What is RonTom?

We are two "Old Timers" with a passion for aviation and a penchant for telling stories. The result is some aviation/flightsim storytelling based on some real-world locations that we think are fun and/or interesting. We hope that this semi-regular feature will inspire you to learn or explore or fly somewhere new. (If you have locations that you'd like to have us visit, please feel free to e-mail: [email]rontomsimmers@gmail.com[/email]).

Into The White

It is the fifth-largest continent, nearly twice the size of Australia, and on average the coldest, driest, and windiest place on the planet. It has the highest average elevation. It is, for the most part, a polar desert, with annual precipitation of 200 mm (8 in) along the coast and far less inland. At the same time, about 70% of the world's freshwater reserves are frozen here.

With an average ice thickness of 1.9 km (1.2 mi; 6,200 feet), Antarctica holds the record for the lowest temperature on Earth, measured to be -89.2 C (-128.6 F). The average for the third quarter (the coldest part of the year) is -63 C (-81 F). Native species include penguins, seals, mites, nematodes, and tardigrades. Vegetation consists of only tundra.

Captain James Cook's ships, HMS Resolution and Adventure, crossed the Antarctic Circle in January 1773, December 1773, and again in January 1774. Cook came within about 120 km (75 mi) of the Antarctic coast before retreating in the face of field ice in January 1773. In 1775, Cook called the existence of a polar continent "probable" and in another copy of his journal he wrote: "(I) firmly believe it and it's more than probable that we have seen a part of it".

In 1895 the first confirmed landing was accomplished by a Norwegian team. Shackleton parties in 1907, became the first to reach the magnetic pole. Roald Amundsen became the first to reach the geographic pole in 1911, and Richard E. Byrd led four geographical and scientific research expeditions to Antarctica during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s.

It was not until October 31, 1956, that a U.S. Navy group led by Rear Admiral George J. Dufek successfully landed an aircraft at the South Pole.

Today, Antarctica is governed by about 30 countries, all of which are parties to the 1959 Antarctic Treaty System. According to the terms of the treaty, military activity, mining, nuclear explosions and nuclear waste disposal are all prohibited. The treaty set aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, and established freedom of scientific investigation and environmental protection.

Sovereignty over regions of Antarctica is claimed by seven countries. While a few of these countries have mutually recognized each other's claims, the validity of these claims is not recognized universally.

As of 2022, 29 countries maintain 70 research stations in Antarctica, though most of these only fully operate in the summer. In the summer more than 4,000 scientists populate the place; which decreases to just over 1,000 in the winter. McMurdo Station, which is the largest research station in Antarctica, is capable of housing more than 1,000 scientists, visitors, and tourists.

Researchers include biologists, geologists, oceanographers, physicists, astronomers, glaciologists, and meteorologists.

Small-scale 'expedition tourism' has existed since 1957 and is currently subject to Antarctic Treaty and Environmental Protocol provisions. Travel is largely by small or medium ship, focusing on specific scenic locations with accessible concentrations of iconic wildlife.

Sightseeing flights (which did not land) operated out of Australia and New Zealand until the fatal crash of Air New Zealand Flight 901 in the Mount Erebus disaster in 1979. Qantas resumed commercial overflights (https://www.antarcticaflights.com.au/) to Antarctica from Australia in the mid-1990s.

Enough history and research for now. Time for some adventure. I've found an NSF LC-130 flight to jump on from New Zealand to McMurdo Station. See you on the ice!

The Adventure

The food was steaming hot, the breeze was colder than expected and the Mediterranean was blue - so very blue. As we reflected on our time in Spain I asked Tom what he was thinking for our next destination. "South" was his only response.

"Like, Mallorca or like Tunisia?"

"Further."

"Rwanda? I loved my time in Rwanda. Too bad FS sucks at portraying Africa!"

Tom silently rolled his eyes before placing his fork on the table. "All the way south" he said. "Antarctica HAS to be a place that anyone considered an 'Adventurer' would want to go. So, RonTom ADVENTURES is going." With that, he finished his meal in silence.

Okay, dude, the last time I tried to fly something in Antarctica (it is a long ways from ANYTHING) it was too big of an aircraft and too rugged a runway and navigation sucks and it's so dang windy and it's just ... white like, every day!

So actually, what I remember more than all of that is that there were some tall mountains around wherever I was. So I looked, the tallest peak on Antarctica is Mt. Vinson at 16,050 feet. Wow! That's taller than Washington's Mt. Rainier. Additionally, this HAS to be a typo! "The elevation at the South Pole is 9,300 feet above sea level." Whaaaaaat? That's 4,000 feet higher than Denver!

Okay, now I was curious. Europe ranges from sea level to >14,000 feet with an average of 764 feet. North America ranges from below sea level (Salton Sea, CA) to >16,000 feet with an average of 938 feet. South America with its Andes Mountains ranges from 0 feet to >17,000 feet with an average of ... 397 feet. That must be a result of the Amazon Basin!

Africa has less really high and less really low land with an average elevation of around 2,000 feet. Considerably higher than the Americas or Europe. Asia is even higher (cough Tibet cough) with an average elevation of 3,120 feet. But the "uninhabited" Continent of Antarctica has an average elevation of ... That can't be right! Checking several sources ... What the ... ? Antarctica has an average elevation of 8,200 feet!? Where is that "mind blown imoji"?

Okay, so, anyway, we head off to one of FSX's "McMurdo Stations". Have you seen this video?

From McMurdo I hopped into the now-infamous "RonTom Adventures Amphibian" and headed west towards the highest terrain that I could see. Hang on ... "Houston, we have a problem!" ... When I put WEST into the GPS my aircraft flies towards Samoa. I turn the heading knob 180° to EAST and my aircraft turns towards Cape Town. Neither of these directions heads me over the mountains of Antarctica! So, I am left with keeping the map view / GPS open and turning my heading towards the terrain irregardless of what the GPS heading says.

Good ol FSX ... The closer I get to the mountains the less impressive they look. Finally I turned back and returned to McMurdo after a 90-minute flight. Next up I loaded all of the fuel (plus some extra) into a Penguin-livery 737-500 and set in a route to the southernmost FS VOR at Marambio (SAWB). This is around 2,000 miles. I headed off without an issue, climbed to altitude and set in the GPS routing. Despite the suggested heading, the aircraft nose always tended to point a bit more northward. Some hours later I was able to fly past the Mt. Vinson area and was able to confirm that it is both high and featureless! As I started my descent, I called Marambio Station and was told that they were closed! Clouded over ... IFR ... No go! Well, I needed fuel but not desperately so I continued a few hundred more miles to Isla Rey Jorge (SCRM) where I was able to land safely before the impending storms.

You'll see some lightning on my video and notice the low-speed, SLOGGY approach to the short, frozen runway. But, by some miracle we had survived Tom's Polar Challenge. How about we don't do this again?