Slow Progress

I have previously commented that it is key with Antarctic field work to get the work done when you can because you don't know when you will have the next opportunity. Such an assessment of the situation has been proven during the past 10 days. We have had a very challenging, difficult, and at times frustrating last 10 days with minimal to no progress with the field work.

The difficulties started abruptly 10 days ago when we were about to start our third night of overnight flights. Our concerns at the start of the night were that it might have been too cold because the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) temperature sensor currently has a limit of -40F. At the surface we were well below that temperature but it might have increased quickly to above that temperature not far above the surface. In the end, we were never able to find out. On the first flight of that night the UAV propeller hit John's hand and resulted in two deep cuts. I was in the van monitoring the computer when he asked me to come back to help pick things up. I looked at his hand and it was obvious that we had to pack everything in the van and immediately return to McMurdo. We stopped in one building at Pegasus to find a first aid kit and were able to apply enough gauze and wrap to control the bleeding. From there, it was the 45 minute drive to McMurdo from Pegasus. It was an odd experience to call into the radio dispatch saying we were returning early and to please have medical ready when we arrive. John was handling everything extremely well so he did the radio calls while I drove. In the end, it was five stitches in one cut and four stitches in the other. Our night and the next few days were done for flying the UAVs. The weather was fairly poor for the next couple days so we didn't miss out on too much for opportunities to fly.

We returned to Pegasus four days after the accident. We came up with a new procedure. After the pre-flight checklist, John is on the RC and I throw the UAV for the launch. We are also now wearing cut-resistant gloves and safety glasses. For the first flight I throw SUMO-2 (the UAV we had been flying) and it immediately goes nose-up, stalls, goes nose-down, and crashes into the snow. Pieces of the SUMO scatter. Nothing was damaged so we put it back together and try it again. In the meantime, I am thinking "how did I mess up the throw, what should I have done differently". I throw it a second time and the UAV immediately goes nose-up, stalls, goes nose-down, and crashes into the snow. Pieces of the UAV scatter and this time SUMO-2 is not recoverable and we are done flying it. I'm feeling horrible trying to figure out what I am doing wrong. We go back to the passenger terminal (where we work at Pegasus) and we even watched the video that I took of a launch by John from the previous week. I throw the decimated SUMO-2 around to gain a sense of what I am doing wrong. I start to become convinced it is not me, it is the plane. I start to think that SUMO-2 was damaged in some unknown way during the accident with John's hand. It could be something as small as the motor/driveshaft being bent just a little and changing the thrust from balanced to nose-up or it could be in the avionics. We drive back to McMurdo to get SUMO-1 (a backup UAV). A sensor needed to be changed on SUMO-1 and scavenged from SUMO-2. The sensor is changed and we return to Pegasus. We were able to successfully launch SUMO-1 twice late that Saturday afternoon. I am now even more convinced it was SUMO-2 being damaged from the accident and not my throwing.

Unfortunately, that has not been the end of our run of difficulties. We have had a couple days of not enough wind where we did not even travel to Pegasus. There have also been a couple days of too much wind. Twice, including last night, we went out to Pegasus to reach the conclusion after hours of waiting that we were not going to see enough wind. On one day we did decide to launch the UAV, even though the wind was marginal. That was a bad move as the UAV crashed on launch with some damage, which has since been repaired. Yesterday, we were also delayed because they decommissioned our van due to a leak and we had to wait for a replacement. In total, we have gone out to Pegasus five days in the last 10 days since our run of successful flights at the beginning of the season. On each day we have returned earlier than anticipated and we have had a total of about four completed flights. There are 10 days remaining in our field deployment and we will likely stop flying a day or two before we are scheduled to leave. There is still a chance that we can get on another successful run of flights.