Aviation Specials – May 2018

A trip to Antarctica

A typical fl ight starts in Christchurch and

will initially overfl y New Zealand’s South

Island. Delays of up to a week are not

unheard of, as a departure can only take

place when the weather forecast for

McMurdo is good.

For this leg of the journey, passengers

don’t get to travel in the style they might

be accustomed to – canvas benches

arranged along the side of the hold of an

LC-130 or a C-17 are the typical means of

accommodating scientists who need to

reach the South Pole. An hour into the

trip, the rolling greenery is replaced by

the cold and frequently stormy waters

of the Southern Ocean. For the next

four hours there’s nothing for the crew

or passengers to see but blue sky and

blue sea. The point of no return comes

about halfway. If there’s any doubt, the

aircraft returns to Christchurch rather

than chancing an arrival on Antarctica in

marginal conditions. Once past this point

there is no choice but to land at McMurdo,

whatever the weather.

The blue water continues as far as the eye

can see, but during the fi nal hour the fl ight

passes over the vast Antarctic icefi elds

where there are no airfi elds on which to

make emergency landings and no ground

stations for the crew to talk to on the radio.

Just fi nding the runways in marginal

weather can be challenging, as the

only landing aid available is a TACAN

navigation beacon. The Constellation

which crashed in 1970 was on its second

approach in blizzard conditions when it

hit a snow bank – on leaving Christchurch,

the forecast for McMurdo had been fi ne.

If the weather is bad, the alternates

are the skiways sca ered across the

continent – which are viable propositions

in a ski-equipped Hercules, but not in a

jet. Several square miles of the Ross Sea

have also been mapped out – having been

found to be free of crevasses and relatively

smooth – and can be used for a landing in

white-out conditions.

If this area has to be used, pilots must

make a steady descent towards the

surface at around 200ft/min, relying

on the radar altimeter to make a gentle

fl are just above the surface and hoping

the rollout is fairly smooth. It tends to be

practised, rather than performed in anger.

In 1997, two LC-130s had to make just

such landings within ten minutes of each

other. They sustained no damage but the

crew and passengers had to wait until the

storm abated and rescue vehicles could

pick them up.

Since then, GPS systems have made

locating the landing site easier. Even so, if

an aircraft makes a landing on the icefi eld

travellers may have to remain on the

aircraft for several hours while vehicles

reach them, which means everyone who

travels to McMurdo has to carry cold

weather gear with them.

Ge ing to Antarctica is never easy –

indeed, some would suggest its harsh

weather conditions and the state of

its airfi elds are not really suitable for

commercial aviation. Much of the fl ying

will continue to be provided by the

military, as the only civilian fl ights that are

tolerated carry scientists.

There is, however, always going to be

a need to get personnel and equipment

to the continent for research and

exploration. So, every year the ice and

snow runways are cleared to welcome the

LC-130s, C-17s, BT-67s and Twin O ers that

bear the brunt of an amazing airlift during

the short southern summer.

ANTARTICA

26 // Extreme Airports

ABOVE: NASA

Lockheed P-3B

Orion N426NA

landed on the

ice runway on

November 16, 2013.

(NASA / Justin

Miller, Indiana

University)

Basler BT-67s fl y

to airstrips across

the continent.

(Wikimedia

Commons /

Eli Duke and

Wikimedia

Commons /

Timothy Smith-

Tas50)

ANTARCTIC RUNWAYS

Blue ice

An airstrip kept free of snow accumula-

tion. As there are very few air bubbles

in the structure, it’s strong enough

to support wheeled aircraft. The low

coeffi cient of friction of the surface

necessitates reverse thrust – rather than

braking – to be used to slow down, and

the strips are often several miles long.

White ice

A blue ice airstrip with a top surface

covering of compacted snow.

Skiway

An airstrip made from pulverised, com-

pacted snow that’s typically capable of

supporting only ski-equipped aircraft.

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