Preparing for a plane tomorrow

As ice crystals fill the air, beautiful light phenomena can be seen.

The last preparations for the plane tomorrow were made today. It is planned, that the plane will land at NEEM with cargo and then fly to Thule for pick up of fuel. Then the plane will return to NEEM with fuel to be pumped into our storage tanks. Finally, the plane returns to Thule where the crew will spend the night. Sverrir and Hans Christian worked on making the aircraft fuel pump ready. There were great frustrations in the garage as the adapters delivered did not fit in the configuration. Finally, Sverrir found a temporary work-around, so the pump is ready. While this was going on, the final grooming of skiways was done. The shortwave radio and an antenna were set up. The transmitting part of the antenna is 17 m long. Now, we will see how the day tomorrow evolves. It is important to us, that the pilots are satisfied with the skiways, because this will allow us to bring in more cargo with each flight.

What we have done today:

1. Made aircraft fuel pump ready with new hoses and adapters.
2. Groomed new Ski Landing Area with tiller. The new skiway is more even than the old one.
3. Carpenter made sieves and filters for the drillers.
4. Set up HF radio and Yagi quarter wavelength antenna.
5. Spinner for ice drill chips now ready.
6. Assembly of drill electronics in pressure tubes. We now have two working sets of electronics.

Weather: blue sky turning into haze or fog, - 36°C to -25°C, 5-10 knots from E later S.
Visibility: Unrestricted, later 2 miles.
The coldest day so far.

FL, J.P. Steffensen