2023-08-25 14:30:09
EXCLUSIVE – Deployed in the Arctic and Antarctica, the 109th Airlift Wing is the only one in the world to fly jumbo jets capable of landing on ice. Soldiers who necessarily go through a famous survival course in extreme cold, in Greenland, in which we were able to participate.
Special Envoys in the Arctic
Walking the Greenland Ice Sheet, one of our planet’s two polar ice caps, is a rare privilege. And landing there aboard an LC-130 Skibird from the 109th Airlift Wing adds a spectacular dimension to our expedition which begins this morning in May.
Alongside about twenty American soldiers, we extricate ourselves from the bowels of this jumbo jet – the only one of its ilk capable of landing on ice and snow thanks to its wide skis, and one of the last ten aircraft in the world in service. In an instant, we swap the narrow warm darkness of the hold for the dazzling and icy immensity of a white and flat desert.
In an environment like this, nothing makes sense and everything is against you.
Major Preston Moon, the 66th Training Squadron detachment commander and specialist in Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (Sere) techniques
From the moment their feet touch the ground, and for the next three days, this plane no longer exists in the eyes of the military. The purpose of the maneuver? Simulate a seventy-two hour survival after a crash in a desert and arctic environment. The United States Air Force, always inspired to find names that sound good, has baptized…
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