Antarctica Adventures in C130 Hercs.

By Captain Bob Henderson (MNZM, AFC) Retired Air Force Wing Commander and Air New Zealand Captain and Flight Examiner - 17,000 hours, 10,500 in jets and 700 in gliders.

It’s November, the annual 40 Squadron Ice Cube operation to McMurdo, Antarctica. Each year since 1965, when the C130’s first arrived in New Zealand, the Squadron has spent a month operating from Christchurch to McMurdo in support of the New Zealand Antarctica scientific programme.

Routinely there are 12 missions flown each season and careful attention is paid to the weather conditions en route and at McMurdo to minimise the chances of aircraft having to abort the flight and return to Christchurch. It’s a 7½ hour trip to the ice runway, and 7 hours back, or a long 10+hour flight if the weather closes in and the aircraft has to divert – the last point of diversion back to NZ being in the vicinity of Cape Hallet. Routinely only one aircraft would fly each day.

This particular year we had been jinxed by the weather patterns and unable to launch flights for days. The cargo and people were all sitting in Christchurch waiting to be lifted to McMurdo and Scott Base.

To add to our woes, the ice sheet that fills McMurdo sound and makes the ice runway possible, was starting to break away from the shore as the summer season approached.

We had one chance left to complete our missions for the season before the ice runway was deemed too risky by the engineers.

Finally, with a good forecast we planned to launch three aircraft together to complete the last 3 missions for the season. Hectic activity at Deep Freeze, the operational ramp for the Antarctica missions at Christchurch, saw all three aircraft ready to go on planned down-and-back flights. We were not going to overnight because the ice breaking away from the shore made travel to the American station at McMurdo problematic.

Heading south, as close together as we could, we had a great run until just past Cape Hallet. The weather was fine and the weather at the ice runway was remaining good.  

Then a call from the skipper in the 3rd aircraft; they had a “ramp unsafe” warning light, which is activated if one of the hydraulic locks that hold the ramp closed moves. The fix is to descend to 10,000ft, depressurise, open and then close the ramp to reset the lock(s). Sounds good, but then they were still some 2 hours from landing at McMurdo. Down they dropped to 10,000ft and cycled the ramp. It closed and the lights all went out. Success! Climbing back to altitude they were now only a few minutes behind the first two aircraft.

A while later we were all safely on the ground and a lovely picture of the three C130’s lined up under the mantle of Mt Erebus was the prize for the day.

Now to get home. The three flight engineers worked as a team to turn the aircraft around. They then started refuelling – and the refuelling system is pressured to 60psi – it moves a lot of fuel quickly. Suddenly we were all aware of a commotion at the side of my aircraft. A seal in the aircraft fuel plumbing had failed and jet fuel, at 60psi, was fountaining out of the top of the undercarriage wheel bay and all over the three engineers!

So, we now had two problems. The first was could we still refuel my aircraft. Yes, there are manual fuel valves on the top of the wing. It’s slower, but it meant we could get the fuel on board. However, the second problem was three flight engineers now wearing very aromatic flight suits smelling strongly of jet fuel. In short, they were contaminated. Was it even viable to think for topping up the fuel tanks and heading home in that condition? No.

So, we now faced an overnight – with 18 crew in a bunkroom designed for 12 – at McMurdo station. The engineers were able to decontaminate and wash their flight suits. We all squeezed into the bunkroom and had a reasonable nights sleep – except maybe for those who were on the floor and kept getting stepped on whenever someone need to go to the toilet.

The next morning we were told that we would be flown out to the aircraft by helicopter, as the transition from the shore to the ice field had become so broken that is was unsafe to take wheeled vehicles across. Breakfast, a quick 5 minutes heli ride and we were back on board the aircraft getting them ready to head for Christchurch.

Thankfully, particularly as ‘ground’ conditions were deteriorating quickly, flight preparation and departure was uneventful.

Again, the weather was great so we had a very comfortable flight home to finish the season all missions accomplished.

Melissa here. As we say goodbye to this remarkable workhorse fleet as it finishes service with the Airforce, if you’re feeling a little nostalgic for the Hercs, read Bob’s article on some of the tour of duties he did on the fleet - I loved the stories from the Gulf War!.

You can read the article here - https://www.pauwelsflyingscholarship.co.nz/blog/nbspthe-air-force-is-just-a-great-big-aero-club-but-way-more-fun