Czechs aviators reach North Pole

Two Czech aviators reached the North Pole on Saturday in the historic aircraft Aero L-200 Morava. After taking off from the Longyearbyen airstrip on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, pilots Petr Bold and Richard Samus reached the North Pole at 1905 CET; during a two-minute flyover they crossed all meridians and then landed at the Russian artic base of Barneo, some 100 km away from the Pole, where they refuelled. Petr Bold said the conditions were extremely rough with strong winds and the temperature of minus 25 degrees Celsius which forced them to refuel with the engines running. The L-200 Morava was developed in Czechoslovakia in the 1950s as an light all-purpose airplane; until the end of production in 1964, more than 360 aircraft were produced.