In The Field
Antarctica 2010: Boomeranged!
Posted on behalf of Chaz Firestone Five hours of flight from the Christchurch airport to the ice sheet was for naught today — unfavorable conditions at McMurdo prevented us from landing there, even as the ice stretched out tantalizingly below us. Our C-17 jet circled around over the ice for about an hour in a holding pattern to see if the visibility would improve, but alas, we pulled a 180 and headed back another four hours to New Zealand (with a tailwind, thankfully). Delays like these aren’t at all unusual for trips to Antarctica — ours was the second boomerang