Pilots complete mercy mission

IQALUIT — Two former Nunavut pilots have saved an ailing American doctor who was stranded at the South Pole.

Sean Loutitt and Mark Carey are pilots with Kenn Borek Air Ltd. Both have spent time flying in Nunavut, where the airline has bases in Iqaluit and Resolute Bay.

Last week the two flew a Twin Otter aircraft to Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, where Ronald Shemenski, 59, was sick with pancreatitis. After a brief stopover to rest and wait out bad weather, the pilots and the Shemenski returned to the Antarctic coast and then to South America.

The rescue marks the latest in the Antarctic autumn that a plane has landed at the pole. Due to total darkness and temperatures far colder than those in the Arctic, the station is normally cut off outside contact from February until November.

Once Shemenski reached South America he boarded a commercial flight bound for the U.S., where he will receive surgery. He is said to be in good condition.

Both Loutitt and Carey had flown in Antarctica before, though always in summer. The U.S. Antarctic Program contracts with Kenn Borek to provide Twin Otter services during the Antarctic summer research season.