Aircraft Flies From Hobart to Antarctica for Urgent Medical Rescue

The jet landed after a five-hour and 30-minute flight at the Phoenix Airfield near McMurdo in darkness and with temperatures as low as minus 43 degrees Celsius (minus 45.4 degrees Fahrenheit), the statement said. The American was flown on the same day to a hospital in Christchurch, New Zealand, as weather conditions at the Antarctic air strip worsened, said Skytraders, which is contracted by the Australian Antarctic Program. The U.S. National Science Foundation told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the patient was admitted to Christchurch Hospital in a serious condition.

New Zealand's Health Ministry on Friday would not comment on the American's condition or say whether the American remained in hospital. The mission's copilot, Louise Robertson, said conditions were close to the limit of the aircraft's capabilities. We had some what's called nautical twilight, which is a very minimal amount of light that is pretty much pitch blackness and also the extreme cold temperatures.