Thirty Airmen Return to Stratton Air National Guard Base from Antarctica Early Saturday Morning

STRATTON AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, SCOTIA,, NY (03/11/2016)(readMedia)-- Thirty Airmen from the New York Air National Guard's New York Air National Guard's 109th Airlift Wing will return home from Antarctica Saturday morning, March 12.

More than 500 members of the wing have served in support of Operation Deep Freeze, the military's support to the National Science Foundation, since the first Airmen left the base for Antarctica's McMurdo Station in October. Airmen have been returning to the base from the mission for the past week.

WHO: About 30 Citizen Airmen of the Air National Guard's 109th Airlift Wing and their family members.

WHAT: The Airmen will be returning home following the Wing's 28th season supporting ODF on board a C-17 Globemaster III assigned to the 105th Airlift Wing at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh. An LC-130 is expected to return Saturday night and will be the last plane home from the 2015-16 Antarctic support season.

WHEN: 6:30 a.m., Saturday, March 12, 2016.

WHERE: 109th Airlift Wing, 1 Air National Guard Rd., Scotia, NY, 12302

Members of the media MUST contact TSgt Catharine Schmidt by either calling or texting (518) 701-4312 as soon as possible in order to gain access to the secure facility.

Media Opportunity:

Interviews will be available with the Airmen returning home. There will also be an opportunity to obtain imagery of the aircraft landing. Time has been allotted to obtain imagery before the Airmen return home.

Background:

Throughout the season, which began in October, six LC-130 ski-equipped aircraft and about 500 Airmen deployed to McMurdo Station, Antarctica. The Wing provided six months of support of United States Antarctic research efforts by flying an estimated 3,900 researchers and support staff plus about 4 million pounds of cargo and 1.2 million pounds of fuel to research stations across Antarctica.

The unique capabilities of the ski-equipped LC-130 aircraft make it the only one of its kind in the U.S. military, able to land on snow and ice. The primary mission of the 109th AW is to provide airlift within Antarctica, flying to various remote locations from McMurdo Station. Crews transported scientists, support, fuel, supplies, medical supplies and more throughout the season.

This year, crews flew 18 missions in support of the Common Science Support Pod (CSSP) outfitted with IcePod science equipment. The IcePod, an imaging system that can measure the depth of an ice sheet, was flown for the first time in Antarctica in the 2014-2015 season, and was deemed one of the biggest successes of that year.

At the end of this season, the 109th Airlift Wing gave a lift to 35 Australian Antarctic researchers heading back home on Saturday, Feb. 27. Eight members of the 109th Airlift Wing flew an LC-130, based at McMurdo Station, the U.S. Antarctic Program's logistics hub at the southern tip of Ross Island, to the Australian Antarctic Division Davis station, 1,400 miles away on the other side of the continent. The Australian researchers had been scheduled to leave Davis station on board the icebreaker RVS Aurora Australia. The ship, though, ran aground at Australia's Mawson research station after it broke its mooring lines in a blizzard

The 109th AW has been supporting the NSF's South Pole research since 1988. Since 1999, the unit has been the sole provider of this type of airlift to the NSF and U.S. Antarctic research efforts.