New York Air National Guard's 109th Airlift Wing reaching halfway mark in Greenland mission for 2016

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A 109th Airlift Wing LC-130 Skibird at Summit Station, Greenland in 2015.

STRATTON AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, SCIOTIA, N.Y. (06/17/2016)(readMedia)-- The New York Air National Guard's 109th Airlift Wing is about half-way through its summer support to National Science Foundation research in Greenland.

The wing flies the only aircraft in the United States military which can land on snow or ice using skies. This allows the wing's LC-130 "Skibirds"-a variant of the C-130 transport-to land places other plans cannot while carrying large amounts of cargo and personnel.

Between April and August the wing deploys Airmen to Kangerlussuaq, (KANG-GER-LOOS-OOWAK) Greenland where they fly missions in support of science research stations on the Greenland icecap. So far this year the win has conducted 62 missions. Another 125 missions are planned through July and into August.

The third rotation of six planned rotations into and out of Kangerlussuaq is expected to leave Stratton Air National Guard Base April 22-25. Four ski-equipped LC-130 aircraft and 80 Airmen will head north to provide support to the National Science Foundation.

Rotations can last from six to 14 days.

Over the last five years 109th Airlift Wing has averaged more than 800 hours during each Greenland support season, while transporting 2.1 million pounds of cargo, delivering 49,000 pounds of fuel and carrying 1,790 passengers.

The Greenland season will come to a close in August.

However, there's not much downtime for those supporting the mission. The conference to plan next year's support for Greenland research is held in October, around the same time Airmen and aircraft are on their way to Antarctica to participate in Operation Deep Freeze, the U.S. military support for Antarctic research.

The wing's Airmen fly missions in Antarctica and Greenland in support of National Science Foundation research and have also participated in Artic military missions with the Canadian Forces. Members of the wing have also deployed in support of combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.