G-063 Makes It to the Ice in One Go!
I can't believe this, but right now, I'm on a C17 cargo jet, on my way with G-063 to Antarctica! After the long PolarTREC application process, and nearly a year of anticipation, I'm really doing it!
We woke up at 5a.m. in order to take a shuttle to the airport. There was lots of joking along the way about what are chances were of actually making it down to the Ice today. Bad weather conditions at McMurdo can cause delays anywhere along the route. There are delays at the airport, or else they send you back to your hotel and you try again the next day. You should be pleasantly surprised if you leave when you're told you're going to.
And we did!
We arrived at the airport and quickly put on our ECW we had left here. We checked in for our flight, and after a short wait and even shorter bus ride, we were loaded onto the jet.
In the terminal for Antarctica departures.
It's cavernous but has only a handful of small windows. We are nestled into seats along the side of the plane and there are several car-sized crates between us and the other side of the airplane. Even with earplugs, its quite loud- we've only had short conversations that are more about lip-reading than anything else.
Inside of C17, with cargo
There's still a chance we could be turned around mid-flight and sent back to Christchurch if the weather turns at McMurdo. I'm crossing my fingers... I'll get back to you later!
Later:
Shortly after I wrote the above piece, the Air Force crew invited us to go up to the cockpit and look around. You could look out the front windows of the plane and see the sea ice below us.
Pilot and cockpit of C17.
We landed on the sea ice, which wasn’t that much more bumpy than a regular airplane. Getting off the plane was certainly a surreal experience- its everyone’s first real sense of Antarctica.
Part of G-063 upon landing at McMurdo.
Landing at McMurdo Station
We boarded a people-mover-bus sort of thing and spent an hour traveling to McMurdo station. We’ll be here for about a week with lots of preparations to do to be ready for going out into the field. As I learn my way around, I’ll send you more about what it’s like and what we’re up to.
We made it!
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