During the day on Thursday, everything progressed as planned to allow eight of us destined for the AGAP-South field camp to move up to South Pole Station to let our bodies adjust to high altitude conditions. What needed to happen on Thursday were two Twin Otter ferry flights of people between South Pole and AGAP-South to free up space at South Pole Station for the eight of us still in McMurdo. By late afternoon this was complete, and our LC-130 was scheduled to depart for the South Pole at 8:30 pm.We boarded the plane early, happy that we were going to leave a little early, but about 10 minutes after the pilots started the engines, they shut them down because they were concerned about a vibration in one of the engines. The mechanics got to work immediately, and within about 25 minutes, the propellers were starting to turn again. This time the pilots were happy with everything, and we prepared to leave. I was allowed to sit in the cockpit behind the pilot, copilot, and flight engineer, and next to the navigator. The takeoff on a snow runway with a turbo-prop plane is much longer and slower than on a normal runway, but it is very smooth. First the nose ski lifts up and then as the end of the skiway approaches, the plane slowly lifts off the snow surface. It was fun to be in the cockpit for takeoff and the climb over the local mountains in the McMurdo area. The flight took about 3 hours and we landed at the South Pole about 15 minutes before midnight. The temperatures are cold (-27C), the wind is blowing at about 15 mph, and the elevation here is 9306 feet. Because the atmosphere over the poles is thinner, the atmospheric pressure is particularly low here for this elevation – about 685 mb. This is the equivalent of 10,400 feet in other places such as Kansas. I’ve come from sea level to this high elevation in three hours, so my body has to make some major adjustments and I have been taking a drug called Diamox to help it make this adjustment a little more smoothly. My first job here at this early hour is to make my bed, which I find a struggle at this altitude. My main job for the next 3 days will be adjusting to this elevation.
Travel to South Pole Station
During the day on Thursday, everything progressed as planned to allow eight of us destined for the AGAP-South field camp to move up to South Pole Station to let our bodies adjust to high altitude conditions. What needed to happen on Thursday were two Twin Otter ferry flights of people between South Pole and AGAP-South to free up space at South Pole Station for the eight of us still in McMurdo. By late afternoon this was complete, and our LC-130 was scheduled to depart for the South Pole at 8:30 pm.We boarded the plane early, happy that we were going to leave a little early, but about 10 minutes after the pilots started the engines, they shut them down because they were concerned about a vibration in one of the engines. The mechanics got to work immediately, and within about 25 minutes, the propellers were starting to turn again. This time the pilots were happy with everything, and we prepared to leave. I was allowed to sit in the cockpit behind the pilot, copilot, and flight engineer, and next to the navigator. The takeoff on a snow runway with a turbo-prop plane is much longer and slower than on a normal runway, but it is very smooth. First the nose ski lifts up and then as the end of the skiway approaches, the plane slowly lifts off the snow surface. It was fun to be in the cockpit for takeoff and the climb over the local mountains in the McMurdo area. The flight took about 3 hours and we landed at the South Pole about 15 minutes before midnight. The temperatures are cold (-27C), the wind is blowing at about 15 mph, and the elevation here is 9306 feet. Because the atmosphere over the poles is thinner, the atmospheric pressure is particularly low here for this elevation – about 685 mb. This is the equivalent of 10,400 feet in other places such as Kansas. I’ve come from sea level to this high elevation in three hours, so my body has to make some major adjustments and I have been taking a drug called Diamox to help it make this adjustment a little more smoothly. My first job here at this early hour is to make my bed, which I find a struggle at this altitude. My main job for the next 3 days will be adjusting to this elevation.
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