Saturday, October 21, 2006

The Basler


The Ice Runway (NZIR) was paid a visit yesterday
by the Basler. The Basler is a converted DC-3
Turbo Prop, operated by Kenn Borek Air out of
Canada and will be flying missions around the
continent this summer. It fits a nice niche in
size between the Twin Otter planes also operated
by Kenn Borek for the NSF and the LC-130's operated
by the New York Air National Guard. It can land
on shorter, rougher surfaces than the 130's, yet
haul more cargo than the Twin Otters.


This plane is far from a new model though. A
similar DC-3 made a historic landing on October 31,
1956. It became the first plane to land at the
South Pole. When it landed, Adm. George Dufek
got out of the plane and became the first person at
the Pole since the Scott Party visited more than
forty years earlier. So this summer, we'll not only
see a unique plane out at the runway, it will have
some historical ancestors as well.

2 comments:

dani said...

hey there darlin...dani here...just catching up with how your summer has started...you lucky dog that you are midrats...it always has better food and is more mellow than a normal meal in the galley... ahhhhhh mactown...hope you and lynn are enjoying being back there....drop a line whenever, i owe one to your lovely wife...which will happen soon...miss you guys...peace out

dom said...

Do you look forward to visitors ? I hope you have an Antartica IP coz I'd love an Antarctic flag to go with my 142 other country's . Please pay me a visit ,if you have time :)