About 30 years ago a C-121J Super Constellation Serial number 131644 left Christchurch New Zealand on a routine flight to McMurdo Station Antarctica. The weather forecast was good as he passed the point of safe return (PSR) and elected to continue the flight to McMurdo knowing full well that his only choice now was to land on the continent. As Mother Nature often does here she changed her mind before they arrived. The weather didn’t fulfill the forecast. Heavy snow began to fall and swirling strong winds dropped forward visibility to zero. The pilots here call it “flying into the milk bottle”. Several attempts were made to land to no avail. With fuel running out the pilot lined up for one final attempt. This approach would result in contact with the ice one way or the other there was no choice, there was nowhere else to go. The landing was hard, the landing gear crumpled, the wing hit the ground and spun the airplane as propellers and engines separated from the airplane. Following an eternity of time that passed in mere minutes the aircraft slid to a stop. The evacuation was swift; there was no fire because there was nothing left on board to burn. The Connie was damaged beyond repair but everyone survived and as pilots like to say, “Any landing you can walk away from is a good one”.

The plane lay near the airport as the crash investigation was concluded and then the wreckage was towed about a mile away since everyone agreed it would not be good for flying morale to leave it in close proximity to the airport. The plane remains in that same location today and is one of the off station recreation trips we are now allowed to take.

The plane is mostly buried in drifted snow now. Holes in the fuselage have allowed drifting snow to pack the interior of the plane yet there it sits a somewhat ignominious end for a proud airplane. Today visitors scratch their initials into the airplane skin. All of us are trying to leave behind, in Antarctica, some sign that we were once here. It is an interesting bit of McMurdo history and the permanent ice airport is now named Pegasus Field in honor of this plane. My initials are now forever engraved on the only engine cowling left on the plane.

A couple of pictures in the gallery.

When we work in the tower we work alone so when it comes time for a nature break or for a meal you pick a time when there’s no traffic (most of the time) and make a dash for the restroom or the dining facility both of which are about 60 yards away from the tower. Saturday night I headed for the dining facility. It’s always prudent when you step outside to do a quick Skua check. I did and there weren’t any to be seen. I picked out my dinner and with tray in hand headed out the door for the tower. As soon as I emerged I saw them. Two Skuas were perched on the radar dome about a hundred feet from the tower both focused on my every movement. I had to get back to the tower and they seemed to know it but I had no choice so I stepped out away from the building. They didn’t launch and I continued forward trying my best to keep the food tray hidden under the flap of my jacket. I knew they wanted my food but why were they waiting? As I approached the half way point they both took wing diving and accelerating directly toward my face in close formation. I felt like a B-17 under attack by Messerschmitts. I couldn’t run so I had to fight. I held the tray with one hand and raised the other out and up as far as I could then hollered out the loudest Skua squawk I could muster. They got within five feet of my face and then broke the formation one passing close abeam on each side and landed directly behind me. I turned my back to the tower to face them down. I began to hear “The Good the Bad and The Ugly” theme music playing in my head as I began to back slowly away from them toward the tower. They watched me like two gun slingers who knew they had my number. I got to within 10 feet of the tower stairs when the launched their next attack. They came in low and at the last second climbed in formation directly for my face. I assumed the attack position again a let out my piercing cry. I could see their beady eyes as they closed intent on making this attack count. I squawked again as loud as I could staring them directly in the eyes. They broke off the attack at about a foot from my face. I flinched but stood my ground. They landed about ten feet from the tower door and stared as I backed into the safety of the tower. I had faced the enemy and won! They lurked like vultures outside my door for about twenty minutes then gave up and headed out searching for some other unsuspecting targets of opportunity. Spaghetti dinner never tasted so good.

Have you ever noticed how much better you feel in the morning when the sun is shining bright, no clouds in the sky, the wind is calm and the temperature is pleasant? Those were the conditions this morning when I woke up. On the bus ride to work I could see the moon hanging over Mt. Erebus. It’s the first time I’ve seen the moon in a long, long time. There was a traffic jamb in McMurdo Sound this morning. The tanker pulled up to the ice pier and the Oden was in the Sound with the Willy B breaking up ice. I’ve never seen three ships in the area at once. The supply ship is about a week out. We are way behind on delivering fuel to the South Pole so that will be the order of business the next couple of weeks. What a great day to be alive!!

I went to work yesterday feeling tired and thought I might be coming down with a cold. After my shift I headed back to the dorm to rest, which I spent the rest of the day doing. I’m feeling much better today and hopefully it was just a feeling and not really the beginnings of a cold. After dinner a group of us played some cribbage and listened in on the in briefing for some new “beakers” (scientists) who just arrived on the C-17 for the extended season. None of them had ever been to the ice before. One of the guys I had breakfast with said he ran into one of them in the bathroom this morning. He said “where are the towels?” we thought that was kind of funny. I guess his bed wasn’t made up last night either. What kind of hotel is this anyway?

Well the oil tanker is stuck in the pack ice about 500 miles from McMurdo. The ice breaker is headed that way no to either break him free or tow him clear so they can continue the trip here. There’s not a lot of time left and the cargo ship just left New Zealand so the tanker needs to get going fast. The weather has been very cold and blustery the last couple of days perhaps a precursor of things to come. Our first controller heads home today then off to another controller job in Kosovo. There will be about a hundred others on the plane with him today as the season drawdown begins. I’m ready to head home.