Turbo Dak down in Antartica

[Buzz Control]

Status: Preliminary - official
Date: 20 DEC 2007
Type: Basler BT-67 Turbo-67
Operator: Kenn Borek Air
Registration: C-FMKB
C/n / msn: 19560
First flight: 1942
Engines: 2 Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67R
Crew: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 4
Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 6
Total: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 10
Airplane damage: Substantial
Location: Mt. Patterson (Antarctica) show on map
Phase: Takeoff
Nature: Survey/research
Departure airport: ?
Destination airport: ?

Narrative:

The DC-3 Turbo plane was charted by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) providing support to a group of researchers at a remote location in Antarctica. The airplane collided with drifted snow and ice while taking off from a field site near Mt. Patterson in West Antarctica. The six passengers aboard the plane were part of the NSF-funded portion of the international Polar Earth Observatory Network (POLENET) project, which is deploying GPS units and seismic sensors across Antarctica.

Sources:

» NSF-chartered Plane Crashes While Taking Off from Remote Antarctic Field Camp (NSF, 21-12-2007)
» CADORS Number: 2007C3509

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii19/charlyssel/AntarcticDC3jpg2.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii19/charlyssel/AntarcticDC3.jpg

[Donkey497]

Ouch!!

Any word on the outlook? Short term on-site patches / repair & temporary CofA to major repair base, survey, secure & repair next year or is it W/O?

[BEagle]

The aircraft was charted by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) providing support to a group of researchers at a remote location in Antarctica. It collided with drifted snow and ice while taking off from a field site near Mt. Patterson in West Antarctica.

The six passengers aboard the aircraft were part of the NSF-funded portion of the international Polar Earth Observatory Network (POLENET) project, which is deploying GPS units and seismic sensors across Antarctica.

The aircraft sustained damage to the underside of the nose, the tail wheel collapsed, both main landing gears separated and both propellers were damaged.

[Say again s l o w l y]

That must be a nightmare. The costs to repair that must be astronomic when you take into account the location.

[Avman]

Hence it will, sadly, most likely be declared a w/o. Always sad to see DC-3s meet their end - even the Turbo variety!

[Airline Pirate]

Cool, a DC-3 with scimitar props!

[juniour jetset]

Very crisp pictures with the artic sky backdrop- just a big shame to see a stricken bird in such a sorry state!

[juniour jetset]

Just looked at the company profile on wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenn_Borek_Air

seems the dc-3t was their only example of such a plane and now maybe.. it is no more... quite sad really!

[Donkey497]

That must be a nightmare. The costs to repair that must be astronomic when you take into account the location.


Quite probably, but the insurance Company or the US taxpayer will probably be paying as it was on charter to the NSF.

Also as you are not allowed to leave anything at all permanentlyon the antartic continent, cost may not actually come into it. I seem to recall a Discovery programme implying that even sewage has to be repatriated from the South Pole base....... :eek:

Not sure just how serious they are about that requirement, but I'd reckon that scrapping a plane full of fuel, oils & various toxic/semi-toxic fluids & other potentially polluting materials by the normal means are not going to be acceptable in this case.

[ehwatezedoing]

It's been done before.

http://www.southpolestation.com/trivia/history/321/321.html

Link to a incredible story about the recovery of a LC-130 down in Antarctica.

http://www.southpolestation.com/trivia/history/321/upclose1.jpg

[CityofFlight]

What a great story of perserverance. :D :D

Thanks for, uh...digging it up. :O

[Capt Fathom]

Judging by that first photo, it's copped a good one on the nose and bleed somewhat!

[lomapaseo]

Judging by that first photo, it's copped a good one on the nose and bleed somewhat!

I couldn't help but notice the same thing. I thought polar bear but then they don't range that far south:}

Then I thought about skydrol fluid and a busted cat or something like that.

Are the props painted with barber stripes on one side for the same reason that jet engine nose spinners are painted with a swirl?

[Carbon Bootprint]

Also as you are not allowed to leave anything at all permanentlyon the antartic continent, cost may not actually come into it. I seem to recall a Discovery programme implying that even sewage has to be repatriated from the South Pole base.......
Were not the remains of TE901 (the plane, not the pax) left in place on Mt. Erebus?

[pigboat]

This one blew over in a windstorm down there a couple of years ago, and it was salvaged.

http://www.airliners.net/photos/middle/6/1/7/0608716.jpg

[MarkerInbound]

The DC-3TP is still a 1000 pound hydraulic system with 5606, the pink stuff, for fluid. Which is just about the right color for the stain under the nose. It also looks like some has dripped down from the rupture in the belly.

[Donkey497]

Carbon Bootprint
Were not the remains of TE901 (the plane, not the pax) left in place on Mt. Erebus?


Yes, probably the bulk of the wreckage from the accident is still there. However from the nature of the crash and subsequent severe fire, the significant work done to recover and identify the as much of the remains of the passengers and crew as could be recovered, including removal of surface and near-surface wreckage, I think it may well be a case that other work to dig down into the melted ice & snow layers over a very large area to recover the rest would cause more damage to the environment than leaving the remainder in-situ.

A plane like this one, sitting on the surface, essentially still in one piece isn't in the same category as the unfortunate TE901.

[Fly Ginger]

I used to work over the other side of the hangar (DFC), and indeed, this one did return, not in any small part to the huge knowledge base at enterprise on the DC3. I hope the crew are all ok, best regards to all down there

Fly Ginger

[niknak]

Not being an engineer, or a resident of either pole, how on earth do you go about salvaging a bent aeroplane from such a location?

[golfyankeesierra]

At least it seems it's often sunny weather down there:}

[snips]

Sad to see the DC3 in that way. I believe this particular airframe has been flying round Antarctica since 2000 atleast, all be it with different operators and under different registrations.
As for recovering it, FID POWER:}

[compressor stall]

Always sad to see any aeroplane in such a state. Unfortunately, such incidents can be a cost of doing business down there. This one got out and has become high profile, whereas another Basler suffered a similar fate last year upon landing and escaped attention. It was repaired and limped back to Canada (not one of Borek's).
I have not heard of a definite salvage attempt of this one from the polar grapevine, but would be surprised if one has not been made. Time is running out though - outside of the peninsula, everyone is either out or hunkered down for winter by the end of Feb generally.
and fwiw, yes there are strict rules about waste reparitation from the field that are followed to differing degrees by different nations down south. (ie, when in the field, we carry piss drums in the aircraft and crap into bags that are returned to base and burnt). Aircraft wrecks are not always considered "waste" for some reason. There are lots down there that stay very well preserved and make for interesting viewing.

[Beaver man]

Aah Snips! I wonder how many of our friends know what you mean by FID POWER?! That's what we used when I was on loan service to BAS and had to recover both twotters in the 81/82 season.

[pigboat]

Stallie, on another board one poster reckons that red stain under the nose is where the Chief Pilot shot the Captain. :p

[compressor stall]

:p pigboat - I did read that one elsewhere and I am still chuckling.

[Huck]

Link to a incredible story about the recovery of a LC-130 down in Antarctica.


At an EAA meeting in Atlanta in 1988, I listened to a talk given by one of the Lockheed-Georgia engineers (Honeycutt or Howard) that worked on that salvaged aircraft.

It was a harrowing tale, involving death, near-death, exposure and treachery. Two victims of the supply-aircraft crash came out in bodybags. Several of the hired hands digging out the plane came out in handcuffs. That place is not for the squeamish.....

[bugg smasher]

Judging from the pics of the airframe, looks to me like a dual engine change and major hull work. With the onset of the Antarctic winter looming, I’d expect nothing can be organized until spring, by which time the ol’ girl might be buried beyond salvage in snow and ice. Will depend on Borek’s insurance policies. At the very least, it will take a C-130 load of parts, engines, equipment, and some very savvy spanners to restore her to flying condition, only a miniscule few operators around who are willing and able to do that, price tag probably not worth it.

Write-off I guess, too bad, she'll be nothing more than a fond memory shortly.

[justcurious]

About a week after the previous poster had assumed the death by freezing of the Basler, a team of a half dozen or so extraordinarily talented engineers travelled to the site by twin otter, with tin to bash, and a zillion rivets.

Working in trenches under the frame in a scene reminiscent of the first world war, but with cold and a near constant wind to add to the misery.

Nearby, the remains of Admiral Byrd's trimotor lie encased in the ice, with a small bit of frame, and one copper-bottomed ski protruding from the grave.
http://byrdexpedition.org/ A herc taxied into a crevasse 50 miles away, and spent a very long time awaiting rescue.

Gear re-attached, new engines and props along with lots of tin-bashing in a truly wretched work locale, and limited everything made it a challenge. Particularly difficult was the truly relentless wind, which packed snow with the consistency of styrofoam into everything.

Removing it called for a chainsaw to cut it into blocks, the a half dozen people to break the blocks out, and pile it into a sledge and drag it away. Picture an area the volume of your living room being dug every day, and then waking up to discover it filled in again.

Twenty nine days later the aircraft taxied out of the pit it had been entombed in. A month to the day, the aircraft took off for Rothera, the Brit station on the peninsula. It was for us one of God's truly good days.

Three days later, after waiting for weather to cross the Drake, it left the continent. Safe to say, the pisco sours never tasted so good.

Currently, it is in Punta Arenas awaiting delivery of a radio. We expect it back the end of the week.

http://www.aipchile.cl and then click on: CAMARAS , THENCE Punta Arenas- Este

[Newforest2]

That is great news, any chance of checking the last link as it isn't working?