July 10, 1999
Web posted at: 12:39 p.m. EDT (1639 GMT)

From staff and wire reports

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (CNN) -- The crew of a U.S. transport plane prepared Saturday leave on a long, frigid mission to the South Pole, where they were to drop medical supplies for a researcher who discovered a lump in her breast.

The Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station is mired in the almost-total darkness of Antarctic winter, with temperatures averaging -80 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 62 centigrade) and winds hitting 60 miles (97 km) per hour. Weather conditions will remain unfavorable for an evacuation until at least October.

Valerie Carroll, a spokeswoman for Antarctic Support Associates, which employs the researcher, said the woman has been speaking with doctors via satellite and that a doctor was also at the station.

Landing the C-141 Starlifter transport at the station, Carroll said, would be virtually impossible. A landing attempt would require the staff there to leave the base and build a runway on the ice.

"That's not something we want to do," she said.

Polar ballet

Instead, McChord Air Force Base near Seattle, Washington, sent the Starlifter, while California's Travis Air Force Base sent a KC-10 refueling tanker to New Zealand for the 6,375-mile (10,264-km) round-trip mission to drop supplies by parachute.

A Defense Department photo shows a Starlifter preparing to take on fuel through the refueling boom of a KC-10 tanker

"It's exciting, like a ballet," said Capt. Bill Barksdale, mission spokesman at McChord. "They all have to do their part, they have to do it right at the right time and we believe they can make it happen."

Barksdale said the two planes were scheduled to depart Christchurch about 6 p.m. EDT Saturday (10 a.m. Sunday in New Zealand), meeting for refueling about four and half hours later.

"They'll onload 75,000 pounds of fuel, and about seven hours after takeoff, they'll be over their target," Barksdale said.

The transport will make three passes to drop the supplies, he said. The C-141's crew -- 23 members instead of the usual six, so everyone will be well-rested for the 14-hour flight -- will push pallets of medication and equipment out a side door. The drop will take place from about 300 meters (984 feet) up.

Crew on the ground must then pick up the supplies and get them inside before they are damaged by the extreme conditions.

Air drops over the South Pole station are common during the summer months, but not during the winter, which is now underway in the Southern Hemisphere -- and no plane ever has landed at the pole in mid-winter.

Col. Richard Saburro, commander of the U.S. Antarctic Program's air support unit, said the woman's condition was not life-threatening, and the supplies were designed to make sure it did not become so before she could be evacuated.

But, he said. an evacuation flight would be considered if the woman's condition worsens.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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