The Airbus A319 aircraft, named Snowbird 1, departed from Hobart, Australia, on 31/7, heading to the US McMurdo Station in Antarctica. This mission followed an "emergency support request", as announced by Skytraders, the Melbourne-based company owning the aircraft, on 6/8.

After a five-and-a-half-hour journey, Snowbird 1 landed at Phoenix airfield, near McMurdo, in near total darkness. Temperatures plunged to -43°C, conditions that approached the aircraft's operational limits. The patient was then immediately transferred to Christchurch, New Zealand, just before the weather deteriorated further.

The US National Science Foundation (NSF) informed ABC Australia that the patient was hospitalized in Christchurch in critical condition.

Emma Campbell, Director of the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) within Australia's Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, described the operation as highly complex, undertaken during the harsh Antarctic winter.

Skytraders' Airbus A319 aircraft arriving in Antarctica on 31/7. *Photo: Skytraders*.

Al Wallach, one of the 4 pilots involved in the mission, stated that their success stemmed from years of preparation, intensive training, and coordination among the flight crew, meteorologists, operations planning team, runway personnel, and medical staff.

"The conditions we faced almost reached the operational limits of even the most specialized aircraft", Wallach said.

The sun had set at the South Pole on 23/3 and would not rise again until 21/9, leaving the region in darkness for months.

According to pilot Louise Robertson, the flight was initially scheduled for 30/7 but was canceled due to a snowstorm. The following day, the crew had only a very short window with sufficiently favorable weather conditions for takeoff.

"Landing in complete darkness, amid such extreme cold, is exceedingly rare. To my knowledge, no flight has ever accomplished that before", she stated, adding that they remained at Phoenix airfield for precisely one hour to complete the patient evacuation.

Sign for McMurdo Station, a US research facility in Antarctica, in 12/2018. *Photo: AP*.

This was not the first medical evacuation flight deployed in Antarctica. In April, the New Zealand Air Force dispatched a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft to Phoenix airfield to urgently transport a New Zealand citizen, working for the US Antarctic Program, to a hospital for treatment.

Previously, in 8/2025, New Zealand also utilized this aircraft to evacuate three individuals from McMurdo Station to a medical facility.

Nhu Tam (According to AP, BBC)