Flight to Antarctica Posted on November 11, 2016 by Scott Springer Inside the C17 — big enough to hold a helicopter, plus 55 passengers, and supplies for McMurdo. I ended up in the front middle seat. Most people sat along the walls. The flight tracker was a cardboard cutout of a plane that a crew member moved on a map from time to time. There aren’t many windows on a C17. As we neared Antarctica, I snapped a picture of the sea ice through the tiny window next to the door. The crew invited everyone for a brief visit to the flight deck. The view was dazzling — both in intensity and beauty. My first view of the glaciers and icefields of Antarctica from the flight deck. On the ground at Pegasus Field, an ice runway about 19 miles from McMurdo Station. Planes with wheels can land here until the surface softens too much in the summer sunlight.