Comment by bacon_waffle | Hacker News Reader

Comment by bacon_waffle | Hacker News Reader

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I agree, just want to add a couple updates in case folks are interested in getting involved.

> The US Navy manages all the food/fuel/housing logistics.

These days, actually I think since shortly after you were there, this is handled by (sub)contractors. "Antarctic Support Contract" is the phrase to search for, currently Leidos, Lockheed before that, Raytheon before that. US Military flies the LC-130s and C-17s, operates the ships, but has little other involvement.

> Early in the season the ice is thick enough to land jets like the C-5 and C-17. While they are in the ground, they have to move them every few hours to keep the ice from cracking under all that weight. By this time in the season it's probably just C-130s doing everything. Once the sun goes back down, all flights cease and there is nothing can get out for 9 months.

This has changed a bit too. For a very long time, there has been another runway on permanent ice (called "Pegasus" after a plane that crashed out there, as opposed to the "Ice Runway" that I think you're referring to, which is on annual ice just out of town) which can handle wheeled aircraft (C-17, chartered commercial passenger planes) in summer. Pegasus historically wasn't used a lot because it's inconvenient and the soot+dirt+wear isn't good for the ice surface.

At least for a few years recently they've routinely done a few flights over winter in to McMurdo - I believe the idea was to support a year-round rebuild of the whole station. But, the McMurdo winter was traditionally more like 6 months ending with "winfly" when a couple flights bring in people to open up the station for "mainbody" aka summer. Pole winter is roughly 9 months, driven by the temperatures being too cold for the hydraulics in the LC-130s.

I wondered if the C-17 would be a game changer for them. It was just entering service back in 92. They had the land landing strip back then, but it's too short for a C-5. The C-17 was designed to handle shorter and rougher landing strips than the C-5.

The Antarctic Support Contract was a thing back then too. They did most of the day-day operations, while the Navy managed flights, supplies, the mess (cafeteria), and the like. I don't really know the division of responsibilities.

Do you know if they are landing on winter flights, or just doing airdrops? The later is much easier to do. Even in the summer, the C-130s have to fly with enough fuel to return to NZ because there have been times when the winds become too high to land (and NZ is the "nearest" alternate runway).

I believe the first C-17 landings at McMurdo are for winfly (which I guess counts as winter). Flights stop in ~November due to the deteriorating runway conditions.

My first time going to Antarctica I was in a C-17 (early November 2016).

There was a helicopter inside. Pretty nifty.

What’s the food like down there? I’ve heard people drink a lot; I was surprised to learn any alcohol is allowed in!

At McMurdo it's... Ok. It's hard to cook well for so many people. At smaller satellite camps or places like the south pole the food is quite good. Obviously a bit low on fresh vegetables but the food is overall pretty high quality.

As for drinking, yes that can be a problem, particularly at McMurdo which can have a fratty atmosphere as well (see also, the recent NSF report on sexual harassment in polar programs)

Super interesting that the food is better at more remote places.

My information is not super current, last time I was on the ice was 2014 for a year at Pole, so take this with a grain of salt.

> Do you know if they are landing on winter flights, or just doing airdrops?

My understanding is that they have something like two windows over the winter, where they land flights. I presume C-17s, which don't usually need to take on fuel in McMurdo and are generally less hassle than the LC-130s.

I have been at Pole when they've done "practice" airdrops, but I don't think those have been a significant logistical channel since the very early days, and maybe setting up field camps.

There's a bulldozer way under the surface at Pole where its airdrop went awry. I can't remember the details but it's in Paul Siple's book "90 South" - something like the chutes didn't open, or lines got tangled, and it came to rest a couple dozen feet under the surface. Pole is in an accumulation zone though, so over time snow has built up above it. I believe it was only in the 2000s that it stopped being useful as a radar reference for landing planes.

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