Airbus A319 Flown in to Rescue Sick Worker in Antarctic
Australian Airbus A319 near McMurdo Station-Antarctica (Photo by Nisha Harris/Australian Antarctic Division)
A sick US citizen working at a research center in the Antarctic was rescued by an Australian Airbus A319 on Thursday.
The Airbus A319 (pictured) was flown in by Australian Antarctic Division to transport the ill man from the US McMurdo station in Antarctica to a medical facility in New Zealand.
The exact nature of the injuries has not been disclosed, but the transport to New Zealand, where they took the patient, was required due to the lack of treatment the man needed.
“The patient is currently stable but may require immediate corrective surgery,” a statement by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) said earlier on Thursday.
It added that the base was “not equipped for the type of procedure being contemplated”.
NSF said that they would not release his or her name because of privacy issues.
The runway at McMurdo station is one of very few on the continent that is operational most of the year. The rescue also had to be timed to coincide with limited daylight that occurs during this time of year.
Category: Airnation
Yikess, why an A319?? That’s a little overkill for a 75 minute flight! Being the only passenger, he’s probably not going to wanna wake up to the bill!!
what do you mean 75 minute flight? it’s 2500 miles from ccurch, nz to mcmurdo. unless the a319 has some supersonic mode i’m not aware of that’s going to take around 5-6 hours in the air.
See here: http://m.cnn.com/primary/cnnd_fullarticle?topic=newsarticle&category=cnnd_world&articleId=urn:newsml:CNN.com:20120809:antarctica-us-emergency:1&cookieFlag=COOKIE_SET
“The plane was airborne and en route with the patient back to Christchurch within about 75 minutes, said Debbie Wing, a spokeswoman for the U.S. National Science Foundation, which oversees the facility.”
Just the new normal crap that seems to be considered editing on the net lately. I read that as ‘they were back in the air within 75 minutes of landing in antartica’, not ‘it took them 75 minutes to get back’. It’s poorly worded imho. But don’t look at me, i’m an IT guy, not an english major. lol
Whoever wrote that needs to take an English class! The way they have it written, the “75 minutes” applies to the most recent statement, “with the patient back to Christchurch”… I have no idea… All i know is that an A319 ain’t cheap! LOL
Which story? Ours?
Oh no, no Lee, not this article, but the one i was looking at above… It was confusing when it writes “75 minutes”. I can’t tell if that was the flight time or the turnaround time.
Ah…got it. :)