Twin Otter missing in Antarctica

[ErrolC]

www.stuff.co.nz/national/8216948/South-Pole-flight-lost

LATEST: A search is underway for a plane carrying three men which has gone missing during a flight in Antarctica.

The flight had been from the South Pole to the Italian base in Terra Nova Bay. The three men on board are Canadians.

The Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) is coordinating the search after the Twin Otter aircraft's emergency locator transmitter was activated at around 10pm last night.

The beacon is transmitting from the Northern end of the Queen Alexandra Range, within New Zealand's Search and Rescue Region.

Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator Mike Roberts says United States authorities at McMurdo had been asked for assistance, and an Air National Guard C130 Hercules aircraft flew to the position but was unable to sight the downed plane.

A second Twin Otter aircraft is scheduled to take off at around 8am from McMurdo Station and will fly over the area.

It will aim to establish a forward base approximately 50km from the site, which is in a mountainous area.

A Scott Base helicopter is setting off with the Twin Otter, and will refuel en route.

A joint New Zealand and US field rescue team will attempt to reach the site by helicopter when conditions improve.

Weather conditions are currently poor, with total cloud cover and increasing winds.

- © Fairfax NZ News

[suthg]

Thanks - not good.

[beagle]

doesn't sound too good but i hope they find them soon.
i take it, if there wan't a C130 down there, they might have sent a P3, or not

[JDK]

Rescuers seek three Canadians on plane missing in Antarctica

Published Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013 03:18PM EST

Last updated Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013 04:59PM EST

Rescuers are looking for three Canadians aboard an airplane presumed to have gone down in Antarctica.

There’s no information on the fate of the passengers and crew aboard the ski-equipped Twin Otter, owned by Calgary-based Kenn Borek Air.

“We don’t know exactly what’s happening other than that the beacon is still transmitting,” said Capt. Jean Houde of the Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Trenton, Ont., which has been in touch with the New Zealand authorities in charge of the search. “We don’t know the condition of the people on board.”

Signals were received from the plane’s emergency locator beacon late Tuesday night. Houde said the beacon’s signal is right on the plane’s scheduled flight path, which was to have taken it from the South Pole to an Italian base in Terra Nova Bay.

The region is in New Zealand’s area of responsibility, and that country’s Rescue Co-ordination Centre is organizing the search. U.S. authorities at McMurdo Station, an American research station, are also involved.

A U.S. C-130 flew over the source of the locator beacon’s signal, but was unable to spot the plane due to heavy, low cloud, Houde said.

“Because of really bad weather conditions, they have not been able to have any visual on the aircraft. Nor were they able to establish any communications.”

The signal is coming from the north end of Antarctica’s Queen Alexandra range; the terrain is mountainous.

A second search plane is en route, Houde said.

“A DC-3 was being sent with skis with some alpine climbers with spotters, food, equipment, shelter,” he said. “Their hopes are to get a break in the weather, fly above the area where the signal is coming from and see something through.”

That plane is to be joined in the search by a helicopter from New Zealand’s Scott Base, a research station located near McMurdo.

A joint New Zealand-U.S. field team will be aboard the helicopter.

Search conditions in the area are considered poor, with heavy cloud cover and increasing winds.

Kenn Borek Air is experienced in Antarctic aviation and has been in operation since 1970.

The company, also a fixture in Canada’s North, routinely sends planes to the frozen continent. In 2003, its pilots and planes were involved in the daring rescue of an ailing research wprker from the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.

Marlene Egeland, a spokesperson with Kenn Borek Air Ltd. in Calgary, said it was too soon to comment on the state of the search and rescue mission near the South Pole.

Ms. Egeland said an update may be released later.

"We are asking for privacy at this time," she said.

The company has long operated at the bottom of the Earth and, according to its website, it has a fleet of 14 planes working in the Antarctic this year.

With files from Dawn Walton
© 2013 The Globe and Mail Inc. All Rights Reserved.

www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/rescuers-seek-three-canadians-on-plane-missing-in-antarctica/article7681672/

[kiwithrottlejockey]

What's with the DC-3 in Antarctica?

I head that on Radio NZ News and thought I had misheard it.

Then I heard it again on the 1PM news bulletin on Radio NZ National and they again mentioned a DC-3 taking part in the search.

I wasn't aware that DC-3s were still being used in Antarctica.

[delticman]

There has been turbine versions from Canada and USA in recent years

[JDK]

IIRC, they're Ken Borek operated Turboprop powered examples.

[ErrolC]

Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) media releases

www.maritimenz.govt.nz/News/Latest-media.asp

[ErrolC]

Check out the worse-than-useless map on this Canadian report (posted on WIX).

www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/01/23/antartica-plane-search.html

[dakman]

Ken Borek Air operate several Basler turbine conversions of the
faithfull DC3 .

[ngatimozart]

This is their website www.borekair.com/

[ErrolC]

No progress in the search due to weather :-(
It is not expected that any further updates will be issued until approximately 0800 Friday 25 January NZT

www.maritimenz.govt.nz/news/media-releases-2013/20130124c.asp


24 January 2013, 5.20pm

Bad weather continues to prevent searchers travelling to the site of a beacon activated by an aircraft with a crew of three Canadian men, overdue on a flight in Antarctica from the South Pole to Terra Nova Bay.

The Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) is coordinating the search, working with United States, Canadian and Italian authorities, after the Twin Otter aircraft’s emergency locator transmitter was activated at around 10pm last night (Wednesday, 23 January).

The beacon is transmitting from the Northern end of the Queen Alexandra Range, within New Zealand’s Search and Rescue Region – halfway between the South Pole and McMurdo Station – approximately 680km (370 nautical miles) in each direction.

There is solid cloud cover in the area, high winds of up to 170km/hr, and heavy snow.

Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator John Ashby said a DC3 aircraft had spent around five hours circling above the site of the beacon, but heavy cloud had prevented any visual contact. It has now returned to McMurdo Base.

Fixed wing aircraft and a number of helicopters, including a Southern Lakes (New Zealand) helicopter on contract to Antarctica New Zealand at Scott Base, remain on standby should weather conditions allow them to travel to the area.

“The forecast for the next 12 hours is for similar conditions, but if there is a break in the weather the joint New Zealand and US field rescue team is ready to go from McMurdo Base at short notice.”

The DC3 crew will now be stood down overnight, and given the weather is not forecast to improve in the next 12 hours, will not be returning to the scene until tomorrow (NZ time).

[ErrolC]

My bolding below.

www.maritimenz.govt.nz/news/media-releases-2013/20130125a.asp

25 January 2013, 9.00am

Bad weather continues to prevent visual contact being made with an aircraft missing on a flight in Antarctica from the South Pole to Terra Nova Bay.

The Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) is coordinating the search, working with United States, Canadian and Italian authorities, after the Twin Otter aircraft’s emergency locator transmitter was activated at around 10pm on Wednesday, 23 January.

Another Twin Otter aircraft from McMurdo Base flew to over the site of the beacon activation this morning but heavy cloud and strong winds prevented any visual contact.

The location is at a height of 3,900m (13,000 feet) at the Northern end of the Queen Alexandra Range, within New Zealand’s Search and Rescue Region – halfway between the South Pole and McMurdo Station (approximately 680km (370 nautical miles) in each direction).

RCCNZ Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator Kevin Banaghan said the beacon stopped transmitting overnight but this was not unexpected given the battery life and the cold conditions. The location has been well identified.

“Weather conditions remain very challenging and are forecast to continue for the next 12 hours. However, over the next 24 hours winds in the area are forecast to drop from 90 knots (170km/hr) to 20 knots (35km/hr), with cloud forecast to lift and become scattered.

“When conditions ease, the intention is to set up a forward base at a location approximately 50km from the beacon site, from which to launch operations to the site.”

Weather conditions have not yet allowed helicopters to fly to the area, but two helicopters, including a Southern Lakes (New Zealand) helicopter on contract to Antarctica New Zealand at Scott Base, remain on standby should weather conditions change.

[turboNZ]

The latest isn't looking good

"The plane missing in Antarctica with three Canadian men on board is feared to have crashed into a mountainside.

A former executive with the Calgary-based Kenn Borek Air, which owns the Twin Otter aircraft, says a computer track of the plane's flight shows it coming to a sudden stop at just under 4000 metres.

Former general manager Steve Penikett said today that a computer program monitoring the plane tracked a dip, climb and a sudden stop, The Globe and Mail reported.

Penikett, who is now based in Kabul, Afghanistan, watched on his computer as the plane was detected flying at just under 4000m, dropped to 2700m, then climbed back to its former height, travelling at 140 knots (260kmh), before suddenly recording "zero air speed".

All of this happened "within minutes," he said.

"It's my candid opinion that this aircraft flew into the rocks," Penikett said.

"Anything's possible and again I hope for the best. But I've been through quite a few of these and it doesn't look very good to me."



www.stuff.co.nz/national/8222029/Fears-missing-plane-has-hit-Antarctic-mountain

[spongebob206]

[Dave Homewood]

Very sad.

[beagle]

Just watching the news at 6pm, they said they can see the tail section. Nothing about if it was just the tail as if broken off or the rest of the fuseleage etc was covered up in wind blown snow, but it's a start and the weather is improving all the time.

[ErrolC]

Bad news, not survivable.

www.maritimenz.govt.nz/news/media-releases-2013/20130126c.asp

26 January 2013, 7.45pm
The wreckage of the Twin Otter aircraft missing in Antarctica since Wednesday night has been found.
The aircraft wreckage is on a very steep slope, close to the summit of Mt Elizabeth. It appears to have made a direct impact that was not survivable.  No details are available on the cause of the crash.
...

[ngatimozart]

Bugger. RIP.