Pegasus Field (ICAO: NZPG) was an airstrip in Antarctica, the southernmost of three airfields serving McMurdo Station. It closed due to excessive melting in the summer season caused by warmer temperatures combined with dust and dirt blown in from nearby Black Island. The last flight was on December 8, 2016[4] and it was replaced by Phoenix Airfield (ICAO: NZFX)[5][6][7] with flights expected to start in February 2017.[6]

Pegasus Field
White ice runway at Pegasus Field
IATA: none ICAO: NZPG
Summary
Location	McMurdo Station, Ross Island, Antarctica
Elevation AMSL	18 ft / 5 m
Coordinates	77°57′48″S 166°31′28″E
Map
NZPG Location of airfield in Antarctica
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 15/33 10,000 3,048 Ice 08/26 10,000 3,048 Ice
Source: DAFIF[1][2][3]

Pegasus was originally conceived as a blue ice runway capable of handling wheeled aircraft year-round, but as it was developed, it was enhanced with a 4-inch layer of compacted snow on top—thus more properly characterizing it as a white ice runway. [8] Other local runways are the snow runways at Williams Field (ICAO: NZWD) that are limited to ski-equipped aircraft, and the Ice Runway (ICAO: NZIR) on the sea-ice available during the summer Antarctic field season.

The field is named after Pegasus, a C-121 Lockheed Constellation that made a forced landing on unprepared terrain in bad weather on October 8, 1970. None of the 80 on board were seriously injured. The aircraft remains in-situ near the airfield as of 2019, and has remained well preserved. It is generally covered with snow, but is occasionally excavated by visitors wishing to photograph it.[9]

On September 11, 2008, a United States Air Force C-17 Globemaster III successfully completed the first landing in Antarctica using night-vision goggles at Pegasus Field.[10] Previously air transport in the permanent darkness of the winter was only used in emergencies, with burning barrels of fuel to outline the runway.

Gallery

• 
  United States Air Force C-5 Galaxy being off-loaded at Pegasus Field.
• 
  RNZAF Boeing 757 lands at Pegasus Airfield on the Ross Ice Shelf during its maiden flight to Antarctica.

See also

• List of airports in Antarctica

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pegasus Field.

• Airfields on Antarctic Glacier Ice Malcolm Mellor and Charles Swithinbank, CRREL 1989.
• Lockheed Aircraft R7V-1 / R7V-1P / C-121J "Constellation" "Connie"
• Installation of runway-Pegasus
• Runway Project Clears the Way for Improved Antarctic Airlift National Science Foundation. February 20, 2002.
• Construction, Maintenance, and Operation of a Glacial Runway, McMurdo Station, Antarctica George L. Blaisdell et al., CRREL Monograph 98–1, March 1998.
• Current weather for NZPG at NOAA/NWS

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