Antartica

Every summer, mostly military aircraft from the United States, New Zealand, South Korea and Italy carry more than 5,500 passengers and 1,400 tonnes of cargo on 100 flights between their Christchurch base and Antarctica, supplementing sea cargo delivering provisions. The small New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) contingent takes about 500 of those passengers and 90,718kg of supplies. Weather can delay up to a quarter of those flights, yet delivering scientists, researchers and support crew to the world’s highest, coldest, driest and windiest continent on earth must be an exercise in precision with every contingency covered.

A fresh dump of snow makes the Phoenix Airfield ice runway unusable for wheeled aircraft. It needs compacting and colder temperatures to harden it up, but a storm blows in, postponing the New Zealand Air Force C130H Hercules flight from Christchurch. The following week, crew load large pallets of supplies into the plane’s belly for the seven-hour, 3,920km journey south. The weather turns bad again. Another delay.

Antarctica has no fixed flight schedule. January is the busiest time of the summer season but fickle weather goes with the territory.

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