Details of a Flight Across the Drake Passage

     The gravel runway at King George Island poses a couple challenges for commercial aircraft that would be flying south from Punta Arenas.

     First, the runway is quite short, bound by the sea on both ends.  So specific aircraft (BAE 146-200) have to be employed.  DAP Airlines - a partner of Antarctica21 - provide these aircraft on a charter basis for all the ship operators currently offering fly-cruises to Antarctica.  These aircraft have a capacity of about 90 passengers, and have the feel of a normal commercial jet - one that many of us have probably used on short-haul flights in Europe and the US.

      Second, there is less technological infrastructure at King George Island than one might expect at modern urban airports.  Specifically, there are no “instrument-only” landings here.  Pilots must have a “line of sight” to the runway.  This was quite evident as I watched out the window on our approach to King George Island.  The pilot circled a bit at a safe altitude, seemingly noting the location of different cloud banks obscuring parts of the island.  Then we started descending, deftly avoiding each of those cloud banks until we had a straight shot, and a perfect line-of-sight, down to the runway itself.

      Of course, this requirement for near-perfect conditions at King George Island - most specifically for clear visibility - means some flights do not occur at their originally-scheduled time.  Flights can be bumped a day earlier… or bumped a day later… or moved to odd times of the day - all with the goal of finding the most predictable and clear skies at this remote airfield.  For this reason, ship operators like Aurora and Antarctica21 will always provide a hotel night in preparation for the flight south… and another hotel night right after any flight north.  And, behind the scenes, they have also made arrangements for emergency hotel nights in Punta Arenas should the flights be delayed longer than expected.

      We were quite lucky on our trip.  Aurora Expeditions actually moved up our departure from Punta Arenas - from a normal midday flight to a very early morning flight - with the goal of beating a weather system to King George Island.  It worked, and we got a little bonus time in Antarctica… but we were the last flights in or out of King George Island for the next three days!