Com-Central.net

Rothera station was established in 1975 to replace Adelaide station (1961-1977) where the skiway had deteriorated. From its inception until the 1991-92 summer season BAS Twin Otter aircraft used the skiway 300 m above the station on Wormald Ice Piedmont. With the commissioning of the gravel runway and hangar in 1991-92 air operations became more reliable and access to Rothera was greatly improved through a direct airlink from the Falkland Islands.

Sky-Blu is an area of blue ice situated close to Sky-Hi Nunataks suitable for use as an ice runway for wheeled aircraft. First located by BAS in 1993-94, the runway has rapidly assumed a position of vital importance in support of BAS deep-field operations, because it can be used by Dash-7 aircraft. The greater freight capacity of the Dash-7 has provided fuel/load cost benefits in the support of deep field parties which were earlier undertaken exclusively by wheel-ski Twin Otter aircraft.

Twin Otter aircraft ferry drums of fuel from Rothera to Fossil Bluff each summer to maintain the size of the fuel depot. The station is 90 minutes flying time from Rothera.

NSF officials noted that several factors, all of them weather-related, argued in favor of employing the Twin Otters instead of the much larger Hercules. The extreme temperatures at the Pole are less likely to affect the Twin Otter landing gear, which is less reliant on hydraulic fluids than are the Hercules. Also, it is considerably easier to bring the smaller quantities of fuel needed to power the Twin Otter to an operating temperature by moving into a heated area of the station.

The decision to use the smaller planes was made chiefly on the basis of their rated temperature range. The four-engine turboprop LC-130, the veteran workhorse of the Antarctic program, is rated safe down to -55 Celsius (-67 Fahrenheit). The Twin Otter is rated to -75 Celsius (-103 Fahrenheit). In addition, the large military aircraft would not have been able to attempt the flight to the Pole after April 22, when it becomes too dark and too cold to conduct the mission safely.