Aerospace Forces’ military and transport aviation carry polar explorers and cargo to the Barneo station
© RIA Novosti. Valeriy Melnikov

Aerospace Forces’ military and transport aviation carry polar explorers and cargo to the Barneo station

Russian Aerospace Forces' military transport has been flying to the North Pole to deliver cargo to the Barneo polar station, the Defense Ministry's Department of Information and Mass Communications reported. The crew of an Il-76MD aircraft made three flights from the Murmansk Region to the drifting ice floe. 

"In total, about 100 tons of cargo was delivered, including fuel, tractors, tents, generators, food and other items. More than 20 polar explorers also flew to north. They will deploy a seasonal camp," the report reads.

The landings were dynamic, without exhaust chutes: at an extremely low altitude, just before extraction, the nose of the plane is lifted upwards, and the cargo rolls out of the back of the fuselage under its own weight.

The peculiarity of flights to the northern latitudes is the complexity of weather conditions, the disorienting terrain and the absence of a visible horizon.

Military transport crews take part in the opening of the Barneo polar station each year.