WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A New Zealand air force plane took off Tuesday to rescue four ailing Americans at an Antarctic research station. Meanwhile, high winds grounded a separate airlift for a sick American doctor at the South Pole.
A C130 Hercules left Christchurch, New Zealand, for a 71/2-hour flight to McMurdo Station to retrieve the four, said Peter West of the U.S. National Science Foundation near Washington.
Mr. West said the Royal New Zealand Air Force plane would reach a point of “safe return” about four hours into its flight, when it would determine if weather conditions are suitable for landing at McMurdo, 800 miles from the South Pole.
Ground temperatures were 22 below zero with some clouds but no wind – good conditions for an ice runway landing, said David Bryce, the winter station manager at Scott Base, a New Zealand research center near McMurdo.
If the flight is successful, the plane was expected to spend only one hour on the ground at McMurdo to refuel and pick up the Americans.
Their ailments have not been disclosed.
Earlier, blowing snow, high winds and low visibility forced another air crew at the Rothera Research Station on the Antarctic Peninsula to announce it would delay attempts for at least 24 hours to reach Dr. Ronald Shemenski at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.
Dr. Shemenski, the only physician among 50 researchers working at that research station, has been diagnosed with the potentially life-threatening condition known as pancreatitis.
Flights to the South Pole station normally are halted from late February until November because of the extreme cold and darkness. But the rescuers are worried that Dr. Shemenski’s condition could worsen.
Aviation experts say this would be the first time a plane has attempted a landing during the winter at the South Pole, where temperatures are now 75 degrees below zero.
