The line may have been long but it moved swiftly as members of the Air Force processed us for departure to Antarctica.
I'm writing this while I'm on board the C-17 of the 62d Airlift Wing (62 AW) of the United States Air Force stationed at Joint Base Lewis–McChord, Washington. They are part of Operation Deep Freeze which is an ongoing mission to transport personnel and equipment related to the activities of the United States on Antarctica. The aircraft is full of people heading across from firefighters to cooks to Air Force helicopter pilots to scientists and, of course, me — along with lots and lots of equipment, along with all of the luggage.
A C-17 from the 62nd Airlift Wing of the US Air Force stationed out of Joint Base Lewis–McChord, Washington ready to depart to Antarctica from Christchurch, New Zealand.
To get here we went through another round of briefings detailing the specifics of what we were doing as well as the expectations and requirements of the National Science Foundation as to our behavior on the ice in relation to the Antarctic Treaty. The Antarctic Treaty was signed in Washington on December 1, 1959 by the twelve countries whose scientists had been active in and around Antarctica during the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957-58. Today, the total number of countries signed on to the Treaty now stands at 53. The Antarctic Treaty and the associated Environmental Protections govern our behavior (and that of other
Ready to go ... departing the shuttle bus and boarding the C-17, picking up some water and a snack along the way.
countries) while on the ice — among the provisions of the Treaty are:
Antarctica shall be used for peaceful purposes only (Art. I) Freedom of scientific investigation in Antarctica and cooperation toward that end … shall continue (Art. II). Scientific observations and results from Antarctica shall be exchanged and made freely available (Art. III).
As I get off of the shuttle and climb aboard the C-17, I grab a water bottle and a bag of snacks for the 5 hour flight ahead of me. There is noticeable excitement as everyone begins to find their seats and get situated, making use of the ear plugs provided because this is not an ordinary domestic or international flight and we are warned "it's going to be noisy".
Some of the members of the 62nd Airlift Wing flight crew capably taking us over the Antarctic Ocean enroute to McMurdo Station.
The interior of the plane was comfortably crowded with Air Force personnel, passengers, and lots of equipment for this 2nd flight of the main body season.
Land Sighted
The mountains of Antarctica rear up among the glaciers and snow - after a long flight this view through a tiny porthole was a welcome sight.
The weather is beautiful out and I'm able to spot a few small icebergs bobbing in the blue ocean far below between the clouds. I've gone up to the flight deck to look out at the expanse of blue ocean in front of us ... there are still many hours left before we arrive on Antarctica. And then it happened ... people began to move about, something could be seen through the small portholes in the flight doors. I unclip and walk back to the door and there it is ... Antarctica! White mountains shooting out of the glaciers and snow signal the arrival of the continent but we are still an hour from landing.
The plane makes a dip and it's clear that we are decreasing in altitude and the pilot comes over the intercom informing us that we are now 30 minutes out and to prepare for landing (and just like any other flight, we will need to buckle ourselves back in). In a steel tube without windows there isn't much indication of when you touch down except for the customary jolt — the landing was excellent but no different that other landing except that we had just landed on snow and ice.
It seemed longer than 5 hours, but here I am ... on the ice of Pegasus Runway ... looking around at a clear blue sky with the mountains in the distance. It's spectacular.
After landing, we wandered out onto the ice of Pegasus Runway for our first steps on Antarctica and the astounding views of the smoking Mt. Erebus in the distance.
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