Cargo Straps

This may look like a big box of snakes, but they're
actually new cargo straps that we've just received this
year. They're super strong and each one can hold up to
5000 pounds. Without them, we wouldn't be able to place
all the cargo that we move around via plane and truck
around the continent.

Cargo

The largest part of my department, ATO, handles cargo.
Receiving and Sending cargo makes this place run.
Granted, we get a huge amount of cargo each year on
the vessel, which will be here next week, but the day
to day operations of cargo transport via airplanes
is handled by ATO. As you can see from the photo,
all of the items are tightly strapped onto large,
flat pallets, called Air Force Pallets that slide
easily onto either a LC-130 or C-17 and covered for
protection from the elements. These particular
pallets are headed for Christchurch.


Once the cargo is ready to go, it receives a PID, or
Pallet Identification Card. There are two of these on
each loaded pallet...on the Aft and Left side, so they
can be seen on the plane by the Loadmaster.
It is HVY (heavy). It is Do Not Freeze (DNF).
It is Fragile (FRG). It should be Kept Upright (KU).
It should be Kept Dry (KD). This particular pallet
is 100 inches high, weighs 4200 pounds, is going to
Christchurch (CHC) and is the 172nd pallet going to
Christchurch this season (C172). If it were going to
South Pole, it would have a "P" designation instead of
a "C" designation. Also, this PID is yellow. This
means that it should either be kept DNF or KF. If it
was white, it would be neither DNF or KF.


The process of keeping track of what is on each pallet,
where it is going and where it will be placed on an
airplane is the job of the Load Planner. If the
load of pallets and cargo (this includes passengers)
is not balanced correctly, the plane wouldn't be
able to safely fly to its destination. They use
a program called AALPS to help them with this task.

So there you go...a very very brief synopsis of how
cargo works here in ATO. Of course there are lots more
stages of the process that I don't or probably will never
know, but this makes sense to me now, and hopefully to
those reading this, it will to you too. Thanks to
Loadplanners Melanie and Matt for their help with this
post.

Night Shift Family Photo

Click on each photo to enlarge

Tonight, we took a group photo of our shift.
This includes Air Service Reps (Sadly, Kaska missed
the photo because she was off), Load Planners and
Cargo Handlers. The vehicles on the left and right
are Cargo Deltas, that carry all of the heavy freight
to and from the airfield. In the middle, is a loader,
(a VERY heavy duty forklift) which moves the cargo
from place to place and onto and off of pallets. The
first photo was our "serious" photo, where everyone
looked dignified and "professional". I'm in the red
jacket, toward the front.


The next photo was our "fun" photo where everyone
acted a little silly.


Lastly, everyone felt the need to jump! Look at
me...I must have gotten at least 3-4 inches of
hang time!

Gator

A few years ago, I got to ride in a Gator
in town. Now the Cargo Handlers have a
Gator out at the runway. This is the
perfects size vehicle for me...how do I
get one? However, Steve-o is about 6'3"
and it's a bit difficult for him to get
in and out.


It looks really strange to see this little
vehicle out on the runway amongst all the
really big equipment and planes. Totally
out of place.


Of course, safety always comes first...even
with the Gator, as it's wheels are chocked when
not in use.

Another Trip to Pegasus

My boss, Susie, is trying to get me out of
the office as much as possible over the next
few days as I'll pretty much be chained to
the desk for most of the season. This means
that I got to drive back out to Pegasus
Runway again today. This time, to take
people out, going north, instead of picking
people up that just arrived. I drove an
Airporter (pictured) and my friend and
roommate, Jed, got to ride shotgun!


It was a beautiful afternoon and there
were only 12 folks from McMurdo and 4
people from Scott Base headed north.
The same plane brought 107 people in
just a few minutes before my people
headed to the plane.


When you're out at the runway, you also get
to see the other side of ATO (Cargo) work.
They bring large quanties of items out, but
it seems like there are usually more things
to remove from the plane and bring into town.


This photo gives you a good idea just how big
the cargo pallettes are and how big the vehicles
that they work with are. The Cargo Handlers
climb all over these things like monkeys! They're
very agile.


As big as the loaders and cargo are, they are
still dwarfed by the C-17 itself!


I had to wait with the Airporter until the plane
actually took off; just in case the plane didn't
leave, I would have to return the passengers to
town. Since the plane did leave, I roMcMurdo, de back to
McMurdo all by myself. It's a pretty drive and
the scenery is wonderful! This is a view of
the south tip of Ross Island (where McMurdo is
located) and Observation Hill, Arrival Heights
and Castle Rock are predominant.

ACH003

I had "training" this morning on how to
drive vehicles. Of course I've driven
vehicles many times down here before, but
for some reason, we have to be re-trained
each year. So I drove an Airporter (kind of
a rental car-type van over to Scott Base and
was now "trained". Later in the afternoon,
Flight ACH003 was headed down from Christchurch
and because Ivan (the big Terra Bus that holds
the most people) was broken, I was asked to
drive a passenger van out to Pegasus Runway to
pick folks up. On this flight were my friends,
Carrie, Nathan, Tad and many others. The winds
were really whipping and the roads were
drifting heavily on the way out and we got there
just as the plane was ready to land.


I love watching the C-17 come in to park after
landing. It's huge! Plus, it was fun to be
out at the runway with the other ATO folks
(my department) including Shuttles and Cargo.


Bob...one of the shuttle drivers who was driving
one of the large passenger vehicles called a
Delta, saw me taking photos of the plane coming
in and asked if I wanted a photo of myself with
the plane. Sure...it would be good to send to
Lynn I thought...so here it is!


Driving back to town was just as windy and
mushy (road wise) due to the blowing snow,
but was fun because I now had 10 passengers
in the back of the van. That smoking mountain
in the back of the photo is Mount Erebus, the
very active volcano. There's a good chance
I'll be driving out to Pegasus later this week
so I'll hopefully take some more photos then.