PER-Antarctica-PER: over the ice in Ice.

[mannej]

Forgive for what may seem to be a dumb question, but given that the flight was Perth - Perth with no stops in between, did you need a passport?

JB

It went from the domestic terminal so no.

 

[Imw]

Loved this report.
Seems this flight is on many bucket lists! I was very excited to see ice on the Syd JNB flight so this would have been awesome. Thanks for all your efforts showing it.

Tomorrow it's up at sparrow's and out to PER to board QF2906 for a day trip to Antarctica.

Scheduled departure is 0800 and return 2030. That should fill in the day quite nicely - especially as I decided to go the fabled Ice Class (B747 front cabin, window seat pairs) :shock:. I am reliably led to believe that we only live once...

I have previously been to Antarctica by ship (http://www.australianfrequentflyer....hill-patagonia-chilling-antarctica-62166.html) so this should be an interesting counterpoint. We shall see.

The trip notes say that the aircraft will be under the command of Captain Peter Caws, that it will be his 17th Antarctica flight, that he will be assisted by Capt Greg Fitzgerald and an unnamed first officer and that Qantas has prepared 19 different flight plans to choose the best possible routing depending on the weather. The aircraft is expected to be over the Antarctic Treaty area for around 4h, with 2.5-3h over the continent. Flying will be at minimum safe altitude, which is defined as 2000ft above the highest ground within 180km, or 10000ft above sea level. The coastal plateau rises to 6000ft and the mountains in Northern Victoria Land to around 14000ft.

Three experts who have spent time at Australian bases in Antarctica will be on board to provide detailed information.

The notes also say that brunch will be served at about 1000h while dinner will be served on the homeward leg.

Now is probably a good time for some self-explanatory advance geography information:

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Depending on the vagaries of the app, I may post some pre-departure pics but most of the TR will be post-event - the interval probably proportional to the number of champagnes consumed :mrgreen:.

 

[JohnM]

Loved this report.
Seems this flight is on many bucket lists! I was very excited to see ice on the Syd JNB flight so this would have been awesome. Thanks for all your efforts showing it.

I also saw the sea ice SYD-JNB last year - but it's better at 10000ft compared with 40000ft and of course the continental ice is different again.

 

[snabbu]

Spectacular photos JohmM, thanks for sharing.

And the last ones...

My first thought when viewing the top pic was that I was looked up and saw the Imperial Star Destroyer cruising overhead at night.

 

[BVT]

Great TR and pics; many thanks for taking the time to share this experience.

Keen to do cruise and flight to the the antarctic, now!

 

[njba]

These are some stunning, incredible photos. It's a pity that AFF shrinks and compresses them so: I'd love to use some as screensaver on my apple TV.

Thank you for sharing and I'm so glad the weather behaved itself by and large.

 

[JohnM]

These are some stunning, incredible photos. It's a pity that AFF shrinks and compresses them so: I'd love to use some as screensaver on my apple TV.

Thank you for sharing and I'm so glad the weather behaved itself by and large.

Happy to send or Dropbox your choice when I return from my current trip. PM me after 9 April. I also had some land shots that may be of interest in my Patagonia & Antarctica TR. The shortcut has fallen off my signature list but a search should pick it up easily enough.

 

[bPeteb]

Fantastic photos. It's so hard to put scale to them as I well know from looking at this amazing white expanse from sea level just over a week ago. They explained to us on the ship that working out distances was/is one of the big issues in Antarctica because the air is so clear. When we were at Cape Adare it was 65km to the range across the bay. It looked maybe 20.

 

[Catweazle]

Apologies for updating this thread, but have to say that although I knew Antarctica was big, these photos of yours certainly add to the perspective – talk about a whiteout!

 

[donovan301]

I knew Antarctica was big, but these photos of yours add to the perspective – talk about a whiteout!

Yeah Big indeed, Flew past the outskirts on return from EZE, Buenos Aires... apparently a shortcut for airline travel due to earth curvature bck to Syd/Bne.

Lots n lots of White.

Year ago my partner did a day trip on QF,

4 or so hours flyover of the "yes it is Large...It's a Continent !"

And not just white, but mostly , non the less.

She was Happy,
I was Happy...er... I knew I'd seen enough in a flyby.

But, Champers, Antarctica, more Champers...Happy Lady indeed.
Great Social trip in her opinion.

...and a million photos of....well, Snow, and also Ice,...an some Snow too, oh, and also some ice beside a mountain....covered in ice ;-)

 

[JohnM]

A little update.

These hardcopy maps were sent out by the organisers after the event.

The flight path over Antarctica.



The sightseeing region.

 

[clazman]

Added to the bucket list.. can you do a similar flight over the Artic?

 

[JohnM]

Added to the bucket list.. can you do a similar flight over the Artic?

I think the flight from PER is every two years, so line up for 2019 now!

As for the Arctic, I don't know, but I doubt it - for several reasons:

The Arctic is not nearly as isolated and large as Antarctica.
It is not a continent, just an ice-sheet, so the topography will not be as spectacular.
Many flights between Europe and the US already go over it (albeit at high altitude).

 

[love_the_life]

Svalbard has some pretty spectacular ice cliffs up round Nordaustland but it's much easier to visit by ship. Can fly into Longyearbyen easy enough. Some did a TR a while ago I think where they visited in winter. Most tourism happens in the northern summer not surprisingly.