Killer Whale Tagging

Examine the cargo carefully and you'll see two crossbows.  Yep, crossbows.   These implements are used by one of our science groups to take tissue samples and to tag Orca Whales in McMurdo Sound.

I could write more, but you should really just watch the video shot by one of our pilots, Ken Kuwahara.

A-Star Pollywog

Our A-Star helicopters just returned from the Pine Island Glacier deep-field camp.  The aircraft were partially disassembled in order to fit onto the LC-130 Hercules cargo plane for the flight to the camp.  The poor things...

Mac Truck of the Sky

Here are a few photos from camp moves.  Our Bell 212 helicopters are essentially big flying dump trucks.  Ugly, noisy, rough-around-the-edges, tough, and capable.  Workhorses. 

Check out the sling in the foreground

Creative Rigging - techs will get it...

Surely we can get another box in there somewhere...

University Valley

Garwood Valley

A glory at Cape Crozier

Cape Crozier lies on the northeast side of Ross Island.  It is the location of an immense penguin colony and home to a small group of dedicated (and stinky!) researchers.  Every once in a while we fly out there to drop off goodies.

Flying between the sun and a low cloud creates a "glory".

Ross Ice Shelf on the horizon, the tan ground is the penguin colony or rather, their poo.  Don't get downwind!

XC Hang Gliding featured in NYT Today

Just saw this article in the New York Times this morning.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/sports/two-men-one-sky-the-silent-realization-of-a-purer-form-of-flight.html?hp&_r=0

If you've ever wondered just what cross country free flight is like, in a hang glider or paraglider, this article is a good introduction.  Good Stuff!