First thing this morning we had an emergency meeting at 0800. John our field training officer and Malcom our Doc may have to fly to Davis to help retrieve and treat the three injured people in the chopper still out on the Amery Ice shelf. I was crook with severe gastro. The wind got up to over 50 knots so there will be no flights to Mawson. The injured people were flown down to the sea ice in the second chopper in the late afternoon where a Twin Otter was able to land and pick them up for the trip back to Davis where these two aircraft were followed by the Basler. The three injured people (including the pilot who flew me around Mawson) are reported to have back and neck injuries.
I spent the day working on the tide gauge communications coil. I managed to dig out the potting compound and clean out all the corrosion and insert some new components and wiring and managed to get it working again, and then I re-potted the whole lot sealing it from the corrosive salt water. I was pretty happy with myself and I’m sure the scientists back in Kingston will be very happy also; otherwise it would have to wait until after V4 to be deployed again. Later I had an EME sked with Lance W7GJ at seven thirty. I received eleven decodes from him but he got nothing from me.
Hi Craig
ReplyDeleteWe heard about the helicopter accident and hope that the guys are OK. Being injured and a long way from home would be particularly scary.
Also saw that the Aurora has finally cleared the ice and is well on the way to Hobart: the people on board from Mawson will have gotten more than they bargained for in their trip home!
Cheers
PeterSt
Hi Peter,
DeleteThe injured people were incredibly lucky and are still in a serious condition. It will be a long process to get them back to Australia. Some of the guys on the Aurora had flights booked. It must be one of the longest trips home in history.Only five more years to go and then AAD will have a brand new "real" ice breaker.