Pegasus Field
77°57′48″S 166°31′28″E / 77.96333°S 166.52444°E
Pegasus Field | |||||||||||
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 White ice runway at Pegasus Field | |||||||||||
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| Location | McMurdo Station, Ross Island, Antarctica | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 18 ft / 5 m | ||||||||||
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| Runways | |||||||||||
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Pegasus Field (ICAO: NZPG) is an airstrip in Antarctica, the southernmost of three runways serving McMurdo Station. Pegasus is a white ice runway capable of handling wheeled aircraft year-round. The other two are the snow runway at Williams Field that is limited to ski-equipped aircraft, and the principal Ice Runway on the sea-ice available during the summer Antarctic field season.
Pegasus Field is named after a C-121 Lockheed Constellation christened "Pegasus" which is still visible in the snow there. On October 8, 1970, the "Pegasus" crashed in bad weather. No one on board was injured. However, the plane remains and gives this place its name.
On September 11, 2008, a United States Air Force C-17 Globemaster III successfully completed the first landing in Antarctica using night-vision goggles at Pegasus Field.[3] Previously air transport in the permanent darkness of the winter was only used in emergencies, with burning barrels of fuel to outline the runway.
References
- ^ Template:WAD
- ^ Airport information for NZPG at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective October 2006).
- ^ Rejcek, Peter (September 26, 2008). "Air Force successfully tests new capability to fly any time of year to McMurdo". Antarctic Sun.
External links
- The McMurdo "Pegasus Site" from "Airfields on Antarctic Glacier Ice" by Malcolm Mellor and Charles Swithinbank, CRREL 1989.
- Lockheed Aircraft R7V-1 / R7V-1P / C-121J "Constellation" "Connie"
- Installation of runway-Pegasus
- Runway Project Clears the Way for Improved Antarctic Airlift, National Science Foundation. February 20, 2002.
- Current weather for NZPG at NOAA/NWS