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What A Boeing 767 Landing At Troll Airfield In Antarctica Looks Like From The Cockpit
Cockpit footage, from an Icelandair Boeing 767, shows views of the plane landing at Troll airfield in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. (From 2021) (go.apexlink.to) More...
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depth perception over a white runway sounds like a difficult task the first time attempted
Your comment reminds me of the Mount Erebus disaster.
"The Mount Erebus disaster occurred on 28 November 1979 when Air New Zealand Flight 901 (TE-901)[nb 1] flew into Mount Erebus on Ross Island, Antarctica, killing all 237 passengers and 20 crew on board.[1][2] Air New Zealand had been operating scheduled Antarctic sightseeing flights since 1977. This flight was supposed to leave Auckland Airport in the morning and spend a few hours flying over the Antarctic continent, before returning to Auckland in the evening via Christchurch."
The section "Crash into Mount Erebus" mentions how the snow covered mountain could not been seen against the white background of snow and clouds. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Erebus_disaster
"The Mount Erebus disaster occurred on 28 November 1979 when Air New Zealand Flight 901 (TE-901)[nb 1] flew into Mount Erebus on Ross Island, Antarctica, killing all 237 passengers and 20 crew on board.[1][2] Air New Zealand had been operating scheduled Antarctic sightseeing flights since 1977. This flight was supposed to leave Auckland Airport in the morning and spend a few hours flying over the Antarctic continent, before returning to Auckland in the evening via Christchurch."
The section "Crash into Mount Erebus" mentions how the snow covered mountain could not been seen against the white background of snow and clouds. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Erebus_disaster
That's quite a story which I was unaware of previously. Thanks for the info!
I could't see the runway until the last second!
Same here. But, when I replayed the video I could see what appeared to be black squares (runway markers) when the 500 feet altitude was announced. It is amazing how more of them seem to pop up out of nowhere as minimums were approached
The video reminds me of the days long ago when I had a private licence and joyriding around the Lake District of Sudbury, Canada in a rented 172. The challenge in my case was summer landings on "glassy water" where you couldn't see the surface of the water; all you got looking out and down was the mirror image of the sky. The approach was slow and gentle, along a shoreline for some height reference, a bit of power and nose up a bit, until you hit the runway (water) without even seeing it. Thanks for awakening those good memories of mine.
