Antarctica trip
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: ...in view of the 'Southern Cross' ...
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Mmmmm .....
Well done John, glad you enjoyed your trip and are back home safely!
Your pics ... are great .... you have stirred my memories ... I'll have to break out all my slides from my trips back in '77 & '78 and get them digitised I've almost forgotten how truly "AWSOME" the place is ....
Methinks you may have contracted the "bug" .... have they booked you for another voyage (or for next year?) ....
Cheers from the 'Sandpit'
Well done John, glad you enjoyed your trip and are back home safely!
Your pics ... are great .... you have stirred my memories ... I'll have to break out all my slides from my trips back in '77 & '78 and get them digitised I've almost forgotten how truly "AWSOME" the place is ....
Methinks you may have contracted the "bug" .... have they booked you for another voyage (or for next year?) ....
Cheers from the 'Sandpit'
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Durham
Age: 57
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Awesome Photos !!!!!
And great to read all about your trip !!!
Just like to add my huge thanks for sharing the photos and the descriptions too.
What a cracking life experience in the lifebank !
Well done, welcome home and thanks again !
dp
Just like to add my huge thanks for sharing the photos and the descriptions too.
What a cracking life experience in the lifebank !
Well done, welcome home and thanks again !
dp
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Saltsjöbaden, Sweden
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Damn, that is nice!
Thank you!
I'm off to Antarctica Jan 29th via Christchurch and on to McMurdo. No helicopters on this trip though. We always have helicopters in the Arctic, but shipping them down south is not an option these days.
Looking forwards to the hueys at McMurdo and the photo oportunities. Having a lot of experience in the high Arctic, this will be a nice complement.
Sending you all this wonderful - and respected - friend from Sep 15th (81N 0W).
I'm off to Antarctica Jan 29th via Christchurch and on to McMurdo. No helicopters on this trip though. We always have helicopters in the Arctic, but shipping them down south is not an option these days.
Looking forwards to the hueys at McMurdo and the photo oportunities. Having a lot of experience in the high Arctic, this will be a nice complement.
Sending you all this wonderful - and respected - friend from Sep 15th (81N 0W).
Last edited by perfrej; 20th Nov 2009 at 18:37.
Thread Starter
As with flying to DDU, the distance to the glacier was a problem as we needed to first sling some drums of fuel to use during the day, plus a long trip to the Mertz before we started 'work'. This was a small berg we passed along the way
and the western (ocean) end of the crack
The GPS stations from 2 years ago were all buried, we only found one out of six: it was originally 2.3 metres above the surface
Then the glaciologists got to work on the new units. They were working in -20C, with a wind chill down around -35C, so I was (relatively) happy to be sitting inside the helicopter, which I couldn't shut down because of the frozen Fuel Control cable
and the important scientific research: Tim Tams on glacial snow are definitely better than Mint Slices
and the western (ocean) end of the crack
The GPS stations from 2 years ago were all buried, we only found one out of six: it was originally 2.3 metres above the surface
Then the glaciologists got to work on the new units. They were working in -20C, with a wind chill down around -35C, so I was (relatively) happy to be sitting inside the helicopter, which I couldn't shut down because of the frozen Fuel Control cable
and the important scientific research: Tim Tams on glacial snow are definitely better than Mint Slices
Thread Starter
As the Mertz mission needed maximum flying time, the ship tried to move closer when it broke out of the ice: with nearly catastrophic results 
We weren't advised, and the first we knew was when I wandered onto the flight deck before breakfast to find the rotor blades trying to leave the aircraft, despite the blade restraints that we had fitted 
I was too busy to take pics, but getting frozen salt spray all over you while hanging onto rotor blades in wind chill of -50C is not character building. It's a PITA!
The stuff on the left of this pic is the ice pack, which has been transformed into a giant Slurpee by the winds
(salt) icing, anyone?
So, back into the ice pack and out of the weather induced by the katabatic wind off the Mertz. A few hours of de-icing with fresh water (which re-froze, but at least it was fresh!) and a ground run to check the blades were in balance, and then a few late evening flights to get back on schedule. Removing the salt ice from the tail rotor elastomerics and the main rotor swash plate area was very tedious, but essential
The seismic station was to be set up on rocks occupied by a few thousand Adelies: they really found the mating season far more important than us, especially after climbing that high!
We weren't advised, and the first we knew was when I wandered onto the flight deck before breakfast to find the rotor blades trying to leave the aircraft, despite the blade restraints that we had fitted I was too busy to take pics, but getting frozen salt spray all over you while hanging onto rotor blades in wind chill of -50C is not character building. It's a PITA!The stuff on the left of this pic is the ice pack, which has been transformed into a giant Slurpee by the winds
(salt) icing, anyone?
So, back into the ice pack and out of the weather induced by the katabatic wind off the Mertz. A few hours of de-icing with fresh water (which re-froze, but at least it was fresh!) and a ground run to check the blades were in balance, and then a few late evening flights to get back on schedule. Removing the salt ice from the tail rotor elastomerics and the main rotor swash plate area was very tedious, but essential
The seismic station was to be set up on rocks occupied by a few thousand Adelies: they really found the mating season far more important than us, especially after climbing that high!
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: UK
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John thank you very much posting so much in depth info on your trip . Loved it.
May I ask a couple of stupid questions?
I assume the reason to have two helicopters is for safety?
Did the ship make it's own fresh water?
Did you have to worry about running out of JetA1 at any point, I mean did the ship have enough for the trip?
May I ask a couple of stupid questions?
I assume the reason to have two helicopters is for safety?
Did the ship make it's own fresh water?
Did you have to worry about running out of JetA1 at any point, I mean did the ship have enough for the trip?
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Perth, Western Australia
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John, these are some of the best pics I have seen on PPRuNe in my many years of lurking around. Well done and good to hear that you're back safe. Thanks very much for the great photos and the accompanying story, well done.
Thread Starter
What was scheduled to be our last day on the Mertz, we started by taking the rock hoppers up to Point Pigeon, to construct their seismic station, then picked them up afterwards. Again, nothing in the way of a decent landing spot, and the one that I found was changed to one with a significant slope down to a sheer drop over the cliff
Then we took the geologists across the Mertz to Penguin Point, where we discovered an abandoned camp, which appears to be recently uncovered after maybe 50 years of being buried. AAD are quite interested, the photos show quite a few artefacts which are unlikely to be around once the winds and weather get their way.
Back at L'Astrolabe, waiting for a clear deck:
Near the Mertz, this fall from the edge of the ice has sent shock waves out over the pack ice: and shows how high the cliff face really is
The Mertz crack: due to let go 100 years of ice sometime soon....
Then we took the geologists across the Mertz to Penguin Point, where we discovered an abandoned camp, which appears to be recently uncovered after maybe 50 years of being buried. AAD are quite interested, the photos show quite a few artefacts which are unlikely to be around once the winds and weather get their way.
Back at L'Astrolabe, waiting for a clear deck:
Near the Mertz, this fall from the edge of the ice has sent shock waves out over the pack ice: and shows how high the cliff face really is
The Mertz crack: due to let go 100 years of ice sometime soon....
Thread Starter
Well, the last day's flying was fine for me, but the other pilot wished that he'd stayed on board. There was one French geologist to be taken back to Dumont D'Urville at the end of the day, plus our engineer and '4th hand' went along for the ride and a last meal ashore. As I broke the fuel control on the first day, so did they break their fuel control when they came to leave; only far more seriously than mine, and the engineer left his toolbox on board. I only had to spend the night worrying about the ramifications of how to sort out getting my helicopter and all the gear stowed for the return trip, they had to spend the night outside in < -30C repairing the machine or stay another month until they could be flown out by fixed wing.
They did a sterling job and got back on board at 7am, having checked out Mawson's Hut on the way. It's still covered to the roof with snow and ice, so there's a lot to clear
We then started for home, and searching for icebergs and weather! We needed a bit of shelter from the wind, so that we could remove the rotor blades, eventually 'parking' in the lee of a medium sized 'berg
The helicopters were kept on deck through the pack ice in case a recce flight was needed, but the pack ice was thinning rapidly. The main attraction became a huge iceberg from the Ross Shelf, some 15km x 13km in size
We then had to find a chunk of ice big enough to park into, in order to go through the process of putting the helicopters back into "Le Garage"; a difficult enough process alongside in harbour, but we managed
and then off around a Force 10, to Hobart
They did a sterling job and got back on board at 7am, having checked out Mawson's Hut on the way. It's still covered to the roof with snow and ice, so there's a lot to clear
We then started for home, and searching for icebergs and weather! We needed a bit of shelter from the wind, so that we could remove the rotor blades, eventually 'parking' in the lee of a medium sized 'berg
The helicopters were kept on deck through the pack ice in case a recce flight was needed, but the pack ice was thinning rapidly. The main attraction became a huge iceberg from the Ross Shelf, some 15km x 13km in size
We then had to find a chunk of ice big enough to park into, in order to go through the process of putting the helicopters back into "Le Garage"; a difficult enough process alongside in harbour, but we managed
and then off around a Force 10, to Hobart
Thread Starter
I've only just noticed this photo: I wondered why I was struggling on the other side of the machine, with two of us pushing against 4 heavies on the near side
