Friday 1 February 2013

Rothera International airport

Rothera is an important hub for British Antarctic Survey, its can be relatively easily reached by both air and ship in the austral summer months. Here is the final bit of my track from South America to Rothera.


Rothera has a large gravel airstrip so normal wheeled planes like our Dash 7 can take off from either the Falkland Islands or South America and then land at Rothera. As you can see, the airstrip pretty much dominates Rothera.


Our Twin Otter aircraft can take off from Rothera on wheels and then land on skis anywhere in Antarctica. Here is the Twin Otter flying along with the Dash-7 in the background with the undercarriage up.


The Dash is actually  quite a bit bigger than the Twin Otter, here they are in the hanger at Rothera. The hanger looks crowded but it can actually fit in the Dash and all four of our Twin Otters.


As well as planes there is lots of exciting science undertaken at Rothera, but more of that later....

5 comments:

  1. Hi dad a long journey how cold was it when you got there.

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    1. Hello Matthew. It's summer in Antarctica, and a warm summer's day in Antarctica is warmer than a cold winter's day in the UK. Its currently about 2C here at Rothera, it will be colder at Halley.

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  2. As a Canadian it's good to see the old Dash 7 still in service somewhere!

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  3. how fast do they go?P.S THEY LOOK COOL

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