From Christchurch to McMurdo, Antarctica
Temperature: Christchurch: plus 15, Mcmurdo: Minus 6 Celsius
Weather: bright and sunny
Weak up was at 5am and the shuttle brought us to the Airport at 5:45 am. Departure time to Antarctica was 9am.
After putting our ECW gear on quickly, the weight of everything and everybody had to be taken, including the weight of our carry on bags. The time went by fast and we departed on time on the C17. The C17 is much larger than the LC130 and does not have skies. It is a jet plane and it took only 5.5 hours to get from Christchurch to McMurdo. We landed on the Pegasus White Ice Runway, 18 miles from McMurdo. The C 17 is an amazing plane!
After briefing about all we needed to know we got our rooms set up and had dinner at 5pm. 7 pm was "Bag dragging" which means checking in your bags for the next flight in the morning.
Registering the wait of the carry on luggage and the passenger
Andy Clark, member of the NOAA team and I are waiting to deploy the C17.
Inside the C17, 30 passenger and mostly cargo.
Dec 4, 2007, Pegasus White Ice Runway. We landed on the ice runway 18 miles from McMurdo.
At touch town, the back opend quickly and the cargo was removed
I am in Antarctica, welcomed by brilliant sunshine!
Joanna Hubbart, teacher with the ANDRILL program, greeted me at the airport. She was returning with the same plane back to Christchurch
We were riding the 18 miles to McMurdo on these buses
Welcoming and briefing about all we needed to know at the NSF building.