201er's Canada Expedition

[201er]

Mike, what is your plan from Churchill?

Looks like your direct path to New York will bring you around here.

Yves

Whers here? Planning a fuel stop in Timmins Monday

[triple8s]

My little woman is from up that way, you'll probably be going close by there. CYYU, nice airport but very little activity there.

[fantom]

Where's the picture of your copilot? a-

.....or a picture of your lower half, although your pants are probably too frozen to pick up dirt or aroma I hope you adventures wind up in a book.

[yvesg]

Whers here? Planning a fuel stop in Timmins Monday

I am based in Gatineau QC, CYND. Check this picture. Probably a bit too far east of your planned route.

After Timmins, where is your next stop?

Yves

[201er]

I am based in Gatineau QC, CYND. Check this picture. Probably a bit too far east of your planned route.

After Timmins, where is your next stop?

Yves

KROC for customs then Linden direct.

[201er]

Beluga Whales and their babies in Churchill

 

 

 

 

[yvesg]

KROC for customs then Linden direct.

All right Mike. Good luck with the rest of your trip. Hope you enjoyed Canada.

Yves

[BorealOne]

and next time, stay longer!  Someone might buy you a beer, eh!

[carusoam]

Montreal is a nice place to visit...

Get reacquainted with a crowd of people...

Thinking out loud,

-eh-

[Marauder]

KROC for customs then Linden direct.

I got a friend who work Customs in Rochester. I'll give him a call and make sure your stinky pants are confiscated as a potential terrorist threat

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[201er]

 

 

[BorealOne]

Bears say "Hey, that's the guy with the parrots, eh?"

[Marauder]

Now this picture looks like the bear is saying "Keep those stinky pants away from me!"

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[201er]

Video part 1 of flying aboot Canada. Video features coming into Winnipeg, Saskatoon, and Yellow Knife. Visibility in Saskatoon was probably about 4 miles but I couldn't locate the airport so they threw me on the NDB approach. At Yellow Knife, the visibility was below 2 miles and required a precision approach!

 

[bnicolette]

Great job Mike.  Awesome that you and your dad can get out and do that together.  Glad you're back safe!

[Marauder]

Nice Mike!

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[carusoam]

The runway was so big...

I thought you were driving across Canada!

Thank you for sharing the videos.

Best regards,

-a-

[201er]

Video Part 2, Flying the Canadian Arctic. The adventure continues north from Yellow Knife, way north, north of the Arctic Circle to Cambridge Bay. Cambridge Bay involved my first landing on a gravel strip, first flight in Canadian Northern Airspace, and was the first time I had to pump gas from a barrel. After a long wait, they just dropped the barrel off and said see ya!

 

The next day we had planned to fly to Baker Lake on route to Churchill but low ceilings and gusty crosswinds I opted to cancel the Baker Lake landing. However, as we were enroute, conditions all seemed better than expected. I decided to divert over to Baker Lake and give it a shot but only if it were doable. Well with a solid overcast and a steady crosswind, I made it into the shorter gravel strip no problem. I had to crab so hard that my dad wasn't getting the shot facing the camera forward. I had to turn his hand and point it out the side so you could see ahead. The strange thing for me was flying an insturment approach entirely alone. Nobody telling me which approach to use or which fix to start from, heck nobody there to clear me for the approach! To feel more confident I told myself, "N4361H, 5 miles from xyz, maintain 2,000 until established, clear for the GPS 34 Approach."

 

This time the airport had an electric gas pump. You'd expect no less for over $800 for 55 gallon barrel!? We continued to Churchill which required a full ILS into the uncontrolled field between 2 scheduled carrier flights. In Churchill we saw Beluga Whales, Polar Bears, and lots more wildlife.

 

Finally the trip back was pretty tough. We went from Churchill to Rochester with a fuel stop in Timmins. I could have made Churchill to Rochester but there was no avgas in Churchill and Baker Lake was my last fueling! Starting Rochester we had a lot of thunderstorm activity to deal with and essentially the way into NY area was entirely blotted out by 2 continuous lines of TStorms. So instead I opted to creap up to Scranton, get dinner, and try again later. It wasn't until midnight that things moved out enough that I could make the attempt. We flew to Linden and I shot the GPS-A approach but couldn't find the airport (it's a crazy approach where it dumps you 2 miles to the side of the airport, not at all a straight in). Went missed and did it again but to no avail. I'm almost certain the lights weren't working! Had to divert and fly the ILS into Morristown. Long night. Just got my bird back yesterday. Here's the video of arctic flying for you!

 

 

[BorealOne]

Awesome trip report, and hopefully this will inspire some other Mooniacs to venture into our Great White North! 

 

(And now you see why I like my 120 gallon extended range tanks...we have some long legs up here, and the weather ain't always easy)

[Marauder]

So that explains the crazy FlightAware I saw! Glad you made it back okay.

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[Marauder]

And as for that $800 fuel bill. Brett probably feels the same everytime he pulls up to the pump. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[bnicolette]

And as for that $800 fuel bill. Brett probably feels the same everytime he pulls up to the pump. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Chris, I make it a point to never look at the fuel totals.........just like all the other aviation bills.  

 

Mike great video and great job navigating/flying that territory.

[Marauder]

You got a video for your last two legs? Would love to see the weather you were dealing with. BTW -- all the years I lived in WNY I don't think I ever landed on RWY 7 at KROC.

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[carusoam]

A+

-a-

[201er]

You got a video for your last two legs? Would love to see the weather you were dealing with. BTW -- all the years I lived in WNY I don't think I ever landed on RWY 7 at KROC.Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Sorry, no video past returning to US. It was aboot going to Canada. Plus the tough spproaches were at night.