Back On The Ice

I landed today at McMurdo, marking my 12th season
on the Ice. It was really one of the easiest, most
uneventful trips I think I've ever had down here.
We did have a one day delay in Christchurch due to
the weather in McMurdo, but overall the whole trip
was pretty seamless. After two days of orientation
in Denver, we hopped on a relatively short flight to
Los Angeles and a six hour layover. Then a 13 hour
flight to Auckland, where I enjoyed some really good
airport sushi and then down to Christchurch. I'll
post some more photos of the damage in Christchurch
soon, but to sum it up in one word, that would be
"devastating". Having that extra day in Christchurch
meant that I was able to visit some of my favorite
places in Christchurch and then came the flight down
to the Ice. I was fortunate enough to fly again on
the Skytraders Airbus that is making trips courtesy
of USAP's agreement with the Australian Antarctic
Division. I sat in the exact same seat as my trip
down last year and got some fantastic photos of Mt.
Erebus and Ross Island on the approach to the brand
new Ice Runway. It was great to be reunited with Lynn
after six weeks and we settled into our cozy temporary
dorm room. We'll be making our permanent move in about
two weeks when our winter-over friend departs our
summer room. Until then...back to work!

The Australians Are Here!

One of my favorite things about working in Air Services,
and with the US Antarctic Program in general, is meeting
people from all over the world. Today, a Airbus operated
by Skytraders landed at the Ice Runway and deposited 50
Australians. Kiwis from New Zealand we see. Aussies from
Australia, we don't. All of their stations are far to the west
of us and we definitely don't share the same airspace.
This group are hitching several rides on our LC-130s
from the Ice Runway to the skiway at Casey Station.


I know this sounds weird, but it was interesting to see all
of their bags labeled "Casey" and "Wilkins". Unlike the US
program, each of the Australian stations have different
colored bag and cargo tags, representing each station.
Of course, I was always interested in Airline luggage tags
before they became bar code-ized and seeing exotic
three letter codes for the cities was the rule and not the
exception.


We're used to seeing the Americans in their Red parkas
and the Kiwis in their Black and Orange parkas, but it
was refreshing to see so many folks in Yellow parkas
running around town. Although it definitely contributes
to a very crowded station. We have 1010 people on
station right now with more to come tomorrow. If we
don't get some flights out to Pole soon, we'll all be
sharing beds!

Airbus A-319

The Intercontinental Aircraft Schedule (Subject to Changes)
was released today for the upcoming McMurdo Summer Season.
What excited me is that tentatively (yes, nothing is ever
written in stone), the last week of flights south and north
will be handled by the Airbus A-319. I've flown on a C-17,
LC-130, C-141, Coast Guard Dauphin Helicopter and turned
down the chance to fly in a Twin Otter while on the Ice, but
I think it will be great to fly in a plane out of here that
very few have gotten to travel in...Antarctic-wise.
The reason that I'm pretty confident that I'll get to fly on
the A-319 is that it will be flying the last 4 flights north
and since I'm a Air Services Rep this Summer, I'll be on one
of the last flights. This particular A-319 is owned and
operated by a company called SkyTraders out of Australia and
earlier this year, conducted the first official flight to the
Wilkins Aerodrome. A test flight was sent to McMurdo in 2007.
Again, this is all Subject to Changes, but if it happens, it
could make flying to the Ice a whole new experience.