Quaran-TEAM-ing at the South Pole
While Flight Program Operations personnel in Alaska are getting ready for the North Pole’s busy holiday season, another Flight Program Operations team is just getting back from the polar opposite, their annual mission to Antarctica.
By Brad Elliott and Kate Knorr, FAA Air Traffic Organization
Through an inter-agency agreement with the National Science Foundation, the FAA’s Flight Program Operations organization provides flight inspection services for navigational aids and instrument procedures that support McMurdo and South Pole stations in Antarctica. Flight inspection ensures the instrument approaches and airway procedures in our National Airspace System — and those that are part of our international commitments — remain operational.
While this mission is always lengthy and complex — planning starts in April in order to have all of the pre-mission work completed for a fall mission — this year was especially complex due to the patchwork of public health restrictions in the countries the crew must pass through to get to Antarctica.
The usual
Each year, crewmembers are selected in April so they can complete physical qualification requirements by September. That includes a Class I FAA flight physical, immunizations and other tests.
Spare aircraft parts, tools and a differential global positioning system unit are packed into a shipping container in Oklahoma City and sent to the McMurdo station. With such a long trip, the container travels by truck, ship and plane.
The crew holds planning meetings, with instrument procedures development and navigational aid maintenance in June. They receive their final brief in September so that they can leave for Antarctica in October.
The Antarctica crew normally flies the aircraft from Oklahoma City to Phoenix Field, Antarctica. This year the crew flew commercial to Christchurch, New Zealand, where they were met by a delivery crew flying the flight inspection aircraft. A planned three weeks of isolation was required before they could depart from Christchurch to Antarctica.
The unusual
The phrase “2020 was a little bit different” could be said about so many things, and it is just as true about the Flight Program Operations mission to Antarctica.
First, the stateside preparation included the normal briefings and medical appointments, but medical questionnaires, briefings and personal protective equipment were added to the routine. When the crewmembers were finally ready to leave, they began their trip by staying in place. They arrived in San Francisco to start their isolation. Mandated by the U.S. Antarctic Program, or USAP, it lasted Oct. 6–10.
On Oct. 10, they departed for their 15-hour flight to Christchurch. After crossing the international dateline, they arrived Oct. 12.
Recognized in the news for low COVID-19 infection rates and strict quarantine guidelines, New Zealand is serious about keeping COVID-19 away from its population. Immediately upon their arrival on Oct. 12, the whole team had to enter New Zealand’s managed isolation for 14 days. This isolation turned into 15 days because one of the other passengers on the contract flight from San Francisco tested positive for COVID-19 on day one of isolation.
While the Antarctica crew was isolated, the delivery crew for the flight inspection aircraft departed Oklahoma City. They stayed in Sacramento, California, and Honolulu, Hawaii, en route to Christchurch, New Zealand.
Then there was American Samoa. You may have read our story about FAA engineer Dave de Langis, whose four-week stay in American Samoa turned into a four-month stay earlier this year when travel restrictions were implemented at the beginning of the public health emergency. Well, the delivery crew for the flight inspection aircraft ran into some of the same restrictions. Normally, they spend the night in American Samoa, but this year they were only able to stop to refuel during the long flight from Honolulu to Christchurch.
The aircraft was delivered to Christchurch on schedule, one day before the end of the Antarctica crew’s completion of New Zealand’s managed isolation.
It should be noted that while New Zealand is rugged, green and gorgeous, the crew could only view it from the hotel window while in isolation. New Zealand authorities are clear about what you should expect while staying in a managed isolation facility: You stay in a hotel with free basic toiletries and refreshments, unlimited Wi-Fi service and television, and laundry. Three meals a day, and “some snacks” are provided.
However, your ability to leave your room and your time in exercise areas are restricted. In addition, you must wear a mask when you are outside your room and when somebody else comes to your door (e.g., the daily health check). The crew were given their own cleaning supplies — no daily cleaning service in isolation!
Mission lead Brad Elliott summed up his experience in quarantine by saying: “We could walk the perimeter of the small courtyard in our hotel in just 104 steps. And in USAP isolation, I could pivot in place and touch three of the four walls of my hotel room.”
Weather, of course, waits for nobody. When the crew was released from isolation in New Zealand, they re-entered USAP isolation because the weather at their destination was too harsh for them to land. The three-person advance team managed to fly out on a C-17 on Oct. 29 so they could set up the office and complete runway inspection and emergency procedure inspection in a helicopter.
The rest of the team almost joined them Oct. 30, but they were forced to turn around just 30 minutes before arriving at the “point of safe return” because of a runway pavement failure caused by the arrival of a C-17. They returned to USAP isolation in Christchurch until the issue was resolved and the weather cleared again on Nov. 5.
On the ice
By the time that the full team finally arrived in Antarctica to start their work, it had already been 30 days and more than 9,000 miles. After waiting all that time and traveling all that distance, the team completed the inspections Nov. 5–10.
mission to Antarctica. (Photo: FAA)
The three maintenance team members attended to the aircraft 24 hours a day to keep the aircraft in an airworthy condition. As usual, the crew flew whenever possible and was restricted mostly by the changeable and unpredictable weather.
In total, they inspected one microwave landing system, one transponder landing system, two tactical air navigation systems, one precision approach path indicator, one set of runway-end identification lights, one simplified short approach light system and 35 instrument procedures.
There’s no place like home
The trip home was not nearly so onerous. The team left Antarctica on Nov. 10 to return to Christchurch. This time they only stayed a few days before leaving for the U.S.
The shipping container with their gear will have a longer journey — it will not return to Oklahoma City until January. But that’s fine because it will be there just in time for the organization to start planning their (hopefully much less complicated) mission for 2021.
Special thanks to this year’s mission and delivery crews for their dedication to the Antarctica mission. The mission crewmembers were Brad Elliott, Chris Forman, Jimmy Hawley, Jason Hill, David Kiggins, Tim Nail, Gabe Parkison, Jay Sandwell, Ken Struble and Brandon Vanderschaaf. The delivery crewmembers were Roger Salinas, Daniel Stricker and Dustin Welsh.
