By Roaring and Chasing Them.

Enough people have circumnavigated the globe in helicopters by now that another such trip, absent more, doesn’t make the news. Which is probably why I hadn’t heard of Sergey Ananov and his own solo circumnavigation attempt until his Robinson R22 ditched in Arctic waters last week, aborting his trip and, as it turns out, stranding him on an ice floe for over 30 hours.

One of the belts that transmits engine power to the rotor system apparently gave out, forcing Ananov to autorotate into the near-freezing sea. Judging by his interview, he stayed calm enough to grab his life raft before the helicopter sank just a few seconds after splashdown. Ananov swam to the ice floe, where he survived in the fog for almost two days. As CTV News reports:

“Once there, he fended off three polar bears by roaring and chasing them.”

This, team, is a pretty bad dude.

The search was on, since his satellite tracking had gone dark, last indicating zero airspeed and altitude. But he was ultimately picked up by a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker when the fog cleared, and they spotted the tail end of his very last flare.

A GoFundMe page was quickly set up to get Ananov to a consulate. Apparently he’s all squared away now in that regard. A slight extra hassle, but given the choice of grabbing his passport or his life raft, I’d say he did it right.

Lessons for the He-Dog Run? Well, I’m certainly not safe from this type of problem: My route (and really any helicopter circumnavigation) necessarily uses short legs, land-hopping across the Arctic twice (Canada through Greenland to northern Scotland, and Russia back to Alaska). All the circumnavigations I’ve looked at have included the portion where Ananov ditched.

I’ve already written on Death and He-Dogs, but in the meantime it’s encouraging that all those survival items really can work — when mixed, of course, with the wherewithal to MENACE THREE BEARS INTO SUBMISSION WITH YOUR VOICE and healthy dollop of luck. Oh, and check out this little gem from the CBC report: “On June 25, Nav Canada issued a notice to aviators that no aviation fuel was available at the Iqaluit airport until approximately the end of July. Ananov refuelled his helicopter on Friday, but it isn’t clear with what.”

Mr. Ananov, you are a He-Dog.

Carry on.