Had Been Cut Off Since Mid January When Aircraft Needed Maintenance

Helicopter flights to a remote native village on Little Diomede Island in Alaska were set to resume Saturday after nearly a month without service.

Erickson Helicopter has a contract to fly people and supplies to the village, which is on an island about 650 miles from Anchorage, Alaska but only about three miles from Big Diomede Island ... which belongs to Russia. Erickson's primary aircraft which normally makes two trips a week to the island was grounded in mid-January when extensive maintenance issues were discovered with the aircraft, and the backup helicopter assigned to the contract was also grounded.

Company spokeswoman Susie Elliot told the Associated Press that the primary aircraft has been repaired, and was positioned Friday in Nome, about 135 miles from the island. She also said a third helicopter was being added to the contract "so that we won't have this issue again."

Diomede city administrator Karen Kazingnuk told the AP that there has been plenty of food available for the village's school, but milk is in very short supply and many store shelves are empty because of the interruption in service. In addition, about 20 people who had attended a funeral were stranded on the island when the service was stopped. In a village with only 100 residents, school principal Pam Potter said that put a significant drain on local resources.

An unseasonably windy and mild winter has reportedly prevented the formation of sea ice that normally allows the construction of an ice runway for fixed-wing aircraft on the ocean.

(US Coast Guard photo)

FMI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Diomede_Island