A Twin Otter plane from Alberta has safely landed at the South Pole, where its crew will attempt an extremely rare winter medical evacuation.

“The plane will now remain at the Pole for roughly 10 hours to allow the aircrew to rest,” reads a statement from the U.S. National Science Foundation.

“The crew will then assess weather conditions at both the Pole and the British Antarctic Survey’s Rothera Station before flying back to Rothera,” the statement goes on.

The Canadian bush plane left Rothera and flew for roughly nine hours over the barren continent on Tuesday. Rothera is located 2,400 kilometres closer to the southern tip of Chile.

Another Canadian plane specially equipped to land on snow stayed behind in Rothera, where it will conduct a search-and-rescue mission for the first plane if needed.

Flying to the South Pole is almost never attempted during winter, due to extreme weather conditions, with temperatures so low that they can freeze jet fuel.

On Tuesday evening, the temperature at the research station was –60 C, although conditions were listed as “clear.”

There have been only three emergency evacuations from the South Pole’s Amundsen-Scott station since 1999.

Alberta-based airline Kenn Borek Air has provided the planes for two of those rescue missions, and stepped up once again this time.

It’s dangerous work. In 2013, three Canadians from Kenn Borek Air died during an Antarctic flight when their plane crashed in the Queen Alexandra mountain range.

Sean Loutitt, who travelled to the South Pole for Kenn Borek, said Tuesday that the crew is likely relieved to have made it to the research station, but their mission isn’t over yet.

“It’s a nine-hour flight back to Rothera, so it’s a long way to go and the weather can still get quite bad,” he said.

“There’s a good crew in both airplanes,” he added. “I wish them the best.”

The Amundsen-Scott South Pole research station is one of three year-round NSF-led operations in Antarctica. According to the agency, 48 people spend the winter in the station studying things like greenhouse gases, dark matter, black holes and the history of the universe.

With files from CTV’s Kevin Gallagher, CTV Calgary and The Associated Press