Mid Winter MEDEVAC

And...I'm back for a few more posts from the South Pole! This one will focus on the historic mid-winter MEDEVAC that flew two team members out at the end of June. I'm sure that by now everyone has heard about it and the media has moved on to more current news. Although it was made to look easy and routine it was a monumental effort on the part of everyone involved, from those here at Pole to everyone back on "earth" and the flight crews who took the biggest risk flying two planes down from Canada. Almost pole to pole! I will not be including ANY info about the two team members that were flown out, don't ask.

Over the past few months we have completed some major projects, are close to completing others and starting a few more. Busy times indeed. All have been performed with no injuries and we hope to end the season without any incident. Good times...

We have become accustomed to the weather at the bottom of the world and most here will agree that -90F temps with low wind speeds are better than -50s F with winds. The darkness is starting to subside with the sun a mere 12 degrees below the horizon and slowly spiraling upwards. Several months of complete darkness has been a bit surreal, but enjoyable. There's nothing like taking a mid day walk in pitch black darkness! There is now a faint glow of light on the horizon letting us know that soon we will see the sun. Let the sun bring the heat! And the planes that will take us back to civilization.

MEDEVAC:

The planning for the operation was extensive, from everything that had to go right to everyone being where they needed to be at the right time. We couldn't have asked for better weather conditions during the operation with clear skies, low winds and temps within the operating parameters of the planes and equipment that were needed. And a full moon that provided much needed light. 

All of the below pictures were taken by Robert Schwarz, a long time resident of the South Pole.

Several days prior to the arrival of the plane there was much to do here at Pole. Buildings needed to be pulled off the storage line and brought out to the flight line and set up for everything from electricity to fuel and more. These building are not left out near the flight line during the winter months due to snow drifting that will swallow up anything left out in the open. 

The eight thousand foot ski-way needed to be groomed with heavy equipment towing attachments for the process. Several passes were needed and many hrs were put in by those doing the work to ensure that the plane that would be landing on skis could do so safely.

Burn barrels and lighting needed to be set up and tested to ensure that everything would work properly before and during the operation. Although the burn barrels are rudimentary they can burn for 8 hrs plus without being blown out. The lights seen below were designed and placed to indicate the middle of the ski-way on final approach with the burn barrels placed on the left of the ski-way. This information plus much more was relayed to the inbound flight crew in advance for situational awareness on approach.

 As luck would have it, the weather continued to cooperate for the inbound flight. After leaving Chile the crew had to fly across the Drake Passage to Antarctica taking advantage of a small weather window that seemed to be called for at the precise moment. Two planes made the flight down, both landed at the British research station Rothera on the Antarctic peninsula, one stayed behind as a back up and search and rescue if needed while the other was outfitted with skis and flew to the South Pole. The weather was still good once the crew left Rothera for Pole, a rarity this time of the year on the continent. On final approach the crew reported that they could see the burn barrels 10 miles out which spoke to the visibility that day and the effectiveness of the low tech solution that the barrels provided. Soon we could see the plane in the distance lining up for landing.

Once on the ice the plane taxied to the end of the ski-way and was guided into position by one of our fuels techs. The plane needed to be parked at a certain location and distance from the buildings to be refueled.

Another low tech solution that was used were bamboo pads constructed a few days prior. Bamboo is used for the flagging that is found throughout the continent, cheap, effective and versatile, even here. The pads were needed to prevent the plane's skis from freezing to the ice, something that occurs regularly at certain temps. Once the pads were placed the plane moved forward onto them. In the below picture one of the pads is visible at the front of the plane. 

Once the plane was parked at the needed location everyone assigned swooped in to assist with unloading the crew's gear and other necessary equipment for patient evaluation and transport. One critical factor also worked on immediately was keeping the engines as warm as possible. First, specially designed blankets were wrapped around the engines to assist in heat retention.

Second, we rolled out the big guns! Portable heaters that would be used to heat the engines and the cabin, not for comfort but to avoid the freezing of any avionics inside. Everything needs to work in order to fly in the dark, even more so in the middle of an Antarctic winter while at the South Pole with temps in the mid -70s F.

While the plane was closed up for the "night" and heated the flight crew headed inside to warm up, eat and get some much needed sleep after the eight hour flight across the continent. The following morning while the patients were being evaluated the planes were loaded up with the out going gear.

Once all of the gear and needed equipment was loaded onto the plane the patients were then transported out to the flight line one at a time. Everyone involved here at Pole had specific tasks that they were responsible for. I was the safety risk assessment lead and also responsible for escorting and ensuring that one of the two being flown out was ready to go and had all of the necessary gear and personal documentation that would be needed for them to travel once off continent. That's me below with the blue bag, the one bag that the patient was allowed to take due to weight limitations on the plane. Everything that went onto the plane was weighed and calculated to ensure that it could take off.

After everything and everyone was loaded onto the plane the area needed to be cleared of heaters, lighting and everything else that had been brought out prior to the plane being able to start its engines.

With everything cleared the flight crew did a pre-flight check, started and warmed up the engines and proceeded to taxi onto the ski-way. This takes longer than you would think and we were all starting to get a bit cold after more than an hour out in the elements. But no one wanted to leave until we saw the plane airborne.

The taxi to the end of the runway seemed to take forever and at one point we thought that it might have gotten stuck to the ice. Luckily that was not the case and heard the engines rev up as it started its way down the ski-way for take off. It took every bit of the length provided for the plane to get airborne. Some of us held our breaths until we saw it in the air. It was a spectacular sight to see and a testament to all of the planning and hard work that went into pulling this off.

Eight hours later we received notification from Rothera that the plane had landed safely and that the patients were being transferred onto the awaiting plane with a fresh crew that would take them the rest of the way across the Drake Passage to Punta Arenas, Chile. That flight also caught a small window of good weather across the Drake and made it to Chile safely.

Busy times at the South Pole...

Next Post? Science! The reason we're all here, all 46 of us.