A Buffalo AirwaysLockheed Electra had a gear up landing in Yellowknife, NWT on March 5, 2012. The 1959 Lockheed 188A C-FBAQ was on a flight to CYZF, from Goose Lake, NT when the crew reported the right main gear did not fully retract. Several unsuccessful attempts were made to manually retract the gear over about an hour. Following that, an emergency was declared, and the plane landed runway 34 with the left and nose gear extended. When the right side of the plane dropped, it departed the runway and came to rest in the airport infield.
Transport Canada CADORS reports that a small engine fire was extinguished when the plane came to rest in the snow-covered infield. Damage was substantial. The plane was lifted by crane, and the right gear exended and locked when the gear door was pulled away. The incident closed the runway for a number of hours.
Buffalo Airways owner Joe McBryan told Yellowknife media that the flight crew made a "textbook" emergency landing.
You can see the whole story on the popluar History Channel reality show Ice Pilots NWT.
The Canadian Transportation Safety Board released a progress report (Jan 5/12) on their investigation into the crash of First Air Boeing 737-200 C-GNWN at Resolute Bay, Nunavut on August 20, 2011. CBC News story here. On April 5, 2013, the TSB told CBC News that they have a draft final report on the crash prepared, but that it will be some time before the final report is complete and released. The final report was released on March 25, 2014. More detail on the report and links are available here.
The plane crashed on approach to CYFB, the Resolute Bay airport. Fifiteen people were aboard, including a crew of 4. Twelve died in the crash, including all of the First Air crew members. Three passengers were medevaced to hospital in Iqaluit, Nunavut, from which they were sent on for further treatment to Ottawa, with non-life threatening injuries. Members of the Canadian Forces who were in Resolute for Operation Nanook, along with local volunteer firefighters, were involved in the rescue of the survivors.
A number of the those who died in the crash were employees of Aziz Kerhaj, owner of the South Camp Inn in Resolute. Aziz and his wife also lost a granddaughter in crash.
Pilots and airlines in Yellowknife, where the flight originated, held a memorial fly-by a few days after the accident. The video is here. You'll see Buffalo Airways DC-3, DC-4, C-46; a Dehavilland Buffalo, Twin Otters, DASH 7 and 8, Beech 18, Dornier 228, and others. The fly-by finishes with a Canadian North B737.
Ice Pilots NWT has had three successful seasons on Canada's History Television channel. And fans are looking forwardto season 4 this fall. The reality series tells the story of Buffalo Airways, an airline based in the Northwest Territories. Buffalo is renowned for its fleet of classic rotary engine planes, and for their ability to deliver the goods to many small communities in northern Canada. Video of full episodes of the show is available on-line at the History Television website.
Iqaluit resident Ron Wassink managed to catch the crew of Buffalo's Curtiss-Wright C46a C-GTXW when they were in Iqaluit in March, 2011. They ended up here for a couple of days due to weather, while trying to deliver a generator to Qikiqtarjuaq. Ron's blog features some great photos and information about Iqaluit. Photo used by permission.
It is pretty rare to find a Cessna 172 in Canada's high arctic. But that didn't put Werner Koch off. He flew his 1968 172I C-GEGG to Grise Fiord, Nunavut in July of 2011. See Grise Fiord by 172 in our Trip Reports and Visits section. Here's his photo of the terminal building at the Grise Fiord Airport. That's something very, very few people have actually seen! Grise Fiord is Canada's northern-most permanent settlement, at the south end of Ellesmere Island.
The Canadian Transportation Safety Board reports that the landing collapsed the right main gear. The cargo flight landed around 23:30 UTC (18:30ET) that evening. The two pilots were the only people on board, and the TSB says they were not injured.
The plane came to rest just off the 1900 foot runway, near the midpoint. Poor weather conditions on December 7th prevented moving the plane. That caused the closure of the airport all day on December 7th. The plane was finally moved late in the afternoon on December 8th, after which the airport was opened.
The 1992 Cessna 208B Caravan, C-GATV, was on a scheduled flight which left Yellowknife at 11:00 MT and was scheduled to arrive at 11:45 MT (October 4, 2011). It crashed about 25 nm from Lutselk'e. The initial CBC News story, updated, is here. Aviation weather information for the Lutselk'e area at the time was collected by this site.
An Arctic Sunwest Charters Twin Otter float plane crashed in the "Old Town" area of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories shortly after 1pm Mountain time on September 22, 2011. The plane was apparently on a landing approach to the ASW float base at the time. Reports indicate the plane clipped a power line, crashing between two buildings. There were 9 people on board. Pilots Trevor Jonasson, 36, and co-pilot Nicole Stacey, 26, died in the crash. Six survivors were taken to hospital in Yellowknife. Another was transferred to hospital in Edmonton.
The plane was a 1973 deHavilland DHC-6-300 Twin Otter C-GARW, registered to Arctic Sunwest.
The Iqaluit International Airshow is back this year, and promises to be a fun afternoon for local aviation fans. It takes place on Saturday, August 13, 2011 at the north apron of the Iqaluit airport (CYFB), from 10am to 3pm.
The show provides a chance for people in Iqaluit to see up close a number of working aircraft that currently call Iqaluit home.
Air Canada Jazz announced recently that it is discontinuing service on its Montreal-Ottawa-Iqaluit route. The cancellation takes effect August 1, 2011.
Iqaluit is currently served by two northern airlines on the Montreal-Ottawa-Iqaluit route. First Air and Canadian North are both Inuit-owned airlines, who also serve most Nunavut communities. For more information on these and other carriers, visit our Airlines, Charters and FBOs pages.
Europe seems be the theme for June 2011. One of the more usual planes to drop by Iqaluit in awhile made an appearance on June 12, 2011. Couldn't help but notice the bright red Polish-built EADS 'Warszawa - Okecie' S.A. PZL-104MA Wilga 2000 on approach to runway 34.
And we recently learned the story of a transatlantic trip made from Europe through Frobisher Bay back in 1968. In a motorglider with a 36 hp Volkswagen engine no less. Check out our story and links on Mira Slovak in our Trip Reports and Visits section. He's certainly had some exceptional flying adventures.
According to this Reuters news article, the original plan included a support plane landing at the pole on skis to scout out a smooth ice surface for Cairns to put down his Baron. Plans changed when the support plane wasn't able to make the trip. Cairns headed for the Russian ice research station Barneo instead. The Barneo ice station blog site has photos and video of Cairns' arrival there. There are also some great videos of other planes landing there.
Kivalliq Air (also known as Keewatin Air) has opened a new hangar at the Iqaluit, Nunavut airport CYFB on April 7, 2011. Kivalliq Air provides scheduled air service and air ambulance in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut, out of Rankin Inlet and Winnipeg. And with their new facility in Iqaluit, they're moving into the air ambulance/medivac business in the Baffin Region.