Living and working in the cold - Antarctica: Global Science from a Frozen Continent - page 240

Box 8.2 Antarctic aircraft

Arriving in Antarctica by air rather than by ship is increasingly common as operators try
to make the most use of the short summer season. All the intercontinental aircraft other than
Hercules are wheels only and so have to land on gravel, sea ice, compacted snow or blue ice
runways. At present there are only three gravel runways at Rothera, Marsh and Marrambio.
Once in Antarctica, getting to a deep field camp may require air transport by helicopter or

fixed wing aircraft and these can only operate during the summer. Helicopters are often
used from supply ships but at McMurdo/Scott Base and at Mario Zucchelli commercial
helicopter companies provide summer facilities. There is a very limited range of fixed wing

aircraft certi tted

Twin Otters or the Basler DC-3. Typically, aircraft are ferried down at the beginning of the
season along with pilots, engineers and mechanics although aircraft have overwintered on
the continent either in hangars or carefully buried under protective snow. Pilots undergo
specialist training, and the aircraft carry

ed to operate on both wheels and skis so many programmes use ski-

first-aid kits and emergency camping equipment.

Bad weather can often ground flights around the

continent. There are several wheel only aircraft that operate into the interior and these rely
on landing in blue ice areas where the snow has been completely blown away and a surface
of polished ice is the runway. These need to be long and

flights headed to Antarctica as well as

flat as the pilots cannot use brakes
to slow down on the ice and must use reverse thrust instead.