User manual

Antarctica Vol. 1 - British Rothera and Beyond
Aerosoft GmbH 2021
26 27
English
The aircraft is then shutdown, and further communications can be
carried out using the aircraft radio, using the aircraft batteries, but
only for short periods of time to preserve the battery life in the ultra
cold environment. Once the engines are started again and the
generators connected, the onboard battery will recharge, as there is
no ground power supply at remote field stations away from Rothera.
British Ferry Flight
from Canada to
Antarctica
This is a flight done by the BAS Twin Otters every season.
Please note that the Flightplan files supplied with “Antarctica Vol. 1 -
British Rothera and Beyond” (see Google Earth™ KMZ file in the
installation folder) do not exactly match the flights described here as
the flight route can vary slightly from year to year. It’s up to you which
flight routing you choose.
Flight Report
Text by D. Hardie who was a Twin Otter Pilot.
The Antarctic Ferry-flights are the punctuation to the start and end of
the flying season.
A lot of preparations go into these flights and the goal is simple: To
fly the aeroplanes as quickly as possible from Canada to Punta
Arenas, in readiness for the final leg over the Drake Passage, fully
configured with Skis, and into Antarctica.
Pilots arrive in Calgary at the start of the trip to stock up on 2 weeks
worth of provisions which have to be loaded into the aircraft for the
pilot and his mechanic. The flights start early in the morning and
finish in the late afternoon/evening so there is seldom time to go to
shops and buy food en-route. All of the food and equipment,
including aircraft spares and personal clothing, is carefully weighed
and loaded into the aircraft. The two large ferry tanks are installed in
the aircraft by now and the equipment has to be carefully installed as
there is very little room for manoeuvre inside the Twin Otters.