Unusual flying objects in the Antarctic are not usually the topic of serious speculation.
However, on Tuesday, flight trackers were showing some strange movements in the skies over Ross Island.
While Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was making her way to Scott Base on a southbound C17, many aviation fans were transfixed by something very odd.
A lone plane was running continuous eight-hour sorties over the ice runways.
At speeds of 550km/h, skimming at heights of just over 200 metres before climbing rapidly to an altitude of 2000m, it did not look like a comfortable ride.
If this was the PM's inbound plane, that might have explained the slight look of motion sickness with which she was reading her copy of Ernest Shackleton's memoirs.
The unregistered Bombardier Challenger 600 was running continuous loops.
Reportedly a similar model to the one owned by David and Victoria Beckham, the CL60 is a popular private jet, more associated with celebrities than the most inhospitable corner of the planet.
So what was it doing? One assumes it was not an elaborate holiday for Posh Spice and Becks.
Was it running safety checks ahead of the prime minister’s already delayed trip to Scott Base? Was it an entirely unrelated science mission in this continent dedicated to discoveries?
However, running a floating airstrip built on sheet ice is a challenge.
Because of the shifting nature of the pack ice, measurements and calibrations need to be taken every year.
Williams Field NZWD and Ice Runway NZIR are designated by ICAO as New Zealand-controlled airstrips. However, because of the international nature of Antarctica - and with a large presence from the American research station - much of the logistics are conducted by the US FAA.
The American Antarctic program runs around 100 direct flights a year out of Christchurch.
A spokesperson for the US Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that this was indeed their plane, although they “do not disclose specific details about our flight-check operations.”
“The flights by an FAA aircraft over Antarctica are part of the FAA’s mission to ensure the safety of air navigation aids and other equipment supporting the ongoing scientific operations in the region.”
“Every October the FAA returns to Antarctica to establish approach and departure procedures and calibrate navigational airs for the snow-landing strips that service the National Science Foundation’s McMurdo Station,” the FAA writes of its annual Antarctic mission.
It's a very international project.
While it falls within the Auckland Flight Information Region, at “Mac Centre” air traffic control is conducted by Atlantic’s Polar Programmes.
A spokesperson for Antarctica New Zealand said it was an annual operation.
The prime minister’s flight out of Christchurch was not broadcasting tracking data for security reasons, they said.
-By Thomas Bywater
