He was born in Kristiansand, in Vest-Agder, Norway in 1895. He graduated from the Norwegian Naval Flight School (Marinens Flygeskole) in Horten in 1919 and was promoted to lieutenant in 1922. In 1923 with Roald Amundsen he tried to fly from Wainwright, Alaska to Spitsbergen across the North Pole. Amundsen and Omdal's aircraft was damaged and they abandoned the journey.