Posted on 09/14/2010 5:28:27 PM PDT by naturalman1975
New Zealand's air force has gone to the rescue of a sick American -- in Antarctica.
A crew of 12, plus three medics, flew to evacuate the man Tuesday from the U.S. research base at McMurdo Station.
There were limited details about the man's health, but he had an illness, rather than an injury, said New Zealand Air Force Squadron Leader Kavae Tamariki.
A rescue team initially set off Monday from Christchurch, but was forced to turn back after about an hour.
With the snow, "You weren't able to see anything," Tamariki said. There also was snow on the runway at McMurdo.
The second flight was able to touch down safely in Antarctica on Tuesday, despite temperatures of 35 below zero Celsius, he said.
"She's landed, and we're just waiting for confirmation that they've taken off," Tamariki said from New Zealand on Tuesday afternoon. The plane was expected back in Christchurch by Tuesday night, after a flight of 6 1/2 hours.
It's the second time in six months that New Zealand's Air Force has been asked to rescue a sick American from McMurdo, because the Air Force is familiar with Antarctic weather and flying conditions, Tamariki said.
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
The Thing ?
Who goes there?
I read once that some countries require their scientists to have an appendectomy before being stationed in Antarctica to eliminate one possible reason for an emergency evacuation.
Auto-appendectomy in the Antarctic
A 1961 expedition building a new Antarctic outpost has one man fall ill with appendicitis in midwinter, and only one physician.
Trouble is, THEY ARE THE SAME MAN !
I have a young Canadian friend there as we speak....I don’t recall exactly what area but it is beautiful there. She is counting birds and sea animals.
The landing on the snow runway was a GCA in zero visibility conditions. Ground (snow?) control provided vectors to the taxiing aircraft to bring it to the terminal area. At one point the controller instructed the aircraft commander to stop and wait for the snow cat to come out and lead the aircraft closer.
After a couple minutes there was a big boom. The snow cat had crashed into the C-130 not seeing it in the zero zero environment of Antarctica.
That - or more trouble from that damned second Stargate.
Many years ago I was in New Zealand in November...which is their springtime.I met a marine biologist who had just finished "wintering over" in Antarctica.The stories she told were fascinating.She also told me about "The 300 Club" which,in a nutshell,consists of anyone who,during the Antarctic winter,went into one of the saunas that they have down there (which are just small shacks) when it's jacked up to 200 degrees and then,naked,they run out of the sauna into the -100 degrees outside....meaning a change of 300 degrees.She said that they'd take pictures and everything....but she didn't show me any.
Good on the ANZACS, way to go!
And, this surprised who?
I wish them success, going in harms way.
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