page_title: Barentsburg Heliport, Heerodden
section_title: Facilities
hierarchical_section_title: Barentsburg Heliport, Heerodden / Facilities
caption_attribution_description: English: Heerodden north of Barentsburg. Russian heliport. Seen from Grönfjorden. Svalbard
context_page_description: Barentsburg Heliport, Heerodden is a private heliport located at Heerodden, serving the mining town of Barentsburg in Svalbard, Norway. The airport is owned and operated by Arktikugol, which also owns the company town. The airport features a 91-by-21-meter runway, two hangars and an administration building with a control tower. There are two Mil Mi-8 helicopters based at Heerodden, which are operated by Spark+. Flights are provided to Svalbard Airport, Longyear and Pyramiden Heliport.
  The heliport was built by Arktikugol in 1961 and the company originally flew two Mil Mi-4 helicopters. The airport received a major upgrade between 1975 and 1978, following the opening of Svalbard Airport, Longyear. This saw the number of operative aircraft increase to five and the arrival of the Mi-8, operated by Aeroflot. Operations were cut in the early 1990s, with only two aircraft remaining by 1993. There was a fatal crash at the airport in 2008, killing three of nine passengers.
context_section_description: The heliport is situated at Heerodden, a peninsula 3.5 kilometers (2.2 mi) north of the town of Barentsburg, at an elevation of 25 meters (82 ft) above mean sea level. The facility consists of an administration building, a control tower, two hangars and a radar. The airport has a single concrete runway, which is 90-by-21-meter (295 by 69 ft) and aligned east–west. It connects to the main apron via a 8-meter (26 ft) wide concrete taxiway. The largest apron area measures 96 by 32 meters (315 by 105 ft).
  The administration building has meeting rooms and a canteen in the first floor, teaching and technical rooms in the second, apartments in the third and the control tower in the fourth. The building has 800 square meters (8,600 sq ft) of residential and office space and 360 square meters (3,900 sq ft) of technical rooms. There are two hangars, the smaller being 700 square meters (7,500 sq ft), while the larger is 96 by 32 meters (315 by 105 ft) and 8 meters (26 ft) tall. This allows for the indoor parking of five Mi-8 helicopters. There is hangar capacity for maintenance of one such helicopter at a time.
  The airport is located in uncontrolled airspace. The tower is manned on days and times with flights. Due to the language barrier, there is no radio communication between the helicopters and heliport on the one side, and Svalbard Airport, Longyear on the other. Yet both airport and helicopters have radios to communicate at Longyearbyen's frequency. Information concerning flights is relayed by fax from the meteorological station at Barentsburg to Longyearbyen.
caption: A view of the heliport from the fjord
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