UPDATE:  Check YFB NOTAMS.  Currently (July 3, 2019) there is a NOTAM indicating that the fuel supplier has run out of 100LL avgas.  The shipping season has begun, so more should be on the way, but the NOTAM shows no avgas until July 31,2019

The Iqaluit airport usually receives its annual shipment of 100LL AVGAS in July or August, depending on sea ice conditions and shipping schedules. Note that it isn't unusual for Iqaluit to run out of avgas in the weeks leading up to the resupply.  The fuel provider will not usually NOTAM the outage until it happens.  So it is important that you check ahead to ensure they'll have enough fuel on hand to meet your needs.  It has happened that small aircraft have arrived assuming there would be fuel, only to discover it was used up just before they arrived.

100LL is only availabe in full drums.  The last published price was $318.06 per 205 litre/45 CDN gallons/54 US gallons drum (Apr 19).  You have to buy the whole drum. The price is generally set once a year, following the arrival of the new year's supply by ship.  Check with the fuel supplier for price/availability information: Uqsuq Corporation (+1-867-222-2855) Current published price of Jet A is $1.4453/litre. (Apr 19)

Current drum count is not available. The fuel is now stored at a different location at the airport, preventing informal drum counts.  Check directly with Uqsuq Corporation.

You can also check with the local FBO Frobisher Bay Touchdown Services .  They regularly service transiting small aircraft, and have up to date information. They may also be able to assist with any special needs for fuel, etc.

Check Iqaluit airport general info here.

The Canadian federal government has given the OK for a merger between two of the larger airlines in the eastern arctic.  First Air is owned by the Makivik Corporation, which represents Inuit in the Nunavik region.  Canadian North is owned by the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation in the western arctic.  The merger plan is controversial.  First Air and Canadian North are the only airlines serving many communities in Nunavut, and some are concerned the merger will reduce service and raise fares.  However the government put a number of conditions on the merger. And Makivik and IRC contend it will provide better, more efficient service over time.   Read more about the merger here.

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

The 2019 Greenland Air Tropy adventure gets underday in June, 2019.  It takes small planes on big tour of Greenland, Northern Canada, and the Faroe Islands.  You can find out more about the excursion, where it is heading, and how you can get involved.  Check out this presentation.

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,

The next edition of the Midnight Sun Fly-in takes place in July, 2019.  If you're a floatplane enthusiast, Yellowknife is the place to be for this great opportunity to meet other pilots and enjoy the beauty of the Northwest Territories.

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 Nunavut government provides scholarships for Nunavummiut seeking aviation careers.  The $7,500 scholarships are available to students resident in Nunavut taking full time courses related to airline or airport operations or management, aircraft maintenance, and pilot training. More information for Nunavut students is available here. Application deadlines are usually in late summer..

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.

Canadian Arctic Aviation 2017 was a non-profit group trying to bring a travelling airshow to a number of communities across the Canadian arctic. They managed to reach a number of places before the money dried up. You can also check out their story on Twitter @CAAT2017 and on Facebook.

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 Transportation Safety Board has released its report into the December 22, 2012 crash at Sanikiluaq, Nunavut of a Perimeter Aviation Fairchild SA227-AC Metro III (C-GFWX). The plane came in too high, too steep and too fast. It touched down 200 metres beyond the end of the runway, skidding another 300 metres. The report says bad weather, poor visibility, fatigue and a departure from established protocols all played a part in the crash. TSB investigator Gayle Connors also told a news conference in Winnipeg on June 29, 2015 that the flight had departed Winnipeg for Sanikiluaq only to discover the crew had forgotten the instrument procedure charts for approach and landing. Rather than return to the airport and extend the flight time even more, the captain instead radioed the company to obtain most of the required information.

There were 9 people on board, including a crew of 2. All survived, except 6 month old Isaac Appaqaq. The infant was thrown from his mother's lap on impact, and he died from multiple injuries.

The TSB report calls on Transport Canada to mandate child safety seats for children under 2 years of age commercial flights.  The report provides information about the difficulties inherent in trying to hold an infant through a crash situation like this.  The report also calls for commercial airlines to keep better statistics on the number of children under 2 on their flights.

CBC News has an extensive story here about the report here. The full TSB report is available here.  Our earlier story is here.

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 popular History Television series Ice Pilots NWT has aired its final episode.  The series ran for 6 seasons, and became an international success.  It features stories about the north's most interesting airline, and the many vintage planes in the Buffalo Airways fleet. The History Channel has episodes from the last season available on line, in case you missed them.  And of course, Buffalo Airways continues to do business across the North.

This is a picture of one of Buffalo's Curtiss C-46A, taken by Darian Froese.

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.