UAV Flights at Pegasus Field

The good news is that we have been able to do some flying of the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) this week. The calm to light winds continued on Monday and Tuesday negating any chance for us to fly the UAVs. On Wednesday we were able to do three UAV flights and on Thursday we did four. Soon, I will write a post focused on explaining the UAV flights, including photos, from pre-flight, to take-off, and ending with the landing. These initial flights have been focused on doing some initial trials with the UAVs, refining our system for handling the flights at Pegasus, and working on the data collection and analysis process. Each flight lasts about 15-25 minutes and the UAV climbs to an altitude of approximately 1600 feet. We decided to take yesterday off from flying the UAVs to concentrate on taking an initial closer look at the data and for catching up in other areas of research and life around town. The plan is to do some UAV flights later today and tomorrow.

Looking back towards Ross Island and McMurdo Station from Pegasus Airfield. The mountain in the background is Mt. Erebus.

Sunset over the Ross Ice Shelf as viewed from Pegasus Runway.

The cold air has remained in the region for all of the past week. The temperatures in McMurdo have generally been lows around -30F and highs around -20F. Pegasus Airfield, located on the ice shelf, has generally colder temperatures and we have been experiencing temperatures around -40F at Pegasus. The wind in McMurdo has been fairly strong for the last couple days providing some of the first really biting cold conditions that we have experienced on this trip.

I have mentioned a few times that the UAV flights are being conducted at Pegasus Field. Pegasus Field is a glacier ice runway with approximately 4 inches of compacted snow on top of the ice. The primary purpose of Pegasus Field is to land wheeled aircraft for intercontinental flights between McMurdo and Christchurch, New Zealand. The wheeled aircraft (such as a C-17, a wheeled C-130, an Airbus, etc.) provide considerably more capacity for cargo and passenger transport than a skied LC-130 airplane, which can land on snow. Pegasus is located 18 miles by road from McMurdo. The first four miles are on Ross Island and the next 14 miles are on a snow road on the Ross Ice Shelf. The Ross Ice Shelf is a permanent ice shelf over water that is hundreds of feet thick. This is in contrast to the sea ice, which is also located around a part of Ross Island, that is made up of primarily annual ice that forms and is broken up each year. Pegasus is one of three runways that are used for McMurdo Station. Williams Field has been around the longest and it is a ski-way on snow that can only land ski-equipped airplanes. The third runway, Phoenix, is in the process of being constructed through a new technique of compacting snow to a sufficiently hard density to allow wheeled aircraft to land. The plans are for Phoenix to be certified for operation before the end of the main body season in February.

Some of the buildings on skis at Pegasus Airfield. The white trailer is the generator for Pegasus. The orange building in the center is used to store "do not freeze" cargo for flights to/from New Zealand and the orange building on the right is for the fire station at Pegasus.

The start of the 18 mile Pegasus road to McMurdo Station.

Not too much else has been happening with my life in McMurdo. My experiences with past trips is that this two-week point is usually a transition time and includes a bit of a lull. I have now been away from home for three weeks, the field work is still early and not much has been accomplished, and I am still slowly getting to know people in town. We will be here for about another 3 1/2 weeks. I am confident that those 3+ weeks will go very quickly.

View of Hut Point Peninsula and Scott Base extending to the southwest from Ross Island. The picture is taken about two hours after sunset.