A commercial Airbus A340 landed on Antarctica’s icy territory for the first time in history. A seven-minute clip of the historic touchdown is now being circulated online. Pilot Carlos Mirpuri and his crew started the 4,506-km journey from Cape Town in South Africa on 2nd November. It took over five hours to reach the destination.
The landing was possible due to months of preparation, said the pilot. He added that the day turned out to be a long one for the crew but the anticipation of being involved in such a historic event kept them motivated.
Pilot Mirpuri said the trip brought a lot of anxiety and fear despite meticulous preparation. The trip was eventually chartered by Wolf’s Fang, a luxury holiday resort that had been founded in the South Pole.
As the journey was an overwhelming success, the Airbus A340 can now be chartered to fly a small group of tourists to the white continent along with experts and scientists. They can even carry cargo.
But there were more challenges. Mirpuri said the ‘white desert’ runway had blended with the surrounding terrain before the landing, making the descent particularly challenging. Fortunately for the crew, everything went according to plan.
