Antarctica trip
Join Date: Oct 2004
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More pics?
Hi John,
Do you mind if I post some of my "antarctic experience" here as well?
We did it in the Kamov KA32 ( South African Antarctic voyage 2007/2008)
Anton
Do you mind if I post some of my "antarctic experience" here as well?
We did it in the Kamov KA32 ( South African Antarctic voyage 2007/2008)
Anton
Thread Starter
As the 'new boy', the operation was made all the better for me by the guys who helped me along 
Marty Hanna is a pilot's pilot: fixed wing night ag ops, tuna boat ops, bushfire fighting and EMS are all part of his background, plus his wife is a CPL : massive amount of help throughout the trip, thanks Marty
or his more usual pose
The engineer was a stalwart: the 'old school', he just kept on going like the Energiser bunny, and had a fix for the worst that happened. Peter Hearn spent all night in -30C fixing the broken Fuel Control on one AS350, outside at Dumont D'Urville. Mind you, the option was spending a month in a freezer suit, waiting for the first fixed wing flight home.
and he really misses his red beanie
Previous years, Peter was flat out on the flight deck all trip, but his workload was eased a bit by Brett Rankin coming along for the trip. Brett was knackered at the end of it, so I can only try to imagine how Peter managed on his own
Marty Hanna is a pilot's pilot: fixed wing night ag ops, tuna boat ops, bushfire fighting and EMS are all part of his background, plus his wife is a CPL : massive amount of help throughout the trip, thanks Marty
or his more usual pose
The engineer was a stalwart: the 'old school', he just kept on going like the Energiser bunny, and had a fix for the worst that happened. Peter Hearn spent all night in -30C fixing the broken Fuel Control on one AS350, outside at Dumont D'Urville. Mind you, the option was spending a month in a freezer suit, waiting for the first fixed wing flight home.
and he really misses his red beanie
Previous years, Peter was flat out on the flight deck all trip, but his workload was eased a bit by Brett Rankin coming along for the trip. Brett was knackered at the end of it, so I can only try to imagine how Peter managed on his own
Thread Starter
As there are probably others as well as compressor stall who know Patrice (who has been going to DDU for 30 years!)
and a snap of the French skipper & crew
Ukranians rule on L'Astrolabe, however. The Bosun
and some of the French expeditioners: Serge, who took the photos in this post
Lydie was always the centre of attention!
and Benoit, our esteemed glaciologist (with lots of letters after his name!)
Lots more photos, mostly icebergs and penguins, to follow.
and a snap of the French skipper & crew
Ukranians rule on L'Astrolabe, however. The Bosun
and some of the French expeditioners: Serge, who took the photos in this post
Lydie was always the centre of attention!
and Benoit, our esteemed glaciologist (with lots of letters after his name!)
Lots more photos, mostly icebergs and penguins, to follow.
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it could have been Greenland except from the pinguins
Fabulous photos John.
Thanks for sharing them.
What a wonderful experience.
FL
Join Date: Aug 2006
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I've been spellbound by your pics John - many thanks for posting.
I think you saw as much in 3 weeks as I did with the Russians back in 2001 in 2 months!, particulary wildlife. It brought it all back to life for me.
I'd very much like to see Red Ant's Kamov pics and could contribute some of my own if you don't mind turning this into a general Antarctica thread?
Once again, many thanks,
nrh
I think you saw as much in 3 weeks as I did with the Russians back in 2001 in 2 months!, particulary wildlife. It brought it all back to life for me.
I'd very much like to see Red Ant's Kamov pics and could contribute some of my own if you don't mind turning this into a general Antarctica thread?
Once again, many thanks,
nrh
Thread Starter
nrh & Red Ant, I'm sure that we would all like to see your photos
Mine were very average compared to those taken during the year by the French Expeditioners: they made some of their best efforts available to us, here are a selection:
More to come........
Mine were very average compared to those taken during the year by the French Expeditioners: they made some of their best efforts available to us, here are a selection:
More to come........
Thread Starter
A few more photos from others on the trip: these were taken by Serge, who seemed to have nothing else to do except wander around with his camera, then fiddle with PhotoShop (but I did fly him for the aerial photos....)
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John, once again, great piccies.
I'm going to plagiarize this one though for a Caption competition some day:
Man in cab: "And they said I could never sell ice to Eskimo's"
(Yes I know it's snow, and Antartica, etc.)
I'm going to plagiarize this one though for a Caption competition some day:
Man in cab: "And they said I could never sell ice to Eskimo's"
(Yes I know it's snow, and Antartica, etc.)
John Eacott - The old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words is hereby declared a very serious understatement - many congratulations on this wonderful record of your amazing experiences.
On a more prosaic note, the pictures of the helicopters being raised and struck down in their "hangar" brought back memories of the hangar, complete with integral lift rather than a crane, that we used in the RN's Tribal Class frigates!
Jack
On a more prosaic note, the pictures of the helicopters being raised and struck down in their "hangar" brought back memories of the hangar, complete with integral lift rather than a crane, that we used in the RN's Tribal Class frigates!
Jack
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46th Russian Antarctic Expedition 2001
A few years old now, but with John's permission here we go...
This is the Akademik Fedorov, an expedition icebreaker operated by the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in St Petersburg. Between jobs, the offer of this journey was hard to refuse. We left Cape Town in April, at the very end of the season, but more about that later...
Here Fedorov is "moored" to Antarctica - the first stop at Novolazarevskaya station.
Resupply Russian style - no need to refrigerate the piggies of course. The two Mi-8's were operated by SPARC in St Petersburg, one being flown to the ship as it passed Sierra Leone, which explained the AK-47 roundel with a red line through it on the door...
Still day with thin sea ice forming...
Drilling ice cores for research...
Pancake ice - when the sea freezes with a swell, patches form and bump together causing the characteristic pie crust edges. Occasionally you could see penguins on them, but never when you had a camera
Warm welcome on board...
Departing, the ship wedged in the ice at Progress station...
Nightime navigation, paying attention to what might be lurking in the pool of light at the end of the searchlight beam...
The reason the Russians resupply so late - dropping off tractors for the Vostok supply convoy on the newly formed sea ice. The cargo operation demands a certain thickness to support these T-34 tank derivatives, as it turned out it wasn't quite enough, so a gruelling operation was mounted to get the ship to an iceberg in the bay at Mirny station and leave them there. When the ice was thick enough to drive on they could be moved to the station. Sounds like a job Clarkson might like...
What it's all about, a real privilege to be in Antarctica...
More words and pictures, with some from the north:
http://www.nericha.com/PDF/The%20Sea...KING%20ICE.pdf
Thanks for looking.
nrh
This is the Akademik Fedorov, an expedition icebreaker operated by the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in St Petersburg. Between jobs, the offer of this journey was hard to refuse. We left Cape Town in April, at the very end of the season, but more about that later...
Here Fedorov is "moored" to Antarctica - the first stop at Novolazarevskaya station.
Resupply Russian style - no need to refrigerate the piggies of course. The two Mi-8's were operated by SPARC in St Petersburg, one being flown to the ship as it passed Sierra Leone, which explained the AK-47 roundel with a red line through it on the door...
Still day with thin sea ice forming...
Drilling ice cores for research...
Pancake ice - when the sea freezes with a swell, patches form and bump together causing the characteristic pie crust edges. Occasionally you could see penguins on them, but never when you had a camera
Warm welcome on board...
Departing, the ship wedged in the ice at Progress station...
Nightime navigation, paying attention to what might be lurking in the pool of light at the end of the searchlight beam...
The reason the Russians resupply so late - dropping off tractors for the Vostok supply convoy on the newly formed sea ice. The cargo operation demands a certain thickness to support these T-34 tank derivatives, as it turned out it wasn't quite enough, so a gruelling operation was mounted to get the ship to an iceberg in the bay at Mirny station and leave them there. When the ice was thick enough to drive on they could be moved to the station. Sounds like a job Clarkson might like...
What it's all about, a real privilege to be in Antarctica...
More words and pictures, with some from the north:
http://www.nericha.com/PDF/The%20Sea...KING%20ICE.pdf
Thanks for looking.
nrh