A319 Lands on Antarctic Ice Runway
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A319 Lands on Antarctic Ice Runway
Grauniad: Ice runway axes Antarctic journey time
Australian scientists heading to Antarctica will have their journey time cut from weeks to hours thanks to a new air service using a runway carved out on 500 metre-thick glacial ice, it has emerged.
An Airbus A319 on a trial flight touched down earlier this week on the remote Wilkins runway, 45 miles from Australia's Casey research station, just outside the Antarctic Circle. Operational services are due to commence shortly, after final clearance from aviation authorities.
"It was fantastic," said Charlton Clark, manager of the Antarctic Airlink project, who was on the historic flight. "The weather conditions were excellent, and we could see the runway from 10 kilometres [six miles] out. Having been involved in the project for many years, it is exciting to see it come to fruition."
The idea of an air link from Australia to Antartica was first explored in the 1950s, but funding and logistical problems, as well as concerns about the environmental impact of a runway amid the pristine beauty of Antarctica, thwarted the project. In 2001, however, a new feasibility study was carried out, and work finally got under way in 2005, after the Australian government committed $46m (£20m) in funding.
Crews have worked for the past three summers from mid-November to mid-February, when temperature rises, to carve out the two and a half-mile runway. "They have been able to use conventional construction equipment and laser levelling technology to shave the ice to the flatness required," said Clark.
Until now, scientists and specialists have had to spend weeks at sea to get to Australia's four research stations. The journey time from Hobart is approximately four hours and 20 minutes, and a flight a week is planned during the summer season. There are no plans to open the air service to tourists, and the link will have only a minor and transitory impact on the Antarctic environment, according to Clark.
The runway is about 19 miles from the nearest wildlife concentration and has been constructed using a natural glacial ice formation. The surface would return to its natural state if not continually cleared of snow, Clark said.
Australian scientists heading to Antarctica will have their journey time cut from weeks to hours thanks to a new air service using a runway carved out on 500 metre-thick glacial ice, it has emerged.
An Airbus A319 on a trial flight touched down earlier this week on the remote Wilkins runway, 45 miles from Australia's Casey research station, just outside the Antarctic Circle. Operational services are due to commence shortly, after final clearance from aviation authorities.
"It was fantastic," said Charlton Clark, manager of the Antarctic Airlink project, who was on the historic flight. "The weather conditions were excellent, and we could see the runway from 10 kilometres [six miles] out. Having been involved in the project for many years, it is exciting to see it come to fruition."
The idea of an air link from Australia to Antartica was first explored in the 1950s, but funding and logistical problems, as well as concerns about the environmental impact of a runway amid the pristine beauty of Antarctica, thwarted the project. In 2001, however, a new feasibility study was carried out, and work finally got under way in 2005, after the Australian government committed $46m (£20m) in funding.
Crews have worked for the past three summers from mid-November to mid-February, when temperature rises, to carve out the two and a half-mile runway. "They have been able to use conventional construction equipment and laser levelling technology to shave the ice to the flatness required," said Clark.
Until now, scientists and specialists have had to spend weeks at sea to get to Australia's four research stations. The journey time from Hobart is approximately four hours and 20 minutes, and a flight a week is planned during the summer season. There are no plans to open the air service to tourists, and the link will have only a minor and transitory impact on the Antarctic environment, according to Clark.
The runway is about 19 miles from the nearest wildlife concentration and has been constructed using a natural glacial ice formation. The surface would return to its natural state if not continually cleared of snow, Clark said.
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Foto series here: http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/tipp...o=3254048.html
(I know it is a worthless tabloid but they have 5 good photos...)
(I know it is a worthless tabloid but they have 5 good photos...)
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Out of Intrest....If the flight time is 4 1/2 hours and the weather turned bad, where would the nearest diversion alternate be and would the A319 make it back ??
I take it that it has been modified with long range tanks ??
Mom
I take it that it has been modified with long range tanks ??
Mom
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A trial touchdown of the Australian Antarctic Division's new Airbus A319
What do they need to do different when landing on ice?
Last edited by CentreFix25; 12th Dec 2007 at 18:14.
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Kingair9...thanks for the link... 4 out of the 5 photos are mine...
edit - just found out how the paper got the images (thanks to a poster here) and all is legal!
edit - just found out how the paper got the images (thanks to a poster here) and all is legal!
Last edited by compressor stall; 15th Dec 2007 at 01:58.
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What's the german law re use of stolen photos? 4 out of the 5 photos are mine and I have not given them to that paper to use...
Either way you are entitled to be paid for reproduction.
There have been commercial passenger flights to Antarctica before, so all this stuff about "The First" in Bild is a bit inaccurate, but they have normally operated out of Punta Arenas in Chile to Patriot Hills in Antarctica. In the 1990s a Canadian operator ran a DC-6 on this route which features in Michael Palin's TV series "Pole to Pole". In more recent times a Ukrainian (I believe) operated Il-76 has done the route, so it's not even the first jet service. The DC-6 was shown to use substantial reverse pitch on the props on landing to get round the friction problem.
I believed that such depreciated equipment was used because they were unable to get sensibly-priced hull insurance for the Antarctic landings, which are presumably on an unlicenced runway, same as freight operations in Northern Alaska which also continue to use the DC-6. Wonder how the Australian operation differs in this respect
I believed that such depreciated equipment was used because they were unable to get sensibly-priced hull insurance for the Antarctic landings, which are presumably on an unlicenced runway, same as freight operations in Northern Alaska which also continue to use the DC-6. Wonder how the Australian operation differs in this respect
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Does anybody know how long the ice strip is?
If you read the link...
On Monday's trial landing, the plane pulled up within one kilometre on the four-kilometre-long runway despite the lack of friction to grab the wheels on the slippery ice.
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http://my.break.com/Content/view.aspx?ContentID=416701
Does the antiskid braking respond quickly enough for low-coefficient surfaces (I worked on anti-lock brake systems for trucks 25 years ago)? It IS possible to calibrate systems for low-mu surfaces (and I suppose aircraft systems are more sophisticated than automotive ones). The disadvantage is that wheels can take longer to speed-up (and braking to become effective again). Seeing the actual landing video does encourage the sphincter to exercise itself . . .
Crosswind landings would be fun.
Does the antiskid braking respond quickly enough for low-coefficient surfaces (I worked on anti-lock brake systems for trucks 25 years ago)? It IS possible to calibrate systems for low-mu surfaces (and I suppose aircraft systems are more sophisticated than automotive ones). The disadvantage is that wheels can take longer to speed-up (and braking to become effective again). Seeing the actual landing video does encourage the sphincter to exercise itself . . .
Crosswind landings would be fun.
That last video is for Patriot Hills - 1500nm away on the other side of the continent. www.aad.gov.au has a video of the A319 landing at Wilkins - which is the subject of this thread.
Convair
Believe a passenger charter flight landed in Antarctica about 1968, think the aircraft was either a Convair 880 or 990. There is a picture somewhere of it sitting on the ice.