C-17 tries night-vision landing in Antarctica

[unhappycamper]

C-17 tries night-vision landing in Antarctica
Staff report
Posted : Monday Apr 14, 2008 6:51:48 EDT

A C-17 crew is currently experimenting with night-vision goggle landing and takeoff procedures in Antarctica. If the mission is a success, it could open the way for year-round operations at the bottom of the world.

A crew of active-duty and reserve airmen left McChord Air Force Base, Wash., on Friday for Antarctica as part of this year’s Deep Freeze operation, an annual mission to re-supply the National Science Foundation outpost on the great ice desert.

Because Antarctica sees sunlight only half the year, the traditional window for Deep Freeze operations is August through February, said Capt. Jennifer Gerhard, spokeswoman for the reserve 446th Airlift Wing at McChord.

“This mission would allow us to provide support for the National Science Foundation year-round,” said Lt. Col. Jim McGann, Operation Deep Freeze commander from the 62nd Operations Group, in a press release. “McChord has been doing Operation Deep Freeze missions for more than 10 years now. With this successful mission, we will be able to ensure the increased effectiveness of the operation well into the future.”

The Deep Freeze missions shuttle supplies and people between McMurdo Station, Antarctica, and Christchurch, New Zealand. In the 2007-08 season, McChord C-17s have flown 57 missions into McMurdo Station, bringing 3.1 million pounds of cargo and more than 2,800 passengers.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/04/airforce_deepfreeze_nightvision_041208w/