An Australian aviation crew has carried out a daring midwinter mission to rescue a US expedition member from a station in Antarctica in freezing temperatures and total darkness. Skytraders said the "extraordinary" mission took place last Friday after a request for urgent help with a medical evacuation from McMurdo Station.
After an initial delay due to the weather, the aviation company said it was able to land its Airbus A319 in "extremely challenging conditions" including temperatures of -43C (-45.4F). The patient was then safely transferred onto the plane, known as Snowbird 1, which carried on to Christchurch in New Zealand, where the patient was treated. He is now recovering well.
How was the mission carried out?
Captain Louise Robertson, one of four pilots on the flight which took off from the Tasmanian city of Hobart, told the BBC it was the first ever to have taken place in July and to be completed in total darkness.
"We completed it on the 31 July, and the first day of any sort of sunlight, which was very minimal, would be on the 1 August," she said.
Her husband of 18 years, Rod Robertson, was the pilot who landed the plane at the US research station on Ross Island.
"He was in the left seat and I was in the right seat," she said, adding that it was the most complex operation she had ever been involved in during her seven years at Skytraders and 25 as a pilot.
Skytraders had received the evacuation request from the US Antarctic Program via the Australian Antarctic Division on Wednesday afternoon, Robertson said.
What made the landing so difficult?
The Skytraders plane landed in Antarctica in total darkness and a temperature of -43°C. It was a "major operation" for the plane to be correctly configured in time by engineers and a design team, who fitted a stretcher in the back.
The configuration took 24 hours, Robertson said, but takeoff was then delayed for another 12 hours while the crew waited for a suitable window in the weather.
"We had quite a narrow time frame that we could actually fly down to Antarctica because there was a snowstorm on the first day that we were intending to go down which stopped the operation."
The storm prevented crew at the station from getting to the runway, made of compacted snow, which had to be graded and groomed to make it smooth, a six-hour job.
The plane eventually took off from Hobart in the early hours of Friday morning.
"The ground crew "did a phenomenal job to make a 3-km-long runway available for us given the conditions they were also facing, -45C and strong wind," Robertson said.
The flight crew spent exactly one hour on the ground at Phoenix Airfield before taking off again for Christchurch.
Who else was involved in the operation?
Another pilot on the mission, Captain Al Wallach, said the success reflected the specialist expertise of the team, which included the flight crews, meteorologists, operational planners, runway teams and medical personnel.
"Every Antarctic mission demands absolute precision, but winter operations raise the complexity significantly," he said "The conditions we encountered were right on the edge of even the most specialised aircraft capability."
Skytraders carried out a similar mission in March 2020, when the US requested help evacuating a member of the US Antarctic Program also based in McMurdo, although temperatures were slightly warmer at -30°C.
Key Facts
- The rescue took place last Friday after an urgent medical evacuation request from McMurdo Station.
- Skytraders landed an Airbus A319, known as Snowbird 1, in -43C conditions and total darkness.
- The mission took off from Hobart, reached Phoenix Airfield, and continued to Christchurch, New Zealand.
- Captain Louise Robertson said it was the first ever mission completed in July and in total darkness.
- Skytraders also carried out a similar evacuation in March 2020.
