Shared Experiences – Photography and Notes from the Field
The last of the five pole-to-pole research missions on the Gulfstream-V aircraft on the HIPPO project. The mission will fly from Colorado to Anchorage, Kona, Rarotonga, Christchurch and back in 24 days. You can find impressions, observations, curiosities and just thoughts and feelings on these pages.
As the end of the project draws closer I realized that as we are flying North, I am saying good-bye to many things for the last time. Well, maybe not as dramatic as that but for the last time in the foreseeable future. It was the last time in several years at best that I … Read more
In September the fall is coming to Alaska. The weather has cooled down and the unmistakable smell of the fall is in the air. All of the folks we were talking with at the Anchorage FAA facility either are hunting, or have been hunting, some successful and some are not. My friends at the airport … Read more
Christchurch met us with overcast skies and a bit of a drizzle. The temperature was a comfortable 10°C, and most people meeting us at the Operation Deep Freeze, the NSF Office of Polar Programs part of the Christchurch airfield, were noticeably shivering. The OPP folks were as nice and helpful as ever, and we have … Read more
This time we arrived in Rarotonga and were in for a surprise: walking out of the airplane, it was cold! The temperature probably was only 65°F and the humidity was quite low. The wind was blowing hard, and the palm trees swayed and fluttered in the gusts like cheerleader’s pom poms. It took us a … Read more
The flight from Anchorage to Kona on one of the worlds premier executive jets should not, really, take 8.5 hours. And it would not, had we not tooled along at 250 knots, descending to 500 feet over the water every 40 minutes or so. So while the instruments on board are measuring the outside air … Read more