The pole is where the magnetic lines of force converge in the Southern Hemisphere, which is what causes needles on magnetic compasses to spin when the plane passes over. The jetliner also has gyroscope and satellite guidance to keep on course. Outside the plane, Antarctic winds whip past. Inside, it's delightful, with some passengers wearing T-shirts and shorts. A party atmosphere reigns on the Boeing 747-400 jumbo jet from the time the first icebergs are sighted some three hours south of Australia.
Sightseers wander the aisles, looking for prime vantage points at the cabin windows.
Passengers cooperate in sharing windows so everyone can catch glimpses, snap photos or shoot video of the glaciers oozing slowly to the sea, the Trans-Antarctic Mountains, the blinding white ice cap accented with streaks of blue. Qantas and the Croydon Travel agency of Melbourne have carried about 11,000 tourists over Antarctica in the last four years and plan 10 flights for the next tour season, November 1998 to February 1999. The excursions are a revival of Antarctic aerial tourism that flourished from 1977 to 1979, when both Qantas and Air New Zealand had regular jumbo jet flights over the frigid continent. All 257 people aboard died. The area has been declared a tomb by the nations with research bases in Antarctica, and today only a few wheels and engines jut above the snow to mark the crash site on the volcano's flank.