In the summer of 2024, Fedor Konyukhov and pilot Igor Potapkin will try to set a new world record for flight distance on a two-seat powered paraglider in high latitudes.
It is planned that the takeoff will take place from the Franz Josef Land archipelago, where the athletes will be delivered by the expedition of the Polar Travel Club on the atomic icebreaker “50 Let Pobedy”. The distance from there to the point of the geographic North Pole (90°0′ N ) is about 900 km.
This will be the famous traveler's second attempt to reach the North Pole by paraglider. The first one, undertaken in August 2022, ended urgently ahead of schedule. After flying about 170 km in three hours, the same crew decided to make an emergency landing on an ice floe. The reason is a sharp deterioration in the weather on the route.
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Even earlier, on June 17, 2022, Konyukhov and Potapkin set a world record for a non-stop powered paraglider flight on the route Usman (Ryazan Region) – Gudermes (Chechen Republic). The travelers covered the distance of 1,040 km in 13 hours and 17 minutes.
Now they will have to spend about the same amount of time, but in much more severe conditions. The paraglider has an open cockpit, the pilots are in direct contact with the Arctic air. Strong headwinds, precipitation, and fog are possible, contributing to icing. An unscheduled landing also carries risks: it can happen on ice, and maybe on water.
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Meanwhile, it would be wrong to call the first attempt of the Russian crew to reach the North Pole on a powered paraglider unsuccessful, since the travelers gained important experience. Now the launch will take place not in August, as it was two years ago, but in July. And most importantly, changes have been made to the design of the aircraft.
In particular, the engine has been strengthened, the propeller design has been slightly modified, and a fairing has been developed to minimize the resistance of the incoming air flow and ensure the safety of the crew, as well as provide additional storage areas for rescue equipment and other payload.
Two fuel tanks of 75 liters each, made of composite materials, are built into the fairing. The fairing and fuel tanks were designed by the Advanced Engineering School (PISH) of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (Fedor Konyukhov is an Honorary Doctor of this university).
Thanks to advanced computer modeling methods, specialists at the Engineering Center (CompMechLab®) of PISH of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University have managed to halve the total weight of the multilayer fairing: its weight is less than 20 kg. Aerodynamically shaped and enlarged fuel tanks will ensure maximum flight duration.
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In addition, during the design process, the rigidity of the entire structure of the paraglider has been increased. This result was achieved through the use of unique experience gained in the implementation of other projects, as well as through the use of digital technologies.
The peculiarity of the current expedition is also that the takeoff and landing will take place in conditions of drifting Arctic ice. After the crew lands in the area of the geographical North Pole, Igor Potapkin will be taken on board by the icebreaker “50 Let Pobedy”. And Fedor Konyukhov will set up a one-person polar station, where he will remain for about a month.
All this time, the station will drift along with the polar ice towards Greenland and will cover a distance of about 100 km. During the next polar voyage, the icebreaker will pick up Konyukhov at the agreed location. If it happens as planned, it will be the second world record for the duration of a single drift near the North Pole.
During the month, Fedor Filippovich plans to conduct a number of studies under the program of the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and, as usual, make several paintings.
“I am working on the topic of microplastics in the ocean. I will drill holes, take samples, pump water through filters, stack filters, and then give them to the Institute of Oceanology. And they will check if there are microplastics in the current that goes through the North Pole," TASS quotes the traveler.
Aivar Valeev