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I received another hireright set, this time for a summer air trans job at the pole. I remember once reading that a ton of flights come in every day but I cant seem to find the page…it was some obscene number of flights like 12 a day or so and described long days of non-stop balls-to-the-wall cargo movement.
Any one know about that? 12 seems awfully high for a 9 hour workday on a crew that has (according to the listing) only 4 people total.
Howdy, Jim —
I don’t work at Pole, and have only been there once, but we see the daily flight schedule at McMurdo. Twelve may have been the all-time record, but typically I think you’d see an average of 5-7 a day. The first one usually carries the pax for the day, with subsequent flights carrying cargo, or fuel.
Without much else to do at Pole, I think you’ll enjoy all the work.
Good luck.
atlas
Oh, and since all the flights originate at McMurdo, you won’t see the first flight of the day till about 10a, at the earliest. And the day won’t end till late in the ‘night’.
a
mightyatlas–that brings up another thought, which seems answered. The flights come in on a fairly structured ‘day’ ? Their departure point would still be on a day/night schedule—but that goes away after they get to the pole.
Am I looking at some swing/split shift work as being the norm?
Ahhh, summer at SPole…. The brilliant light. The sparkling diamond dust. The constant drone of LC-130’s. It makes one’s heart go a pitter-patter. Or maybe that’s just the hypoxia? The tulips should be pushing up any day now. 8)
Perhaps it would be better to think of the work as non-stop rather than any particular shift. Sort of like the sunlight there.
I’d grab it with both hands and hang on for the ride of your life.
g
Yo, BJ —
Forget about any notion of a ‘structured day’. They don’t really exist on the ice. Plans are made – plans are modified – plans are broken. Weather is the biggest variable in all of this. The skies might be clear in McMurdo, but iffy at Pole, or visa-versa. Also, since the planes can’t stay at Pole, you have to plan for the weather at McMurdo about 7-8 hours out. If the plane can’t get back in to McM, then it’s either circle till it clears, land at an alternate runway, or land in the whiteout zone.
Semper Gumby, Dude (always flexible).
a
P.S. If you’re going to be at Pole, start taking Gingko Biloba and/or Diamox a couple of weeks before deploying. Trust me, altitude sickness is NO fun…
When I read the side effects of that stuff basically equate to altitude sickness I decided against it. Plus I’m young and arrogant. Either way, I figured after living a mile high for a while 10k wouldn’t be so bad. I had no problems, but I’ll tell you even after 8 months that damn beer can still can whoop you on the “high” days. I’m still waiting for -100.
-Nate
ginko…for AMS…I would not have thought of that. That’s a pretty good idea. I’ll see if its good juju with one of my meds…thanks ‘A’.
Nate, heh, less beer for the buzz–it’ll be just like getting girls drunk on wine coolers in high school, only this time I get to play the girl…wait a minute, I didn’t..I mean…
Jim, hopefully you got the job. Most everyone enjoys the pole. Me, I once thought I would give anything for a chance to work there. After years at MCM, I’ve become spoiled by the amenities. Now I’d give anything for a chance to fly there, run around the pole and come back the same day.
MikeNaw, the only gladiator movie I ever liked was ‘Gladiator‘ with Russel Crowe. I’m more of a psycho/sci fi person. New and old scifi..and, well, I thought ‘Ravenous‘ (1999) was excellent–to give an idea of the other side. Of course, I’ll just keep that to myself if I ever get the winterover interrogation.
This is the third HireRight they’ve done on me, I’d have though that at $100 a pop, they might keep the results and possibly, just possibly, get people assigned a lot sooner so they have more time to make plans. But that would be efficient–and we simply can’t have that on gov’t contracts. 8)
😆Ok, off topic buuuut…….while checking on my “in review” status, I noticed theres a position open for a “lead blaster” at McMurdo. Just what are you guys blowing up over there?
Or is that how you get the Ice to calve off (when the cameras arent looking)
The MASTER BLASTER!
My impression is it’s mostly rock, sometimes stuff that’s frozen-in. Occasionally dive or sampling holes at remote sites.
BJ —
Instead of perma-frost, think perma-ice.
Whenever a new building begins, or when a road needs to be moved, or a dozen other things, the blasters come through first, and shake things up a bit. The CATs we have can’t do it all.
They also send out a 24-hour blast notice, just so we’ll all be prepared for the big BOOM! when it happens.
Then, there was that one time the blaster got all drunk, and took a few sticks of dynamite out on the ice, and put them under a few seals.
You’d be amazed how far blubber can fly.
a
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