Life in the cold

Yesterday was an exiting day here at Pole, we got to see an air drop! These aren't common round these parts, because the last time they tried, the parachutes didn't open, and all the cargo ended up smashing all over the snow! Normally, all the cargo coming into the Pole, be it construction parts, food, or mail all arrives by the c-130 cargo plane; landing, unloading, and taking off again within 20 minutes. This time, we got a big air drop by the C-17 cargo plane. These are much larger than the 130's, but they can't land at the South Pole. The reason is because of the air. It's too thin, and they wouldn't be able to take off again. So, here's what happened: The C-17 circled a few times, then came in real low, and dumped out 5 crates, all with 4 parachutes (which did open). It was real neat to see them come flying out the back with the chutes opening, and floating lightly to the ground! Afterwards, the plane came back in real low for a fly-by, and tipped its wings too us. My crew got a good view, since we were up on the roof of the station. I took a video of the drop and fly-by, but they won't upload to this page, so here's some still shots of us all watching, and the parachutes instead. We'll show you all the video when we see you all in person!