Monday marked a big day for Antarctic aviation - the first Airbus to ever land on the continent did so right here at McMurdo. Better yet, I knew two of the pilots on board, so it was especially exciting for me. Garry and Jorn had been a part of the team of CASA pilots down at Davis during the season I spent there, and for the two months that I spent on the ice shelf, these guys, along with the other two pilots, John and Dan, were the only people "from the outside world" that I saw. They brought us mail, food, and news from station, all so precious in their own way.
A few years ago, the Australian program purchased an Airbus A319 with the intent of turning it into an Antarctic-worthy shuttle bus from Hobart, Tasmania, to Casey Station, Antarctica. This would allow getting people down to the stations faster and also allow scientists who only had a few weeks of work to do to spend less time on the continent and more time back at home. It was kind of a gutsy move on the Australians' part as the plane didn't have any experience landing or taking off in snow, or any experience in polar regions at all. Furthermore, the had to take out about 60 of the 100 seats to make space for an extra fuel tank and cargo. Last year the plane made a successful fly-over at Casey, then returned back to Hobart... and this year, with the runway at Casey to be completed later this year, the plane was scheduled to first make a few trial landings on the well-established runway at McMurdo, and then shoot for Casey. If all goes well, regular service from Hobart will begin next season.
I headed out to the sea ice runway around 1pm to make sure I wouldn't miss the plane coming in. The shuttle driver suggested I talk to the folks at the control tower to get the ETA and see if they wouldn't let me stay up there, and I thought it was a great idea. The tower is way cute - it's only 2 stories high and painted orange and black. I made my way up the cramped stairs to the tower room, but I could tell right away by the annoyed look on their faces that I wouldn't be watching the plane from that room. "It's getting crowded up here," one guy told me, so I instead asked how close they would allow me to get to the runway. And instead of giving me an answer, they invited me to watch the plane come in from the deck just outside the tower, as long as I didn't touch any antennas, which I was told would barbecue me. The ETA was still set at 1343, so I spent the next 15 minutes in the runway galley, drinking hot cider and nervously running from window to window in case the plane was early.
At 1330, I headed back to the tower and climbed the external ladder to the deck. A weather observer soon joined me with the news that the plane was 18 miles away. It felt so close! I turned to where I could best guess the plane would be coming in from, namely North, and scanned the sky. Nothing, nothing, nothing... and then, there it was! A small glittering light shone out from in front of the gray-white cloud layer, which the weather observer attributed to its landing light. We watched it get larger and larger, until finally the plane itself came into view. I was surprised to see it so low, perhaps only a few hundred feet above the ground. Garry flew directly into the flight path, then slowly turned right towards the mountains and paralleled the runway for a short distance. Since this would be the first landing on ice for the plane, I thought Garry might fly over the entire runway to check it out, circle back, and then land, but instead, the plane made another quick, tight turn until it was directly over the runway. It was surprisingly close to the tower, so I had a great view. The plane dropped steadily and smoothly until I saw little puffs of snow fly out from the wheels. Contact! The nose dropped just as smoothly as the rest of the plane, and soon enough the plane had come to a complete stop. It was a fantastic site, all in all, to see it happen so smoothly and quickly.
Here is the Airbus taxi-ing from the runway just after the landing.
The plane taxi-ed to its parking spot, and I thought that the passengers would get off and that the pilots would then take it over to the tanks to refuel. After the passengers started filing out, though, curiosity got the better of me and I headed over to the plane to see if my friends weren't also disembarking. And sure enough, there they were! I got a big bear hug from both Garry and Jorn, who were both surprised to see me. We got the chance to talk a little before they were asked to hurry up and get on the shuttle that would take them off to a briefing. We decided I might as well board the shuttle and tag along, so off I went, having been introduced as "Marianne, our mascot from the Amery Ice Shelf". In the end, I got to spend a little bit more time with Jorn at the briefing, but it was soon time for them to get back on the plane for a couple of practice take-offs and landings before heading back to Christchurch. I made my way back to the science building and watched the circuits from the bay windows of the 2nd floor. Each went flawlessly. Congratulations to all of those guys!
The plane is scheduled for another couple of flights down to McMurdo later this week, if the weather ever clears up. Our group is also scheduled to fly again this week for our GPS install at Butcher Ridge, so I am hoping for a break in the weather soon. This has been an unusually gray November, but I think the clouds have made the temperatures much higher than average. We are already in 20 degree weather - it's getting balmy!
