Leg 79 SAWB - Marambio Base (Antartica) to NZ0B - Palmer Station (Antartica)
SAWB - Airport Info
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ICAO code: SAWB
Airport name: Marambio Base Airport
Location: Marambio Base
Useful information
Airport elevation: '
Time zone: UTC-3
Lighted runways : Yes
Maximum runway length: '
Runway surface : Asphalt
Instrument approach (ILS, LOC, LDA, and SDF):
Marambio Base Info
The first air reconnaissance that the Argentina Air Force made were on 1951 when the Lieutenant Colonel Gustavo Argentino Marambio flew over Margarita Bay with an Avro Lincoln, registration LV-ZEI, called "Southern Cross", in the northwest sector of the Antarctic peninsula.
The final job of these heavy bombers in the Antarctic zone was the flight made the day 28-OCT-1965 with the B-022 airplane with an experienced crew, commanded by the First Lieutenant Jorge Martinez, conducting in this occasion the "Operation Socorro", which carried out an important raid of almost 22 hours without stops in support of a Douglas C-47, registration TA-05, which was affected to the South Pole Expedition.
In 1952, Marambio Air force lieutenant colonel, being Commander of the General Staff of the Antarctic Tasks' Air Force (FATA), it flew over and it studied the possible landing fields in Antarctica.
The Marambio Island appears in older Antarctic maps indicated with the name of Seymour, in honor of an English sailor who frequented the zone by end of XIX century. The present name arises from the tribute that occurred to the Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Gustavo Argentino Marambio, in the occasion of its death in a tragic plane crash in the city of Mugueta, Santa Fe, the 12-NOV-1953. Marambio had been born in Río Cuarto, Córdoba the 21-SEP-1918.
In the decade of the 60’s the Argentina Air Force persistence in locating an apt zone to establish a runway destined to the regular and continuous operation of heavy aircrafts with its conventional undercarriage (wheels).
The 25-NOV-1968 a Bell UH-1H helicopter, registration H-11 of the Argentine Air Force that left from the icebreaker General San Martín (Q4), manned by the First Lieutenant Enrique Pessana and Lieutenant Ricardo Ciaschini, settled on the plateau of the Marambio island, taking on board with the Commander of the Air Group of Antarctic Operations (GATA), Lieutenant Colonel Mario Luis Olezza, the local expert of zone, Lieutenant Julio Alberto Domínguez and the geologist Héctor Luis Ponte, who next to the glaciologist, Dr. René Edgard Dalinger. They gathered samples of terrain, carried out measurements and observations of the zone, with certain disagreement soon in the beginning and excitement at the end of the expedition, which was reflected in the report produced by Dr. Dalinger.
Embarked in the icebreaker, the Crew 1968/69 arrived at the zone, that later conformed the Patrulla Soberanía, founder of Base Marambio, who were destined to the Air-Naval Station Petrel and to Aerial Base Matienzo which was in emergency.
On APR-1969 a relief flight made with a deHavilland-Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter took place; it flown from the American continent (took off with wheels) and landed over ice in Antarctica with skies on.
The four crew return with the addition of one of the Matienzo Aerial Base’s crew who was evacuated due to severe physical ailment.
Terrain reconnaissance also took place from a Lockheed C-130 Hercules that flew over the Antarctica like the flights made with the deHavilland-Canada DHC-2 Beaver, which operated from Matienzo Aerial Base.
From the multiple studies made, one reached the conclusion that the project of construction of a runway could be materialized on the plateau that crowned the island.
Saying that 29-OCT-1969 is the anniversary of the foundation of Marambio seems an unimportant and daily fact, but it is not it.
This foundation agrees with the inauguration of the first runway of land on the continent, constituting an historical fact of great relevance since it allowed breaking the isolation with this part of the world, where were possible arrive in summer, by sea and when the state of the icepacks allowed it.
Doubtlessly, these new characteristics have an extraordinary value and began a new era in the Antarctic polar cap, with a different dynamic in operations.
With this operational capacity the isolation could be broken, being able to transfer personnel, logistical support, emergencies and evacuations, have flight alternatives and support to the search and rescue operations needed, because it is possible to mobilized in few hours the necessary aerial equipment, and not having to wait for days/months that the navigation to the area (in addition to favorable weather conditions and the state of icepacks) demanded only in summer times.
The fact to say this runway have a ground surface astonishes, because all we know the Antarctica like an eternal landscape of ice and snow. This affirmation has its foundations. The Marambio Island emerged from the sea at very remote times and their plateau rises 198m over the sea level; it has an almost flat surface, conformed by rocks of different sizes and iced argillaceous earth mud, scattered in all its extension.
NZ0B - Airport Info
ICAO code: NZ0B
Airport name: Palmer Station Airport
Location: Palmer Station Base
Useful information
Airport elevation: '
Time zone: UTC-3
Lighted runways : Yes
Maximum runway length: '
Runway surface : Asphalt
Instrument approach (ILS, LOC, LDA, and SDF):
Palmer Station Info
Nationality: United States
Location: Palmer Station is located at 64°46' S, 64°03' W, on a protected harbor on the southwestern coast of Anvers Island off the Antarctica Peninsula. Palmer is the only U.S. Antarctic station north of the Antarctic Circle.
History:
Palmer station at Arthur Harbor on Anvers' southwest coast, was built in 1968. It replaced the prefabricated wood huts of 'Old Palmer' station, established in 1965, which were removed from Antarctica in 1991. The station was named for American sealer Nathaniel B. Palmer, who in 1820 was one of the first to see Antarctica.Information:
The station, built on solid rock, consists of two major buildings and three small ones, plus two large fuel tanks, a helicopter pad, and a dock. Somewhat over 40 people can occupy Palmer in the summer. Wintering population is about 10, although Palmer does not have a long period of winter isolation as do McMurdo and South Pole.Science:
Palmer Station is superbly located for biological studies of birds, seals, and other components of the marine ecosystem. It has a large and extensively equipped laboratory and sea water aquarium. In 1990 it was designated by the National Science Foundation as a long term ecological research (LTER) site. Meteorology, upper atmosphere physics, glaciology also have been pursued at and around Palmer.
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