Thor Kristen Tjøntveit (28 July 1936 – 3 March 2017) was a

Norwegian-American Norwegian Americans () are Americans with ancestral roots in Norway. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the latter half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the 20th century. There are more than 4.5 milli ...

aviator. Tjøntveit grew up at Hesthagen in

Grimstad Grimstad () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county, Norway. It belongs to the geographical region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative center of the municipality is the Grimstad (to ...

, Norway. After taking his pilot's license, he moved to the United States in 1961; he became an

American citizen Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Consti ...

in 1965. In 1967, he crashed in

Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...

as was missing for ten days before being found. He was also the first person to fly over both the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

and the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is the point in the Southern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True South Pole to distinguish ...

in the same trip. In the US, Tjøntveit operated a retailer of general aviation aircraft. He established the charter airline

Trans Polar Trans Polar A/S was a Norwegian charter airline which operated between June 1970 and May 1971. The airline operated a fleet of three Boeing 720s and had a close cooperation with Aer Lingus for maintenance. Trans Polar was established by Thor Tj ...

in 1970, which went bankrupt the following year. At the time the 33-million

Norwegian krone The krone (, currency sign, abbreviation: kr (also NKr for distinction); ISO 4217, code: NOK), plural ''kroner'', is the currency of the Kingdom of Norway (including List of possessions of Norway, overseas territories and dependencies). It was t ...

bankruptcy was the largest in the country's history. Tjøntveit was charged, but acquitted of charges of deceit in the airline. In 1972 Tjøntveit established Norwegian Overseas Airways, which never received operating permit in Norway and therefore moved its operations to Bangladesh. Tjøntveit was sentenced for gross fraud against an insurance company in 1987. He was indicted in 2003 in the largest

value added tax A value-added tax (VAT or goods and services tax (GST), general consumption tax (GCT)) is a consumption tax that is levied on the value added at each stage of a product's production and distribution. VAT is similar to, and is often compared wi ...

fraud in Norwegian history, but fled the country. Upon his return in 2005, he was sentenced and remained in prison until 2012. He died on 3 March 2017.Nekrolog: Thor Kristen Tjøntveit

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tjonveit, Thor 1936 births 2017 deaths 20th-century Norwegian criminals 21st-century Norwegian criminals Norwegian male criminals Norwegian aviators Norwegian fraudsters Norwegian prisoners and detainees People from Grimstad Prisoners and detainees of Norway