| Geoff Sims @ UNSW | 
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Home  South Pole Diaries 2012/13 10th January, 2013 |
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Thursday, 10th January, 2013
Ridge A flight schedule. (John)
Right now we're waiting for the remaining equipment for Craig's experiment, HEAT, to arrive; the delay the result of the unseasonably warm weather at the Pegasus ice runway at McMurdo. We can make our first flight to Ridge A as soon as it's here.
Here's our current Twin Otter flight schedule, by day number. However, depending on weather conditions, especially at Lake Pegasus, there could be some variation.
1. Flight #1: (12 Jan) Partial field gear and equipment deployment. Includes field gear (minus sleep kits & survival bags), work tents, battery boxes, UNSW tools.
2. Flight #2: (15 Jan) Deploy Ben, Geoff, Nic and John, remaining field camp & survival gear, 3 engines. KBA hop to AGAP South for 4 drums of fuel, while team removes electronics boxes from PLATO Engine Module and Instrument Module for repair and upgrading.
3. NO FLIGHT: (16 Jan) Daniel repairs and upgrades PLATO electronics at South Pole, Craig and Abe work on HEAT at South Pole, remaining people work at Ridge A.
4. Flight #3: (17 Jan) Deploy Abe, Craig and Daniel and survival gear, HEAT and tools, repaired equipment. One person comes out with empty fuel drums.
5. Optional NO FLIGHT: (18 Jan) PLATO-R continues to come together with repaired electronics, installation of HEAT cryostat & electronics.
6. Flight #4: Flight #4: (19 Jan) Take in remaining 3 drums. Remove 2 people, old engines and batteries, old HEAT cryostat
7. Flight #5: (20 Jan) Take out remaining 4 people & field equipment, any empty fuel drums.
Meanwhile, the lack of cargo coming to us through McMurdo is affecting not just the HEAT/PLATO project, but everything else as well. The only fresh food since I've been here has been apples, and the cooks are having their imaginations stretched to the limit as they combine tinned and frozen food to make delicious dishes with names that are often as creative as the combination of ingredients. Dessert is often based on breakfast cereals, used in ways that the manufacturer never intended and almost certainly voiding any original warranty. Today we ran out of eggs.
Surely the Hercs will come tomorrow...
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