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McChord Airmen go from hot to cold on Deep Freeze missions

  • Published
  • By Sandra Pishner
  • 446th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
MCCHORD FIELD, Wash. --  On one of the hottest days of the year in Washington, Airmen from McChord Field flew on C-17s to one of the coolest places on the planet - Antarctica.

Eleven 446th Airlift Wing reservists, 23 active-duty 62nd AW Airmen and one Airman each from the 22nd Special Tactics Squadron and 627th Logistics Readiness Squadron left Aug. 16 in support of Operation Deep Freeze's winter fly-in. The WinFly phase of the operation delivers advance teams and cargo for the upcoming main season of the National Science Foundation's U.S. Antarctic program.

When the Airmen departed McChord Field the National Weather Service reported an annual high temperature of 94. The temperature dipped 5 degrees when they traveled to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, before arriving at Christchurch, New Zealand, Aug. 18 to become the 304th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron. The first scheduled flight to McMurdo Station, Antarctica, was on Aug. 20, where the temperature was -20. WinFly, is scheduled to last until Aug. 30.

Landing 15 miles from McMurdo on the ice runway known as Pegasus, the C-17s carried scientists and support personnel to start early pre-summer projects, to augment maintenance personnel, and to prepare skiways and ice runways at McMurdo.

Christchurch is the starting point for forward deployment to McMurdo Station. Operation Deep Freeze is unlike any other U.S. military operation. It is one of the military's most difficult peacetime missions due to the harsh Antarctic environment.

"Weather and fuel planning are the primary challenges of flying ODF missions," said Lt. Col. Bill Eberhardt from McChord's 728th Airlift Squadron and last season's 304th EAS commander. "When you go down there to McMurdo or airdrop on the South Pole, there's only one runway within about 2,200 miles you can land on. So you have issues with mission planning; if you lose an engine or something like that you don't have a lot of options."

Deep Freeze is a unique U.S. military peacetime operation where Airmen based out of Christchurch, New Zealand, must work in the harsh Antarctic environment. The Air Force is specially equipped with trained and experienced people to operate in these austere conditions and have provided support to NSF since 1955.

Joint Task Force Support Forces Antarctica, led by Pacific Air Forces at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, is scheduled to begin the Operation Deep Freeze main season at the end of September.

The operation is divided into three seasons - WinFly, Main Body and Winter. It involves active-duty and Reserve C-17 support from McChord, LC-130 support from the New York Air National Guard and other aircraft necessary to support the mission. U.S. Coast Guard icebreakers clear waterways, and the U.S. Navy Cargo Handling Battalion One provides critical port services at McMurdo Station.

McChord Field has participated in the operation since 1983 using the C-141B Starlifter. The 446th AW got involved in 1995. The first C-17 trial for use to support the operation was Oct. 15, 1999.