RETURN FLIGHT
of the ‘Hercules’ supply plane
from the NGRIP camp on the
ice cap of Greenland. Icelandic
glaciologist Sigfús Johnsen
and some of his colleagues have
been relieved and fly back home.
They are accompanied by a
batch of ice cores in the cargo
bay of the aircraft.

>> This heavy duty ‘Hercules’ is
equipped with skids and booster
rockets for polar operations.
Only this time, due to thaw, it
took several attempts to get it
off the ground: the snow was
sticky and therefore caused too
much friction.
     I was secretly hoping for
a postponement of our take-off
so I might get the chance to
take more pictures in the camp.
But alas, on the fourth run the
pilot finally engaged the plane’s
boosters, got the bird airborne
and smashed my hopes.