A Canadian plane has arrived safely in Chile, the aircraft left Antarctica on Wednesday and arrived in Punta Arenas, it has on the board two ailing workers from a remote research station Amundsen-Scott at the South Pole.
Last night the Canadian plane had picked up the two workers from the remote station, located 2,400 kilometres from the Rothera base. It took about 10-hour flight from the South Pole station to Rothera for transporting the two ill workers from the South Pole to the hospital in Chile. This mission was extremely daring, as it comes so late in the winter season, said Peter West with the National Science Foundation.
Flying to the South Pole during the mid-winter is extremely rare because of lack of light and harsh weather conditions. Wednesday mission was risky, the temperature at the South Pole was -60 C, so it could easily freeze jet fuel. Fortunately, Canadian crew has done its job perfectly, two ill workers are at Chile hospital now.
The Amundsen-Scott station for the science
Scientists have had Amundsen-Scott station at the South Pole since 1956. the National Science Foundation runs currently two research stations in Antarctica. Before these two left, there were 48 people — 39 men and nine women — at the station for the winter. Scientists are impressed with the courage of the Canadian pilots who made this unbelievable flight in extremely harsh conditions, it’s incredible and inspiring.
