Location
Svalbard
Ocean Sky
Details
2 DAYS FROM 111875 PP
Best time to go
Summer 2024/2025
Ocean Sky
Large-scale hybrid airships offer an alternative to fossil-fuelled aviation and gives the most energy-saving potential in aviation in the near future. Hybrid airships can save an excess of 90% of the energy used and the remaining 10% energy can fairly easily be non-fossil. They don’t need runways, they only need an open, relatively flat space to take off and land. In the future, this technology offers the opportunity for undeveloped regions to develop transport systems without the footprint or leadtime of construction infrastructure.
What to expect?
With the official destination registered as ‘The North Pole’, you will board the Airlander 10 for your 36 hour journey to and from the North Pole. Taking off from Svalbard at approximately 1800 in the evening, there will be an airborne cocktail followed by dinner and an introduction in the evening.
OceanSky flies at altitudes of up to 6,000ft (approx 2000m) and therefore there is no need for a pressurized cabin. It will normally fly between 1,000ft and 3,000ft, and the only reason to climb higher is to catch a more favourable wind, as the wind turns clockwise when ascending. Ideally we will be flying ‘low and slow’ so our guests can enjoy the view better. The lower the better, maybe even as low as 300 feet, equivalent to being on the 25th floor of a high-rise building.
We will be cruising at airspeeds between 20kts (37km/h) and 60kts (110km/h), but normal cruise speed is calculated to 50kts (91km/h). Again, we will take it slow and easy, for a soft, quiet and smooth flight.
At 07:00 the next morning it’s time for breakfast and we will land 09:00. After a safety briefing, we will head outside for outdoor activities and a polar lunch in the snow at noon. We will learn how to survive in the Polar Regions and how the Polar pioneers learned how to endure the harsh conditions of Arctic and managed to reach their goals. We will be told the stories of these pioneers, why they did it, how they did it and how you can survive in the most challenging climate on earth. We will expect to take-off again at 15:00, so it will be six hours at the North Pole.
On the way back we will maximise the wildlife spotting opportunities - we will offer a helicopter perspective from 300 meters with views from panorama windows, to view the migration of the Arctic wildlife. Dinner follows and we will finish the evening with a cocktail and an Arctic expedition lecture.
Talk to a Svalbard Destination Specialist Today
Why book this trip?
- Travel in a large-scale hybrid airship
- Join expedition leader, Robert Swan, the first man in history to walk both the North and South Poles
- Visit one of the most remote places on the planet
Your accommodation - the OceanSky Airship
OceanSky
OceanSky flies at altitudes of up to 6,000ft (approx 2000m) and therefore there is no need for a pressurized cabin. It will normally fly between 1,000ft and 3,000ft, and the only reason to climb higher is to catch a more favourable wind, as the wind turns clockwise when ascending. Ideally we will be flying ‘low and slow’ so our guests can enjoy the view better. The lower the better, maybe even as low as 300 feet, equivalent to being on the 25th floor of a high-rise building.