Question about Argo use in Antarctic trip

[rodp]

only the BBC benifits from the licence fee, all other channels have to raise funds through advertising. It's currently a hot topic again at the moment with viewers wanting the bbc to be self supporting and scrap the licence fee.
I can't see it happening immediatley though as the powers that be are as corrupt as the bbc with regard to siphoning off funds and the "old boys network" wins everytime.
With the european elections coming up shortly and the newcomers to the game, UKIP, apparently doing so well who knows what will happen in the near future. They certainly have the frighteners on the big three parties. All we need is for Scotland to gain independence, which will leave England to vote the way it wants, and there could be changes government wise which may then have the desired result regarding the bbc .
One thing's for sure, British politics is going to change drastically in the relatively near future.

[Beeman]

I remember thinking it strange that I needed a licence to watch basic TV over there.

[North Country Tough]

Hmmm, just so you're wise to the fact. Here in the UK we take anything the bbc says with a pinch of salt, over here they are renowned for being left wing political puppets, they only say what suits their current agenda. I would look elswhere for any actual facts.

Ahh the BBC,Bulls*** Baffles Commoners,Rodp is so right, wankers ,the best show out of Britain is Top Gear LOL.

[shub]

I'm with you on that. But in a long report like this one, a few uncomfortable details are bound to spill out. .

I'm a contributor and occasional guest author on blogs like wattsupwiththat.com and bishop-hill.net and follow stories via different sources. Right now, climateaudit.org has some of the best summaries of the entire fiasco.

[rodp]

Hmmm, just so you're wise to the fact. Here in the UK we take anything the bbc says with a pinch of salt, over here they are renowned for being left wing political puppets, they only say what suits their current agenda. I would look elswhere for any actual facts.

[shub]

Hello guys
Some updates on this story:

The ship that got stuck in Antarctic sea ice freed itself and sailed back to New Zealand on its own. Its tourist and scientist passenger set were airlifted to another ship which, after finishing its missions and getting held up in another storm, finally made it back to Tasmania. For some unfathomable reason, the real details are spilling out now.

The assessment here was correct, and some more. It appears they completely botched up the trip to the Antarctic islands:

The BBC's story is here: BBC News - Why did Antarctic expedition ship get stranded in ice?

More details from the Sydney Morning Herald here: Antarctic field trip a factor in ship becoming trapped in sea ice on Christmas Eve and

Here: Antarctic field trip a factor in ship becoming trapped in sea ice on Christmas Eve

Thanks all.

[rodp]

-36 !!!! I have to ask, why the hell do you live there ?????

[spookum]

Hopefully no one was hurt. It is -36F out right now. Any thing that isn't 100% brakes in that cold.
My buddies car had a bearing seize in the idler pully and munch the pully. The pully flew off, broke 3 plastic fine off of the radiator fan, nicked the radiator (now it leaks) hit the belt( again I assume) and the. The altinator tried to eat it and in doing so somehow cracked case to the altinator. Murphy's law: what can go wrong will go Wong. The worst pat is at -30F ha dealing steel with bare hands just HURTS....

[jerseybigfoot]

Summertime temperature uasually stay above freezing. So an Argo was not a bad choice. This expedition was done on the cheap and not seasoned Antartic reaschers. The same with the Russian ship capitan. Poor choices were made and they got in trouble. Fortunately the wind changed and they all got out okay. I'm not sure why they called for help. Probably due to inexperience or a panicked passenger. Some of the group were paying passengers to join the party.

[Dozerlarry]

Adondo, I don't trust my Max in freezing weather...........at all. Fortunately we don't see much of that. You can bet that the Canadians and Alaskans on here that go on all those long hunting trips have the best maintained vehicles of all of us. Probably should have gotten some of them to go and help those guys.

[Adondo]

I think the fact that they were using crowd funding sums it up. What they should have had, was a Hydratrek or other more capable machine. MPAV AMPHIBIOUS VEHICLE (i.e. expensive!) Like I said before, in those extreme conditions, Argo, Max, whatever aren't adequate enough for the job. A RIB like the Zodiac works as far as on the water, but those are built for hard rescue work in the first place. Argo, Max, Attex, whatever, are not designed to handle wind whipped waves, and the extreme cold probably didn't help with things like axles seals etc. Just the wrong vehicle for the task at hand.

[shub]

It appears the team were given two Argos by ArgoATV Australia. They were trying to crowd-fund and raise money for the third one:

To support our attempt to cross the sea ice and access Cape Denison we have secured two ARGOs in collaboration with ARGO ATV (Aus). However, to maximize the chances of our success in this remote region we need to secure at least one more ARGO

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-us-return-to-mawson-s-antarctic-hut-the-home-of-the-blizzard

[riotwarrior]

EPIC fail....training on dusty dry ground and a small mud puddle. LMFAO...E P I C... over edumacated underfriggen realistic people thinking so confined by the dogma they've been fed all their lives.

These machines would be ok in Antartic if those people had a clue on function and operation of said machines! However being the brainiacs not the MECHANICS they need be or have a grasp of what these machines are able to do does in no way perpetuate the strengths of these fine machines, yet it again proves that education though expensive and of worthy cause does not replace good ole hard knock school of real life doing hands on gear work.

Perhaps they need guides to run the machines properly???? Or better yet get Haglunds for their trips LOL

[ARGOJIM]

Found a short video on the The Spirit of Mawson - Home site showing a tracked 650 Frontier towing a untracked Conquest, I'd venture to guess it had a fuel solenoid issue.
Personally I wouldn't have taken a 20 year old machine to the harshest environment on earth with out being completely gone over, it may have been, but seeing as they are self/donation funded the machine may been donated in good working order.

Also the video link above from Dozerlarry shows the major difference in turning radius in water with the track spacers on.

[Dozerlarry]

I guess I'm being a little too picky here but if I were going to the Antarctic I think I'd pick a little more realistic proving ground than my favorite picnic place in Australia. Something about the short sleeve weather doesn't say yes to me.