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Today was the day of our first attempt at getting to McMurdo. All of us newbies heard that there were lots of boomerang flights, which are flights that take off and have to turn back due to the weather at the sea ice landing strip at McMurdo, and we all were fervently hoping that we would get through on our first try. Flying 4 or 5 hours out and having to turn back did not appeal to any of us, as we'd have to just wait around to try again the next morning. So with high hopes we ate breakfast and took a taxi to the CDC and got dressed in all of our extreme cold weather gear. It was really cold, and was actually hailing a bit while we waited in line at the United States Antarctic Program Passenger Terminal. We waited in line to get a boarding pass and earplugs for the flight. Dan had to wear his dog-tag style boarding pass tiara style, but still managed to look good doing it. |
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We finally got the go ahead to board the plane, and we all boarded a bus and drove out onto the tarmac to the C-141 Starlifter that would ferry us to McMurdo Station. We filed into the cold windowless fuselage and were seated on mesh seats. We were packed in so tightly we had to interweave our legs with the people facing and sitting next to us. |
Not terribly comfy needless to say, but we did have giant sack lunches waiting for us which some of us started to eat even before we took off. Aaron mastered the art of eating with his hood on and not getting any of the fur lining in his mouth, a Herculean feat by any account. Not to be outdone, Andrew promptly ate his entire lunch (two sandwiches, a big cookie, a twix candy bar, an apple, an orange, two bags of chips, and a granola bar) before we even took off. Keep in mind it was really cold so we did need to eat a lot to stay warm, right? |
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We took off and were climbing to our cruising altitude, when we noticed that that some of the crew were acting a little... well busy is as good a word as any... and were moving around the back of the plane where the cargo was stored. It was then we noticed that the cabin was rapidly filling with smoke. Well, we thought this was a bit odd, but didn't think much more of it being the astute scientists that we are. This changed when the alarm sounded and a crewwoman came down the isle wearing a respirator and telling us to put on our oxygen masks. After about a nanosecond of thought we realized that this was probably in our best interest and pulled the masks out of their cases and put them on, just like they tell you to do on commercial flights. And just like they tell you on commercial airlines, the little plastic bag really does not inflate when you breathe. So needless to say the plane turned around and made an emergency landing. The only reason that it was called an emergency landing is because we were landing because of an unforseen situation, it was one of the smoothest landings I have ever felt. Turns out that the smoke was from a faulty heating system, which in reality isn't much of a problem, but it sure got our adrenaline going. Through the whole experience the flight crew was very professional and did a fantastic job handling the situation. |
We got back to the Christchurch airport and disembarked to wait for news about making another attempt at getting to McMurdo. After waiting a while, we were informed there would be no more attempts that day, so we had to undress and go back to the city to wait for our next attempt the following day. It was a bit disappointing, but if we were going to be turned back we felt that we may as well get a good story out of it. The rest of the day we wandered around Christchurch. We went to the Christchurch botanical gardens, which were really beautiful. We even got to see some people "punting on the Avon", which is where people go for romantic boat rides down the river, just like in Venice. We ended up having a delicious dinner at a sushi place, where we met several people who were also on our aborted flight and one fellow who just finished over-wintering at McMurdo, and was very eager to make up for lost conversation time. We then retired to our lovely rooms at the Croyden House looking forward to the next day's flight. -Aaron |
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