Weather today was good for flying, albeit a bit too warm for ideal flight operations. Skier 21 arrived just before Noon, and the crew proceeded with offloading our Pistenbully. In the process of pulling forward after the offload, the plane developed a technical fault, that forced the crew to shut down the plane, leave the plane, and go to camp for lunch.
In the afternoon, a second plane arrived to pick up most of the crew, so that they did not have to stay overnight in camp.
Tomorrow at Noon, we will receive a plane with mechanics that will assess the damage. We could easily have hosted the crew overnight; but the 109th preferred to pick up most of the crew. The second plane came and went within half an hour, and it was easy for them to take off, even in the high temperatures.
Everybody in camp pitched in to make this complication as easy and comfortable as possible for all. Thank you, camp, and thank you to the 109th flight crew for pleasant company. Tomorrow, we’ll see how this continues.
What we did today:
- Received Skier 21 with Pistenbully.
- Mounted tracks and blade on Pistenbully. It is now operational.
- Continued work on shallow drill and radar equipment.
- Six science traverse people moved from main dome to traverse weatherport.
- Traverse planning: Beds, fuel bladders, tie downs etc.
- Received Skier 21. An unexpected complication with the plane made it necessay to shut down the aircraft.
- Received Skier 22 that came and picked up most of the crew from Skier 21.
Weather today: Few scattered clouds in the morning, the rest of the day clear. Temp. −13°C to −6°C. Wind: 13 kt from SW. Visibility: Good. Some drifting snow.
FL, J.P. Steffensen
