A Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K Orion crew rescued a seriously ill member of the US Antarctic program on 14 September 2010. A medevac mission during the Antarctic winter months is a rare event and carried out only when weather conditions permit. The temperature was -31 degrees F on the ice when the crew landed at Pegasus Field at McMurdo Station. The mission took the better part of the day. The evacuee, who was not identified, was taken to a hospital in Christchurch and was listed in stable condition after the flight. An earlier rescue attempt was aborted after blizzard conditions were reported at McMurdo. The P-3K crew was from 5 Squadron at RNZAF Whenuapai, near Auckland.
