antarctic terminal operations

The department I work for is ATO (Antarctic Terminal Operations). I worked as a shuttles driver last year under the same umbrella. This year I have a new position, though:

Air Services Representative: My job entails moving passengers around the continent of Antarctica on our fixed-wing aircraft (we are not responsible for helicopter passengers). We enter everyone’s movement information into our ancient software program, e-mail key Antarctic Program contacts and military personnel, arrange for transportation on the McMurdo end of each flight, keep track of everyone’s travel plans when the redeploy back north to New Zealand, and make sure each passenger is accounted for.

Some of the extra-fun parts of my job include giving the Air Force crew tours of our town. It’s great to see them so excited to visit our corner of the world on our dry cold continent. One of the pilots who I met, Scott, is friends with a high school acquaintance. It’s fun to make connections at the bottom of the earth; and nearly humorous that people can live so close and have to come to Antarctica to meet!

Another fun “extra” of my job is helping people find their bags when they arrive to McMurdo. We don’t have a baggage carousel here, so instead, our cargo handlers unload the bags off the pallets and we line them up in our building for people to search through. I’ve had a great time getting to know the incoming people. I am continually amazed by how much we all bring down to this continent!

This past week, I was able to welcome down Brandon, another Calvin College graduate to Antarctica. Laura mentioned that he was to be working at the South Pole, so I made a point to intercept him while he stayed over at McMurdo Station.