Weary Antarctic-bound travelers watching “The Office” at the APT as flight cancellation is being processed.
You know it’s a bad sign when, after the 3AM wake-up call, you check in at the Antarctic Passenger Terminal (APT), weigh your bags, put on your boots, grab a quick last coffee and return to the briefing room to board….and the loadmaster at the terminal starts to play reruns of “The Office” on the briefing screen.
We reclaimed our boomerang bags for one more night in Christchurch.
-Channeling patience in Christchurch, the 2019-20 ANSMET team
NOTE from rph: Yesterday was a busy and odd for me here at ANSMET central, and I have a few tidbits of info worth relating. But let me start by noting the anonymity of the message above. ANSMET team members rarely allow even the tiniest negative vibe to show in their posts, and in this case the message is clear: staying patient can be a serious challenge.
There are a lot of times where the patience of ANSMET personnel is challenged; in the 5th day of a windstorm, when you peek out of the tent door in the morning and find the poo flag is still flying after 20 minutes, or when everybody else has found a dozen specimens in the moraine this morning and all you’ve gotten are sad nods of Johnny’s head. But one of the worst is when you’re all dressed up, ready to fly, and you are delayed. The truth is, every flight you take to Antarctica, or in Antarctica, you’re pretty much flying standby. You’ve been given a time of departure and you have to be ready, but you really don’t know you’re going to fly until you’re in the air. You sit at your gate (and trust me, there are no good gates in Antarctica) and search for a Zen-like state. If the flight is delayed, you often don’t know if you’re being asked to wait a few minutes, a few hours, or a few days. You might get some small tidbit of information (it’s the weather, it’s a maintenance issue, the crew is prepping the aircraft), but often it’s just “please wait”.
I spoke on the phone with Jim Karner last night, and we agree the Christchurch delays could be worse. They’ve got comfy accommodations, a nice springtime city to explore, and costs covered in one fashion or another. But as is happening to our gang now, the delays typically ramp through the progression listed earlier; you get ready to fly at some obscenely early moment, get delayed for a few minutes, then a few hours, then you’re told to start again the next day. Only rarely (and when things are really bad) do you get released from that pattern long enough to go do something more touristy, like visit the Southern Alps. The 2019-2020 ANSMET team has effectively experienced a full week of delays and while my notes aren’t good enough to prove it, I think they’ve equalled or exceeded the worst CHC delays I’ve experienced (I think in 1998-99?). They’re hanging in there, but even a comfortable routine can try your patience, so send them lots of love and maybe a deck of cards or a board game.
Other news: I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say our hearts and prayers go out the the families of the people aboard the Chilean C-130 that was lost while en route to Antarctica on Monday evening. Flying across those dangerous seas is inherently risky (there are zero safe places to land) and it takes dedication and courage to do so routinely. I was contacted several times yesterday by people who got only partial information and feared the worst, knowing ANSMET was supposed to be flying south. If you’re still worried, the best thing I can tell you is that the pilots flying between Christchurch and McMurdo are the best and most experienced in the world, the C-130 aircraft is literally one of the safest every made, and USAP’s fleet is maintained and tested the absolute highest level. The Chilean accident is going to make the USAP air crews even more cautious and vigilant, so while these flights are never routine, in my opinion it may be the absolute safest time to fly.
On a more upbeat note, I’m going to Pittsburgh tomorrow to visit Bill Cassidy, who turns 92 in about a month. He’s had a few health setbacks over the years but he’s let me know he’s eager to try the Shackleton Scotch I’ll bring him, and hear how the program he created endures. I’ll bring him all your love as well.
-rph from partly cloudy (ONLY partly cloudy!) Cleveland