European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 27, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday. February 27. 1990 the stars and stripes Page 9 Over Here air traffic soars in Arctic Norway array encounter creates by of for Remote Airfield b Ron  Suff writer Bardi i uss. Orwa despite us Locan 250 Miles in rth i i the Arctic Circle the  Airfield ism sleep. Link Landing strip. Private Pilu v a Lund us of commercial flights and the norwegian military keep it hopping with up to 150 daily  to use the vernacular air traffic controllers but when the lied come Europe Mobile Force brings its multinational nato exercise to the Region As n Lias done this month with array encounter ii the amount of traffic rises like the peaks of the mountains sur rounding the Field we Are now Tun Ning around it i movements a a from the c"-5 Carf Jot Down to the tiniest helicopter Peter Norvik. Senior air trat infield. Said during the Early vna1. Encounter. Mis i it around the Airfield. Sci tilling the air with the blasting vibrations Oft i .r.ilic.l-uniits. Helicopters Croud the Blue sky like bees he Irp around a hive. Huge cargo  Ilion off thousands of troops and hundreds of pie i s of military equipment. The usual five commercial flights into the Airfield each Day Are so acc cd in around this military traffic. The vast increase of traffic is a big  Norvik said this situation demands an increase of  normally the Airfield Tower is staffed by 10 air traffic controllers us seen assistants. During this exorcise we Are up to 15 air traffic controllers and in  Norvik said. When we need them we tall for  the exercise whih ends wednesday is planned by Nnnie Fie controller at i deployment Pki--.1 the Roar is Luaiki fighters come Ami during array , Airfield activity at Bardu Foss. Norway rises like the Mountain behind it. The Mobile Force months earlier Wilh the Airfield staff fully involved. We Are inside the planning from the first Day Norvik said. We arc working  not far from the control Tower is the Headquarters of the International Airlift control element the coordinating Arm of the exercise. It is in charge of getting All of the troops and equipment to the exer Cise on time. That begins with a movement planning conference six to 10 months prior to the exercise said it. Col. Hartmut Busse. Sis Gui Selx Ltd extra controllers Man the Bardu Foss Airfield Tower during Busy Manu Esera such As array encounter "90. During these conferences we will discuss with All the participating nations the details of the air and sur face  Busse said once we have fixed our operations plan the movements Are Laid Down and should not be changed. That is the  often some changes must be made mostly be cause of the distance some nights must go to reach the exercise. Rights to this Airfield originate As far away As Canada and Italy. The plan is Given to the controllers at Bardu Foss ahead of the exercise so they know what to expect. And there Are daily updates every morning we have a briefing with  Norvik said. When the aircraft arc in the air and headed to the the vast increase of traffic is a big headache. This situation demands an increase of Man  Peter Norvik Field they Are in the hands of those controllers. Only when they get on the ground do they get under the auspices of the Airlift control Clement said group Cape. Cyril Adcock. The British officer in command of the element. Norvik said the increase although a Burden is easy for the Airfield to handle. The norwegian Mili tary is always stationed in the area and accounts for most of the Field s annual traffic. There Are frequent smaller exercises which also cause temporary in creases in the Field s traffic he said. It s a big Job. But we handle  Norvik said. The Bardu Foss Airfield was begun in 1938 As a Mere grass strip. In 1940. When the German army occupied Norway an 1.800-meter Concrete runway was built and used for missions against the British Navy off the norwegian coast Norvik said. In 1953, the runway was extended to its existing length of 3,000 meters Long enough to handle the surprising number of aircraft that Fly in and out. We have around 50.000 movements a year. Compared to o Hare in Chicago and Juk in new Yorkie is like this said Narvik holding his Fin Gers an Inch apart. But it s quite a