As the sun hangs low over the horizon, a critical mission is about to take place shortly after the Antarctic dawn.
For the past seven-and-a-half hours, a C-17 Globemaster has been tracking south-west en route to Mawson Station.
As the giant aircraft gets closer, its four engines reverberate loudly across the icy landscape.
Then, once the plane reaches the drop zone, expeditioners on the ground are given a sight to behold.
“One of the most spectacular things that you can see in Antarctica is to see some 30 parachutes full of equipment [falling from the sky],” said Dani Yannopoulos, who heads the operations and logistics branch at the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD).
“You are not sure what’s coming, [so it’s] a little bit like Christmas, I guess.”
Months earlier, expeditioners at Mawson Station had been left with only limited supplies after a resupply voyage carried out by the RSV Nuyina didn’t go to plan.
Malfunctioning cranes and bad weather meant half the ship’s cargo — including building equipment, food, coffee and personal items — could not be offloaded.
While the expeditioners could have endured the dark winter months with what they already had on station, a decision was made to top-up their supplies.
“We have incredible people that can make the most of what we have,” said Ms Yannopoulous.
“But it is nicer to get those kinds of comforts, and it does make a difference.”
However, the complexity of delivering 14 tonnes of cargo to one of the world’s most remote and extreme environments was a logistical challenge.
“It looks easy as it comes out of the sky, but there’s four to six weeks of planning,” Ms Yannopoulous said.
“You’re threading the eye of a needle when it comes to the weather, making sure that you have the right wind conditions … getting the right light and the right timing.”
Mid-air refuelling operation over Southern Ocean
Weeks before the C-17 took flight, Defence personnel started working on the complex mission.
First, parachute riggers and air dispatchers had to prepare the cargo in compliance with strict biosecurity protocols in Antarctica.
“We’re using very clean, new equipment, all the parachutes are brand new, so that we don’t introduce any sort of environmental risk to the Antarctic environment,” Wing Commander Nicholas Fairweather said.
Once the pallets were ready for pick up, the plane flew from its base in Queensland to Hobart, where loadmasters strapped down the supplies in its cargo bay.
From there, the C-17 jetted to RAAF Base Pearce in Western Australia to await the all-clear for the final leg of the operation.
Then, when weather conditions were deemed appropriate, the aircraft set off on its journey to the frozen continent.
“The total mission length we’re looking at is about 14 hours and a little over 10,000-kilometre round trip,” Flight Lieutenant Nicholas Power said.
“We do have bunks on the aircraft, and we have extra crew, so we can rotate them through the cockpit so that everyone’s well rested for the critical components of the mission.”
But even before the plane made it Antarctica, the crew had to undertake a separate challenge in air space high over the Southern Ocean.
“[The plane is] going to get air-to-air refuelled by a Royal Australian Air Force KC-30,” Wing Commander Fairweather said.
“And that’ll give it the extra gas it needs to make such a long journey.”
‘Challenging’ mission completed after team effort
Wing Commander Fairweather is the commanding officer of Operation Southern Discovery, which provides logistical support to the Australian Antarctic Program.
While his team has conducted several other Antarctic airdrops in the past, he said it was important to maintain the skills by completing another one.
“It presents a really unique opportunity for us to test our skills,” he said.
“So the vast distance is certainly a challenge, obviously conducting mid-air refuelling is a complex task, but our crews are very good at it.”
Ms Yannopoulos said the success of the latest airdrop underscored the importance of Operation Southern Discovery.
“We work in the most extreme environments, [so] it’s critically important that we have lots of layers of approaches.
“Which is why we have a world class ship, we have aviation assets and great partnerships with other parts of government that allows us to do this airdrop.”
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