29 October 2010 Fuel in Antarctica: Another WATER DROP adventure for kids

My name is Christine and I work for the Fuels Department here at McMurdo Station. My department works with the planes and helicopters in Antarctica. We also deliver fuel to places around McMurdo, to field camps and to the South Pole. We call ourselves fuelies and there are about 26 people in our department now. In our winter there are only 2.

I am a General Assistant. That means I help out wherever it is needed.

Today I went out with another Fuelie in a very large machine called a Delta. We drove around town and delivered gas to different tanks around town. We get millions of gallons of diesel every January when the ships come.

We have an airport here at McMurdo, but it is not like any of the airports at home.
First of all it is all out on the sea ice. This means the ocean is frozen with a layer of ice about six feet thick and planes land on it. Secondly there aren't any real buildings, just temporary huts. Lastly our airport is only open during our summer, from August to February. In the winter it is too cold so planes can't land here.

We have three runways for the planes. One runway is called the Pegasus White Ice Runway. It is far from town and we only use it August and September and December and January. Only about 10-12 planes land and leave from here. It is on 110 feet of glacial ice with 3- 4 inches of snow on top.

Another runway is called the Williams Field Skiway. It is for little planes that go to the South Pole and to field camps. These planes don't have wheels. They use skis instead. We use this runway from October to February. It is on 25 feet of snow, which is on top of 260 feet of ice, which is floating over 1800 feet of water.

The third runway is called the Annual Sea Ice Runway. It is called annual because we can only use it from October to December. Then the ice melts and we cannot use it anymore. Planes with wheels, like C-17s, C-130s, LC-130s and Twin Otters use this runway. The planes are so heavy that they sink a little bit into the ice.

Planes need fuel, so someone is always waiting to fuel them when they come in. I fuel many planes.

Thanks for letting me take out your water drop! We had lots of fun in the fuels department!