Australian crew pulls off extraordinary Antarctic medical evacuation
The crew had to get in, get the patient situation on the reconfigured medevac plane, and get out fast.
Getting sick in Antarctica is no fun. Getting sick in Antarctica in the middle of winter is another problem.
On July 31, an Australian crew flew a cold-weather-configured Airbus A319 Long Range from Hobart to McMurdo Station, answering an urgent call to evacuate a seriously ill American. The aircraft, Snowbird 1, spent about five and a half hours en route to the Phoenix Airfield near McMurdo, where it landed in near-total darkness and below-freezing temperatures.
The crew had to get in, get the patient situation on the reconfigured medevac plane, and get out fast. There was only a short window of clear weather and enough twilight to land without the fuel freezing.
Good thing they were at Mc Murdo-when this happens at the Pole the best they can do is air drop supplies and video conference. One year it was the doctor discovering she had cancer.