Construction, Maintenance, and Operation of a Glacial Runway, McMurdo Station, Antarctica
On 7 February 1994, a C-141 departed Christchurch, New Zealand, and landed on the 3050 m (10,000-ft) Pegasus glacial ice runway, located on the Ross Ice Shelf 13 km (8 miles) south of McMurdo, Antarctica. This event marked the final test for a five-year development program to demonstrate the feasibi...
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ftdtic:ADA348091 2023-05-15T13:43:24+02:00 Construction, Maintenance, and Operation of a Glacial Runway, McMurdo Station, Antarctica Blaisdell, George L. Lang, Renee M. Crist, Gerald Kurtti, Keith Harbin, R. J. COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LAB HANOVER NH 1998-03 text/html http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA348091 http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA348091 en eng http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA348091 APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE DTIC Terminal Flight Facilities *LANDING FIELDS *RUNWAYS *ANTARCTIC REGIONS *GLACIERS SNOW CONSTRUCTION ICE OPERATION MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT INFRASTRUCTURE MCMURDO STATION(ANTARCTICA) C-141 AIRCRAFT LC-130 AIRCRAFT Text 1998 ftdtic 2016-02-19T23:35:10Z On 7 February 1994, a C-141 departed Christchurch, New Zealand, and landed on the 3050 m (10,000-ft) Pegasus glacial ice runway, located on the Ross Ice Shelf 13 km (8 miles) south of McMurdo, Antarctica. This event marked the final test for a five-year development program to demonstrate the feasibility of a semipermanent glacial ice runway capable of supporting heavy wheeled aircraft at a site easily accessible to McMurdo. In the later phases of developing the glacial ice runway, numerous working flights of LC-130s operating on wheels (rather than skis) moved cargo more efficiently to the South Pole, and the LC-130 and a C-130 carried larger passenger loads to Christchurch. The primary benefit of the Pegasus runway to the U.S. Antarctic Program is its ability to support heavy wheeled aircraft for most of the period of mid-January through November. In the past, only ski-equipped aircraft could land in the McMurdo area during this time period. The Pegasus runway allows increased payloads for the LC-130 (an additional 3600-kg or 8000-lb takeoff weight when using wheels) and provides access for virtually any conventional aircraft. The technology for siting, constructing, maintaining, and operating such a runway is now well understood and is described in detail in this comprehensive report. Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Shelf Ross Ice Shelf South pole South pole Defense Technical Information Center: DTIC Technical Reports database Antarctic Ross Ice Shelf New Zealand South Pole McMurdo Station ENVELOPE(166.667,166.667,-77.850,-77.850) Christchurch ENVELOPE(164.167,164.167,-82.467,-82.467) Ice Runway ENVELOPE(166.469,166.469,-77.854,-77.854) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Defense Technical Information Center: DTIC Technical Reports database |
op_collection_id |
ftdtic |
language |
English |
topic |
Terminal Flight Facilities *LANDING FIELDS *RUNWAYS *ANTARCTIC REGIONS *GLACIERS SNOW CONSTRUCTION ICE OPERATION MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT INFRASTRUCTURE MCMURDO STATION(ANTARCTICA) C-141 AIRCRAFT LC-130 AIRCRAFT |
spellingShingle |
Terminal Flight Facilities *LANDING FIELDS *RUNWAYS *ANTARCTIC REGIONS *GLACIERS SNOW CONSTRUCTION ICE OPERATION MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT INFRASTRUCTURE MCMURDO STATION(ANTARCTICA) C-141 AIRCRAFT LC-130 AIRCRAFT Blaisdell, George L. Lang, Renee M. Crist, Gerald Kurtti, Keith Harbin, R. J. Construction, Maintenance, and Operation of a Glacial Runway, McMurdo Station, Antarctica |
topic_facet |
Terminal Flight Facilities *LANDING FIELDS *RUNWAYS *ANTARCTIC REGIONS *GLACIERS SNOW CONSTRUCTION ICE OPERATION MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT INFRASTRUCTURE MCMURDO STATION(ANTARCTICA) C-141 AIRCRAFT LC-130 AIRCRAFT |
description |
On 7 February 1994, a C-141 departed Christchurch, New Zealand, and landed on the 3050 m (10,000-ft) Pegasus glacial ice runway, located on the Ross Ice Shelf 13 km (8 miles) south of McMurdo, Antarctica. This event marked the final test for a five-year development program to demonstrate the feasibility of a semipermanent glacial ice runway capable of supporting heavy wheeled aircraft at a site easily accessible to McMurdo. In the later phases of developing the glacial ice runway, numerous working flights of LC-130s operating on wheels (rather than skis) moved cargo more efficiently to the South Pole, and the LC-130 and a C-130 carried larger passenger loads to Christchurch. The primary benefit of the Pegasus runway to the U.S. Antarctic Program is its ability to support heavy wheeled aircraft for most of the period of mid-January through November. In the past, only ski-equipped aircraft could land in the McMurdo area during this time period. The Pegasus runway allows increased payloads for the LC-130 (an additional 3600-kg or 8000-lb takeoff weight when using wheels) and provides access for virtually any conventional aircraft. The technology for siting, constructing, maintaining, and operating such a runway is now well understood and is described in detail in this comprehensive report. |
author2 |
COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LAB HANOVER NH |
format |
Text |
author |
Blaisdell, George L. Lang, Renee M. Crist, Gerald Kurtti, Keith Harbin, R. J. |
author_facet |
Blaisdell, George L. Lang, Renee M. Crist, Gerald Kurtti, Keith Harbin, R. J. |
author_sort |
Blaisdell, George L. |
title |
Construction, Maintenance, and Operation of a Glacial Runway, McMurdo Station, Antarctica |
title_short |
Construction, Maintenance, and Operation of a Glacial Runway, McMurdo Station, Antarctica |
title_full |
Construction, Maintenance, and Operation of a Glacial Runway, McMurdo Station, Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Construction, Maintenance, and Operation of a Glacial Runway, McMurdo Station, Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Construction, Maintenance, and Operation of a Glacial Runway, McMurdo Station, Antarctica |
title_sort |
construction, maintenance, and operation of a glacial runway, mcmurdo station, antarctica |
publishDate |
1998 |
url |
http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA348091 http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA348091 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(166.667,166.667,-77.850,-77.850) ENVELOPE(164.167,164.167,-82.467,-82.467) ENVELOPE(166.469,166.469,-77.854,-77.854) |
geographic |
Antarctic Ross Ice Shelf New Zealand South Pole McMurdo Station Christchurch Ice Runway |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Ross Ice Shelf New Zealand South Pole McMurdo Station Christchurch Ice Runway |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Shelf Ross Ice Shelf South pole South pole |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Shelf Ross Ice Shelf South pole South pole |
op_source |
DTIC |
op_relation |
http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA348091 |
op_rights |
APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE |
_version_ |
1766188554154672128 |