Pegasus Field

{{Infobox airport

| name = Pegasus Field

| image = Pegasus Field runway.jpg

| image-width = 270

| caption = White ice runway at Pegasus Field

| IATA = none

| ICAO = NZPG

| pushpin_map = Antarctica

| pushpin_mapsize = 270

| pushpin_map_caption = Location of airfield in Antarctica

| pushpin_label = NZPG

| pushpin_label_position = right

| type =

| owner =

| operator =

| city-served =

| location = McMurdo Station, Ross Island, Antarctica

| coordinates = {{coord|77|57|48|S|166|31|28|E|type:airport|display=inline, title}}

| elevation-f = 18

| elevation-m = 5

| website =

| metric-rwy =

| r1-number = 15/33

| r1-length-f = 10,000

| r1-length-m = 3,048

| r1-surface = Ice

| r2-number = 08/26

| r2-length-f = 10,000

| r2-length-m = 3,048

| r2-surface = Ice

| footnotes = Source: DAFIF{{cite web|url-status=usurped|url=http://worldaerodata.com/wad.cgi?airport=NZPG|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190305143444/http://worldaerodata.com/wad.cgi?airport=NZPG|archive-date=2019-03-05|title=Airport information for NZPG|website=World Aero Data}} Data current as of October 2006. Source: DAFIF.{{GCM|NZPG|source=DAFIF}}USAP.gov US Antarctic Program Inter-agency Air Operations Manual

}}

Pegasus Field {{airport codes||NZPG}} was an airstrip in Antarctica, the southernmost of three airfields serving McMurdo Station. It closed due to excessive melting in the summer season caused by warmer temperatures combined with dust and dirt blown in from nearby Black Island. The last flight was on December 8, 2016[https://newsroomplus.com/2016/12/09/nzdf-airlift-missions-renew-lifeline-for-scientists-in-antarctica/ NZDF Airlift Missions Renew Lifeline For Scientists In Antarctica] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170106173704/https://newsroomplus.com/2016/12/09/nzdf-airlift-missions-renew-lifeline-for-scientists-in-antarctica/ |date=2017-01-06 }} and it was replaced by Phoenix Airfield {{airport codes||NZFX}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.gcmap.com/airport/NZFX|title=NZFX - McMurdo Station [Phoenix Field], Ross Island, AQ - Airport - Great Circle Mapper}}[https://www.usap.gov/logistics/documents/FY16_Air-Operation-Manual.pdf US Antarctic Program Inter-agency Air Operations Manual – United States Antarctic Program]{{cite web | url=http://www.usap.gov/News/contentHandler.cfm?id=4212 | title=A New Runway for McMurdo Station is Named| publisher=National Science Foundation| date=7 April 2016}} with flights starting in February 2017.

Pegasus was originally conceived as a blue ice runway capable of handling wheeled aircraft year-round, but as it was developed, it was enhanced with a 4-inch layer of compacted snow on top—thus more properly characterizing it as a white ice runway.

{{cite web| url=http://www.amc.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-151105-042.pdf| title=Operation Deep Freeze—50 Years of Air Force Airlift in Antarctica 1956–2006 (page 265)| first=Ellery D.| last=Wallwork| date=October 2006| url-status=dead| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507130839/http://www.amc.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-151105-042.pdf| archivedate=2016-05-07}} Other local runways are the snow runways at Williams Field {{airport codes||NZWD}} that are limited to ski-equipped aircraft, and the former Ice Runway {{airport codes||NZIR}} on the sea-ice available during the summer Antarctic field season. The limitations of these additional fields meant that before Pegasus opened, jet-powered wheeled aircraft could only fly to/from McMurdo at the beginning of the summer season and all other flights had to be conducted using significantly smaller and slower ski planes.

The field is named after Pegasus, a C-121 Lockheed Constellation that made a forced landing on unprepared terrain in bad weather on October 8, 1970. None of the 80 on board were seriously injured. The aircraft remains in-situ near the airfield as of 2019, and has remained well preserved. It is generally covered with snow, but is occasionally excavated by visitors wishing to photograph it.[https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pegasus-wreck Pegasus Wreck] - Atlas Obscura - Accessed upon September 16, 2019

On September 11, 2008, a United States Air Force C-17 Globemaster III successfully completed the first landing in Antarctica using night-vision goggles at Pegasus Field.{{cite web | url=http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/features/contenthandler.cfm?id=1544 | title=Air Force successfully tests new capability to fly any time of year to McMurdo| work=Antarctic Sun|first=Peter| last=Rejcek| date=September 26, 2008}} Previously air transport in the permanent darkness of the winter was only used in emergencies, with burning barrels of fuel to outline the runway.