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A Russian helicopter pilot on a solo trip around the world was rescued on Monday morning after spending more than 30 hours alone on an ice floe after ditching his Robinson R22 helicopter about midway between Iqualuit and Greenland, in the Davis Strait. “It’s wet. It’s cold. He has some polar bear neighbors who are very interested in his whereabouts. He has quite a survival story,” said Rear Admiral John Newton, of the Canadian Navy, who spoke to the press about the rescue. Newton said Sergey Ananov, age 49, had a life raft and a survival suit. “It was a very small target [for searchers],” Newton said. Rescuers were alerted when an on-board beacon indicated that the aircraft had descended to sea level and stopped moving, but then had to search for Ananov at sea amid clouds and fog.
Ananov used flares to signal his rescuers, and was down to his last one when it was spotted by a Canadian Coast Guard ship. Speaking by satphone from the Coast Guard ship, Ananov told CBC News he had a mechanical problem. “The belt that transfers the power from the engine to the gear was brokenand the machine lost its power,” Ananov said. “There are two valves, so one of them broke, and with one valve remainingthe machine cannot fly horizontally.” The R22 began to spin out of control, and he went “down, down, down.” He tried to land on the ice floe, but lost control and crashed into the Strait. Taking along his life raft and supplies, he swam to the ice floe and put on his survival suit. Ananov had started the trip from Moscow on June 13, and already had crossed North America.
