COMMENTS: On the otherhand, Fox News is a little more forthcoming and raises many more questions, ultimately providing us some VERY IMPORTANT PIECES OF THE PUZZLE:
1) This article tells us that there were THREE planes involved:
ONE to take out the 11 Americans BEFORE they even removed the very ill doctor. What kind of plane was it? Much larger?
AND, TWO Twin Otters, both for the doctor: One was a back up. Makes sense...maybe the 10 hour wait had to do with weather? (just a thought)
2) Why were the 11 Researchers airlifted out? And BEFORE the ailing doctor? Were they suspected to have been exposed to radiation while drilling into the 'magnetic anomaly'? OR, were they transporting something...something awesome and phenomenal that was found in the Antarctic? Where is this plane now?

And one other question while we are at it: The Doctor was replaced; the 11 other researchers were not, according to Enterprise. Why would that be? If they weren't critical in the first place to the mission there, why would they spend the Winter in Antarctica in the first place? And if they WERE critical, could it be that they FOUND what they were looking for?
Many more interesting questions...

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Shemenski's was the second dramatic rescue attempt this week. On Tuesday, a plane successfully evacuated 11 American staffers from McMurdo Antarctic Base on the Antarctic coast across from New Zealand.
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FULL ARTICLE BELOW:
Thursday, April 26, 2001
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PUNTA ARENAS, Chile — A rescue plane flew out of Antarctica on Thursday with an Ohio doctor who had a gall bladder attack at the South Pole, embarking on the final leg of a dangerous journey through snow, wind, and subzero temperatures.

The twin-engine propeller plane took off from the British-run Rothera base on Antarctica's Adelaide Island at 11:30 a.m. EDT, said Valerie Carroll, a spokeswoman for the airlift organizers, Raytheon Polar Services. She said a backup plane at Rothera followed behind.

"Both planes are now in the air," said Carroll.

It was the last leg of the return to Punta Arenas, Chile, a risky six-hour jaunt across the Drake Passage to the southernmost tip of South America with Dr. Ronald S. Shemenski onboard.

Shemenski, 59, of Oak Harbor, about 25 miles from Toledo, has been diagnosed with inflammation of the pancreas, a potentially life-threatening ailment, although he was reported by doctors to be in stable condition. Pancreatitis can happen when a gallstone passes down the bile duct, irritating the pancreas.

The plane and its backup were expected to arrive in Punta Arenas just before 5 p.m. EDT, five days after the Twin Otter plane took off from there for the Rothera base on Antarctica's Adelaide Island, en route to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.

AP

The National Science Foundation's Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.

The extreme cold and darkness that characterize weather at the South Pole from late February until November make flights risky into Antarctica, the fifth-largest continent, its 5.4 million square miles the coldest, windiest and emptiest place on Earth.

After reaching the Pole on Tuesday, the plane remained overnight in subfreezing temperatures on an icy runway and then made a more than eight-hour return flight Wednesday night to a safe landing at the Rothera base.

After arriving in Punta Arenas, Shemenski is expected to get a medical checkup, remain overnight, and later take a commercial flight to the United States. There, he is to expected to undergo exhaustive medical treatment in Colorado.

Rescue officials said Shemenski was in stable condition and walking by himself. "Leaving the pole, he was pretty good," said Tom Yelvington, general manager at Raytheon Polar Services, a U.S.-based company heading up the rescue effort.

The airlift operation was the riskiest rescue effort by a small plane ever at the South Pole, with the pilots of the eight-seater craft braving snow, cold of minus 65 degrees, high winds and pitch-black polar darkness.

By Wednesday, Shemenski's family was expressing relief.

"I'm thrilled that he's safe and that the crew is safe," said Shemenski's wife, Rebecca, who has a home in Fremont, Ohio. "They still have a long way to go. We should all continue to keep them in our thoughts and prayers."

The doctor recently suffered a gall bladder ailment and has been diagnosed with inflammation of the pancreas, a potentially life-threatening ailment.

Rescuers decided to risk the evacuation because of fears that Shemenski's health could deteriorate after worse weather makes the South Pole unreachable. Shemenski was the sole physician among 50 researchers working there.

Shemenski's was the second dramatic rescue attempt this week. On Tuesday, a plane successfully evacuated 11 American staffers from McMurdo Antarctic Base on the Antarctic coast across from New Zealand.

The effort to evacuate Shemenski also came a year and a half after a female doctor was airlifted from the South Pole station. Dr. Jerri Nielsen was evacuated in October 1999 after she discovered a breast tumor that was diagnosed as cancerous.

But Shemenski's airlift was by far the most challenging, said Peter West, a spokesman for the National Science Foundation in Washington.

West said "there are huge differences" between Shemenski and Nielsen's rescues. Nielsen was taken out only two weeks before the polar summer, when conditions were turning less severe. "Then it was getting warmer and lighter as they were moving into summer," he said.

Antarctica has progressively been getting darker since last month, when the winter-long night began at the pole. By now, most of the continent is in utter darkness until October.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,17015,00.html