SAR capa­ci­ties in Spits­ber­gen: 2 lar­ge heli­c­op­ters from 2014

The Nor­we­gi­an SAR (search and res­cue) ser­vices in Lon­gye­ar­by­en will have two lar­ge Super­pu­ma heli­c­op­ters at their dis­po­sal from 2014. Curr­ent­ly, the­re is one Super­pu­ma and a smal­ler heli­c­op­ter. A Super­pu­ma can car­ry up to 18 per­sons.

Until now, the­se heli­c­op­ters have been ope­ra­ted by the pri­va­te­ly owned com­pa­ny Air­lift AS, but in the future the con­tract will go to ano­ther Nor­we­gi­an com­pa­ny, Luft­trans­port AS. The Sys­sel­man­nen (gover­nor) is accor­din­gly not the owner of the heli­c­op­ters, but has lar­ge­ly con­trol over their use for offi­ci­al and SAR pur­po­ses.

Streng­thening the SAR capa­ci­ties in Lon­gye­ar­by­en will not only bene­fit locals, sci­en­tists, tou­rists and crews of fishing ves­sels, but poten­ti­al­ly also others in “neigh­bou­ring” regi­ons: in recent years, res­cue ope­ra­ti­ons from Lon­gye­ar­by­en rea­ched as far as north Green­land and Franz Josef Land.

Source: Sys­sel­man­nen

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