Of ice legends, polar heroes and planes
The Basler DC-3, slow, low, unpressurized, and effective. Photo courtesy ABC
There have seen some superb insights into life in Antarctica, and into the lives of the polar heroes of the past, in a series of reports by ABC journalist Karen Barlow, accompanying the party that celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Douglas Mawson lead expedition to the seventh continent.
Among them there have also been glimpses of aviation in Antarctica.
These include the helicopter transfers from the ice breaker Aurora Australis to the site of Mawson’s huts at Commonwealth Bay, the transfer to the French base at Dumont d’Urville, and from there to McMurdo Sound by the Basler turbo-prop and ski-equipped version of the Douglas DC-3, shown at the top of this post, as well as below.
Inside the Basler DC-3, a photo on Karen Barlow's ABC blog
As well as the Basler photos there was an image of the Pegasus ice runway at McMurdo, which has in the earliest episodes of its illustrious history, been visited by Lockheed Constellations and Boeing Stratoclippers as well as in modern times by jets as large as Boeing 757s, C-17s, Ilyushin Il-76s and quite regularly the Australian Antarctic Division’s Airbus A319LR, even when the sun was barely up, and the area was in the grip of the southern polar winter.
The A319 has proven a superb addition to the multi-national air lift that serves McMurdo, although much of that is provided by an aged fleet of US ski-equipped C-130s via Christchurch, that fly beyond it to the South Pole, and its newly rebuilt Amundsen-Scott base, named after the south polar rivals Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott.
The smallish Airbus is shown in this photo below.
The Australian Antarctic jet, at McMurdo, where it can fly full, photo courtesy ABC
This season has been a bad one for logistical reasons for the Wilkins blue ice runway some 70 kilometres from the Australian base at Casey which was intended to be the prime focus of the jet, where it is the only aircraft not allowed to refuel, meaning it cannot use its maximum load capacity the way it does at the much more distant McMurdo strips.
Pressure is building for higher capacity air access to the vast region of Antarctica for which the Wilkins location is of particular relevance. Air transport will grow in that major part of Australia’s Antarctic Territory, with us, or without us.
It is nearly 33 polar days since the writer flew to the South Pole on a trip which also explored possible sites for an Australia-Casey air link, which included a return flight from McMurdo to nearby Lanyon Junction in a US C-130.
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I don’t think those are the standard engines.
by Merve on Jan 22, 2012 at 9:48 pm
How do they do ATC in Antarctica? Is it done from NZ or is there someone local?
by Andrew on Jan 23, 2012 at 11:47 pm
Once the oceanic airspace approaches to the continent reach their boundaries overall control is exercised, or more correctly, coordinated, by the Scientific Research Corporation (SRC) in the US, and the Melbourne centre in our air traffic control system.
Here is an extract from the SRC web site:
QUOTE SRC has deployed Aviation Forecasters, Weather Observers, Aviation Electronics Technicians and Air Traffic Controllers yearly. This comprises a team of about 50 people, 16 of which are Air Traffic Controllers. These controllers start the preparations for Antarctic deployment in March each year. These preparations include, but are not limited to, the writing of ATC operations and training manuals and the ongoing recruitment process for the 10 seasonal controllers required for deployment. Additionally, coordination with all other agencies within the United States Antarctic Program and Foreign Governments is completed to ensure that their needs are being met.
McMurdo Air Route Traffic Control Center (Mac Center) is responsible for providing Non Radar Air Traffic Control services to all aircraft operating in an area roughly the size of the United States. This control is accomplished either with time or altitude. Some of the users are: U.S. Air Force C-17′s, U.S. ANG LC-130′s, Royal New Zealand Air Force C-130′s, South African Air L-100′s, Qantas Air Lines B-747′s, and Air New Zealand B- 747′s. Flights between New Zealand and Antarctica are coordinated through Auckland Center. Flights between Australia and South Africa and Australia and Antarctica are coordinated with Melbourne Center. The center also provides approach control services to all aircraft within 100NM of McMurdo. Aircraft are issued descent instructions, Instrument procedures to be flown to the airport, and the type of approach to be flown to the runway. UNQUOTE
I know that pilots talk to ground staff at their intended point of landing if there is in fact anyone to talk to. Most landing are made with ski equipped aircraft in the field, and the intended site is first over flown to check out the visible crevasses to both avoid and deduce the probability of others being nearby but snow covered and if necessary trace a path using contact with the skiis, a rather delicate operation, as a visual guide for the full weight touchdown that follows.
The busiest graded ice or pressed earth/rock runways include those at McMurdo, the Union glacier and various Argentine and Russian stations. Despite its logistic potential, the Wilkins Runway is little used at this stage.
by Ben Sandilands on Jan 24, 2012 at 6:28 am