Everyone is near the tarmac, in full expedition gear, ready to leave to Devon. Light rain, sky is gray, it is frisky as usual. We just got a GO from the PCSP control.
We spent the last two days making and weighing boxes, as everything getting in the taxi need to be known up to the nearest 10 kg by the pilot - when we were allowed a bit less than 1.5 tons, passengers included. So what is this taxi about? Well, in my opinion, this is the best ride you will ever have in a taxi, trust me. To have an idea, check Fig. 1. I mean, seriously - this is like a combo = the pilots are awesome, they can land litterally anywhere, which is a good thing because when in High Latitudes, it is not like there is a landstrip every two miles right. Control makes sure that the weather is perfect, which may be challenging sometime. I have been flying these almost yearly since 2009 - landing on frozen lakes mostly, and with climate changes, frozen lakes are not to be trusted based on the date right, so one need to be careful. Anyway we are now going in a polar desert this time, so the risk of finding a frozen lake in July is low.
Figure 1: Twin Otter are awesome planes able to land and takeoff literally anywhere. Here is the two Twin full of our gear waiting for the GO from control.
These planes are Twin Otter, owned and operated by Kenn Borek. There was three Twin Otter in rotation at Resolute this summer, and we were schedule 2 (to make 3 trips) to destination on Devon. I was assigned to the third and last one. These Twin are doing service to the Antarctic apparently, during northern hemisphere winter. Usually, more work is done during summer in high latitudes, depending on the project. In our case when the snow cover the ground, it is very unpractical to work, especially during the long nights where not much can be seen.
These planes are essential to research in remote area, since they can bring a lot of supply to extended stays, which is the case this summer with almost one month for about half the group, some are leaving after two weeks and other should replace them. See Figure 2 to have an idea of what is entering in one single plane, not counting ATV's and personal - we had 3 loads like that.
Figure 2: This is what is entering in one Twin Otter, not counting the team or the extra ATV's. We had 3 like that, one for each plane. Mostly scientific equipment, gear and supplies.