MKB and VKB

We now have both Baslers here. MKB (in Red) and
VKB (in White). Both are operated by Kenn Borek Air
out of Canada and can land at smaller airfields and
colder weather. This is ideal for most of the Field
Camps where they will be flying this year. Right now
though, MKB is gearing up to take four flights of Polies
down to the South Pole Station to begin making the
transition from Winter to Summer seasons. Because the
Baslers can't carry much cargo, the folks going to Pole
on them will only be able to carry one bag on with them
that they will have to live out of until their bags
arrive on a LC-130 in a few weeks.

Pegasus Airfield

This year, both skier and wheeled aircraft are
using one runway. Pegasus has been converted
to operate LC-130's, C-17's, Baslers and Twin
Otters. They don't actually use the same
runway, but share the same facilities at Pegasus.
In the past, all of the skiers used Williams Field
and the C-17s would use Pegasus, but in an effort
to save both money and manpower Pegasus has been
made the sole landing site with Williams Field
as an emergency backup. I found these great
photos of the operations on the common drive
and they give a great viewpoint of how things
work out there.


This gives a good view of the refueling set-up.


The Skiway that is utilized by the skiers.


The White Ice Runway, used by the C-17s

First Day For the Ice Runway

As an Air Services Rep, one of my jobs is to give
tours to the crews of the C-17s that land on the
Ice Runway. Today was the opening of the Annual
Sea Ice Runway so, a crew tour was set up and I
was to lead it. However, when I arrived at the
Ice Runway, I was told that the crew had cancelled
their tour. I'm not sure why, but the store was
closed today so that wasn't an option for them to
visit it. This left me with a few minutes of extra
time before I had to head back to McMurdo so I was
able to snap a few photos. There is a small "town"
set up at the Ice Runway to service the runway.
This includes a terminal, control tower, service
buildings etc. It's kind of a neat place and early
in the season, very orderly and tidy.


It only takes about ten minutes to drive to the
Ice Runway from McMurdo versus the minimum 30
minutes to Pegasus Runway via the shortcut road.
As a result, it's basically in McMurdo's front
yard. Even a big plane like the C-17 looks small
in comparison to it's surroundings.


Speaking of big though, the C-17 is just a monster
of a plane. My boss's boss, Pete is on the right
and my friend Neel is on the left. Neel is something
like 6'8" tall and he looks miniature next to the
plane.


Parked right on the edge of the Ice Town is the
Basler. The Basler is run by Ken Borek Air out
of Canada and is specially fitted to operate in
very cold temperatures. The first flight to the
South Pole is scheduled for tomorrow and it will
be a Basler that takes 16 people there. As I
type this, the flight is looking iffy because of
weather, so we'll see if it leaves or not.


From the runway, you get a fantastic view of
Mount Erebus, our active volcano. It's kind of
disconcerting to know that it is active, but
kind of fascinating at the same time. Maybe
that's morbid fascination...


This is my favorite view of McMurdo. From out
on the Sea Ice. It looks very clean and
orderly from here. It also gives you a
good idea of how big and spread out it is.