Sorry all that follow this blog for not keeping as updated as I have in the past. Work this season has been a bit busier at times with smaller teams and warmer temperatures down time has been used more for relaxing than anything else recently. The holidays have come and gone down here without much fanfare. Redeployment meetings have occurred and everyone is planning their post ice travel plans so the end is getting closer, the weather is cooling off some what, days are getting shorter, the food is getting less appetizing are good signs that everyone wants to go home. For me March 5th will be the earliest that I leave here so I haven't had a chance to really think about what I will be doing once I leave here since I still have a long ways to go.
So to get everyone updated about life down here recently, the NSF made a change this season in using the C-17 as the main resupply plane. The NSF decided to stop C-17 flights from December 1st till at least January 21st. This change has made life a little less comfortable down here from the aspect of the little creature comforts in life that we all like. All of our supplies have been flown in on the LC-130's during this gap period. What this means to us is 1/10th of the normal amount of cargo that would come into McMurdo on a C-17 flight now makes it to us here if the LC-130's actually make it here. The LC-130's have a higher rate of canceling a flight due to mechanical problems than the C-17. So we have not had any fresh food here since right before Christmas, package mail has almost been non-existant, letter mail is still getting in, passengers are getting bumped from flights, less cargo is leaving. In the end what this means to us in the cargo department is a constant change of flight planning and reworking pallets for flight right up until the plane leaves. In the end the lack of C-17 flights has actually been a good thing. We have had unseasonably warmer temps this season along with the storm that we had at the beginning of December blowing in dust from Black Island causing severe melting of our snow roads and runways, leading to transportation problems for our equipment as well as the planes. The commute for those who work at the airfield went from about a 45 minute drive to upwards of 3 hours depending on what vehicle you rode in on as well as your priority of shuttle service. Planes were also canceling because they were just to heavy to take off in the soft snow. As it stands right now the C-17 will not be flying here for at least a few more weeks, the runway needs to be repaired still and harden up so that the bigger wheeled plane can land and not sink into the runway. Since the snow was so soft to get to and from the airfield equipment and passengers had to be shuttled in on what we call the "magic carpet", the magic caret is a sled that is pulled behind a tracked tractor so we wouldn't get stuck. I have some video from these rides that I will post once I get it all finished so everyone gets an idea of what it is like.
As for other happenings down here, we found out that the resupply vessel we will see this year is a larger ship and is on its way, we should see the ice breaker here shortly so that the tanker vessel can get in. I have been asked to be a line handler again so I am looking forward to that and a chance to see the new ship as well.
I got the chance to go on a boondoggle last week to help a smaller field camps pull out. The camp I went to was at a place called Ottway Massif, this camp was a science group looking for meteorites that have fallen here in Antarctica that have been pushed out from the glaciers along the Trans Antarctic Mountain range. For this trip I got to fly on a LC-130 which is a first for me, I was able to ride in the cockpit for takeoff and part of the flight. Once we landed I got right to work getting the camps cargo organized so that it could get on the plane, it was a great learning experience for me to go to a field camp and see how things are done to get planes loaded up where equipment isn't around to do it for you. The engines on the plane stay running the whole time, so being able to talk without yelling is impossible let alone hearing what someone is saying to you. We were on the ground for about an hour and a half before the pilot said we gotta go. Once the plane was all loaded and tried to take off, things got interesting from there. Our cargo load was heavier than thought and in the wrong order on the plane so we were to nose heavy for the plane to get airborne, even using what is called JATO. I put a video up on a separate post after this one.
JATO stands for Jet Assisted Take Off. After 3 failed attempts and running low on fuel, the captain ordered us to drop cargo and get everything that we could including passengers to the back of the plane so that the nose could get up. We were able to get airborne but with being low on fuel we knew that we would have to refuel, so for us the closet refueling point was the South Pole. So I can now say I have run around the world! We were able to get out of the plane and look around the South Pole for about 30 minutes before we left to head back to McMurdo.
I have also been asked to help out on another cargo team as acting senior while that teams senior is out at a field camp for a week. I have been looking forward to this chance for a long time so I can see if it is something I want to do in future seasons. I know it will be a great learning experience for me but also just a great opportunity as well.
Well that is all, hope you enjoy the videos and the pictures from this update.
Tim
The Australian Airbus, one of the last wheeled aircraft flights before this got bad at the airfield.
An Old Tucker SnoCat I got to drive
Erebus from the Airfield
Some Adelie's came to visit at the airfield.
Erebus again from the airfield.
Riding on the magic carpet into Pegasus. You can see the black snow pretty easily.
4 vans on the magic carpet.
A Cargo delta and 2 vans.
ATO on New Years!
Loading the JATO on the LC-130 I flew on.
A little gift from my coworkers for my trip.
The LC-130 I flew on at Ottway.
Erebus and the props for the LC-130.
An empty LC-130.
Ottway Massif
Me at Ottway Massif
The Ceremonial South Pole
A full cargo load from Ottway before we pushed cargo off so we could take off.
What we flew back with.
At the geographic South Pole
South Pole Station
Just a little cold
The fire fighting equipment at South Pole
Waiting to get back onto the plane
A JATO bottle from inside the plane.
This years Mustache Roulette results
So sweet icicles on building 155
A dug out snow drift.
Before the snow drift got dug out.
