Kenn Borek Completes Antarctic Resue

Editorial Staff

Wednesday, June 22, 2016 at 12:00 AM ET

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Key Takeaways:

Two polar station workers were successfully medically evacuated from the Amundsen-Scott South Pole station by Kenn Borek Air.
The ~1500-mile flight from the South Pole to Rothera (Antarctic Peninsula) was conducted using a DeHavilland Twin Otter.
The patients will receive further medical care after being transported from Rothera to Punta Arenas, Chile.
The challenging 10-hour flight was near the Twin Otter's maximum range and required careful staging and a suitable weather window.

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Two polar station workers in need of medical care were successfully evacuated from the Amundsen-Scott station as the South Pole on Wednesday, according to the National Science Foundation. CBC reported that the Calgary-based Kenn Borek Air flew the two workers from Amundsen-Scott to Rothera, on the Antarctic Peninsula, a distance of some 1500 miles. The patients will be further transported to Punta Arenas, Chile, where they will receive additional medical care, according to NSF.

Borek used a DeHavilland Twin Otter for the extraction and to provide backup and search and rescue, it flew two of the aircraft from its Calgary base last week to Rothera, where the primary aircraft staged, refueled and awaited a suitable weather window. The flight takes about 10 hours and is very near the Otter’s maximum range. The NSF did not release the names of the patients.