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« This Week in Aviation History
Week of December 10th
December 12, 1951. It was this week in history when Alaska Air became the first commercial airline to fly over the North Pole. Establishing a route across the top of the world opened up connections between Alaska, Europe, and Asia like never before. In air travel the North Pole had become the final frontier. Alaska Air even likened their achievement to construction of the Panama Canal. The airline flew a Douglas DC-4 from Fairbanks, Alaska across the Earth’s axis point, managing along the way to parachute down a barber pole and bag of letters from local children addressed to Santa Claus. To this day the North Pole air route has invaluable attributes for commercial air. In 2000 a feasibility study concluded that trans-polar commercial air routes would save airlines on both time and cost of fuel. The arctic route had been a difficult one for airlines to pin their hopes on. The Cold War and political upheaval made planning difficult, although Canada, China, Mongolia, Russia, and the U.S. eventually would agree to test flights. Then there are practical worries: compasses are useless, as well as satellite positioning systems used on board any oceanic flight. Still, the industry anticipates commercial flights over the North Pole as firmly established in the 21st century. This Week in Aviation History 12/10/07
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