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Title:  "Winfly" Heralds Beginning of Antarctic Research Season
Date:   August 14, 1998





Media contact:                                   August 14, 1998
Beth Gaston                                         NSF PR 98-44
(703) 306-1070/egaston@nsf.gov

Program contact:
Dwight Fisher
(703) 306-1045

     "WINFLY" HERALDS BEGINNING OF ANTARCTIC RESEARCH SEASON

     Beginning August 20, five flights of a U.S. Air Force C-141
Starlifter aircraft will bring personnel and supplies from
Christchurch, New Zealand to McMurdo Station in Antarctica,
ending six months of isolation for the research station. The
winter fly-in, or "Winfly," sets the stage each year for the
United States Antarctic Program (USAP) austral summer research
season.  The USAP is managed by the U.S. National Science
Foundation (NSF).

     The flights will bring in 217 people and more than 100,000
pounds of cargo, including supplies, mail, and fresh fruits and
vegetables to McMurdo station.

     "The population of the station will double very quickly,"
said Dave Bresnahan, systems manager for operation and logistics
in the NSF's Office of Polar Programs.  "Winfly allows
scientists, for whom early observations are important, to get a
head start on the research season. It also brings in support
staff to prepare the infrastructure for the influx of people who
will arrive in late September and early October."

     "Main Body" flights that mark the start of the research
season will begin this year on Tuesday, Sept. 29.  The summer
population at McMurdo will reach about 1,000 scientists and
support staff until the end of the season in February when only
about 150 people will remain to spend the long, dark winter. Over
the winter, atmospheric and weather observations are gathered
while upgrades and maintenance work are carried out.

     This year's Winfly scientists include some who will study
ozone and seals, as well as provide science support to prepare
for the Cape Roberts Project. This effort includes researchers
from the United States, New Zealand, Italy, Germany, the United
Kingdom, and Australia to establish a drill rig on the sea ice
and extract sediment cores from the sea floor. The cores will
span a period of 25-70 million years ago to establish the
paleoclimate record.

     Winfly flights are scheduled two days apart from August 20
28, leaving Christchurch at 5 a.m. and arriving at McMurdo at
about 10:30 a.m.  In the long twilight and brief daylight, crews
will spend several hours offloading equipment in frigid
temperatures (near -40 degrees F) before the aircraft heads north
again.

     The C-141 Starlifters are huge, four-engine jets with up to
11 crewmembers and the ability to carry up to 150 passengers.
They are operated by the U.S. Air Force's 62nd Airlift Wing
headquartered at McChord Air Force Base in Seattle, Washington.

     The planes will land on Pegasus Runway, a blue-ice runway on
the Ross Ice Shelf that partially covers the Ross Sea.  Since no
flights have used the runway since February, McMurdo-based crews
have been busy preparing and testing the runway.  They have
removed snow and, to ensure the runway is strong enough to hold
the weight of a loaded airplane, dragged a "proof cart" over it
to simulate the landing pressure of a fully loaded C-141
Starlifter.  The steel cart is loaded with concrete blocks
weighing 384,000 pounds, and rolls on eight actual C-141 tires.

                              -NSF-