For the first time an Airbus A340 landed in Antarctica

For the first time in history a Airbus A340 landedó in the Antártica belonging to the company Hi Fly. Press photo HiFly

The Captainán Carlos Mirpuri and his crewóThey didn't fly the planeón widebody, from Cape Town to the White Continent and back; the trip is from 2.500 miles náUticas, flying little más of five hours each way. Never before an Airbus A340 habíhas landed on a blue glacial ice runway in the AntáArctic.

The A340-313HGW has a high-flying matí9H-SOL has a weight mátakeoff ximo 275 tons, be usedá this season to take a little oneñnútourist grouper, together with hundredífics and essential cargo to the White Continent.

The flight narrated by the Commander and Vice President of Hi Fly

The crewón se reunió and leftó from the hotel in Cape Town at 5 am local. Transportation was lateó 30 minutes to get to CPT airport. Processing throughés airport tomó others 30 minutes and we arrived at the aircraft at 6 am, leaving two hours for our STD (scheduled departure time).

Engineers and ground operations personnelíThey left the hotel an hour early, so when we got to the aircraft, refueling is completedó and the charge was underway. Esperábamos 23 passengers, all client staff, and since this was the first flight of the season, most of the ground support equipment you will needímasters at WFR (Wolf’s Fang Runway, Antártida) was actually in our cargo compartments. The first two outputs have as úsole objective to establish the operationón in the Antártida, before the summer season 2021/2022.

The 2500 miles náutics between CPT and WFR will take usí5h10m down and 5h20m back. As this was the first flight, with limited ground support, we plan a response time of 3 hours in WFR.

As usual, we start with a sessionóinformation for the crewón upon arriving at the planeón. This is not a m flightás, There are specificities related to this operationón so remote to beíwe love performing, the hostile environment we faceímasters and the need to ensure that appropriate protective clothing isé on board.

While cabin checks and catering loading were carried out, my crewón y yo isáWe were inspecting the aircraft, checking your systems, loading the route into the navigation computersón and informing the details of our departure.

The passengers arrived 20 minutes before ETD. They were exactly 8 am, local time, when we turn away from the door. On time. Every time. This is the motto of Hi Fly.

We carry 77 tons of fuel. El 9H-SOL is an A340-313HGW (high gross weight) with a weight mátakeoff ximo 275 tons.

Its redundancy of 4 engines and their very long range, they turn it into the avión ideal for this type of missionón.

The route to WFR was almost direct, after completing the authorization procedureóinstrument output n issued by traffic controlánsito aéCPT inmate. We were soon delivered to Johannesburg oceanic viaés de CPDLC / ADS, avoiding theí the tiring and noisy communicationón long-range HF technology dating back to theños 50.

Finally we detect the alignmentón of the track and we start setting up, selecting flaps and landing gear so that they were completely stabilized 10 miles before the runway. There is also no guívisual glide slope, and the mix of the track with the surrounding terrain and the immense white desert around, makes height judgment a challengeíO, to say the least.

Go oldímeters in cold timeíit's también suffer from temperature errors and need adjustments. All of this was accounted for.. We flew with a textbook approach for an uneventful landing, and the aircraft workedó exactly as planned. When we got to the speed of the taxi, I could hear a round of applause from the booth. East áwe were happy. Afterés of everything, Eastáwe were writing history.

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