Editors' Choice: Rescue crews fly to the bottom of the world
The crews of a pair of de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otters made history last April when they flew a daring rescue mission into the depths of the Antarctic winte

The crews of a pair of de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otters made history last April when they flew a daring rescue mission into the depths of the Antarctic winter, landing at the South Pole to rescue an ailing doctor. The mission braved lethally low temperatures to make an unprecedented landing in the deep-freeze of the Antarctic winter at 90 deg South–the ultimate southern destination.

Target of the rescue was Dr. Robert Shemenski, who had been suddenly stricken with life-threatening pancreatitis. The summertime window of operations for the regular Lockheed C-130 supply flights was long over. Once temperatures plummet into the -70s and -80s, metal becomes brittle and cracks easily, and an aircraft’s hydraulic fluids and fuel turn into jelly. For humans, exposed skin gets frostbitten within seconds and can be flayed away by the scouring action of wind and snow grains.