Mount Pleasant to Rothera

DAY 16, LEG 74 - Mount Pleasant to Rothera

Day 16 of the world tour covers a new milestone.  We fly south to Antarctica and will land on Adelaide Island at the Rothera Base.  This small airstrip is one of the few lit strips within reach of us and this time of year, the sun barely rises in Antarctica.  We will take maximum fuel southbound, but due to the short length of the strip at Rothera, and careful rationing of fuel supplies, we will only be able to take just enough out again to make it to Ushuaia on Cape Horn.  On departure from Mount Pleasant, the wind was given as 245/25kts so we will taxi out to the shorter runway 23 for departure.

Backtracking along runway 28 to runway 23.

Take off from RAF Mount Pleasant.

Thanks to the cold conditions at these latitudes, our fuel consumption is 100kg / hr less than we are used to which is good news on such a long leg.  The wind keeps up and we have a crosswind of 88kts which is over 100mph! 

Vectors into Rothera.

Turning final.

Parked at Rothera as snow begins to fall.

EGYP - AAXX stats


Take off time:  0630
Landing time:  0928
Flight time:      03:58 (-1 hour time difference)
Fuel used:       1556kgs / 3423lbs