Toughest Place In Canada To Fly?
- Thread starter Riptide
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407 driver,
Still got that piece of garbage with a lot more dents in it. You just gave it a taste of things to come. I'm not sure it was with you or not but we were flying with a mountie to a climbing accident in the Rogers. The pilot had to land and off load the mountie and myself to longline the patient down to us. I said to the pilot "your not leaving me in an alpine meadow with this mountie" the pilot asked why. I said that one smell of the bacon and we would have grizzly all over us. That was a quiet wait. Good to hear from you, hope all is well.
Still got that piece of garbage with a lot more dents in it. You just gave it a taste of things to come. I'm not sure it was with you or not but we were flying with a mountie to a climbing accident in the Rogers. The pilot had to land and off load the mountie and myself to longline the patient down to us. I said to the pilot "your not leaving me in an alpine meadow with this mountie" the pilot asked why. I said that one smell of the bacon and we would have grizzly all over us. That was a quiet wait. Good to hear from you, hope all is well.
Vortex Ring
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Continental shelf off the East Coast? It's either that or the Tutor flight simulator when I was a cone back in 82'.
southoftheborder
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CTD I couldn't agree with you more. The high artic in the winter is not a nice place to make a living. They call it a VFR job but the minute you are in the air it's on the dials all the way to the site and then arcal for a landing site watching the rad alt and the gps. If you ever had to set the a/c down and you did get it right side up, (its pretty well dark all the time up there in the winter) the nearest SAR comes from Trenton. I'd think the polar bears would have us for dinner or I's freeze to death waiting for help. I found there were just to few options flying in the winter up there. One other great place was the Pine Vally pass just south and west of Chetwynd. You think the wind blows hard down south in the Rockies, some days mother nature can save you and some days she will kill you. After twelve years of flying in that wonderful country I've headed south to ply my trade in the GOM. (Gulf of Mexico) where I sure don't miss shoveling snow and plugging in my truck, or trying to break a fuel drum free from the frozen ground,etc ect,etc.
Fly safe my fellow brothers
SOB B)
Fly safe my fellow brothers
SOB B)
Charles W.
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Ahhh yes the Arctic in winter.
It was even more fun in the sixties and seventies before we had modern aids such as GPS and Radar alt's and turbine engines.
But the polar bears were the same.
So were the school teachers and nurses.
Chuck. ( A.K.A. Reverend Chas W. )
It was even more fun in the sixties and seventies before we had modern aids such as GPS and Radar alt's and turbine engines.
But the polar bears were the same.
So were the school teachers and nurses.
Chuck. ( A.K.A. Reverend Chas W. )
407 Driver
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BandAid, that was Dunc from Revelstoke that left you in Bear country. I remember the rescue well. With your money, I thought that you'd have upgraded to something new and foreign, like a BMW or ???
As far as difficult places to fly, it certainly isn't here. The central Rockies and interior ranges are generally straight forward, other than some snow. The winds are not extreme, unless you get up high, the weather is somewhat predictable, there's roads in most valleys, communications are good.
My time in the northern Rockies (Chet-WIND) was far worse than here. I'd have to agree with a prior poster though, the central and north coasts must be some of the worst areas in the country to operate.
CTD, We're dealing on a certain "specialty" job for a large Federal Department in the Torngats, perhaps in the spring??? I may need to borrow something in a Bell, perhaps size L3 ?
As far as difficult places to fly, it certainly isn't here. The central Rockies and interior ranges are generally straight forward, other than some snow. The winds are not extreme, unless you get up high, the weather is somewhat predictable, there's roads in most valleys, communications are good.
My time in the northern Rockies (Chet-WIND) was far worse than here. I'd have to agree with a prior poster though, the central and north coasts must be some of the worst areas in the country to operate.
CTD, We're dealing on a certain "specialty" job for a large Federal Department in the Torngats, perhaps in the spring??? I may need to borrow something in a Bell, perhaps size L3 ?
South-of-the-border: Yes, the winter was no fun up there. Spent most of the time sitting around trying to find an excuse NOT to go flying.
As Chas said, there were some bright spots in the north, though.... B)
Mr. 407 Driver, Sir. Let me be perfectly clear, and I'm only going to say this once, so pay attention - if you ever get the chance to work in the Torngats, take it. Fight for it, even.
Spend some time in Nain, and get to know the good folk there.
Visit the ancient rock cairn burial sites, the old Nazi weather station on Home Island, land on some of the oldest rock on the planet at Saglek (thought to be the oldest until the mid-nineties).
Wander around Hebron, the Moravian missionary post that was pre-fabricated out of wood from the Black Forest in Germany, shipped to Labrador, and erected in 1833 - miles and miles above tree-line. Very humbling.
Check out Okak and Nutak - two villages that were wiped out by the Spanish flu, as was Hebron, in 1918.
This place is not only stunningly beautiful, but it is steeped in a history that we never hear about.
As Chas said, there were some bright spots in the north, though.... B)
Mr. 407 Driver, Sir. Let me be perfectly clear, and I'm only going to say this once, so pay attention - if you ever get the chance to work in the Torngats, take it. Fight for it, even.
Spend some time in Nain, and get to know the good folk there.
Visit the ancient rock cairn burial sites, the old Nazi weather station on Home Island, land on some of the oldest rock on the planet at Saglek (thought to be the oldest until the mid-nineties).
Wander around Hebron, the Moravian missionary post that was pre-fabricated out of wood from the Black Forest in Germany, shipped to Labrador, and erected in 1833 - miles and miles above tree-line. Very humbling.
Check out Okak and Nutak - two villages that were wiped out by the Spanish flu, as was Hebron, in 1918.
This place is not only stunningly beautiful, but it is steeped in a history that we never hear about.
donnybrook
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Does sitting behind a desk, located in Canada, count towards this topic? It's pretty hard to make it fly...
By the way, in case you didn't know, the word "Nain" is French for "dwarf". One of the few words I remember from my gov't sponsored language course! Way too much time on my hands...
By the way, in case you didn't know, the word "Nain" is French for "dwarf". One of the few words I remember from my gov't sponsored language course! Way too much time on my hands...
A beautiful sunshining day in Prince Rupert (one of the 5 in 4 1/2 years) We were flying back from the Queen Charlotte Island. I was seat belted into my seat (such as it was, with the old static strap seat belt that were the rage when the Goose was built.) My patient is on a portable stretcher and was tied down to a row of folded seats by the pilot who is used to tying in cargo for the Wet Coast. We were coming up the final inlet before Rupert, came out of the inlet and started banking right for the turn into the harbour. The next thing I know I am on the floor and the patient is suspended between the row of seats. I struggled to get the patient uprighted again and we landed a couple of minutes later. I got out and kissed the ground like the pope. The winds up there were incredible.
May not be the toughest place, but at the airport in Torbay they have a twenty foot lenght of schooner chain mounted on a pole. When the chain is standing straight out, the locals allow "tis a fair breeze off th' tickle, my son." 😀
Hey Bohica, good one...
remember off loading my tool box at the strip in Makovic one wintery,blustery day, it was so stormy the Otter was blowing backward,we managed to get her tied up and the locks on, went to leave the next morning, the pilot said the stick felt odd, "the yoke was bent almost 45 degrees"... 😱
almost as bad as off loadin one doz beer to see if she can get on the step dis time..
remember off loading my tool box at the strip in Makovic one wintery,blustery day, it was so stormy the Otter was blowing backward,we managed to get her tied up and the locks on, went to leave the next morning, the pilot said the stick felt odd, "the yoke was bent almost 45 degrees"... 😱
almost as bad as off loadin one doz beer to see if she can get on the step dis time..
Yeah, does get a little windy up there, don't it. I remember one night in Blanc Sablon, we'd tied the Otter down with a couple of drums on each wing and set the parking brakes. The next morning we found it had blown down off the strip into that low spruce off to the south side of the airport, drums and all.
Remember a couple of trips into YT. One night landing on 29, half a mile in blowing snow and the wind at 50 gusting to 67. Some kinda ride. Another day landing on 16 we were indicating 140 kt at 3000 ft and had a ground speed of 58 kt. The 767 ahead of us was calling moderate to severe from 3000 to the surface. That boy knew what he was talking about. 😱
I always had the greatest respect for the guys from Yippie Yi Ay who did that day in and day out.
Remember a couple of trips into YT. One night landing on 29, half a mile in blowing snow and the wind at 50 gusting to 67. Some kinda ride. Another day landing on 16 we were indicating 140 kt at 3000 ft and had a ground speed of 58 kt. The 767 ahead of us was calling moderate to severe from 3000 to the surface. That boy knew what he was talking about. 😱
I always had the greatest respect for the guys from Yippie Yi Ay who did that day in and day out.
Well, I will throw my 2 cents worth into the frey:
I spent 4 years flying wheel/skiis in the straits, 2 years out of Sandy Cove and the other 2 out out of Lance au Clair, or Forteau Long Pond I think it was called at the time, I don't know if it is stilled called the same.
We had a number of interesting times, once at Forteau we had tied the A/c down for the night, with the forcasted NW winds overnight, but a big storm came in overnight, with hurricane winds from the east. No warning, so all of the A/c were parked towards the West, we didn't have any kind of proper control locks then, just using a rope and the control column for the tie downs. so when we got to the a/c the next morning one a/c was ok, the other one,mine, was in pretty sad shape, the ailerons were totally beat off of it. From the buffeting of the winds, they had been totally rippped right off.
That was pretty all interesting, but the amazing thing was how the dedicated people, like Mr Letto, (Ron Letto's father ,Idon't remember his first name), one of the locals there who worked for the highways dept, these guys worked 24 hours a day, and literally 36 hours at a time, working to keep the roads clear there.
I have pics of the 40 foot snowbanks that these guys were trying to plow/blow through.
More to come.
Cheers
I spent 4 years flying wheel/skiis in the straits, 2 years out of Sandy Cove and the other 2 out out of Lance au Clair, or Forteau Long Pond I think it was called at the time, I don't know if it is stilled called the same.
We had a number of interesting times, once at Forteau we had tied the A/c down for the night, with the forcasted NW winds overnight, but a big storm came in overnight, with hurricane winds from the east. No warning, so all of the A/c were parked towards the West, we didn't have any kind of proper control locks then, just using a rope and the control column for the tie downs. so when we got to the a/c the next morning one a/c was ok, the other one,mine, was in pretty sad shape, the ailerons were totally beat off of it. From the buffeting of the winds, they had been totally rippped right off.
That was pretty all interesting, but the amazing thing was how the dedicated people, like Mr Letto, (Ron Letto's father ,Idon't remember his first name), one of the locals there who worked for the highways dept, these guys worked 24 hours a day, and literally 36 hours at a time, working to keep the roads clear there.
I have pics of the 40 foot snowbanks that these guys were trying to plow/blow through.
More to come.
Cheers
A couple of choice places I was into on a regular basis was Harbour Deep, that was always fun for us float or ski drivers. Anyone who has been there can tell you that.
Then there was all of the good places on the coast, Chorlottetown, Port Hope, Mary's hbr, Cartwright( spent 4 days for wx there once), Rigolet, Hopedale, Davis Inlet????????????????? Nain.
Cheers
Then there was all of the good places on the coast, Chorlottetown, Port Hope, Mary's hbr, Cartwright( spent 4 days for wx there once), Rigolet, Hopedale, Davis Inlet????????????????? Nain.
Cheers
