Navigating at the poles
When flying into airports, pilots will
typically have navigation aids, but in
austere conditions — especially in the
polar regions — there is no electricity
supply to support such aids. Over the ice
shelf the radar has near-zero return, so
the first sign of the skiway location that
will appear on the C-130’s AN/APN-241
radar is usually the base camp. As the
aircraft gets closer the radar will pick
up the flags set up in a specific way to
indicate the runway direction, which
will appear like a Christmas tree on
the radar.
Bamboo poles hold up the flags. The
mesh attached to them gives some
reflective capability that can be picked
up by the radar. It’s up to the navigator
to carry out an ARA to get the aircraft
down to a height where a gentle 1.3°
glide slope (compared to a standard
3-4°) can be flown.Because of the convergence of all the
longitude lines in the Arctic Circle and
Antarctica, navigation provides some
unique challenges.
Maj Emery Jankord, chief of navigation
training and deployment commander
for the rotation Combat Aircraft visited,
outlined how the unit gets around these
problems. ‘Because of the convergence
of all the longitude lines we use a grid
reference system. It’s 60 by 60 nautical
mile squares where we overlay the
poles. We use that to keep up with
navigation rather than the aircraft
systems, because of the convergence
and the magnetic variation changes at
the poles.
‘We have to be specially qualified in
grid procedure in addition to standard
navigation training. Additionally, we
are the only unit to fly with celestial
navigation; the aircraft is fitted with a
sextant port.’Above: Pilot
Lt Col William
Carraher and
co-pilot 1st Lt
Andrea Jensen
at the controls in
the rather dated
LC-130H cockpit.
Right: A
navigation
chart showing
the routings
in and out of
Kangerlussuaq.UNIT REPORT | 109TH AIRLIFT WING
http://www.combataircraft.net January 201864
60-69 Ski Herks C.indd 64 23/11/2017 11:50