No airline operated Convair 990s to Australia so the smoky arrival of N5615 was greeted with much excitement by aviation enthusiasts. It was on a charter flight that commenced in Boston and included overflights of the North and South Poles and a landing at McMurdo in Antarctica. The flight was a fundraiser for the Richard E Byrd Polar Centre in Boston (hence the spelling of the aircraft name). An attempt to fly the same route in 1970 was scuttled when the US Navy, out of safety concerns, refused permission to land at McMurdo.