Aarohi Pandit arrived in Iqaluit recently arrived in Iqaluit in her Sinus 912, light-sport aircraft, on a round the world trip.

Pandit says while four men have made the journey by light-sport aircraft, but she's the first woman to do so.  She says it is important that young women see aviation as a career opportunity.  You can read more about the trip here

NavCanada has a new on-line store, where you can buy Canadian aviation information products, like the CAP (Canada Air Pilot IFR info), VFR charts, the Canada Flight Supplement and more. You'll find it on their website,

There is a new group of planespotters taking great photographs these days at the Iqaluit airport (YFB), led by Brian Tattuinee and Frank Reardon.  You can find some of their great photos on Twitter and Instagram, using the hashtag #YFBspotters.  Read more about it in this article from Up Here magazine.  Or check out Frank Reardon Photography on Flickr, YFBspotters on Twitter, or YFBspotters on Instagram.  Happy plane spotting!

The Midnight Sun Fly In Association is hosting the 2017 fly-in event from July 6 - 9, 2017 in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Planned activities include a fly-out picnic, live entertainment, dockside dining, airplane rides by Viking Air, pancake breakfast, and great bush pilot conversation.  See their website for more information.  Yellowknife is home to a large number of float planes, and the Fly-in is a great attraction in the town that, in many ways, exists because of bush pilots.

Russian helicopter pilot Sergey Ananov is a lucky man.  He was on a trip around the world in his Robinson R-22, when a belt failure brought him down in cold, icy Davis Strait, between the east coast of Baffin Island and Greenland, as shown on this SPOT tracking capture.

Ananov was seen at the Iqaluit airport refueling the R-22 on Friday, July 24, 2015. He set off from CYFB for Greenland on Saturday, July 25.  When the R-22 went down as he was crossing Davis Strait, he was able to grab his life-raft and flare gun. He was wearing his survival suit, but didn't have it fully zipped up, resulting in him getting wet when he went into the water.  He managed to swim to an ice floe as the R-22 sank, where he spent a couple of cold nights, scaring off polar bears.  He was found by the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Pierre Radisson.

Ananov experienced some frostbite, but was otherwise was uninjured in the crash. The CCGS Pierre Radisson took him to Iqaluit. He told Russia 24 how he was feeling when he returned to Iqaluit: "With regard to mental health, it is good. Here (in Iqaluit, Canada) I was literally bathed in the waves of love and friendship." He was able to take a commercial flight to Ottawa to pick up a new passport from the Russian Embassy there, and head back home to Moscow.

For more, CBC News has extensive coverage here.  in English. In Russian, here's the coverage of his return to Moscow on Russia 24. The Russian news agency TASS called the rescue a good example of Russian-Canadian co-operation in the Arctic.

The Midnight Sun Fly In Association is hosting the 2015 Midnight Sun Fly In from July 10 - 12, 2015 in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Planned activities include a fly-out picnic, live entertainment, dockside dining, airplane rides, pancake breakfast, memorial fly-past, and great bush pilot conversation.  See their website for more information.  Yellowknife is home to a large number of float planes, and the Fly-in is a great attraction in the town that, in many ways, exists because of bush pilots.

The runway at CYFB Iqaluit has been redesignated.  The runway is no longer designated 17/35. The NEW DESIGNATION is 16/34. All published navigational information that referred to 17/35 will now use 16/34. Here's the NOTAM:

140146 CYFB IQALUIT
  CYFB INSTR PROC PRODUCT REFERENCES FOR:
RWY 17 ARE NOW FOR USE ON RWY 16
RWY 35 ARE NOW FOR USE ON RWY 34
1406262024 TIL 1409180901

This is, of course, due to the significant movement of the north magnetic pole in the last few years.  It is estimated that the poll is now moving about 55 km a year.  There are maps and some rather interesting explanations of the pole movement here and here

Most other Nunavut runways are not affected, as runways in Northern Domestic Airspace are designated in degrees True.

Alexis Peltier and Michel Laplace-Toulouse finished their trans-Atlantic flying adventure on February 9, 2014. The pair flew a 1957 Piper SuperCub on big tundra tires from the west coast of North America, across Canada, then on to Greenland, and Paris in the summer of 2013.  Their trip plan included Canadian stops at Montreal, Sept Illes, Quebec, Wabush, Labrador and Kuujjuaq, Quebec; then on to Iqaluit and Qikiqtarjuaq Nunavut before crossing Davis Strait to Greenland.  You'll find maps of their complete trip plan here .

They did the next leg from Paris to Kenya, via the Sahara desert from January 13 to February 9, 2014. You'll find their journey tracker on the web here.

Alexis once held the record as the youngest Canadian pilot, and he's been on some really interesting aviation adventures in North and South America and in Africa. You can read about his Air Adventure personal air safari company here.

They called this adventure Flying4Conservation. Alexis and Michel are involved in conservation projects at home in Kenya, including using the aircraft to assist with wildlife surveys and other projects.

You can also find them on Facebook and on Twitter @F4C_SuperCub

ArcticNet and the Canadian Coast Guard have found and retrieved the wreck of a Coast Guard helicopter that crashed near Banks Island.  Working from the CCGS Amundsen, ArcticNet's remote controlled underwater vehicle found the wreck and photographed the site.  A couple of days later, they were able to bring the wreck to the surface to assist in the investigation into the cause of the crash.  CBC News has more here. The Transportation Safety Board also has information on their website.

Canadian Coast Guard Messerschmitt BO-105-S-CDN-BS-4 (C-GCFU) crashed in McClure Strait in the high arctic on Monday, September 9, 2013. CBC News has a story here. The helicopter was operating from the CCGS Amundsen, north of Banks Island.  It isn't clear what caused the crash.  Pilot Denis Dube, Amundsen Commanding Officer Marc Thibault, and scientist Klaus Hochheim all died.  The Canadian Transportation Safety Board is investigating.

The photo at left is the same model as the helicopter that crashed, also with the Coast Guard icebreaker fleet  It was photographed in Iqaluit, Nunavut. This one is call-signed C-GCHU.

CanAero Publishing has a website with interesting information about their books, ebooks, and Canadian aviation generally.  You'll find some interesting slide shows and articles as well.  CanAero was known for publishing Aviation Canada magazine.  Check out Bob Baglow's CanAero site here.

Matevž Lenarčič is attempting something few have tried.  He's flying an advanced ultralight from Slovenia to Iqaluit, over the north pole, and then back to Europe over the north Atlantic.

The project is called Greenlight Worldflight. It takes him through northern Europe, to Svalbard, Norway and over the pole. On the Canadian side, he landed at the Enivronment Canada weather station at Eureka, then on to Resolute Bay, Nunavut and arriving in  Iqaluit on May 7, 2013. After a few minor repairs, he left Iqaluit May 10th, heading south to St. John's Newfoundland. From there, he's following the path of Charles Lindbergh across the North Atlantic to Kerry, Ireland, and then back to Slovenia.  A remarkable trip.

And he's doing it in a small plane.  He's flying the Pipistrel Virus-SW in a standard configuration.  Along the way, he's planning to collect black carbon data for scientific analysis.

We're following his trip on the Greenlight Worldflight website tracking page, which is using real-time tracking data from Spidertracks. You'll find lots of great information about the trip on the Greenlight site.

The Polar Pumpkin has made to the north pole. Alaskan bush pilot Art Mortvedt achieved his goal of flying his 1980 Cessna A185F N90SN to the geographic north pole on April 6, 2012. Mortvedt is a veteran of many expeditions to Antarctica, and 6 seasons of scientific work on the northern polar ice pack.  He landed this plane at the south pole in 1999.

Mortvedlt  made it as far north as the Eureka weather station on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut in 2011.  But bad weather and the closing of the Russian Barneo ice station made it a bad idea to try the Eureka to 90 North trip that year. He has a detailed trip log posted on his website, including photos taken along the way.

He spent more time preparing for the flight and speaking about the trip in various places in the United States. Here's Art at Oshkosh explaining the story of the Polar Pumpkin.

His website features a flight log of this year's trip which took him from Alaska through the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut in Canada, and on to Barneo and the pole.

The Northern Air Transport Association is holding its annual conference and trade show in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories from April 8 to 10, 2013.  NATA brings together commercial aviation operations across the Canadian North.

A dramatic search and rescue near Arviat, Nunavut on January 9, 2013 turned a rescuer into the rescued.   Around 3:45 pm that day, a Custom Helicopters Bell 206 Jet Ranger (C-GGZS)  that had been hired pick two hunters off of the sea ice broke through the ice on landing.  The hunters who were to be rescued by the helicopter had to help the pilot from the machine as it slipped partially into the water and turned on its side.

The hunters were overdue from a seal hunting trip on the night of January 8th. They were on an ice pan that broke off from the land fast ice, preventing them from getting back to their snowmobiles and equipment.  The Canadian Forces Search and Rescue were called in when the men didn't return to Arviat as planned.  The Joint Rescue Control Centre dispatched a Hercules search aircraft, which located the men early on the morning of January 9th  Attempts by local Arviat searchers to reach the men by boat failed due to the extreme cold. Temperatures at the time were below -30 degress celcius, with wind chills making it feel like about -50.

The Canadian Forces then called in the private helicopter which was based in Gillam, Manitoba.  Hunter Joe Karetak picks up the story here.

The Custom Jet Ranger C-GGZS arrived on scene and attempted the rescue, with the Hercules circling above.  When C-GGZS ran into trouble, Search and Rescue technicians parachuted down from the Herc to assist.  All were picked up by a Canadian Forces Griffon helicopter which was enroute to the scene from CFB Cold Lake, Alberta. The Griffon arrived about 20 or 30 minutes after the mishap with the Custom Helicopters machine, according to a Canadian Forces spokesperson.

The two hunters and the Custom pilot flown to Arviat,  Nunavut, where they were treated for hypothermia at the nursing station and released.

The Transportation Safety Board is interviewing everyone involved in the incident, but may not conduct a full investigation, according to CBC North News. Here's the Civil Aviation Daily Occurence Report on the incident

NavCanada, the company the runs Canada's air navigation system, has recently made available electronic versions of the Canada Air Pilot (IFR approaches plates, etc), various VNC navigation charts and other publications.  You'll find the order page here.  There is a fee for online purchase of the publications. The files are downloadable PDFs, that allow you to print your required pages.

For Nunavut, you'll want E-CAP1 for IFR; the map at the left shows the VNC chart numbers; Hi and Lo level enroute charts are also available.

If printed at the correct resolution, the electronic versions are authorized for in-flight navigation. (Up to 4800 optimized dpi colour (up to 4800 x 1200 optimized dpi colour and 1200 Input dpi).

The Air Line Pilots Association says creating GPS approaches for both ends of all northern airports would improve air safety in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.  Devin Lyall told CBC News the Association has identified 28 airports in Nunavut and the NWT that would benefit from the additional GPS approaches. He says airports would also benefit from lengthening and paving, though he acknowledges that comes at a high cost./ Lyall says the ALPA has formed a committee on Remote Operations, which includes pilots from First Air, Canadian North, Calm Air, and Air Alaska.

Photo at left shows Cessna 172 C-GOLJ turning final for 24T CYXP Pangnirtung, Nunavut. Click to enlarge.

It seems aviation is coming popular in the reality of TV world. The Discovery Channel has recently introduceda new aviation based show.  It is called "Dangerous Flights", and features some challenging ferry flights around the Atlantic and Pacific.  One of the episodes features a flight through from Europe, through Greenland to Goose Bay, Labrador and on to the US.  A range of single and small twin engine aircraft are featured, including Cessna 206, Cirrus SR22 , Beech Bonanza, Dornier 228, King Air C90B, Phenom 100, Piper Cheyenne, Piper Navaho.

It continues to be legal to fly private aircraft in Canada with a 121.5 ELT. And a recent edition of the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association newsletter reports that changes to the rules aren't likely in the near future.

However, keep in mind that  COSPAS/SARSAT no longer monitors 121.5.  So if you don't have a ELT operating on 406 mHz, you don't have a means of automatically notifying the search and rescue authorities if your plane goes down.  If you're relying only on your 121.5 ELT, the only chance to you have of being detected in an emergency is if another aircraft hears your ELT signal on 121.5.  And in the north of Canada, that isn't something you want to rely on.  The advantage of the 406 ELT is that it can provide data about your flight, and with some units, GPS information about your location.  But the issue about whether or not to convert to 406 is complex.

The Canadian rules on ELTs are expected to change.  But it isn't clear when that will happen, or what the new regulations will entail. Transport Canada sent the proposed new regulations back for "further consultations with stakeholders" in May 2010. And apparently, the new minister sent them back for further review again in 2011. Isn't isn't clear yet whether Transport Canada will mandate the change to the 406 ELT, or look at some of the other options currently available. The Department of National Defence (DND), which runs Canada's Search and Rescue system,  favours the 406 mhz ELT.  But it isn't clear whether the government is prepared to mandate 406 ELTs, knowing the US isn't likely to follow suit, and knowing that there is new technology (Mid Earth Orbit Satellite systems /MEOSAT) on the horizon that may provide better aircraft tracking options.

In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates the use of radio transmission, announced in the summer of 2010 that it proposed to ban the use of 121.5 ELTs in the US starting in August, 2010. However, that didn't happen. Most recently, the White House urged the FCC to make 406 ELTs mandatory in the US by 2022.   The Aircraft Electronics Association wants the FCC to continue to allow existing 121.5 ELTS to be used, but is against continuing the manufacture of 121.5 ELTs. 

In Canada, there has been much debate about whether the 406 ELT is the best answer for emergency alerting for private aircraft.  The Canadian Owners and Pilots Association has been very active on this file, trying get Transport Canada to look at a wider range of emergency alerting alternatives, including tracking devices such as SPOT and Spidertracks.  And wth changing technology, there may soon be other options that could provide a wider range of more effective aircraft tracking and emergency alerting options.

Here's the recent chronology on the 406 issue in Canada:

In May, 2010, the COPA reports that Transport Canada will mandate the use of a 406 ELT on most aircraft flying in Canada, including private aircraft. The regulation has not yet been "gazetted" in the Canada Gazette yet, which means the current 121.5 ELT rules remain in effect.

On July 8, 2010, the Director General of Civil Aviation for Transport Canada, Martin Eley, told the Canadian Business Aviation Association convention in Calgary that " an ELT regulatory package is currently being processed and will come into force as soon as possible."

He went on to say that "the current regulation does not mandate a 406 MHz ELT, but it does require that you have a transmitter with similar performance capabilities. We are also giving you time to make this upgrade to your aircraft. This will also provide time for ELT production to increase." He didn't specify what those timeframes would be.

COPA says it appears that "alternate means of emergency location approved by Transport Canada" in the new regs isn't likely to include some of the new tracking systems on the market, like SPOT, Spidertracks, Latitude Web Sentinel, Skytrac and others.  These tracking systems appear to be unacceptable to DND and Transport Canada because they cannot automatically activate a distress signal in a crash.  But of course, the regular tracking would provide a fairly narrow location to start a search, even if a pilot wasn't able to manually send a distress signal using the tracking unit.  And, as COPA has argued,  ELTs, both 406 and 121.5  sometimes fail to survive a crash and transmit an emergency signal.

In March, 2011 COPA reports that there is no new information on this file. The March 2010 article at COPA noted above continues to be the most up to date information.

In December 2011, COPA again reports that there hasn't been any change in the situation. Apparently, the new Transport Minister has referred the draft legislation back to his department for further study.  As COPA notes, changes in coming satellite technology, improvements in currently available tracking devices and the failure of a number of 406 units in crashes all point to different options for emergency notification for general aviation.

The COPA website has an excellent article explaining the situation. There is also a  COPA article from February 2009 that outlines some of the issues behind the requirement for 406 ELTs.

If you're not a member,  consider joining COPA for important information on this and many other general aviation issues.

There was also some controversy around the original planned requirement that the new 406 ELTs would have to be installed by an avionics shop. There continues to be an exemption in effect that allows the work to be done by a licenced AME on private aircraft installations, where the ELT does not interface with an onboard system such as a GPS navigation system.  Currently, the exemption is in place until March 31, 2014, according to Transport Canada

Through any transition period that may be prescribed by the new regulations, pilots flying in the arctic regions of Canada will need to think very carefully before flying with just a 121.5 ELT.  Only using a 121.5 ELT means no method of automatically alerting authorities if you get into trouble, other than hoping another aircraft is listening on 121.5.  We've seen some pilots using satellite flight tracking services, and devices like SPOT, in addition to a 121.5 ELT. And as noted above,  Canadian Search and Rescue authorities are strongly encouraging the use of 406 mhz ELTs.

Here's the list of Canadian certified 406 ELTS

Air Greenland has begun a new connection between Nuuk, Greenland and Iqaluit.   The summer-only service gives Nunavut residents and tourists a chance to make a quick connection between the neighbouring capitals. The flights run Mondays and Fridays, starting June 15, 2012.  The service was successful enough to warrant a second season in the summer of 2013.  Despite being relatively close together, it has been years since there were direct scheduled flights between Canada and Greenland.

Air Greenland is flying the route with a Bombardier DASH 8. Flying time is estimated to be about 1 hour and 45 minutes. That's a lot quicker than a couple of days - flying to southern Canada, on to Copenhagen and up to Nuuk, which is how that trip is done when these direct flights aren't available.  Tickets can be booked with First Air.

Sad news for Buffalo Airways, northern aviation and fans of Ice Pilots NWT. Former Buffalo Chief Pilot Arnie Schreder passed away early on Saturday, May 5, 2012 after a battle with small cell lung cancer.  The long-time northern pilot became internationally famous through his part on the History Television reality series.

History Television had put the full last episode of Season 3 of Ice Pilots up on the web in memory of Arnie, but that's since been taken down. You can find their memorial page here.  And there are some full episodes available on line here.

Arnie was 69 years old.  He had more than 37,000 hours flying time, and trained a great many pilots over his years with Buffalo.

A service was held May 10, 2012 in Winfield, BC.  A memorial service was held at the Buffalo in Yellowknife on May 12, 2012.  Fittingly, Arne's ashes were scattered over Back Bay, in a ceremony captured for the Ice Pilots NWT program.