Form Approved
REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE
OMB No. 0704-0188
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1. AGENCY USE ONLY (Leave blank)
2. REPORT DATE
3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED
March 1998
4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE
5. FUNDING NUMBERS
Construction, Maintenance, and Operation of a Glacial Ice Runway,
McMurdo Station, Antarctica
6. AUTHORS
George L. Blaisdell, Renee M. Lang, Gerald Crist, Keith Kurtti,
R. Jeffrey Harbin, and Daniel Flora
7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES)
8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION
REPORT NUMBER
U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory
72 Lyme Road
Monograph 98-1
Hanover, New Hampshire 03755-1290
9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES)
10. SPONSORING/MONITORING
AGENCY REPORT NUMBER
Office of Polar Programs
National Science Foundation
Washington, D.C.
11. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES
12a. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Available from NTIS, Springfield, Virginia 22161
13. ABSTRACT (Maximum 200 words)
On 7 February 1994, a C-141 departed Christchurch, New Zealand, and landed on the 3050-m (10,000-ft)
Pegasus glacial ice runway, located on the Ross Ice Shelf 13 km (8 miles) south of McMurdo, Antarctica. This
event marked the final test for a five-year development program to demonstrate the feasibility of a semiperma-
nent glacial ice runway capable of supporting heavy wheeled aircraft at a site easily accessible to McMurdo. In
the later phases of developing the glacial ice runway, numerous working flights of LC-130s operating on
wheels (rather than skis) moved cargo more efficiently to the South Pole, and the LC-130 and a C-130 carried
larger passenger loads to Christchurch. The primary benefit of the Pegasus runway to the U.S. Antarctic
Program is its ability to support heavy wheeled aircraft for most of the period of mid-January through
November. In the past, only ski-equipped aircraft could land in the McMurdo area during this time period. The
Pegasus runway allows increased payloads for the LC-130 (an additional 3600-kg or 8000-lb takeoff weight
when using wheels) and provides access for virtually any conventional aircraft. The technology for siting,
constructing, maintaining, and operating such a runway is now well understood and is described in detail in
this comprehensive report.
14. SUBJECT TERMS
15. NUMBER OF PAGES
139
Construction
Maintenance
Operations
16. PRICE CODE
Glacial ice
McMurdo, Antarctica
Runways
17. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
18. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
19. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
20. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT
OF REPORT
OF THIS PAGE
OF ABSTRACT
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
UL
Standard Form 298 (Rev. 2-89)
NSN 7540-01-280-5500
Prescribed by ANSI Std. Z39-18
298-102
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