IN 2017, the Alaska Airmen’s Association and representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration reestablished the civil air route between Provideniya and Nome, which had existed since the first “friendship flight” in 1988
The fees to travel there were recently reduced, and a group flight was organized for the summer of 2019. After surmounting a number of hurdles, from logistics and paperwork to inclement weather, the trip across the International Date Line finally took place in July.
What does it take to fly from Nome to eastern Russia? And how has the experience of the journey changed — or remained the same — in the 31 years since that historic, first friendship flight?
The Yukon River is the longest river in Yukon & Alaska. The third longest river in North America, flowing northwest from the Coastal Range mountains of northern British Columbia, through the Yukon Territory and Alaska to the Bering Sea.
Big Diomead in Russia, Little Diomead in the US. The distance between them is 2.6 miles, time zone difference of 20 hours. Today it was Wednesday in Big Diomead and Tuesday in Little Diomead.
