Any news about the Antarctica rescue?

As many know there is a man with serious health issues at the Admundson-Scott center near the South pole. As of the last news I've heard there are a pair of Twin Otters deployed, one to bring him out, the other for SAR if needed. And yes today is the start of winter there & they will have no daylight for months to come.

 

I've tried several web sources and can find no updates later than yesterday. At that time they were hoping to perhaps start an operation today.

 

Does anyone have more current knowledge? Does anyone know of a link I/we can log into to get updates?

 

Please advise,

 

Michael

http://www.google.com and the search term "Antarctica rescue" will find you a lot of info/updates. Very simple, no logins needed.

I found this: https://www.inverse.com/article/17240-rescue-plane-arrives-in-antarctica-but-the-hard-part-is-still-to-come

Waiting for better weather at Rothera survey station.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/kenn-borek-air-weather-delays-june-20-1.3643208

 

Here's a description of the South Pole rescue they did in 2001.

 

http://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/canadians-pulled-off-daring-2001-south-pole-rescue-1.1127682

I understand that atm weather is their limiting factor.

I think is says something about a mission like this that they have two birds assigned, one to do the rescue (they hope!), one to act as SAR for the first one. Tells me that it's a heck of a tough mission, even with good weather! Normally, that station is isolated from Feb through Oct. Long time to be isolated from the world!

Someone mentioned it would be easier to rescue someone from the Space Station. Gives ya an idea of the difficulty.

I hope they save the guy(s)!

Pat☺

They've made it to the South Pole, and are now resting before the return flight. Took 9 hours for the flight.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/kenn-borek-air-weather-delays-june-20-1.3645013

It is a difficult mission to fly. One of the biggest problems is the extreme cold. Everything on the plane becomes far more fragile, and all liquids (fuel, oil, hydraulics) are prone to freezing. This is where the Twotter has an advantage in being a relatively simple plane. There is far less to keep warm and running than a Hercules or other aircraft type.

Latest update I saw, they have launched the mission, the weather having cleared. It's still freakin' cold though! A scientist involved said the average is -60 C(-75F), and yes, they mentioned about the Hyd fluid and so one freezing. Maybe that's why they got the Canadian birds? Maybe the Canadians are used to cold like that and have modified their aircraft to take it into account as much as they can...Different type of hyd fluid, oil, and so on? I know the US Army Arctic unit up in Alaska has a lot of special fluids they use, so maybe.

Anyway, it's on. Here's hoping for a good outcome!

Pat☺

Appears they're on the way back to Rothera now, no word on whether they're evacuating one scientist or two at this point.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/kenn-borek-air-south-pole-june-22-1.3646966