Meet the pilot with the best job in the world

A pilot describes flying over Antarctica as the definitive “third-dimension” way to experience the continent, and a reporter joins him for a sequence of sightseeing flights from a yacht. At Portal Point on the north-east coast of the Reclus Peninsula, Fischer says helicopters provide visibility of about 100 miles (161 km) in every direction under clear conditions. The trip uses two Airbus H130-T2 helicopters with larger windows and wrap-around windscreens for extra sightlines. On a good-weather day, pilots may conduct as many as 20 flights lasting roughly 30 minutes each, and the article follows one of the first rides. From the air, the writer sees humpback whales, including calves, and orcas, as well as glaciers, crevasses, and an “iceberg graveyard” of massive grounded icebergs changing over time. The piece adds that later a biologist will report a record number of cetacean species during the voyage, and it also mentions Weddell seals, Antarctic fur seals, and gentoo penguins.