Science vs. Politics

On it’s way into the country on Friday, Geophysica was mistaken as a Russian state aircraft by the Swedish Defense Ministry with ‘no obvious motivation’. The flight permissions for the Swedish airspace were withdrawn. Quick note: Geophysica has already been here in Kiruna for campaigns several times and did more than 30 research flights since 2003. The purpose of the campaign and the flight has been communicated to the authorities again. Still, the Swedish Defense Ministry insists: Geophysica has to leave the country by tomorrow morning 8 a.m..

…TO BE CONTINUED…

On the picture you see the instrument AMICA that I work on, carried by a crane to the top of the plane, to test all mountings and connections.