PrivatAir Boeing 737 lands in Antarctica
A 737 touches down on an icy runway
737 is the first of its type to touch down in Antarctica.
A 737 touches down on an icy runway
PrivatAir performed the first Boeing 737 flight to land in Antarctica. The flight was commissioned by the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) in collaboration with Aircontact, a Norwegian air charter broker. Departing from Cape Town, the journey lasted just under six hours.
The destination for the flight was the Troll Research Station, located 235 kilometres from the coast in the eastern part of Princess Martha Coast, in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. Run by the Norwegian Polar Institute, the station is dedicated to environmental and climate monitoring, scientific research and mapping.
A huge amount of preparation went into this landmark flight. The aircraft was equipped with a SatCom system to ensure weather updates could be received from the station right up to the point of no return, about one hour out from arrival. The pilots trained in the flight simulator for the visual approach onto the 3000m long ice runway. The flight path was programmed into the computers and new specific charts were designed.
Two members of the crew undertook arctic survival training and the aircraft was equipped with polar survival kits. Dennis Kaer, the captain, has been working on the project for over a year: “The preparation that has gone into this flight is immense. You have to look at every aspect, consider all scenarios and prepare meticulously for each and every one. There can be no simple assumptions.”
The final nod came from the Swiss regulatory authority, which reviewed all the research and gave the approval for the flight to take place under PrivatAir’s commercial certificate.
The weather conditions on the day were perfect and both the flight and landing were smooth. All passengers had to wear polar survival suits prior to disembarking, a vivid reminder that despite the comfort and ease of the journey, the destination they had reached was extreme.
Greg Thomas, CEO of PrivatAir, was on the aircraft and said “PrivatAir has a long history of undertaking operational and technical challenges. We are proud that PrivatAir was successful in organizing and operating a flight (up to the international commercial aviation standards) to one of the most remote and hostile places on Earth.”
For the whole PrivatAir team and for their counterparts at the Norwegian Polar Institute and Aircontact, there was a sense of having pushed beyond a boundary, and succeeded. The aim now for 2013 is to make this a regular scheduled service.
