http://www.newsday.com/ap/topnews/ap478.htm

04/24/2001

Plane Takes Off on Antarctic Rescue

by RAY LILLEY

Associated Press Writer

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- A New Zealand air force plane took off safely from an ice runway at a U.S. Antarctic research station Tuesday, carrying out a risky mission to rescue four ailing Americans.

A C130 Hercules left Pegasus airfield at McMurdo Station, just an hour after landing to retrieve four sick staffers and seven other Americans, according to Antarctica New Zealand, a government research group.

''Right now, the count is eleven people coming out, for various reasons,'' John Sherve, the New Zealand manager for their employer, U.S.-based Raytheon Polar Services, told The Associated Press. ''The primary purpose of the mission is emergency medical evacuation of one employee.''

He declined to comment on the patients' conditions, but New Zealand air force sources said one man had a serious heart condition that required urgent hospital treatment.

The McMurdo airlift came hours after blowing snow, high winds and low visibility prevented another emergency airlift from taking off for the South Pole, where a sick American doctor is waiting for a flight out for urgent treatment.

The plane at McMurdo spent just one hour on the ground to pick up the evacuees and refuel. Its engines were kept running throughout the stopover to prevent them freezing in the minus 22 temperatures, after the 8-hour flight from Christchurch, southern New Zealand. The plane was expected to arrive back in Christchurch late Tuesday.

With little cloud and no wind, weather conditions were near ideal for the rescue mission. Bad weather conditions on the Antarctic coast had earlier delayed the rescue mission 24 hours.

Others among the evacuees had ''family emergencies they need to go take care of,'' Sherve said, describing the mass evacuation as ''unprecedented.''

''Several of the evacuees will need medical treatment,'' he said. A medical staff of five, including an anesthetist, was on the evacuation mission.

All eleven are employees of Raytheon, which provides support services at the McMurdo Base, 800 miles from the South Pole.

There are 211 Americans left at the base following the evacuation, where they will winter over until the next flights, scheduled in late August as Antarctica's spring begins. The evacuation flight carried fresh fruit and vegetables and personal mail to the ice-and-snow bound base staff.

In the separate rescue effort, Ronald S. Shemenski, at the Amundsen Scott-South Pole station, is the only physician among 50 researchers working there. He recently suffered a gall bladder attack and has been diagnosed with the potentially life-threatening condition known as pancreatitis.

An eight-seat, twin-engine plane fitted with skis for landing gear was scheduled to fly as early as Wednesday from the Rothera research station on the Antarctic peninsula to pick up the 59-year-old doctor. The plane arrived at Rothera last week after a flight from Punta Arenas, Chile, accompanied by a backup aircraft.

Flights to the South Pole station are normally halted from late February until November because of the extreme winter cold and darkness. But the rescuers worried that Shemenski's condition would worsen in the coming months, when an airlift out of the South Pole would be virtually impossible.

''The wind's blowing like hell. We're getting reduced visibility and blowing snow. If the winds calm down and there's less cloud cover, we'll get better visibility,'' said Steve Penikett, general manager of Kenn Borek Air Ltd., the Canadian airline company leading the evacuation for the doctor.

Aviation experts say a landing at the South Pole now is especially dangerous with temperatures now 75 degrees below zero -- 143 below with the wind chill -- and skies are nearly pitch-black some 20 hours of the day.

The rescue effort is the second in two years.

In October 1999, Dr. Jerri Nielsen, the lone physician at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station was evacuated after she discovered a breast tumor that was diagnosed as cancerous.

AP-NY-04-24-01 0034EDT< 

-- (in@the.news), April 24, 2001

Answers

You can follow the story with this link to Excite news.

-- (in@the.news), April 24, 2001.

Is it just me or does anybody think it's a little (ahem) "odd" that eleven employees from Raytheon are also being evacuated? Four are ill and seven have "family emergencies". What's really going out down there? Considering that these folks are quarantined before going into the station and that the frigid temps kill off bacteria and viruses, what in the world did they come in contact with to make them sick? I mean, these folks don't even get colds for god's sake!

-- Behind (The@Scenes.com), April 24, 2001.

And SEVEN have "family emergencies" all at the same time? Hmmmmmm....(insert Twilight Zone music here.)

-- Makes (Me@Wonder.com), April 24, 2001.

LINK

The sick Americans were joined on the flight by seven other U.S. staffers, who authorities said were returning because of "family emergencies." Two of the evacuees were suffering from "critical conditions," government research group Antarctica New Zealand said in a statement. The two were taken to a hospital in Christchurch in stable condition, said the statement, without elaborating.

-- It does (make@you.wonder), April 25, 2001.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/inl/index/0,1008,766939a1561,FF.html

Link

Crew defy danger in Ice rescue

25 April 2001

By SETH ROBSON

Half an hour's daylight was all an RNZAF Hercules crew needed to rescue a seriously ill American from Antarctica.

The 13-man crew, who completed the dangerous 6000km flight from Christchurch to McMurdo Base and back in under 15 hours yesterday, landed at Christchurch International Airport shortly before 9pm.

On board were medical personnel, two maintenance workers, a seriously ill patient, three other sick Americans who are receiving medical treatment in Christchurch, and another seven workers who left the Ice for undisclosed reasons.

The mission, which was the first successful New Zealand Antarctic flight in April, had been scheduled to depart on Monday but was delayed due to bad weather.

Pilot Nathan MacDonald, of Christchurch, was welcomed home by eight family members and girlfriend Sophie Lee at the airport.

Mr MacDonald, who took the controls for the take-off and landing on the Ice, said weather conditions at McMurdo were "a bit iffy" when the aircraft arrived.

"It was reasonably challenging weather conditions with not as much light as normal. There was no defined horizon and it was hard to see the ground surface," he said.

New Zealand Antarctic Institute communications manager Vivienne Allan said the lack of light had made the mission particularly dangerous.

Antarctica is only days away from "final sunset", when the sun dips below the horizon for the last time before the frozen continent slips into a four-month period of winter darkness.

"They would have had a window of half an hour where the sun was sitting on the horizon," Ms Allan said.

The first leg of the flight was into a head wind and took 8<<1/2 hours, compared to the normal flying time of seven hours.

The Hercules spent just one hour on the ground at McMurdo to pick up the evacuees and refuel. Its engines were kept running throughout the stopover to prevent them freezing in the -30deg temperatures.

Mission commander John Cummings said the plan had been to get the operation done within the daylight window.

"We just missed the peak of daylight but there was enough light left to get the job done. There was a reasonably low cloud base and diffuse light but it was suitable for us to continue," he said.

US Antarctic Program spokesman John Sherve said the United States was grateful to the RNZAF for rescuing its citizens.

"The mission shows the excellent working relationship we have between the two countries.

"It was precipitated by an emergency medical situation and we have taken the opportunity to transport some other people out of McMurdo.

"Some of them are non-emergency medical situations where better care can be achieved here in Christchurch than we have available at McMurdo."

Mr Sherve would not comment on the condition of the patients or on reasons for the return of the other seven passengers, who were hidden from waiting media as they left the aircraft.

However, he said there were a variety of disciplinary matters that could lead to someone being sent home early from the Ice.

Before the rescue there were 220 people at McMurdo Base doing a variety of work, including construction workers, cooks, cleaners, mechanics, and scientists.

-- (New@Zealand.newspaper), April 25, 2001.

Guess it got too cold for some of them, and being in close quarters caused tempers to flare up.

I remember when they were recruting people to go there, the money sounded good, but living through it is a different story.

-- Cherri (jessam5@home.com), April 25, 2001.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=184793&thesection=n ews&thesubsection=general

Thursday April 26, 2001

Airborne lifeline makes base

26.04.2001 By PAUL YANDALL

A rescue team was this morning due to fly a sick American doctor from the South Pole.

The Canadian team landed at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole base at midday yesterday after an arduous 10-hour, 2166km flight to rescue the station's only doctor, Ronald Shemenski.

It was the second rescue flight to the Antarctic in 24 hours.

A RNZAF Hercules evacuated 11 Americans from McMurdo station on Tuesday night.

Two Americans among the 11 taken from McMurdo were in a stable condition in Christchurch Hospital yesterday. Three others suffered minor health ailments.

Dr Shemenski, aged 59, has suffered a gall bladder attack and has been diagnosed with the potentially life-threatening pancreatitis.

The rescue team was resting before attempting the return trip.

Its eight-seat Twin Otter plane left the British Rothera research base, on the Antarctic peninsula across from Chile.

The plane landed with skis on an icy runway lit by barrels of flaming debris at 12.02 pm yesterday.

Temperatures at the South Pole had dipped to minus 76 degrees.

On board were replacement doctor Betty Carlisle, an engineer and a nurse.

Valerie Carroll, spokeswoman for US Antarctic programme managers Raytheon Polar Services, said Dr Shemenski's condition would be assessed before he was flown to Rothera. From Rothera, he was to be flown to Chile for transport back to the US.

Flights to the South Pole are normally stopped from late February until November because of the extreme cold and darkness. But health emergencies at the isolated outposts forced rescuers in both operations to make the flights.

The New Zealand manager for Raytheon, John Sherve, would reveal neither the nature of the illnesses of the Americans rescued from McMurdo station nor their conditions.

It is understood that one of the men in hospital suffered from a serious heart condition.

The other is believed to have injured his head in a fall.

The Herald understands that some of the others evacuated had resigned and one had been fired.

Mr Sherve would not comment on personnel issues, but said some of the Americans had family emergencies and would be flown to the US.

He was full of praise for the 13-man Hercules crew, who completed the 15-hour, 6000km flight from Christchurch to McMurdo and back at 8.40 pm on Tuesday.

"The mission was very well handled and very successful.

"We just cannot thank the Royal New Zealand Air Force enough."

Pilot Nathan MacDonald said weather conditions at McMurdo were "a bit iffy" when the aircraft arrived with not as much light as normal. "There was no defined horizon and it was hard to see the ground surface," he said.

The Hercules spent just one hour on the ground at McMurdo, about 1300km from the South Pole, to pick up the evacuees and refuel after landing about 1.20 pm.

The flight was the first the RNZAF has flown to Antarctica during April, when winter leaves only half an hour of sunlight available.

- Additional reporting: Agencies

Links:

Raytheon Polar Services

National Science Foundation (USA)

-- (in@the.news), April 26, 2001.

Mr Sherve would not comment on the condition of the patients or on reasons for the return of the other seven passengers, who were hidden from waiting media as they left the aircraft."

Now why would they keep these folks "hidden" from the media? Do you think we'll ever hear the whole story? Not likely. Something's up and it probably ain't good.

-- Odder (AndOdder@Cover-up.com), April 26, 2001.

Out, damn italics! Out!

-- whoops (oops@oops.com), April 26, 2001.

I can't vouch for the authenticity of this story -- but it would be noteworthy if true....

LINK

http://lantis.tv/release.html

-- Take with a (grain@of.salt), May 03, 2001.