Landed at McMurdo Station!


Inside the C-17
in route to McMurdo

We arrived at McMurdo Monday afternoon after a five hour flight from Christchurch on a US Air Force cargo aircraft, a C-17 Globemaster III .

After a 7:15am check-in at Clothing Distribution Center, we turned in our checked baggage, watched a orientation briefing, passed through airport security manned by New Zealand military, and loaded the C-17. All our baggage, except our hand carry luggage and a bag lunch, had been palletized and loaded on the C-17.

An iceburg in the
South Pacific Ocean

The flight was uneventful and while the seating may look uncomfortable, the leg room is much better than commercial aircraft. In addition to personnel and our baggage, the C-17 was loaded with pallets of cargo for McMurdo. The lack of easy access to windows and cloud cover most picture taking but I did get to see a large iceberg. The photo does not do it justice.

We landed on the sea ice runway just off shore from McMurdo station in the early afternoon. The temperature was a brisk -8 degrees Celsius and the wind was blowing pretty hard so I only took a couple of pictures.

LTJ/Jason Rabon walking to ground transportation after arrival.

After being shuttled up to Building 155 where the galley and administrative offices are, we had an in brief and were assigned our rooms and were released to go pick up our bedding and settle in. Work begins in earnest Tuesday morning.

3 thoughts on “Landed at McMurdo Station!”

  1. It’s a pleasure to read your blog. The above article is very impressive, and I really enjoyed reading your blog and points that you expressed.
    Thanks for sharing…keep writing!!!

  2. A couple of years ago we had a whole winter without MacTown individually. Spend a couple of weeks the black island, and you are almost certainly at least one.

  3. I remember a friend of mine who went out there with a and had a complete winter out there although the outbound flight seats were rather uncomfortable.
    Its rather nice to see the pictures and the info is most appreciated Thankyou.

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