C-141 Starlifter on Ice Runway, near McMurdo Station, 1996.
The Ice Runway (ICAO: NZIR) is the principal runway for the U.S. Antarctic Program during the summer Antarctic field season due to its proximity to McMurdo Station. The other two runways in the area are the snow runway at Williams Field (NZWD) and the compacted snow runway at Phoenix Airfield (NZFX), which replaced Pegasus Field (NZPG) in 2017.
The sea ice runway is capable of handling wheeled aircraft, which have included to date: Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, Lockheed C-130 Hercules and Lockheed P-3 Orion. In the summer season of 2009/2010 the RNZAF trialed a modified Boeing 757 operationally. The intention is to use the Boeing 757 for passenger transport, thereby freeing up capacity for C17 cargo space.[3]
The annual sea-ice runway for wheeled aircraft is constructed at the start of each season and is used until early December when the sea ice begins to break up.[4] Subsequently flight operations are moved back to Williams Field. Pilots landing C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft on the sea ice runway report that the surface is stable, not unlike landing on concrete. The similarity with land bases ends when the jet aircraft rolls to a stop, however. The nearly 450,000 pound (= 201 tons) weight of the plane, including cargo and passengers, causes it to sink into the ice, albeit only a matter of inches. A laser light is trained on the aircraft to measure the settlement rate. The $200 million aircraft is moved to a new location on the six-foot-thick ice as a safety measure if the 10-inch red line is reached, according to the News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington.[citation needed]
^"Airport information for NZIR". World Aero Data. Archived from the original on 2019-03-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) Data current as of October 2006. Source: DAFIF.
^Airport information for NZIR at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective October 2006).
^"Royal New Zealand Air Force".
^Blue-ice and snow runways, National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs. April 9, 1993.
The IceRunway (ICAO: NZIR) is the principal runway for the U.S. Antarctic Program during the summer Antarctic field season due to its proximity to McMurdo...
A blue icerunway is a runway constructed in Antarctic areas with no net annual snow accumulation. The density of the ice increases as air bubbles are...
(grass, dirt, gravel, ice, sand or salt). Runways, taxiways and ramps, are sometimes referred to as "tarmac", though very few runways are built using tarmac...
an IceRunway in the Gerlache Inlet to start the summer campaign but in recent years the icerunway was closed earlier then before because of the ice thickness...
Antarctica. It is the first runway built on Antarctica that supports large passenger jets to take off and land on. Blue icerunway List of airports in Antarctica...
Union Glacier Blue-IceRunway SCGC is the new runway, 70 kilometers from Patriot Hills. Patriot Hills is being retained as a backup runway. In the summer...
an area of blue ice, an extremely hard and dense ice which has lost the air bubbles that normally cloud the ice. It provides a runway able to accommodate...
white icerunway. Other local runways are the snow runways at Williams Field (ICAO: NZWD) that are limited to ski-equipped aircraft, and the IceRunway (ICAO:...
aerodrome with an all weather gravel runway and a seasonal icerunway located on Goose Lake, Nunavut, Canada. The icerunway is, subject to operator maintenance...
Areas". Australian Antarctic Data Center. Retrieved 9 September 2020. "IceRunway". Airport Nav Finder. Retrieved October 17, 2018. "Mid Point Skiway"....
annual variations of the ice sheet, the runway would change position every year. However, climate change has meant that sea ice has not been thick nor stable...
Wilkins Runway is a single runway aerodrome operated by Australia, located on upper glacier of the ice sheet Preston Heath, Budd Coast, Wilkes Land, on...
Ice, brand name for an ice pack product Blue icerunway This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Blue ice. If an internal link...
Field consists of two snow runways located on approximately 8 meters (25 ft) of compacted snow, lying on top of 8–10 ft of ice, floating over 550 meters...
excessive melting making the runway unusable at the end of the summer season. Accordingly, Pegasus, and the IceRunway (which has not been consistently...
kilometres (2.2 mi) east of India's Maitri research station. The Novo runway is a blue icerunway, located 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi) away, operated by Antarctic...
airport originally was an icerunway on Kennady Lake and was 5,146 ft (1,569 m) in length and numbered 08/26. The icerunway was only open from January...
The camp is situated near Union Glacier Blue-IceRunway SCGC a rare, naturally occurring, blue icerunway that allows wheeled jet cargo aircraft to land...
southern extremity of Wormald Ice Piedmont, south-eastern Adelaide Island. The station has a 900 metres (3,000 ft) crushed rock runway, with an associated hangar...
served by Gahcho Kue Aerodrome, which has both an icerunway in winter and a year-round gravel runway, and a spur of the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road...
(14 mi). The other road provides access to the IceRunway, which is on sea ice. The road between the IceRunway and McMurdo Station varies in length from year...
cargo, the base is supported by the Italian Antarctic Program using the icerunway operated by Zucchelli Station in Tethys Bay. Jang Bogo Station opened...
base may seasonally open an icerunway instead of the normal seaplane landing area. This is the only FAA approved icerunway in the contiguous United States...
operates to and from the purpose-built Wilkins Runway - a 4,000-metre long snow capped blue-icerunway in the Upper Petersen Glacier located 70 km from...
Global Information
