From CBS News:(AP) A U.S. Air Force pilot has landed a plane in Antarctica in the dark for the first time using night-vision goggles, a feat that could lead to more supply flights to scientific bases in the frozen continent during its dark winter months, officials said Friday.
The C-17 Globemaster cargo airplane landed in a driving snowstorm on the six-mile ice runway at the U.S. Antarctic research center at McMurdo Station, after months of practice runs by pilots using the goggles.
The Air Force plane took off from Christchurch, New Zealand, and flew nearly six hours before landing Thursday night. It returned to Christchurch early Friday.
Air Force Lt. Col. Jim McGann said the airplane's own lights - reflecting off of traffic cones - allowed it to land without electrical runway lights that are too hard to maintain in the frozen environment.
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