Not sure it's a good idea

melax

melax

Well-Known Member
Air new Zealand 901 ( Mount Erebus disaster ) comes to mind. Of course technology has evolved since then giving us more tools for situational awareness, but I still think it's a very bad idea, given holes in GPS coverage in that area + difficult access and harsh environmental conditions. (I'm no Antartica expert but I'll pass...). There is a Company, I can't remember the name right now, from Canada flying modified (for a good reason) twin otters who resupply the stations.

www.cnn.com

Airbus A340 plane lands on Antarctica for first time

For the first time in history, an Airbus A340 plane has landed on Antarctica. Hi Fly, a boutique aviation company, was behind the flight.
www.cnn.com www.cnn.com
 
Kenn Borek Air is the Canadian company that flies Twin otters, turbine DC-3's in Antarctica and the Brits fly a Dash 7 every year as well as some helicopters from a US company.

one of the Airbus folks can chime in, but in every POH I've seen for transport category planes always have a "do not operate north of X or South of X" limitation, I wonder if they had to change some equipment to make this work. I use to fly kingair's on medevac up to North 74 degrees but we had a third party AHRS system installed to make it all work, took about 20 minutes to align depending how far north you were.
 
mattc206 said:
Kenn Borek Air is the Canadian company that flies Twin otters, turbine DC-3's in Antarctica and the Brits fly a Dash 7 every year as well as some helicopters from a US company.

one of the Airbus folks can chime in, but in every POH I've seen for transport category planes always have a "do not operate north of X or South of X" limitation, I wonder if they had to change some equipment to make this work. I use to fly kingair's on medevac up to North 74 degrees but we had a third party AHRS system installed to make it all work, took about 20 minutes to align depending how far north you were.
Click to expand...
Yep that's it (Kenn Borek Air). Hifly is foolish to land an A-340 there, for the purpose of gaining $$ from exotic tourism. Just saying.
 
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melax said:
Air new Zealand 901 ( Mount Erebus disaster ) comes to mind. Of course technology has evolved since then giving us more tools for situational awareness, but I still think it's a very bad idea, given holes in GPS coverage in that area + difficult access and harsh environmental conditions. (I'm no Antartica expert but I'll pass...). There is a Company, I can't remember the name right now, from Canada flying modified (for a good reason) twin otters who resupply the stations.
Click to expand...


An A340 has three IRUs, that will (I assume the limitation is the same as the A330) keep reasonably accurate position for over 6 hours without an update. Also, once you get on the ground, I'm sure there is a known position checkpoint somewhere that they can align to if needed. Most *normal* nav systems stop working around 60 N or 60 S. That said, there are software modifications that allow you to switch from grid to polar nav, and get around just find. They mention in the video (or maybe it was in the write up on HiFly's website), that they switched from magnetic to true headings somewhere along the line.

I'd guess the biggest issues would be keeping everything warm once you get on the ground, but it was relatively warm (-15c) that day, so probably not too much of an issue, and something the station down there has a bunch of experience with on other turbojet aircraft that fly down there.

HiFly has a pretty good amount of experience operating into random places with their 340, and other companies fly regular passenger aircraft down there pretty regularly (Iceland Air has flown 757s down there for a few years now). I think this was pretty much a non event, other than being the first time an A340 did it.

You forgot the Billions $ from the lawsuits of the 200 or so rich tourists surviving family...
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This wasn't a tourist flight. This was the first big flight of the "summer" research season. They only had 23 passengers, all of whom were station personnel or scientists going to work. Mostly they were flying down cargo the station needed for the next few months.
 
I really don't get why an accident 40+ years ago is even remotely related to this. Like Bob said this had an actual purpose other than tourism, but on the same token I'm sure a company isn't going to just say "screw it, yolo!" with their A340. I feel like this is kind of the attitude of "well, it's challenging, they shouldn't bother."
 
Couple of other interesting visitors to Antarctica:

1637660609296.png


deer-jet-antarctica.jpg


airbus_firstflight.jpg


Icelandair_B767_Troll.jpg
 
JordanD said:
I really don't get why an accident 40+ years ago is even remotely related to this. Like Bob said this had an actual purpose other than tourism, but on the same token I'm sure a company isn't going to just say "screw it, yolo!" with their A340. I feel like this is kind of the attitude of "well, it's challenging, they shouldn't bother."
Click to expand...

"Wolf's Fang is a new project from high-end Antarctica tourism company White Desert. "

40+ years later, the conditions are still challenging, that's why.
 
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melax said:
Air new Zealand 901 ( Mount Erebus disaster ) comes to mind. Of course technology has evolved since then giving us more tools for situational awareness, but I still think it's a very bad idea, given holes in GPS coverage in that area + difficult access and harsh environmental conditions. (I'm no Antartica expert but I'll pass...). There is a Company, I can't remember the name right now, from Canada flying modified (for a good reason) twin otters who resupply the stations.

www.cnn.com

Airbus A340 plane lands on Antarctica for first time

For the first time in history, an Airbus A340 plane has landed on Antarctica. Hi Fly, a boutique aviation company, was behind the flight.
www.cnn.com www.cnn.com
Click to expand...

is it me or is an entirely white scheme a terrible idea for a paint job for flying in the Antarctic?
 
Boris Badenov said:
Who the hell flew a G650 down there, and why?
Click to expand...
Tourist $$$ from China

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nextshark.com

Chinese Tourists are Now Going to Antarctica With First Successful Commercial Flight

Chinese media are celebrating after the first-ever commercial flight to Antarctica, operated by Deer Jet, successfully landed on Saturday night, a move that signals a “new era” of tapping the possible future potential of South Pole tourism. According to a statement Deer Jet, HNA Group’s...
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