Artur Chilingarov: CENTER OF GRAVITY

Konstantin Zaitsev,

assistant to A. N. Chilingarov, vice-president of the Association of Polar Explorers:

Arthur Nikolaevich Chilingarov always put safety first. And his attention and care for people are worth no less than all the unique projects he has implemented. The most important thing is that we did not lose anyone in any of Arthur Nikolaevich’s expeditions.

August 1991, in Antarctica - the middle of the polar night. Nobody flies. A message came from Molodezhnaya station that the scientific expedition vessel "Mikhail Somov", which was supposed to deliver polar explorers to their homeland, was trapped in ice. On August 12, on instructions from the Council of Ministers of the USSR to evacuate participants of the 35th and 36th Soviet Antarctic Expeditions, Chilingarov and his team flew from Moscow on an Il-76 plane. Before departing from Cape Town to Molodezhnaya station on August 19, we learned about events in Moscow that would result in the collapse of the USSR. On August 20, they landed at Molodezhnaya station, where they took on board 197 people and expeditionary cargo within 24 hours. The take-off weight of the Il-76 was 185 tons with a permitted weight of up to 170 tons in a snowy airfield. With great difficulty, the plane took off and headed for Cape Town. A rescue expedition led by Hero of the Soviet Union Artur Chilingarov and the crew of Hero of the Soviet Union test pilot Stanislav Bliznyuk successfully completed the task of the now defunct government. Everyone returned home safely.

In 2003, the first Russian drifting station “North Pole-32” was opened in the Central Arctic. A year later, a bank of hummocks up to 15–20 m high completely destroyed it. We flew on a special flight from Vnukovo to Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen and from there on Mi-8 and Mi-26 helicopters. The Norwegians warned that there might not be enough fuel, that there would be no place for the heavy helicopter to refuel. Chilingarov went ahead in the Mi-8, the heavy Mi-26 followed him to go straight to the point. It was impossible to land it, the ice was so thin that it would not have supported a heavy helicopter, so we hovered over the ice itself, barely touching it with our wheels, opened the cargo hatch, dragged it with a tractor, loaded everything that was left of the equipment inside, took away people and two dogs. Both helicopters successfully landed in Longyearbyen, and from Spitsbergen the rescuers and those rescued flew home to St. Petersburg. Less than three days passed from the moment the SP-32 was reported destroyed until the guys landed in St. Petersburg.

Another case that can be considered significant is the achievement of the South Pole by the High-Latitude Airborne Antarctic Expedition on two Mi-8 helicopters of the FSB of Russia. In 2007, a global scientific program was launched within the framework of the IV International Polar Year (IPY). The special representative of the President of the Russian Federation on IPY issues A. N. Chilingarov, FSB Director N. P. Patrushev and his deputy V. E. Pronichev, President of the World Meteorological Organization A. I. Bedritsky and others were on board. One of the tasks was to test in practice the technology and logistics of promptly delivering a helicopter group to Antarctica and providing assistance to polar explorers in emergency situations. During the IV IPY, more than two hundred expeditions and experiments were carried out around the world, but the Russian project was, without a doubt, unique. The results of the VAE-2007 have become part of the world practice of aviation operations in Antarctica.

It happens that courage manifests itself in the ability to make a difficult decision. In 2002, the An-3T aircraft had to be left at the South Pole. It was a modernized AN-2 with a new engine, which was designed at the Klimov Design Bureau in St. Petersburg. This plane was built in Omsk jointly by Russia and Ukraine. We had to prove the reliability of the car in Antarctica.

In December 2001, we loaded the expedition and the An-3, having separated the wings, into an Il-76 and flew with this cargo to Chile, and from there to the Chilean Antarctic base on the Patriot Hills glacier. There, within 24 hours, the plane was assembled and safely flew almost 1,300 km to the South Pole. Chilingarov reported to the Russian President about the successful achievement of the South Pole, but during preparation for departure from the South Pole the engine failed. Others in his place would have tried to pretend that everything was fine and fly out, risking the crew and passengers. The way Arthur Nikolaevich acted characterizes human qualities very highly. He had enough courage and common sense to inform the President of Russia about the engine failure. V.V. Putin answered him that the main thing is not technology, but people, since everyone is alive, the task is for everyone to return home. The plane was left at the South Pole at the American Amundsen-Scott station,

During the three years that the plane was at the Amundsen-Scott station, the Americans repeatedly demanded that we take the plane back or offered to scrap it.

A reserve engine was found, the consequences of its wintering at the South Pole were assessed, and in December 2004, with the support of Gazprom, we delivered a new engine, a repair crew and the AN-3 crew to McMurdo station on a GazpromAvia Il-76 aircraft. From there, with the help of the Americans, people and equipment were transported to the South Pole on the C-130 Hercules. After successful engine replacement and repairs, the An-3 was ready to fly to McMurdo Station. However, the flight was preceded by long approvals. After the repairs were completed, the Americans, disclaiming responsibility for the result of the flight, demanded that a mass of documents be signed confirming that all responsibility for the flight fell on the Russian side, since the aircraft was repaired not in the factory, but in the field.

Having checked the plane and realizing that there would be enough fuel for a maximum of 1,300 km with a flight distance of 1,570 km, the crew took on board an additional 200-liter barrel, from which fuel could be manually pumped into the tanks during the flight. Having turned off the heating and unnecessary equipment, the crew flew to McMurdo station. We walked at an altitude of 7000 m at a temperature of −70°C! The flight took several hours. They burned almost all the fuel in the tanks, but never used the barrel and successfully landed next to the Gazpromavia Il-76. In January 2005, the Antarctic Air Expedition safely returned to its homeland.

Now the AN-3T aircraft (tail number 9801) is standing near the entrance of  Polet plant in Omsk.

Arthur Nikolaevich did a lot to improve relations between countries, proving that the Arctic is above politics, and mutual assistance among polar explorers is above ideological differences. This activity of his is no less important than scientific research; it supported respect for Russia in the world.

On October 7, 1988, an Eskimo hunter discovered a family of gray whales trapped by ice in a hole in the Beaufort Sea near Cape Barrow, Alaska. To save the animals, local residents sawed holes in the ice. The US Department of State turned to the Soviet side with a request for help, since the icebreaker Admiral Makarov and the diesel-electric ship Vladimir Arsentiev were just heading to the drifting station North Pole-31 for scheduled work. They only needed to deviate briefly from the route to cut through channels in this bay. The decision was made by Arthur Nikolaevich, and the decision had to be made urgently, without waiting for the outcome of the discussions in high places.

And he accepted it on his own. Our ships rescued the whales. The response both in the United States and around the world was overwhelming. I could compare it to the docking of the Soyuz and Apollo spacecraft. We received bags of letters from all over the world. Adults, children and many public organizations wrote, expressing gratitude to the USSR and Soviet polar explorers. An American sculptor carved three whales soaring from the water from a massive elm tree. The Americans gave this sculpture to the Soviet Union, and today it can be seen in Vladivostok. As foreign publications wrote, “the whales made the USSR and the USA forget about the Cold War.”

Svetlana Sivkova,

President of the Museum of the World Ocean:

Arthur Nikolaevich made a great impression on me during our first meeting, at first I was even afraid of him, but then the kindest relations were established between us.

He first visited our museum in the 2010s. The Mir-1 underwater vehicle was then still standing in an open area. He examined the research vessel “Vityaz”, praised our work and suddenly said a phrase that upset me very much: “You stole the idea of ​​the Museum of the World Ocean from us. It was our idea—Sienkiewicz’s and mine. We wanted to create such a museum, and now it’s here, with you.” I told him: “Artur Nikolaevich, what should I do? Scientists wanted to call the museum that because “Vityaz” worked in all oceans.”

I was worried that we wouldn’t have a good relationship with this great man. In 2015, the construction of the Glubina building, where the Mir-1 apparatus was installed, was completed. On excursions we talk in detail about its dive at the North Pole. In November 2018, the Council of Regions of the Russian Geographical Society was held in Kaliningrad. Artur Chilingarov came to us again, after a fairly long period of time. That's when we showed him the new building. And he said, “You know, I was wrong. I spoke a little jealously then, but now I see that you are doing everything right. Such a museum should be right here, in Kaliningrad, where the home port of the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh, the carrier of the Mir underwater vehicles, is located. Now “Mirs” also stand here.” From such words it was as if our wings had grown. I think only big-hearted people can reconsider their opinion like this and say so directly.

Chilingarov invited me to become a member of the Maritime Board under the Government of the Russian Federation, which happened in 2019. I didn’t want to, because it includes venerable people, ministers, admirals, veterans. Artur Nikolaevich dismissed these doubts. “Since you have the Russian Maritime Heritage Association, you should definitely join the board and consider the topic of preserving maritime history at a high level,” he insisted.

In addition, he himself became a member of the board of trustees of the Museum of the World Ocean. And it was worth a lot: Artur Nikolaevich instantly responded to invitations and helped us in all matters related to exhibitions and other events.

Every year, on March 31, we celebrate the day of raising the flag on the icebreaker Krasin. Chilingarov certainly used to come to visit us - he made speeches, stood on the captain’s bridge, and there was a feeling that now he would invite “Krasin” to the Arctic.

We were in touch, I could always call him and ask him to participate in events or support us at the Ministry of Culture. And he always responded because he understood that we were doing a great job. And we do it honestly, sincerely, with love. There was a feeling that Chilingarov would live forever, and we would be friends forever. In the closed chat of the Council of Regions of the Russian Geographical Society, the avatar is not a beautiful landscape, but a photograph of Artur Nikolaevich. We saved it. It's a small thing, but it speaks volumes about how he was treated.

Alexey Loginov,

Vice-President of the Russian Polar Explorers Association:

Arthur Nikolaevich was the president of our association, in recent years I had the honor of being a member of its council and being its vice-president.

We met in 1986 at the Komsomol Youth drifting station “North Pole-28”. I spent the winter there, and he flew to us, checked how we were settling in, and gave valuable instructions. Of course, then there was a huge gap between us. I was a boy, a junior researcher at the Arctic and Antarctic Institute. He was already a famous researcher then. Every word he said was perceived as a revelation.

I worked at the institute for almost ten more years. In the 1990s, its staff was sharply reduced, from about 3,000 people to 500. The stations were mothballed. Many scientific vessels have been sold.

I left there, was far from the Arctic for a long time and met Artur Nikolaevich only in 2009, when the Mir-1 and Mir-2 underwater vehicles dived to the bottom of Lake Baikal. Then I worked as vice president of Sberbank, and we had a meeting in Irkutsk. At our unexpected meeting, he, of course, did not recognize me, but I somehow got into a conversation with him, he took a liking to me and from then on he called me “Lekha, my Makarov sidekick,” because we both studied at the Leningrad Higher Naval Engineering School named after Admiral Makarov at the same faculty, only with a difference of almost 20 years...

Then, when the new council of the Polar Explorers Association was being formed, he invited me there, and I respectfully accepted the invitation.

For many years, when I worked in financial management, I had a dream of the sea. I really wanted to organize a round-the-world expedition in memory of our great discoverers Bellingshausen and Lazarev, who  conquered the oceans on sailing ships two centuries ago.

I shared the idea of ​​the expedition “The Route of Great Russian Travelers of the Past” with Artur Nikolaevich in 2017. He said that he himself, of course, is not a “sailboat guy” and doesn’t really understand this, but he approved the project and helped a lot with the organization. Antarctica requires special permits, which are very difficult to obtain with a private boat. The same goes for passage through the Northern Sea Route. Moreover, we had very difficult negotiations when returning through the border zone in the Pacific Ocean! During our three-year absence, many new regulations came out, and we unwittingly violated them. If it were not for the support of Artur Nikolaevich, the expedition could not have been successful. But, fortunately, everything worked out. We, one might say, proudly carried the flag of Russia, the Association of Polar Explorers, and the Russian Geographical Society across all countries and continents, through Covid.

This is how Arthur Nikolaevich passed through my life, from a boy, a graduate of Makarovka, as I once was, to the current experienced sea captain and organizer of the expedition. And all my life this man, whom I consider my teacher, remained an example for me.

Sergey Fokin,

Executive Director of the Center for Underwater Research of the Russian Geographical Society:

Arthur Nikolaevich was a decisive person; as a rule, he had a minimum of time between word and deed. This applied to both everyday issues and complex projects. The creation of the Center for Underwater Research of the Russian Geographical Society with his participation took only one year. Before this, he himself went on expeditions with our specialists, assessed the prospects, came up with a strategy and reached the highest level with it. That's why we consider Artur Chilingarov our founding father. He was alien to fussiness, running around and endless negotiations. Just by his will, huge mechanisms began to spin, entire departments came into motion and the desired result was obtained.

Despite all his seniority and experience, he never offered unsolicited advice, which is rare for an important boss. During the expedition, he simply observed what was happening. If they turned to him for help, he provided it immediately. But if people were properly minding their own business, he did not interfere. I never behaved like an intrusive tourist: “Show me this, take me there, take me on the next dive”...

In communication he was friendly, but never condescended to familiarity. He could say an apt phrase, give a vivid example, give advice, and they were always on point. He was always in the spotlight, and those who worked with him will have many grateful memories associated with Artur Nikolaevich.