Aviation Specials – May 2018

22 // Extreme Airports

M

cMurdo Station on the tip of

Ross Island is about 2,400 miles

(3,800km) south of Christchurch,

New Zealand – fi ve hours in a jet or more

than seven hours in a turboprop. It is a

logistics centre housing the labs from

which the United States Antarctic Program

which conducts research across the

southern polar region under the auspices

of the National Science Foundation.

The base is the largest community on

the continent, but is two hours’ fl ying

time (or 850 miles [1,360km]) from the

South Pole. In the peak of summer when

it’s light all day, it can have as many as

1,200 temporary residents; in the winter

months, when round-the-clock darkness

prevails, the total drops to fewer than 200.

It can be a desolate place. The mean

temperature is -18°C (0°F), while in

summer it can reach a lofty 8°C (46°F); but

in winter it can plummet to -50°C (-58°F).

The average wind speed is 12kts, but it

can exceed 100kts – when even moving

between the 100 or so buildings can be a

challenge in the harshest conditions.

Most of the heavy equipment and more

than 6m gallons (40m litres) of fuel oil

needed to maintain operations in such a

climate arrive by sea during the warmer

months when the sea ice recedes.

But each year between late September

and early March, Operation Deep Freeze

swings into action when the US Air Force

operates support missions to the base

from Christchurch International Airport

in New Zealand. So, in addition to the

accoutrements of a modern science

station, McMurdo also boasts three

airfi elds – two of which are seasonal –

and a heliport.

During the fl ying season, ski-equipped

Lockheed LC-130 Hercules of the 109th

Airlift Wing of the New York Air National

Guard form the mainstay of the airbridge

across the Southern Ocean. The fi rst

Hercules to visit the base landed in early

1960, and carried a 14,000lb (6,350kg)

load to the South Pole on January 28.

Newer versions of these venerable

turboprops still provide airlift deeper into

the continent, where they operate from

runways formed of compacted snow.

As well as acting as a hub for military

fl ying on Antarctica, McMurdo serves as a

bridgehead for limited civilian operations.

The fi rst commercial fl ight to land in

the area was fl own by a Pan American

World Airways Boeing 377 Stratocruiser,

which touched down on Antarctica

on October 15, 1957. Eleven years later

Modern Air became the fi rst airline to fl y

a jetliner onto the ice runway with paying

customers on board. Convair 990 N5615

was used for the 25-day Polar Byrd I

charter that visited all seven continents

in November and December 1968.

Close to the bo om of the world there is an airfi eld complex with two skiways,

two temporary runways built on sea ice and another permanent airstrip made

of compacted snow. Andy Martin examines the infrastructure needed to enable

Hercules and Globemasters to land near the South Pole.

DANCING

ON ICEON ICE

ANTARTICA

ABOVE: Mount

Erebus dominates

the scene as

Lockheed LC-130s

fl own by the US Air

Force are prepared

for departure to

remote strips

across Antarctica.

(NSF Josh Landis

• United States
  Antarctic Program
  Antarctic Photo
  Library)

RIGHT: One of the

fi rst large aircra

to land on the ice

was a US Air Force

Douglas C-134

Globemaster II.

(Jim Waldron

icecores.org)

22-26_McMurdo.indd 22 11/05/2018 14:06