Cool: Hi Fly Airbus A340 Flies To Antarctica

Cool: Hi Fly Airbus A340 Flies To Antarctica

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Portuguese charter airline Hi Fly just operated a pretty awesome flight to Antarctica…

Hi Fly A340 lands on ice runway in Antarctica

On November 2, 2021, a Hi Fly Airbus A340-300 flew from Cape Town to Antarctica and back in one day. The 18 year old Airbus A340-300 with the registration code 9H-SOL landed on a blue glacial ice runway, marking the first time an A340 ever landed in Antarctica. Specifically, the plane landed on Wolf’s Fang Runway, which is around 3,000 meters long.

The journey covered a distance of about 2,500 miles in each direction, and took just over five hours each way. The plane spent under three hours in Antarctica before returning, so while it was a long day for the crew, it was an efficient operation, and went exactly as planned (despite the plane’s “SOL” registration).

The purpose of the flight was to bring tourists, researchers, and essential goods, to Antarctica. We see charter flights to Antarctica pretty often, given that there’s a need for people and supplies to move to & from the continent.

For example, earlier this year I wrote about how an Icelandair Boeing 767 flew all the way to Antarctica, on a pretty epic journey.

Hi Fly Airbus A340 in Antarctica
Hi Fly Airbus A340 in Antarctica
Hi Fly Airbus A340 in Antarctica
Hi Fly Airbus A340 in Antarctica

Hi Fly shares “captain’s log” of flight to Antarctica

The story as such is pretty interesting, but here’s what takes this to the next level. First of all, Hi Fly produced a video about the flight, and the production value is surprisingly good. It includes cockpit footage, footage from the cabin, interviews with the captain, and more. If you have eight minutes, I highly recommend watching it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBRX3QJJ0Jg

Equally interesting is that Hi Fly has published the “captain’s log,” which is essentially a trip report from the captain about this journey. The captain of the flight was Carlos Mirpuri, who is also Hi Fly’s VP.

Hi Fly Airbus A340 captain in Antarctica

I’m sure I’m not the only one who dreams of visiting Antarctica some day, so seeing videos like this and reading firsthand accounts always gets me excited.

Bottom line

Hi Fly recently operated a flight from Cape Town to Antarctica, marking the first time an Airbus A340 has ever landed on the continent. While we see flights to Antarctica with some regularity, what sets this one apart is how well the whole thing was documented, both in the form of a video and a captain’s log. Well done, Hi Fly!

Anyone else find this as intriguing as I do?

Conversations (9)
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  1. Jordan Diamond

    This is not the first A340 to touch down on this land, sorry. There is a military A340 that visits Antarctica frequently, along with other aircraft types, and can be viewed on a very interesting flight tracker for military worldwide (that also shows commercial movements). Not my favorite tracker, but it shows very interesting flight stats that you cannot see on the two regular trackers everyone likes to flock to.

  2. VT-CIE Diamond

    ‘...despite the plane’s “SOL” registration...’ I didn’t understand the reference to SOL here. Why would an operation being successfully completed depend on not being ‘SOL’?

    1. Rob Guest

      SOL is short for sh*t out of luck. :)

    2. Thierry Guest

      ... or "sun" in Portuguese (HiFly's headquarters) or Spanish :)

  3. Jaime Quiroga Jamed Guest

    Congratulation Captain for you and all your TEAM in this historic flight in the legendary A 340-300.
    It will be a pleasure to know the details oft planning , weights , performances , etc..

    I fly as a PIC over the antártica from SCEL to YMML in a B 787-9 , and is an amazing flight over the South Pole.

  4. Glenn (The Military Frequent Flyer) Guest

    Having flown to McMurdo Station on a Royal NZ Air Force 757 and out on a USAF C-17, I can say that almost everything on the planes needs to be specially configured for Antarctica, fuel, hydraulic fluid, and probably the tires too although I do not know that for sure. They were lucky they had a beautiful day, often the flights have to turn around due to weather changing after they have left the home airfield.

  5. AlohaDaveKennedy Guest

    What tourists were aboard? When was this flight being offered to tourists?

  6. pstm91 Diamond

    I have not had time to watch the video but do planes use special winter/snow tires, similar to cars and other vehicles?

Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

Thierry Guest

... or "sun" in Portuguese (HiFly's headquarters) or Spanish :)

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Sam Guest

What is the url?

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Jordan Diamond

This is not the first A340 to touch down on this land, sorry. There is a military A340 that visits Antarctica frequently, along with other aircraft types, and can be viewed on a very interesting flight tracker for military worldwide (that also shows commercial movements). Not my favorite tracker, but it shows very interesting flight stats that you cannot see on the two regular trackers everyone likes to flock to.

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