ATC) service is not deemed necessary or cannot be provided for practical reasons. It is the opposite of controlled airspace. It is that portion of the airspace that has ...

. The tower is manned on days and times with flights. Due to the language barrier, there is no radio communication between the helicopters and heliport on the one side, and Svalbard Airport, Longyear on the other. Yet both airport and helicopters have radios to communicate at Longyearbyen's frequency. Information concerning flights is relayed by fax from the meteorological station at Barentsburg to Longyearbyen.Accident Investigation Board Norway: 14

Airlines and destinations

Arktikugol has two Mil Mi-8 aircraft which are operated by Spark+. They are based at the heliport and provide transport services for Arktikugol and the

Consulate-General of Russia in Barentsburg This is a list of diplomatic missions of Russia. These missions are subordinate to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Russian Federation has one of the largest networks of embassies and consulates of any country. Russia has significant ...

for flights to Pyramiden and to Longyearbyen.Accident Investigation Board Norway: 4 The airport is also used by the

Governor of Svalbard The governor of Svalbard ( no, Sysselmesteren på Svalbard) represents the Norwegian government in exercising its sovereignty over the Svalbard archipelago (Spitsbergen). The position reports to the Norwegian Ministry of Justice, but it maint ...

's helicopter when it visits Barentsburg.

Accidents and incidents

On 30 March 2008 a Mi-8 with registration RA-06152 crashed at the airport whilst attempting to land. There had been recent heavy snowfalls at the airport and as the helicopter came into land, its rotor wash disturbed the loose snow, causing the pilots to lose their visual references in what was effectively a highly localised blizzard. The helicopter's course deviated beyond the runway, at an angle of 50 degrees, and crashed into the smaller hangar. Three of the nine passengers were killed in the impact, and three more were seriously injured.Accident Investigation Board Norway: 3 The investigation concluded that the airport needed to improve its procedures for landing in snow, and that the airline needed to improve its crew management and ensure seat belts are worn.

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{Authority control Airports in Svalbard Heliports in Norway Barentsburg Airports established in 1961 1961 establishments in Norway