Received a message from an Icelandic friend of mine. He wrote, “Yakutsk was on Icelandic News Channel this evening.” Later, he explained that it was the reportage about an Icelandic mechanic’ work at Yakutsk Airport. A representative of Iceland Air, that leased 5 Boing 737 planes to Yakutia Airlines, said in his interview, “It is -27, people are showing hospitality.” Read the rest of this entry…

There is a great man living in Yakutsk. His name is Ivan Negenblya. He is the most honored Yakutia’s aviation worker. His lifetime theme was and still remains Alaska-Siberia World War II Air Route (info on Wiki). He wrote a lot of books on this topic. Besides, he’s got a great amount of historical photographs in his collection.

Currently I and many other friends are helping him to arrange his first international photo exhibition. Thinking to display ~200 archive photographs in Fairbanks, USA. A couple of days ago, I got some scanned pics so to start working on photo materials… and suddenly…

..Another fantastic idea descended upon me. Why not make Alaska-Siberia WWII Air Route Online Photo Exhibition? Funny, but I decided not to wait and have already registered the domain www.alaskasiberia.com. Now the website development is the matter of time. Oh, forgot to mention. The major Soviet part of the Alaska-Siberia route went through Siberia’s Yakutia.

Futher, please, see more sample photographs. Here we go! Read the rest of this entry…

Take a look at 38 exclusive photographs of how Polar Airlines was rescuing the French Arctic explorer Jean-Louis Etienne in the Arctic tundra of Yakutia’s Siberia after his 5-days North Pole balloon crossing on April 11th, 2010. Read the rest of this entry…

A French balloon explorer Jean-Louis Etienne flying via the North Pole from Norway to the Siberian republic of Yakutia. By Francis Latreille

Jean-Louis Ettienne

YAKUTIA/SIBERIA, April 11, 2010 – Yesterday a 63-years-old French balloon adventurer Jean-Louis Etienne has reached Yakutia’s Arctic Circle and finished his 5-days Generaly Arctic Observer flight expedition done from Norway via the North Pole to Siberia.

In Saturday’s morning he reached the Russian Arctic coast in the area of Yakutia’s Ust-Yansky region. He was expected to land in Tiksi, but the weather (winds and fogs) changed his direction. He was blown eastward to the Ust Yansky region. By that moment he had got pretty tired. The weariness and thick fog on the route to Batagai, the Verkhoyansky region, forced him to land soon in the Northern part of the Yakutian region of Ust Yansky, hundreds kilometers north from the villages of Ust Kujga and Deputatsky.

He spent night in the Arctic nowhere, where temperature at night was below -30 degrees Centigrate.

This morning Jean-Louis Etienne and his balloon equipment was picked up by his support team and brought to Yakutsk by a helicopter.

More info + the video. Read the rest of this entry…

Yakutsk Airport, Yakutia, Siberia. 6:30 am, March 17th, 2010. The temp was -24C.

*Click the photo to see the picture in the full size.