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Planes fly from Canada to Antarctica for dramatic South Pole rescue Planes land in Antarctica for dramatic south pole rescue after risky flight
(about 13 hours later)
An audacious operation is under way to rescue a worker from a research center at the South Pole who is in urgent need of medical care, via an airlift which has only been achieved twice in the history of the polar base. A plane has landed at the south pole following a freezing and risky 1,500-mile midwinter flight to evacuate a worker who needs urgent medical treatment from a research centre.
The operation has required two Twin Otter aircraft – the only planes in the world capable of flying in the sub-zero temperatures of the polar midwinter – to be flown all the way from Canada for the rescue attempt. The Twin Otter aircraft – the only type of plane in the world capable of flying in the -60C temperatures of the polar midwinter – has landed at the US science station after a nine-hour flight from the British Rothera base on the Antarctic peninsula.
The planes, which are operated by the Canadian airline Kenn Borek, left Calgary, Canada, on 14 June and arrived at the more accessible British Antarctic Station at Rothera, on the Antarctic peninsula near the southernmost tip of South America. The plane’s three-strong crew and a medical team member will rest at least 10 hours before, if the weather conditions are sufficiently calm, they fly the sick worker back to Rothera, which is operated by the British Antarctic Survey.
The National Science Foundation (NSF), which runs the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, decided last week to mount the rescue mission because a staff member required urgent medical attention that could not be provided on the base.
They will then be flown on to South America for treatment. The patient’s identity and the nature of the medical emergency has not been made public. The NSF has said that the patient, a man, is an employee of Lockheed Martin, which organises logistics at the base.
“It went all according to plan,” said Peter West, a spokesman for the NSF. West told Associated Press that a second worker is also ill, but officials have yet to decide whether they will also be flown out
This will be only the third midwinter emergency evacuation from the station. Workers there are otherwise isolated from February to October, when the cold and dark makes routine flights too perilous.
Weather readings showed the temperature at the South Pole station on Tuesday was -60C. According to West, the Twin Otter can operate in conditions as cold as -75C. Before it takes off, the fuel, batteries and hydraulics need to be warmed.
Two Twin Otters – the second an emergency rescue back-up – are operated by the Canadian airline Kenn Borek and left Calgary, Canada, on 14 June.
Related: Winter solstice: brave souls mark southern hemisphere's darkest day with icy dipRelated: Winter solstice: brave souls mark southern hemisphere's darkest day with icy dip
From there, one of the planes set out early on Tuesday to begin the 10-hour, 1,500-mile journey to Polar Base. The other is staying at Rothera in case it is needed for search and rescue. After arriving at the Rothera base, one of the planes set out early on Tuesday to begin the 10-hour, 1,500-mile journey to the polar station. The other is staying at Rothera in case it is needed for search and rescue.
The National Science Foundation, which runs the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, decided last week to mount the rescue mission because a staff member required urgent medical attention that could not be provided on the base. The rescue flight is fraught with perils. “[Antarctica] is a landmass the size of the US and Mexico combined, so there is a distance issue,” West said. “And it’s cold – it is literally midwinter today. It’s very cold.”
For privacy reasons the patient’s identity – as well as the nature of the medical emergency – has not been made public, though Peter West, the NSF’s Polar outreach program manager said that he was an employee of Lockheed Martin. West said that the patient would be taken to South America for treatment. This kind of midwinter rescue has been attempted only twice before; once in 2001 – when the base’s only physician came down with a potentially fatal case of pancreatitis – and once in 2003. Both airlifts were successful.
It is a formidable undertaking. In 1999, the station’s doctor, Jerri Nielsen, who had breast cancer and had been treating herself, was also flown out. However, this happened in the Antarctic spring, when conditions are slightly better.
Between late February and mid- to late October, the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station is usually cut off from the outside world by darkness and freezing conditions, according to West. The polar base is currently home to 39 men and nine women, engaged in various scientific and station maintenance endeavours, including long-term atmospheric CO2 monitoring.
“[Antarctica] is a landmass the size of the US and Mexico combined, so there is a distance issue,” West said. “And it’s cold – it is literally midwinter today. It’s very cold.”
The average temperature around the base is -60C; but it can fluctuate higher, or even lower than that, which means a rescue mission can be dangerous if the weather turns bad – the lowest temperature the Twin Otter aircraft are rated to fly at is -65C.
On top of that, the Pole at midwinter is in a state of permanent darkness.
This kind of midwinter rescue from Polar Base has been attempted only twice before; once in 2001 – when the base’s only physician came down with a potentially fatal case of pancreatitis – and once in 2003. Both airlifts were successful.
The Polar Base is currently home to 39 men and nine women, engaged in various scientific and station maintenance endeavours, including long-term atmospheric CO2 monitoring.
It has two radio-telescopes which, according to the NSF, use cosmic microwave background radiation to investigate the early history of the universe, looking into dark energy and dark matter, and is home to the Ice Cube Neutrino Observatory, which observes the behaviour of subatomic particles produced by black holes.It has two radio-telescopes which, according to the NSF, use cosmic microwave background radiation to investigate the early history of the universe, looking into dark energy and dark matter, and is home to the Ice Cube Neutrino Observatory, which observes the behaviour of subatomic particles produced by black holes.