My first helo flight!

Of all the flying I was going to do in Antarctica I was the most excited about helicopters. I have never been in a helicopter before and flying over the gorgeous landscapes of Antarctica seemed like a perfect opportunity.

Unfortunately the weather today was less then perfect - it was quite cold and very windy, making it feel way colder then it actually was. Our helo pilot checked with us before leaving to make sure we are eager to visit our site. The idea of servicing another station in our bumpy season seemed appealing, so Lee and I decided to give it a go.

During my security briefing I was told not to get overly excited and follow the lead of the crew and Lee, who is quite experienced with helo flights. I guess my face showed it all ;)

All buckled in and ready to go. Note that I am wearing my big red and quite a few layers underneath. Temperatures of -15C were reported in McMurdo, but the wind chill added another 10 degrees of discomfort, lowering it to -25C.

It took us about half an hour to get to Linda AWS site, and the weather was getting only worse. By the time we got to the site the wind picked up. Note that you can't really distinguish between snow and clouds on this picture (I'm not sure if the station is actually leaning, there was no point of reference to shoot from):

The wind was 25 knotts and forecasted to increase. Unlike Twin Otter flights, where the pilots take us to the sight and wait with us, helicopters drop us off and pick us up a few hours later, when all the work is done. Our helicopter pilot, Chris, once again said that he would not attempt to go outside and work for 5 hours in such conditions. Moreover, he said that if the weather worsens, he might not be able to come pick us up. All things considered, we decided to stay on the helo and come back to Linda once the weather improves.

Working on the cargo today (outside) we got a feel of the cold and windy weather and were really glad we didn't end up staying in the field for the whole day.

On the way back we saw the Russian icebreaker "Vladimir Ignatyuk" working hard on breaking the ice near the dock in McMurdo. US vessel is scheduled to come in a couple of days and the path needs to be cleared.

Wish us better weather tomorrow.

Thanks for reading!