Basler DC3T (C-GJKB), the project aircraft for ICECAP, on the tarmac at the TxDOT Texas State air facility near Austin Bergstrom International Airport, October 2008. The plane was fully fitted out with scientific equipment, tested and certified air-worthy over a four day period. The newly fitted Radar antennas are visible beneath each wing. Photo Jack Holt

Two close-up views of the starboard mounted Radar antenna. The antennas are cross-track polarised flat-plate dipoles and are designed to operate simultaneously in transmit/receive mode.

The magnetometer is housed within a boom that projects around 3m from the rear of the aircraft. Both photographs here were taken outside the aircraft hanger at Austin airport where the plane was being prepared for Antarctic fieldwork.

The picture on the left shows a view of the interior of the aircraft after the installation of most of the scientific equipment. The racking on the right hand side of the fuselage contain the radar electronics, computers to record the data, GPS and aircraft orientation sensors. The picture on the right shows the view through the perspex bubble down which the laser altimeter looks, I took this during the certification flight somewhere southwest of Austin in southern Texas.