// DIGITAL BONUS Greenland Sea’s West Ice Operations INTO THE Airlift helicopter pilot Tom Andreas Østrem tells us about a special operation he was part of earlier this year, which took him to the West Ice in the Greenland Sea. BY TOM ANDREAS ØSTREM 76 VERTICAL magazine Variation is a big part of any utility pilot’s everyday routine. However, once in a while a mission comes along that provides a completely different experience to any you’ve had before. I was fortunate enough to be slated for one such assignment earlier this year, when I flew researchers conducting seal counts in the Arctic. The expedition was run by the Institute of Marine Research (IMR), based in Norway. They count seals about every five years to track the general population from a sustainability aspect. Using an Airbus AS350 operated by Airlift, the company I work for, our mission would be to fly reconnaissance flights in the West Ice in the Greenland Sea to locate patches of baby harp and hooded seals. Once we’d located the patch or patches, we’d set GPS bea- cons for aerial fixed-wing assets to take photos that would enable later counting of the pups. The third objective would be to fly stag- ing flights to determine the age of the pups in the patch. So: find the seals, mark the area, then staging.