I thought about getting the Aerosoft Antartica scenery as well but then I thought the better of it. I only have the 737-NGX, MD-11 and 747-400x and I do not think any of those aircraft would be suitable for landing on ice. If Ice runways are accurately modeled in FSX I would think you would be slipping and sliding all over the place. Even if you did get down without cracking up the plane how would you take off with the plane slipping and sliding all over on takeoff? I think there is a good reason they use planes with Skis and Props down there.

In reality Airbus 319 do also land there. They don't have skys (not even the ones which fly down there), so it is definatly possible to land there. I have also tried a few traffic patterns in the NGX there. And yes, it does work.

I have made a few flights in Antarctics. Went from Marambio to Rothera and then from Rothera to McMurdo in 737-600. Worked well for me to land on short gravel strips in both Marambio and Rothera. Adding custom waypoints to PMDG NAV database is easy. Flying by coordinates in FMC is also easy. in McMurdo I landed on the ice runway. Didn't have any problem with that but locating the runway was a challenge since TACAN there has limited range. Overall I liked the adventure and certainly would recommend to anyone considering taking their wings down to the South Pole wonderland.

So you have already edited your navdata? Could you send me the edited file? I'd like to have this one too.

Does anyone have the positions of the ice runways? Ever since reading an article about the A319 ops to the Antarctic I've wanted to try and replicate it in FSX, but it's a bit pointless without any clue about the nav aids and fixes they use to operate there.Kevin Hall

Download the .kml data from the Aerosoft Antarctica X product page. When you open it with GoogeEarth it will show you the exact prositions, navaids, waypoints and so on.

Download the .kml data from the Aerosoft Antarctica X product page. When you open it with GoogeEarth it will show you the exact prositions, navaids, waypoints and so on.

Cheers, I'll try that.Kevin Hall

I flew the Qantas antarctica flight a few years ago on Vatsim after being shown a flight plan for the previous years flight.My flight route can be found on Vataware's statistic flighthttp://www.vataware.....cfm?id=2650632Note that vataware did not show the waypoint KALVA in the route map for some reason, and this was the southernmost point on the flight. Annotations show Altitude and Speed also which change while over Antarctica (the aircraft does not stay at Flight Level 3xx, but instead comes down to the likes of 11,000ft)DCT ML CWS H169 CLARK/M085F310 W519 HB 45S148E 55S152E 60S155E/M082F280 65S159E 70S167E 71S170E/N250A180 72S170E KALVA 71S159E 68S153E/N250A110 67S147E 66S140E 65S139E/M081F290 60S142E/M085F360 55S144E 50S146E 45S147E/M085F380 HB W295 LT H215 WAREN W687 ML DCT ML DCT /M085 is Mach 0.85F310 is Flight Level 310 (31,000ft on QNH1013)/N250 is 250 knots indicated airspeed.A180 is 18,000ft on local area QNH reported.The flight is 11 hours long, but will require more fuel than a normal 11 hour flight due to the hanging around at 11,000ft for over an hour, and is often flown on the 747-400. I believe one year they flew it on an A380, but it appears that this years flights are 747-400 again.Although these flights are over Antarctica, they remain several hundred miles north of the South (geographic) Pole. However they are southeast of the Magnetic pole, so magnetic variations can be in excess of 90 degrees in some places.of interest to 737 types is the Wilkins Runway.There is an RNAV approach to this runway which can be found at the Australian Airservices site http://www.airservic...com/aip/aip.aspdirect link to chart:http://www.airservic...WKSGN01-126.pdf (this link may become outdated/broken in June 2012)I myself don't have much info as to the flightplans used by the Skytraders A319 "Snowbird1" that flies down there, but a rotue that I have found from other vatsim pilots may be of use.I have found the following plan which seems to be plausable.DCT HB 45S145E 50S140E 55S136E 60S131E 65S118E WKSWC WKS DCTAgain, Wilkins is on Antarctica and is an ice runway, but is only 66*50' south, which is several hundred nm north of the south pole. Magnetic Variation is near 90 degrees (so magnetic compass pointing on S means you are going east)Regards, Trent Hopkinson

So you have already edited your navdata? Could you send me the edited file? I'd like to have this one too.

My NAV DATA file only has positions of airports I have visited. There's no coordinates for runways, approaches or fixes there. Here's what I have added so far:NZIR-77.867400 167.802900EGAR-67.571536 -68.126828File to be edited: Microsoft Flight Simulator XPMDGNAVDATAAirports.dat

In reality Airbus 319 do also land there. They don't have skys (not even the ones which fly down there), so it is definatly possible to land there. I have also tried a few traffic patterns in the NGX there. And yes, it does work.

http://secure.simmar...arctica-x.phtmlGo to the link above and scroll down to see the pictures. In all of them I see C-130 Hercules and Twin Otter Aircraft on Skiis. I am guessing they use these particular types of aircraft because they are more suitable for flying in extreme weather conditions. That is why I thought that realistically jets would not be suitable for the majority of this scenery.

United States Antarctic Program (USAP) AircraftAn array of aircraft are used to ferry personnel and cargo between both gateways (Christchurch, New Zealand, and Punta Arenas, Chile) and the appropriate destinations in Antarctica. Some of these aircraft are also used for transportation between points within Antarctica as well.The various aircraft include the workhorse of the U.S. Antarctic Program - the ski-equipped LC-130 Hercules, the Twin Otter, helicopters, and the U.S. Air Force jet transport aircraft the C-141 Starlifter and the C-17.

Most of the runways in the scenery are referred to as skiways so presumably for ski equipped aircraft only. McMurdo and Wilkins can both operate wheeled aircraft, like the A319 mentioned. It was the wheeled operations by unmodified airliners which intrigued me.Kevin Hall

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http://secure.simmar...arctica-x.phtmlGo to the link above and scroll down to see the pictures. In all of them I see C-130 Hercules and Twin Otter Aircraft on Skiis. I am guessing they use these particular types of aircraft because they are more suitable for flying in extreme weather conditions. That is why I thought that realistically jets would not be suitable for the majority of this scenery.

I think this picture from Wikipedia should show that they can (and do) land there without skies

Someone posted this link about flying in Antarctica recently, can't remember where or who did it, but it is very interesting stuff:

It's about C17s and C130s, but I think it shows you need to plan a bit differently down there. Whiteouts, extra luggage (survival kits), extra extra fuel (closest alternate in case of bad weather = Tasmania), correct temperatures (too warm = slush runway, you'll get stuck, too cold = you can't shut down or freeze)... extreme flying!Don't think I'll venture down there though, bit too far and takes too long for my liking.

Plenty o aircraft in Canada landing with wheels on I guess one could call "ice" or snow runways. Actually, in bitter cold conditions, with the moisture basically sublimating just above the ice/snow, the friction properties aren't much different then normal runways on a hot day. The Russians operate plenty o wheeled aircraft down there, and the BAS Dash 7 operates exclusively with wheels, although it doesn't really go beyond the penisula so..,