US citizen flown out of Antarctica in daring mid-winter rescue mission
By Diego Mendoza, CNN
(CNN) — A US expeditioner in Antarctica was rescued last month in a daring mid-winter medical evacuation by an Australian aviation team in the middle of crippling temperatures and near pitch-black conditions.
The “extraordinary” mission kicked off on July 28, when the Australian Antarctic Division made an “urgent request for assistance” for a medical evacuation from the US McMurdo Antarctic research station, according to Skytraders, the Australian airline specializing in flights to the vast, frozen continent.
After an initial attempt on July 29 was delayed by severe weather, Skytraders’ Airbus A319 — named Snowbird 1 — departed Australia on July 31 at 2:44 am local time, and reached McMurdo station more than five hours later, the airline said, landing in “extremely challenging conditions” including complete darkness and temperatures dipping to –45.5 F (-43 C).
After safely transferring the American patient onto the plane, the mission departed Antarctica “ahead of deteriorating conditions,” Skytraders said, and then flew to Christchurch, New Zealand, where the patient was treated.
No details about the patient have been provided, and Health New Zealand would not disclose information without family approval. Skytraders declined to comment on the patient, saying only that they are now “recovering well.”
The US Antarctic Program did not immediately reply to CNN’s request for details.
“Every Antarctic mission demands absolute precision, but winter operations raise the complexity significantly,” Captain Al Wallach, the main pilot on the flight, said in a statement. “The conditions we encountered were right on the edge of even the most specialized aircraft capability.”
Louise Robertson, the co-pilot of the successful mission, told CNN that even during the summer months, missions to Antarctica are no easy feat.
“Most of the runways are just compacted snow, which means that there’s groomers that come out and prepare the runway to make sure it’s got enough friction for the aircraft to be able to stop, and then also that the surface is smooth and clear,” Robertson said.
During the flight, crews are in constant communication with meteorological teams across the globe to track unpredictable weather patterns.
That preparation only intensifies during rare and daring winter flights, and the pressure was compounded due to quick turnaround times required for the medical emergency, she added.
The crew reviewed some worst-case scenarios prior to the mission, such as a power outage at the air strip requiring them to land with zero visibility, and carrying extra fuel in case they couldn’t land and needed to return to Australia.
“It was a huge amount of concentration and workload, and a lot of mental maths as well, doing cold weather calculations, correcting for the altitude on the approach, and then communication between the flight crew on board,” Robertson said.
“Once we started to get closer to New Zealand, then that’s when the real relief really kicked in, and we were able to relax a bit and feel more comfortable.”
Robertson praised the “team effort” and said that the mission would not have been possible without clear and coordinated communications between several international teams.
CNN’s Hilary Whiteman contributed to this report.
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