Picture Gallery for Tue 2006-10-31 00:03:18 UTC


Click to enlargeANZ Bank Chambers
Click to enlargeMy official clearance for transport arrives at the hotel.
Click to enlargeMaori Television. I used it as a clock.
Click to enlargeUnloading our gear at the CDC.
Click to enlargeMe suited up.
Click to enlargeMy boarding pass—number 29.
Click to enlargeWaiting in the "departures lounge".
Click to enlargeMy boots come with instructions.
Click to enlargeAll the checked luggage gets palletised like regular cargo. If we "boomerang" (make it part way down and then turn around and head back) our luggage won't get uncrated unless they expect us to be stuck in Christchurch for at least three days more.
Click to enlargeDeparting.
Click to enlargeBoarding the bus to the plane.
Click to enlargeMarco waits on the bus.
Click to enlargeMe on the bus.
Click to enlargeEnzo boards the bus.
Click to enlargeMarie boards the bus.
Click to enlargeThe Italian Antarctic Program plane.
Click to enlargeOur transport to McMurdo: a C-17 Globemaster.
Click to enlargeThe first bus of passengers has already arrived and is waiting to board the plane.
Click to enlargeC-17 engines.
Click to enlargeThe USAP hangar.
Click to enlargeThe tail.
Click to enlargeBoarding time.
Click to enlargeMassive engines and landing gear of the C-17.
Click to enlargeInside the C-17. This big cylinder contains one of the strands for the Icecube Experiment, down at Pole.
Click to enlargeThe in-flight accommodations.
Click to enlargeLooking tailward at the cargo. Passengers are only a small portion of the load of the transport.
Click to enlargeOne of the crew does the pre-takeoff rundown. "There's a life jacket under your seat. In the event we go down over water, we're all going to die, so let's not bother with that."
Click to enlargeDeep, Very Deep Space. My reading material for the flight. Marco found it onboard.
Click to enlargeAn explosive hatch in the roof of the cargo bay. Note the exit sign.

Click to Enlarge
(8433x3306, 11261.95 kb) The view in the 17 from my seat. Try looking at this picture for five hours. That's sort of what the flight is like.

Click to enlargeAnother view back towards the cargo.
Click to playTake off. The best indication that we had taken off was that afterwards the plane was significantly more inclined.
Click to enlargeComplementary lunch.
Click to enlargeMy book has a spelling mistake on the first page... an indication of the quality to come.
Click to enlargeA better view of lunch: two sandwiches (beef), two bags of chips, a chocolate muffin, a chocolate chip cookie, a granola bar, a Twix, an orange, an apple, a bottle of apple juice and a bottle of water. All in a handy (and reusable) brown paper bag.
Click to enlargeEnzo on his way to the ice.
Click to enlargeAt the rear of the passenger section looking forward.
Click to enlargeThe Antarctic Ocean, as viewed from one of the tiny windows in the hold.
Click to enlargeThe tiny window itself. Possibly a foot in diameter.
Click to enlargePenguin chips.
Click to enlargeMarco in his seat. He's the only one of us that ended up in a "regular" airplane seat, as opposed to the cargo seating along the sides of the transport.
Click to enlargeMark in his seat.
Click to enlargeMarie reads.
Click to enlargeAnother view of the cargo. In the back left you can see the pallet of checked luggage.
Click to enlargeChris and Drew, the LDB guys, were on this flight as well.
Click to enlargeThe shipping label on the giant Icecube spool. Total shipping weight: 15,000 lbs.
Click to enlargeAnother window. The numbers up above are inches from the nose.
Click to enlargeMe enroute to McMurdo.
Click to enlargeChapter 5 from my book.
Click to enlargeThe other chapter 5 in my book. Obviously the whole copy editing step was skipped when this book was pushed out.
Click to enlargeWhat passes for water in the US air force.
Click to enlargeThe view from the front of the hold. There are five rows of five regular airplane seats in the hold on skids for easy removal. Another twenty or so of us sat on the cargo seating along the side bulkheads.
Click to enlargeThe flight deck.
Click to enlargeThe flight deck.
Click to enlargeThe view from the flight deck. Lots of clouds, with ice below it. In the distance somewhere is Heard Island.

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© 2006 D. V. Wiebe. Generated Wed 2024-12-04 03:18:10 UTC