HEROIC RECOVERY EFFORT (from Navy Wire Service) Everybody has their own special interest in our project! The chopper pilots apparently gained fame in their own field... Unfortunately, there are a few errors of fact in the article: the $4M, 6000 lb payload is the HIREGS experiment, the second balloon flight of the 1994 campaign (still in the air as of 1/25/95). Our payload was worth about 0.4M, and weighed 2500 lbs. But their heroism is appreciated no less! Among other things, they recovered 50% of the US supply of tracking/telemetry packages for long duration balloon flights. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 30 Jan 1995 13:01:20 -0500 (EST) From: William G. Armstrong To: wilkes@phys.washington.edu Subject: Recovery heralded by USN Wearing my other hat as a naval reserve PAO, I found this story on the Navy Wire Service last week, and thought you'd like to keep it with your archives on JACEE-13. Ballooning magazine has been sent to the printer, and I will send you hard copies when I see it. Thanks again. Bill Armstrong Navy's Antarctic squadron saves taxpayers millions By CDR Steve Gardner ANTARCTICA (NWSB) -- Recently in Antarctica two helicopters from the U.S. Navy's Antarctic Development Squadron (VXE) 6 completed another first! The aircraft flew more than 300 miles from their deployed base at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, to a remote portion of the Polar Plateau where they recovered the payload of a Long Duration Balloon (LDB) with scientific equipment worth more than $4 million. The LDB was carrying the Japanese/American Cosmic-Ray Emulsion-Chamber Experiment (JACEE), which is organized and run by a collaborative group of 35 senior scientis at 11 institutions from the United States, Japan and Poland. The experiment is headed by Dr. R. Jeffrey Wilkes, University of Washingon, and is fully funded and sponsored by NASA. The balloon, launched on Dec. 22 from McMurdo Station, made two full revolutions of Antarctica at altitudes as high as 131,000 feet (more than 21 miles.). The purpose of the project is to carry a cosmic ray detector above most of the earth's atmosphere for 10 to 20 days,a flight duration much longer than routine balloon flights in the United States. Balloon flight operations are being performed by the NASA-operated National Scientific Balloon Facility, in collaboration with the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), which operates all Antarctic research programs. The amount of data collected in this single operation could increase by 50 percent the infrmation collected in 11 flights performed during the last 14 years. The balloon and payload were brought down by radio control from an NSF-owned, ski-equipped LC-130, flown by U.S. Navy pilots of VXE 6 on Jan. 3. At that time the LC-130 was unable to land and recover the 6,000 pound payload due to ground fog in the landing area. On Jan. 8 weather had improved and a second ski-equipped LC-130 was sent into the area. When they attempted to land they found the hard snow surface usafe due to high, hard mounds of snow called sasturgi. An NSF-contracted Twin Otter attempted to land in the same area two days later with the same results. Helicopter "Ice Pirates" of VXE 6 had alreadry determined that recovering the bounty would be of benefit to science and would save taxpayers a significant amount of money, so they decided to go for it. The squadron would have to go over twice the normal range to recover this gear, and the aircraft would need a refueling stop en route. Working with the Italian Antarctic Progrm they were able to use fuel that was already in place on the Antarctic Plateau. The flight of the two helicopters began with a brief at 6:30 a.m. and the temperature at a balmy 20 degrees Fahrenheit and clear skies. After almost four hours of flying across the near featureless terrain of the Polar Plateau, with a fuel stop where the crews hand pumped fuel from 55 gallon drums, the crews arrived at the site around noon. The site was at a pressure altitude of 8,800 feet with the temperature now minus 1 F and a wind chill of minus 55 degrees. That's like working in the cold mountain air 4,000 feet above Denver in the coldest weather possible. The LDB payload, weighing almost 3 tons, had to be disassembled before being transported back to McMurdo. The helicopters' crews, along with Steven Peterzen, from the National Scientific Blloon Facility of NASA, began this monumetal task. After four hours of work they had broken everything down. Being environmentally conscientious is part of the National Science Foundation mission, so the helicopter crews even wrestled with the 600-pound parachute that had been filled by driven snow and was pulling them around in the 25 mile per hour winds. Before the work was done, everyone was sufferig from a very mild form of "mountain sickness" or hypoxicypoxia, caused from working so hard at such a high altitude and in such cold weather. "While working in the sub-zero temperatures," said LTJG Eric Vosler of VXE 6, "ice formed onour faces and clothes. We all worked hard to stay warm. The effects of the altitude were definitly felt as our muscles fatigued and our heads ached from the lack of oxygen."What followed was two helicopters taking two loads each down to a lower altitude and suitable landing site for the Twin Otter to bring the now-disassembled balloon gondola and parachute back to McMurdo Station. The crews also had to hand pump ful again each trip. The helicopters returned to McMurdo with all of the scientific equipment at 9:30 p.m., under cloudy, overcast skies. After a 15-hour day in sometimes subzero temperatures, the crews were tired, but were also happy to have done that something extra for our national goal of scientific research. The scientists doing the research where overjoyed with the return of the scientific emulsion plates and computer telemetry, which they would not have been able to get without this extra effort. Within hours they had already discovered data concerning a significant cosmic-ray event. NASA was jubilant with the return of all the expensive equipment. This success was largely due to the assistance of the helo crews on the ground. True, the skill of flying is a great consideration for the success of the mission, but their help on the ground is what pulled this task off," said Peterzen. The NSF Station Representative Dwight Fisher, at McMurdo, said, "In my 11 years of Antarctic experience this had to be one of the most professional team accomplishments, to make sure that the scientists got their data. The squadron's motto of 'Courage, Sacrifice and Devotion' was carried out because they wanted to do it, not becaus anyone asked them to do it!" Antarctic Support Associates (ASA) Helicopter Coordinator Robbin Abbott said, "These helicopter crews are just the greatest! They constantly amaze everyone with their teamwork and action in making things happen. They planned everything in just hours, then did a safe, professional job." Aviation Structural Mechanic (Hydraulics) 3rd Class Ronald Laubacher of Oxnard, Calif., one of the Polar Helicopter crew chiefs on the mission said, "[If you] asked me was the trip worth it? I'd say saving more than 4 million in equipment, that the taxpayers have already paid for, was well worth it to me!" (Gardner is Commanding Officer, Antarctic Development Squadron 6.) -USN-