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By: Peter Rejcek
It's more than just a little bumpy for New York Air National
Guard crews taking off from remote field sites in Antarctica,
such as the Shackleton Glacier, an area of scientific
study and a major river of ice that flows into the Ross
Ice Shelf.
“The sheer roughness of the location was such that
at times our crews could barely read the instrument panel,”
said Lt. Col. George Alston, chief of aircrew training
for the 109th Airlift Wing, based at the Stratton Air
National Guard Base in Scotia, N.Y.
“Sometimes getting the plane off the snow is a huge
challenge,” he added.
The Guard, which flies the ski-equipped Lockheed C-130
Hercules for missions around the continent on behalf of
the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP) , has several initiatives
in the works to make the unpredictable Antarctic environment
a little less challenging while improving fuel and maintenance
efficiencies.
One proposed improvement may take to the Antarctic skies
this upcoming field season, with one of the “skibirds”
sporting eight-bladed propellers versus the standard four-props
the Hercs currently use.
“It’s a great feature that we’re testing
out and checking its viability,” Alston said.
The 418th Flight Test Squadron (FLTS) at Edwards Air
Force Base in California installed the new eight-bladed
NP-2000 propellers on a Wyoming Air National Guard C-130
in February. Crews are now testing the plane under a variety
of conditions.
“The main purpose of replacing the propellers is
to see if we can increase the C-130’s take-off performance,”
said Donna Knighton, 418th FLTS performance and flying
qualities engineer, in a press release from Edwards Air
Force Base earlier this year.
The new propeller should provide more thrust at lower
air speeds, helping lift the aircraft off the ice, as
well as increase the C-130’s climb rate and cruise
speed, improve short-field performance and reduce noise
and vibration. Compared to the current four-blade propellers,
which are very heavy and rectangular, the NP-2000 propellers
are lighter and more aerodynamically shaped. Hamilton
Sundstrand made the NP-2000 propellers, while Rolls Royce
provided the engine.
An LC-130 uses JATO rockets for takeoff.“If it meets
the claims, it’s going to be great. It’s going
to do more for less,” Alston said. He estimated the
new propellers could increase fuel efficiency by about
5 percent, as well as decrease maintenance time. “It
breaks less.”
Another project to help get the C-130s off the ground
involves replacing the current stock of jet-assisted takeoff
(JATO) rockets. Strapped to the back of the plane to provide
extra lift during takeoff, the JATO bottles in use today
date back to the 1950s, according to Alston.
“We’re starting to run out of them,” he
said. “We got some funding, and we’re trying
to get more funding from Congress, to get the supply to
where we need it, to continue to do the mission, especially
as we look into the possibility of going more and more
into the deep field.”
Currently, the Guard primarily flies between the McMurdo
and South Pole research stations ferrying people, materials
and fuel. But the completion of the new South Pole Station
should require fewer flights. In addition, the South Pole
Traverse, an over-snow tractor train, will start delivering
fuel and materials to 90 degrees south starting this austral
summer. Each swing between McMurdo and South Pole equals
about 40 LC-130 flights.
Eventually, the National Science Foundation would like
to siphon those flights to other parts of the continent
to support deep-field science. That’s unlikely to
happen this year, however, as the foundation struggles
to address a $40 million budget shortfall for the USAP,
driven mainly by ballooning fuel costs, a flat-lined budget
and a weak U.S. dollar.
Brian Johnson, manager of Field Science Support Services
for Raytheon Polar Services, the prime contractor for
the USAP, said the LC-130s this season will fly to remote
camps at WAIS Divide , an ice-coring project in West Antarctica,
and Antarctica’s Gamburstev Province (AGAP), a project
in East Antarctica studying a subglacial mountain range.
(See related story: Mountainous mystery.)
The skibirds will also deliver materials, including helicopters,
for an upcoming project near Pine Island Glacier in West
Antarctica, one of the fastest moving glaciers on the
continent.
“In out years, West Antarctic will continue to be
a focal point for science, but I am not sure to what extent,”
Johnson said. “Unfortunately, with the recent budget
constraints, we are still in the project review phases
to fully understand the extent of LC-130 use in future
seasons.”
For the last four years, the Guard has flown an average
of about 500 completed missions, according to Alston.
This coming season that number should drop to about 300.
When they happen, flights to the deep field, where groomed
ice runways don’t exist, remain a risky venture.
In November 1998, for instance, a C-130 broke through
the surface of a bridged crevasse when it taxied for takeoff,
sinking down to its wings. No one was injured, and the
aircraft was later recovered.
“If we want to go to deep-field sites right now,
it’s a somewhat cumbersome process,” Alston
said. New field sites require upwards of a year for evaluation.
Smaller ski-equipped Twin Otter planes will often land
at a site first, transporting a snowmobile with crevasse-detection
radar.
A new and compact crevasse-detection radar under development
would allow the Guard to transfer the radar system between
planes. A C-130 could survey a landing zone and set down
on the snow all in the same flight, according to Alston.
“It is a huge leap in capability,” he said.
Johnson said he expects the USAP will be eager to use
the new technology once it’s tested and ready for
use. “This will allow for a quicker and less logistically
challenging means to ‘prove’ a new landing area
for the larger aircraft,” he said.
All of these initiatives should happen in the next few
years, Alston said. “All three of these are things
we need sooner rather than later. They all not only improve
capability, but they provide economic savings and improve
safety margins, too.”
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