In my (previous) Part I post, I'd reported that I'd just reached the middle of Waddell Sea, while the brilliant morning Sun was just rising up over the wing of my DC8....🙂...Below, I've included, a SimBrief MAP, that helps orient ourselves with the routes (and topology) of this (virtual and fictitious, but educational) flight. Please note a couple of things on this MAP. First, my intended final DEST (NZIR) Airport, in RW, has been already decommissioned, so, one will (correctly) not find it in SimBrief (good old FSX lists it still, though, and of course, AS has nicely modelled this Airport/Runway, too, hence, is my choice, for final destination, here, as the nearest human habitat on Antarctica). The Airport of choice, these days, for large aircraft (e.g. C-130), is (correctly) NZFX (the new Phoenix Airfield). When I entered SCCI/NZFX, on SimBrief, as ORIG/DEST pair, for the DC8, the planner suggested, by default, as ALTERNATE, (SCCI) itself, which, right-away indicates the gravity of the situation (the ORIG Airport, thousands of miles away, being the only suitable alternative Airport)...! So, the left route segment, shown, is Sim Brief's output, if the aircraft were to be directly heading to McMurdo Station (from Punta Arenas). Just for illustration, I've overlapped the right segment (on this MAP), to mimic the "Operation IceBridge" Route from Punta Arenas to the Weddell Sea. So in Part I Post, I had flown over/across the tail end of (the tail of) the Antarctic Peninsula, into the the Weddell Sea.    

In this post, I show my progress towards the final destination of McMurdo Station's Ice Runway (NZIR), traveling (West) across the icemass of West Antarctica, from Waddell Sea to Ross Sea, based on INS navigational guidance. [Side Note: East Antarctica, btw, is a much larger (and equally mysterious) chunk of mass, worth examining, on MAP, if you wish to.] Also, below, please see the Top-Down Globe shot, where, the Red cross-wire indicates that my (virtual) DC8 has entered the Ross Ice Shelf (the grey (less-white) area), with South America and the Antarctic Peninsula, seen, at the RHS edge of the Globe. The McMurdo Station (and NZIR/Ice Runway) is located across the Ross Ice Shelf, on a tiny island, called Ross Island. In the final screenshot of this post, after having just deactivated INS navigation, I'm making a, MAP guided, manual (HDG) turn towards the Ross Island. I intend to supplement my avionics, here, see insert on the final shot, with my "trusty" Artificial ILS gauge (which is for help with landing, please excuse it, but, otherwise, this wannabe pilot might have trouble aligning this DC8 properly with the Ice Runway's centerline (which certainly won't be a good thing after such a long and tedious non-stop flight), with no ILS present, on NZIR). The (ever-present and non-radio) DME on this gauge, shows, I'm 87 nms away from the NZIR Runway. However, today, I'd to adjourn my flight, at this point, with the challenge of finding and landing on NZIR, left for another day...(frankly, it got too late, here, to continue, and the dinner was getting cold...)...🙂...

So, here we go, after crossing the Weddell Sea, I embark on an adventure of my own. First I have touched feet into the seemingly endless and featureless whiteness of mainland Antarctica (see initial shots), not for long though, before reactivating INS (WPT[3]->WPT[4]), westward towards Ross Island. Because I've been heading South all-along, you see the plane banking right (westward) to now travel across West Antarctica. There, in that region, it was, all, so white and so featureless, that, from external (SIM) view, sometimes, I could not tell if the (SIM) DC8 was indeed flying or my FSX had got frozen...! Even in my virtual world, the sensation was a bit un-nerving...🙂...hope the screenshots convey, at least, a bit of that feeling.., while, in the back of my mind, persisted, the thoughts, of the (reliably functioning) 4-engines of the DC8, image of the P&Ws included, though the (RW) DC8-72 was actually powered by CFMs...(Do examine the [VC] window views, too, included for effect, and bear with me,...🙂...as I continue to dream on, here, in our virtual (SIM) world...), but, nonetheless, it was good fun. And, on a serious note, it did offer me a glimpse, even if minute, of what the (RW) pilots of the DC8 mission (or equivalent), must be feeling, around those remotest regions of Earth...

One curious thing happened along the way, here, worth mentioning. If you examine the SimBrief MAP, Longitude "W180/E180" (the International Dateline), lies just East of NZ Islands, i.e., before I would reach my final destination (I've started, here, from Weddell Sea, Longitude (50W-> 60W->70W->.....->180W), so on, and, btw, it's unthinkable how many times (more) distance, at upper Latitudes, e.g. at Equator, that would require, to travel, compared to here, on Antarctica). Anyway, it felt a bit magical when the (Right INS) used  for (only) Position display, almost instantly, as it should, jumped from "179.5W" to "179.6E" in the shots, shown below, which I've included of the on-board INSs, during this transition (Please see the last but-one and the last-but-two screenshots below).

So, in my last screenshot here, I'm making the turn, now, headed towards Ross Island, but, the challenge of finding and landing on NZIR Ice Runway will have to wait...for continuation, on another day...while my SIM is held in Pause, so, hopefully, the whole thing will be one continuous adventure, virtually speaking, of course...!

Thanks for your interest, and hope you enjoy these pictures of this Classic plane, engaged in this adventure...! Good rest of Sunday..!

[AS(DC8/Antarctica), REX]

Great shots! 

Thank you, Schwarzgruber...!!

This plane is a nice one, with its interior and exterior appeals,...it is now growing on me a bit...🙂....