Flight over the North Pole
On April 3, 2022, I flew from Tokyo Narita to Zurich Kloten by LX161 on a B777-300ER. It was the first nonstop flight over North Pole for SWISS Airlines in many years. This route was chosen due to the war in Ukraine and the closing of the Siberian flight path.
The flightpath was essentially over ocean. After takeoff and a right turn the plane headed straight for the pacific coast of Chiba prefecture crossing over the “Kasumigarua” and “Kitaura” lakes. A right and later a left turn brough it toward the path to the North. Until the passage between over the Bering strait only three slight left corrections were made. On the way up we only crossed over “Saint Lawrence Island” and then over King Island a left correction brought us over Wales on continental Alaska. I could see the “Diomede Islands” to the left, the closer smaller one being US territory and the larger behind being Russian territory. Next, we passed just over “Point Hope” and further on an essentially straight line towards Greenland. Before we reached the closest point to the North Pole, at 87° 9'57.43 N - 78°48'39.04 W at 8,223 meters altitude, about 300 km west of it. Greenland we just passed over place called appropriately “North”. From there we followed a straight again until crossing onto the old continent over “Oost-Vieland” in Nederland. Subsequently over Belgium, Luxemburg, Northeastern France over Basel into Swiss airspace. For approach we briefly went over Germany and then few turns brought he plan to Zurich Kloten airport after 14 hours almost exactly.
Departure 03.04.2022 / 09:07:27 JST 01.04.2022 / 00:07:27 GMT
12,595 km
14:02 hours
897 km/h
Maximum elevation 10,929 m
Arrival 03.04.2022 / 16:09:42 CET Summer / 14:09:42 GMT
GPS tracker Garmin ℯtrex 30x, this device logs both the US GPS and Russian GLONASS satellites. Without the Russian signals often, the tracking would not have been possible.
Garmin Base Camp
Google Earth Pro
Read MoreThe flightpath was essentially over ocean. After takeoff and a right turn the plane headed straight for the pacific coast of Chiba prefecture crossing over the “Kasumigarua” and “Kitaura” lakes. A right and later a left turn brough it toward the path to the North. Until the passage between over the Bering strait only three slight left corrections were made. On the way up we only crossed over “Saint Lawrence Island” and then over King Island a left correction brought us over Wales on continental Alaska. I could see the “Diomede Islands” to the left, the closer smaller one being US territory and the larger behind being Russian territory. Next, we passed just over “Point Hope” and further on an essentially straight line towards Greenland. Before we reached the closest point to the North Pole, at 87° 9'57.43 N - 78°48'39.04 W at 8,223 meters altitude, about 300 km west of it. Greenland we just passed over place called appropriately “North”. From there we followed a straight again until crossing onto the old continent over “Oost-Vieland” in Nederland. Subsequently over Belgium, Luxemburg, Northeastern France over Basel into Swiss airspace. For approach we briefly went over Germany and then few turns brought he plan to Zurich Kloten airport after 14 hours almost exactly.
Departure 03.04.2022 / 09:07:27 JST 01.04.2022 / 00:07:27 GMT
12,595 km
14:02 hours
897 km/h
Maximum elevation 10,929 m
Arrival 03.04.2022 / 16:09:42 CET Summer / 14:09:42 GMT
GPS tracker Garmin ℯtrex 30x, this device logs both the US GPS and Russian GLONASS satellites. Without the Russian signals often, the tracking would not have been possible.
Garmin Base Camp
Google Earth Pro
