Theory Q for anyone who flies Polar Routes (ABERI)

[Vector4Food]

For any guys who have flown or do fly over ABERI and fixes like it so close to the North Pole.

Let's assume you're inbound to ABERI, and 100NM from it you pull an Air Transat and you lose all engine power.

What is the procedure?

Let's assume you manage to ditch it onto the ice and everyone survives, what is the expectation of rescue?

(Long day at work today jetstream has facillitated no Westbound traffic for us today)

 

[JoelT]

For any guys who have flown or do fly over ABERI and fixes like it so close to the North Pole.

Let's assume you're inbound to ABERI, and 100NM from it you pull an Air Transat and you lose all engine power.

What is the procedure?

Let's assume you manage to ditch it onto the ice and everyone survives, what is the expectation of rescue?

(Long day at work today jetstream has facillitated no Westbound traffic for us today)

I haven't done Polar routes yet but, I have done the NATs when they get close up there (like over Greenland and Eastern Canada). Well, to put it simply, there really is no specific procedure. Same stuff as if you were ditching in the middle of Texas except, that if I was out of VHF contact I would be on the SATCOM pretty quick.

The quick and dirty is just to hope that there is a nice, long, flat piece of ice out there you can land on and keep the airplane pretty much intact. What worries me more than a dual engine flame out is smoke or fire in the cabin.

 

[rjmore]

Catching fire is probably the biggest fear as CC said. Even over the North Pacific, it is a looooong stretch from Shemya to Petropavlovsk over very cold water. In that case some nice thick ice stretching for miles might be preferable!

What it all boils down to is there are some places you really really really don't want to have to put it down. At least if you ditch down around Midway or Wake the sharks will get ya before the elements