NSF to Evacuate Ailing Antarctic Worker - Air Force Aircraft is in New Zealand

  • Published
  • 13th AF
JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii --  The Air Force-led Joint Task Force - Support Forces Antarctica is coordinating a medical evacuation effort to bring home a seriously ill National Science Foundation government contractor from Antarctica.

The Air Force's Air Mobility Command is sending a C-17 Globemaster III transport plane from the 62nd and 446th Airlift Wings at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington to medevac the patient to medical care in Christchurch, New Zealand. The C-17 will stop en route today to pick up a medical team from 13th Air Force at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

The condition of the government contractor is listed as serious but stable. The National Science Foundation has asked the U.S. Air Force to send an aircraft to NSF's McMurdo station Antarctica to evacuate a worker who recently fell ill and whose condition would be more effectively treated in New Zealand.

Operation DEEP FREEZE is a joint service, on-going military activity in support of the National Science Foundation, lead agency for the United States Antarctic Program. Within the scope provided by NSF policy and direction, Joint Task Force-Support Forces Antarctica forces coordinate with inter-agency and international partners to provide air and maritime cargo and passenger transport throughout the Antarctic Joint Operations Area. JTF-SFA forces consist of active duty, Guard and Reserve personnel from the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Army, and Coast Guard as well as Department of Defense civilians and attached non-DOD civilians