Search and rescue workers from New Zealand are optimistic that a break expected later today in the windy and snowy weather will allow them to make visual contact with three Canadians whose aircraft disappeared days ago in Antarctica and are believed stranded.
"There was an improvement in the weather today, but not enough for the aircraft to get a visual on the site," Conrad Reynecke of the New Zealand Rescue Co-ordination Centre told CBC News on Friday.
"The weather is expected to improve significantly in the next six to 10 hours, with wind abating, and hopefully we can get rescuers to the site," he added.
Fierce winds, snow and low cloud cover have hampered search efforts since the Twin Otter plane, operated by Calgary-based Kenn Borek Air, went down near the northern end of the Queen Alexandra mountain range, some 450 kilometres from the South Pole.
A Twin Otter plane carrying three Canadians went missing over Antarctica on Tueday night. (Google) The plane had been transmitting an emergency beacon signal since late Wednesday night, local time, but it now appears the battery has died.
It is not known if the plane crashed or made a forced landing. The conditions of the pilot — Bob Heath from Inuvik, N.W.T. — and his two unidentified crew members, believed to be the co-pilot and flight engineer, are also not known.
"It is very difficult to speculate as to what we will find when we get there," said Reynecke.
"We've been told that this gentleman is a very experienced pilot and he could probably land it in the most inhospitable cases. So the best-case scenario is we find a tent set up and people waiting for rescue," he said.
"But, worst-case scenario, we do not want to think about it. This remains a rescue operation."
'A frustrating day'
Rescuers circled over the site of the signal Friday morning, but clouds and wind prevented visual contact and the search was put on hold.
"Today was a frustrating day for all concerned," said Reynecke.
The missing plane is believed to be roughly halfway between the South Pole and McMurdo Station, a U.S. research facility in Antarctica where two helicopters, equipped with mountain survival gear, remain on standby pending a change in the weather. Once the weather clears, rescuers plan to establish a base 50 kilometres from the site and run rescue operations from there — bringing the helicopters in from McMurdo Station to assist.
But even in favourable weather, flying at that altitude, roughly 4,000 metres, poses "significant challenges," said Reynecke.
The Canadian pilot of the missing Twin Otter was identified by his wife as Bob Heath of Inuvik, N.W.T. (Courtesy Lucy Heath) Mark Cary, a former pilot with Kenn Borek Air, said he flew with Heath on a number of occasions and described him as an experienced aviator who was well versed in cold-weather survival techniques.
"I'm very, very confident that if this crew indeed survived getting the aircraft on the ground that Bob is the kind of individual that would be able to survive until rescuers could get to him and his location," he said.
Jim Pearce, a retired pilot with the company who flew with Heath, described him as "probably one of the most experienced Antarctic pilots in the world today. It's a very very challenging place to work, and a very, very challenging place to fly."
He said the airline would have provided Heath and his passengers with the best survival gear available. "They'd have extreme cold weather gear available, and the most up-to-date survival packs," he said.
The missing plane had been flying from the South Pole to an Italian base in Antarctica's Terra Nova Bay. A spokesman for the U.S. National Science Foundation has said the flight was in support of the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development.
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