To The North pole… under the parachute canopy

In early August of this year, Russians, in order to prove their claim for the shelf of Eurasia in the Arctic Ocean, went down in a bathyscaph to the bottom of the Arctic right into the North Pole. The Kyivate Volodymyr Kuznetsov, however, jumped with a parachute onto the Pole. We met with the experienced ice paratrooper to hear his story about the jump that has proved that Ukrainian parachutejumpers have no equals. Volodymyr Kuznetsov has 3,715 jumps with a parachute under his belt and is considered to be one of the most experienced sky-divers, one of the first tandem masters of Ukraine, and one of the first air cameramen. He did his first parachute jump far back in 1962. He . has become the record-breaker of the world in this kind of sport ever since. Besides, seven years ago, Volodymyr Kuznetsov jumped on the North Pole. The number of seven is symbolic for parachutists.

At the Tourist Club

We met in the Kyiv tourist club in Team ‘Ex’. Mr Volodymyr began his story in a slow, reserved manner as if minding not to make a false start. Yet soon afterwards, he gained rate, or retrieved his spirit, as they say, so we swiftly got down to the subject — a monumental jump onto the North Pole. VK: — That was the initiative of the former two national deputies Ivan Bilas and Heorhiy Manchulenko. We were accompanied by Mr Yushchenko. By the way, Viktor Andriyovych, current Mister President, and Prime-Minister at the time being, was also going to jump, yet something didn’t work out… We’d planned tandem jumps, i.e., two people using one parachute. Mr Yushchenko was just going to jump in pair with me. He was substituted for sports observer Valentyn Scherbachov. - How did you get to the Pole anyway? – First of all, I guess, I should explain what we’d plotted that jump for, remarked the parachutist. — In 2000, discussions were held to set up a special rescue unit within the agencies that carry out rescue operation in emergency situations, which would instantly respond to distress calls in any part of the globe. The North Pole is the place suitable for testing such extreme ideas. One of the most important accomplishments of the expedition was landing the plane AN-28 on a crude ground of the North Pole, which showed the abilities of Ukrainian athletes and that they’re the best… Therefore we were seen off in Boryspil airoport with much pomp, burst out laughing Mr Volodymyr. — We didn’t lack surprises either. We left for Moscow, and sud denly we found out there that we didn’t have money to proceed. - You were allowed to go on such a journey with no financial guarantees? Perhaps, we overdid it. Eventually, they brought us money from Odesa, just like in a joke, right in a bag. Guys from the Odesa air sports club came to our help. We left Moscow for Khatanha — a tiny port in Dolgano-Nenetsky national dis trict. We stayed there for a few more days, waiting for the support unit to covered the route up to the Pole and find a place for landing… It appeared that 70 percent of population in Khatanga are Ukrainians, the rest are Dolgans. They fish there, servicing the port. Indeed, we’re dispersed all over the globe…

Heading for the Pole  Khatanga is in three and a half hours’ flight from the Pole, which is closer than to the nearest town on the mainland, Mr Volodymyr spreads out the map and shows the route. — We left with crew crue and it was a principle. — My vis-’a-vis’ voice conveys stiff determination common for strong- willed and perseverant people.—Yet at first, I’ll tell you about the support unit. As I said, they had left a few hours earlier on AN-26 and the air club-owned AN-28, with a transfer on the North Land, on the island Middle. This is 1,000 km away from Khatanga. They’d been refueled there. Russians have a regularly operating runway with rotating personnel 70-100 km away from the Pole.They sit on drifting ice in gigantic Emergency Ministry tents; they also have their own two choppers. Our support unit led by the well known polar explorer Gennadiy Chukov found on the Pole a space suitable for the landing of parachutists and arranged the flight of  choppers there. Afterwards, they reported to Khatanga that we could set off. Please, confess, were you afraid before the jumping? Mr Kuznetsov shrugged his shoulders and uttered earnestly: Our experience didn’t allow us being afraid. Furthermore, Kutepov, Zalevsky and I were instructors responsible for «holding» freshmen. We had to support them, so we perceived our assignments as ordinary job. It is that jumping that was to confirm that the would-be rescue unit would allow jumps with non-trained physicians, firefighters or other specialists who cannot jump on their own. Did you also land on the Severnaya Zemlya? No, from Khatanga we flew straight to the Pole. And we visited the Middle Island on our way back. I’d never seen such amount of utilized fuel barrels. Believe me, this could be a separate newsreel. So we got to the northern point of the planet on IL-76. It was 30 degrees centigrade below zero outside. The wind was blowing 10 metres per second. Besides, meteorologists reported that the weather would get worse, so we had to be in a hurry. As we were flying over the destination, where our unit and choppers were positioned, suddenly our plane started to make one more circle. We thought that the weather was really getting worse, so we cancelled everything. Yet, we were soon commanded to jump.

25 precious seconds

— It was two thousand and five hundred metres of height above the ground, tells Mr Volodymyr. — There were only two pairs of Ukrainian tandem masters — Zalevsky, Volodymyr Kutepov, Kostya Oboryn and I were cameramen. There was a camera crew of one of the national TV channels down on the ground, I mean on the ice, led by Andriy Tsapliyenko (creator of «N-th Kilometer» broadcast) to whom Valentyn Shcherbachov, who, as far as you know, landed with me on the parachute, had to comment into the microphone his impressions right while jumping. - Could you see from above where you were jumping? At first, we could n’t, but later we made it out though. Everyone, except for camera man Oboryn, landed success fully, Mr Volodymyr sighed as if experiencing that dramatic moment anew. And he explained: — You know ice is constantly drifting in the Arctic Ocean, so our ground shifted a bit from the whereabouts specified the day before. A number of steep and sharp icy spires arose around him that would stick from the ice like arrows. Well, our Kostya landed near such icy protraction. He broke two ribs and shattered the camcorders. Thank God that was the only unpleasant occurrence when landing on the Pole. - How long were you staying on the cap of the globe? Not very long indeed — the weather did begin to get worse. The wind was picking, and we were offered to get into the choppers as soon as possible. We had to go to the airport locat ed on drifting ice hundred kilometres away from the Pole. Perhaps I as well as my fellows managed to feel the Pole, as experienced polar explorers put it. The silence is unbelievable there, which even affronts the ear. And we felt creepy realizing that there’s no one around hundreds, even thousands of kilometers away. Horizontally, one couldn’t see a thing but sprinkles of white snow within ten steps; vertically, the sky could be vaguely discerned. The IL left for the mainland, and we got to the runway by choppers. We changed for AN-26 which, along with AN-28 (with landing on the North Land archipelago), took us back to Khatanga. We were very lucky, as it appeared later. Two days after our return to the Great Land the airfield on ice near the Pole cracked in half. And if that had happened during our stay there, we would apparently have had much more impressions, and different ones… We were staying on the North Pole just for a few hours, but I remembered that jump for my whole life. - How long did the dive itself with a parachute onto ice last? – Just 25 seconds, grinned Volodymyr Kuznetsov

Author: Olga Pyatkovska