Airdrop

The big excitement the other day was an airdrop by the C-17. An airdrop is when a plane drops supplies/packages etc without landing. Airdrops by the C-130 are pretty common but there has never been an airdrop by the C-17. There are several reasons why the USAF wanted to make a drop with the C-17, chiefly because it is a new, computerized system that has never been tested before. All previous drops were computed and executed by the navigator but computers have done away with the navigator.

Airdrops are absolutely essential in the polar winter, because once the station closes in February, no planes can land or take off until October. So, the station is totally isolated from the outside world for 9 months. Nothing and nobody can leave the station and the only way the station can get emergency supplies is by airdrops, which are not without danger: the extreme cold affects the airplanes, it is pitch dark outside so there are no visual navigation aides, and obviously, the plane cannot land in case of an emergency.

One of the most dramatic airdrops occurred in 1999, when there was a physician wintering over at Pole who discovered she had breast cancer. With no way to evacuate her for a couple months and with her cancer spreading rapidly, the USAF made an emergency airdrop of medical supplies and the physician was able to perform a biopsy on herself…she had some help from doctors in the States who were viewing the whole operation on closed-circuit TV.

Anyway, the USAF decided to practice a drop with the C-17 in case they ever have to make a real one in the winter. It was quite an impressive sight…the C-17 is huge, and to see it flying so low to the ground is quite impressive. Then the rear hatch opened up and about six pallets popped out, each of them with a bunch of parachutes.

Although it was only a practice run (some non-essential supplies were dropped), people were whooping and cheering as if we were stranded on some desert wasteland and the plane had dropped some life-saving supplies. It doesn't take much to get people here excited...

It was all good, though. In total, 4 each 16 foot pallets weighing about 17,000 lbs. each were dropped, for a total drop weight of 68,500 lbs (almost 30 tons).

The Kiwi (New Zealand) cargo loaders wrote us messages on some of the pallets...Kiwis are among the coolest people I've met.

Adios for now....