Permits

The permit application review process has been in motion and expect to hear whether the expedition is approved or not approved by early to mid June.

2011 Main Objective

Just like the mystery of where the ships HMS Erebus and Terror may rest today on the ocean floor, on land there are many square miles to consider as possible resting places for the remains of Sir John.  Or was he buried at sea?  I think not.  But no one knows for sure.  And if on the land, he may not have had the benefit of the ceremonious keeping's of Torrington, Hartnell and Braine, who still remain buried today at Beechey Island, deep below the permafrost, intact in their coffins.  The Admiral's bones may be in a covered rock hollow, and/or scattered around.

King William Island, Nunavut

But according to the famous note left  by Fitzjames and Crozier, the Admiral died early compared to the majority.  Theoretically one would think that most of the men were still able at this point in time.  So it seems there is a decent chance that he is still out there well preserved in some form.

To date I have flown here locally many times testing the aerial thermal scanning techniques and then  executing subsequent image analysis.  The data storage is large and the careful inspection of each frame must be properly deciphered.  I have discovered that the amount of time to properly analyze data and images is  enormous.  Not likely I will have opportunity to properly sift through it all when up there, so although the overall objective is to find Sir John, the main goal this year will be to just properly gather all the thermal/photographic data.

Auxiliary Fuel Tanks for Extra Range

The DeHavilland Beaver has very long range with 3 belly tanks totaling 95 gallons, plus wingtip tanks on each side totaling another 42 gallons.  In addition, recently added this custom 35 gallon stand alone tank, lashed down in the cabin behind the front seats.  All seats are removed now except the front two.  Deep cycle Jell Cell battery between the front seats, just aft, powers the integral portable fuel pump (which can be disconnected and will be also used to extract 100LL from the 55 gallon fuel drums in the remote locations).  Jell Cell also powers other odds and ends when out on the land.  In order to use this final 35 gallons, will have to land and refuel manually, as this tank is not connected to the plane's plumbing.  Important that the tank is grounded to the plane, and when fueling, also that the plane is grounded to the ground.

On the front right seat the Toughbook is on a charger; mounted on a Havis tilt mount (used in police cars) strapped in and wired for thermal scanning, while coupled to a separate Garmin GPS system.