King of an Ice Crystal Castle.

I was busy yesterday hauling loads of bait to the Kiwis working hard in an adjoining baiting area. I found myself in the most unusual spot I've ever been in a helicopter. I thought; 'I wonder what anyone back home would think of this?'

The bait layers were short of bait from an earlier depot we had underslung off the research vessel, the Ernest Shackleton, last month. (In 8 days of flying we had shifted 700 heavy loads of fuel drums and bait, between 3 pilots.)

They had called for an extra 'pod' of bait. So I'm in a 40-year-old BO105, an ex-air ambulance, with a 500kg bait pod slung on a 40ft strop. My door is removed, it's freezing cold but I need to get my head right out of the door, shoulder harness off, to look down to 'long line' the load visually and accurately to the waiting baiting crew.

They are 10 miles away over the massive Fortuna Glacier. I'm climbing 2000ft out of a sea level bait dump in the Fortuna basin, bound for Antarctic bay, over a 5-mile wide glacier and snowfield. I'm flying at 60 mph with a heavy 500kg load. Somewhere beneath me on this featureless desert of ice are the remains of 2 Wessex helicopters from '82 conflict. The expansive snow panorama, stretching 5 miles in any direction, is brilliant white in the sun and there are jagged peaks menacing to the south of me, about 2000ft higher. (It is 'safer' for us to fly overland, over the glaciers, than round the steeply sided coast, over a freezing cold sea.)

I am many miles from the nearest person, alone on top of a frozen world it seems, in my little Bolkow helicopter. The world is my frozen oyster. I am king of an ice crystal castle.

I drop down about 500ft over the curving snow dome then almost autorotate, gliding down 1500ft of steep jagged cliff to get to the crew waiting on the beach below.

The Kiwi agricultural pilots are tireless and skilful work horses, flying up to 8 hours in a day, when the weather allows, on GPS/computer guided 'baiting lines', to an accuracy of 5-10 meters horizontally.

I get to do all the other flying, the 'utility' work, which suits me.

Mark and Paul, our Team Rat helicopter engineers, are doing an excellent job keeping the aircraft serviceable. The British Antarctic Survey team, the Government staff and the fine gang of builders (Peckers Antarctic Services) presently at King Edward Point have also been very helpful to our 2 engineers whenever we have had to 'drop in' for essential helicopter maintenance. Their help is much appreciated.

We are more than half way through the areas allocated for this season but now the weather is getting poorer as we move towards the winter months down here. 70kt horizontal snow is not fun! Buried us for two days last week. I'm amazed how the choppers are coping with the elements, parked out, just blades tied down and covers on.

This veteran just hopes he can keep coping with the weather as well as those vintage helicopters can!





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