If you have anything to add to this story, email [email protected] and keep the research going! Check back here for more corrections: 1) There were two types of runways used on Oct 8, 1970. The Connies, with their wheeled landing gear, would land on an airstrip that was glacial ice. So it was a hard, solid surface. Pilots say it’s not very different than landing on tarmac except for braking. The Hercs, with their skis, used a landing strip made of compacted snow that accumulated over ice. So Peggy’s wheels would have ruined that runway. Also, just for note, the ice airstrip moves annually since it’s on a glacier and the Navy recalibrates it annually but that had not yet been done on 10/8/70 | 2) point of safe return, not point of no return! | 3) NZ isn’t the closest you can get to Antarctica, Southern Chile is! | 4) the nose landing gear hit the ice, not the nose itself