Australian aviation crew carries out daring midwinter Antarctica rescue
Team evacuated a patient from McMurdo Station after landing plane in total darkness and temperature of -43°C.
An Australian aviation team successfully completed a daring midwinter rescue mission in Antarctica, evacuating a US expedition member from McMurdo Station amidst total darkness and frigid temperatures.
Skytraders, the company behind the "extraordinary" operation, reported that the mission took place last Friday following an urgent medical evacuation request. Despite an initial weather-related delay, their Airbus A319, dubbed Snowbird 1, managed to land in "extremely challenging conditions," with temperatures plummeting to -43°C (-45.4°F).
The patient was safely transferred onto the aircraft and flown to Christchurch, New Zealand, for treatment. The individual is now reportedly recovering well.
Duncan Mackay, Skytraders' deputy chief executive, informed The Australian newspaper that the plane underwent a complete refit into a specialized medevac configuration within 24 hours of receiving the call. However, takeoff was subsequently delayed for 12 hours as the crew awaited a suitable weather window.
The plane ultimately departed from Hobart, Tasmania, in the early hours of Friday morning, before touching down at the US research station on Ross Island. No specific details regarding the patient or their condition were released, beyond the update on their recovery.
Mackay stated that his company believes this mission marks the closest a civilian airliner has operated to the winter solstice (June 21). "Skytraders has conducted winter medevacs previously, but never this close to the winter solstice," he told the paper, emphasizing that "an enormous amount of experience and familiarity with the conditions" was essential for safely landing an airliner on an ice runway in complete darkness at -43°C.
Pilot Captain Al Wallach commented that the successful mission was a testament to the specialized expertise of the entire team, which included 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, adding that "The conditions we encountered were right on the edge of even the most specialised aircraft capability."
Skytraders previously conducted a similar evacuation in March 2020, when the US requested assistance for a member of the US Antarctic Program also based at McMurdo, though temperatures were slightly milder at -30°C during that operation.