Winter Time is here!

Well the days are getting shorter and it seems to snow here every day, at least for a little bit - even if it doesn't stick to the ground! It's been just over a week without internet, and I was able to plow through a serious amount of books in my off time, as there really hasn't been a whole lot going on, outside of work!

The first picture is from a few days ago is of the snow plow cruising down the runway, plowing the light trace of snow before one of our afternoon scheduled flights from Edmonton landed. Now the snow hasn't been sticking around; it disappears with the sun (regardless if the temperature is always 10 below) but they make sure the runways are as bare and dry as possible. It provides a surface for the aircrafts to be able to stick to and actually slow down before the end of the runway!

Today I unloaded and reloaded an unusual passenger (pictured below).

With a face only an owner could love 'Dreamer' was shipped down to Calgary from Yellowknife last week for an eye transplant! It boggles my mind what some people will do for their animals! I could only imagine that vet bill and what my dad would say about that one! Anyways, we took extra good care of her on her 'layover' between the Yellowknife and Edmonton flights. She was pretty quite, which was a big surprise for me, as I've seen what my cat is like when you TRY and get him into a car, not to mention a kennel.



On the subject of cats, I'm pleased to introduce Smokey, the hanger cat. Smokey showed up about 6 or 7 years ago, and made the hanger catwalks as his permanent home ever since. There's an abundance of mice running around and one of the ladies upstairs feeds him canned salmon on a daily basis (even I don't get that!!). This cat makes the most ear piercing screeches as his 'meow' but is probably one of the friendliest cats I have come to meet. He will do anything for a good belly rub!



I have recently purchased my first truck to get me to and from work, and finally got it running at the beginning of this week (go figure it would stop working the day after I pay for it!) What can you expect for $500?! This vintage '86 Mazda truck (complete with the polar bear licence plate) drinks gas like its juice, but makes the commute oh so enjoyable! Pictures of the truck and many more stories to follow this weekend!

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful.... Let it Snow!

Well Friday the 15th held the first day of snow up in Fort Smith, NWT (Yes - Middle of October!) and I feel it may be here to stay!

Luckily, I was able to snag a ride with my roommate to work, as we worked the afternoon shift (11-8) together. Not forcing me to ride the bike in the snow! Good thing, because the wind picked up in the afternoon and was blowing 30, gusting 40 kts! (up to 75km/ hr).

My roommate and I loaded up the Otter, with the help of the Pilot, Bryan and sent it off on its last trip up North. It was going to a Lodge on one of the smaller rivers, with 6 guys and 6 months worth of food, who will stay there fishing and hunting until mid-march. It was the one of the last flights for the Otter on Floats, as this is now entering the period where there could be small amounts of ice building up on the lakes, not enough to support Skis, but could damage the floats if it were to try and land on it. The otter will have to wait until about Mid-December for the lakes and rivers to freeze enough to support the weight of the aircraft (approximately 6 inches of ice is necessary for that).
Fort Smith doesn't get that much snow, after a while, it gets too cold for there to be any moisture in the arctic prairie air. (Guess that's a good thing for sunny days!!)

The day was pretty hectic with things coming up here, and there; not busy, busy but just enough to keep you moving the entire time.

All the black spots you see is the paint peeling, not a bad cleaning job!

After we swept and mopped the hanger, we were thinking it would be a slower Friday night, were we could just get everything done and get out of there. Unfortunately it was the opposite! Because of the snow and the cold more of the winter operations were in effect. It entailed opening the hanger doors, bringing in the airplanes to be kept outside (one at a time) closing the hanger door to keep the warmth in, putting engine covers, wing covers and tail covers on, opening the hanger doors parking it and bringing in the next one to do all over again. Definitely a team effort and I'm glad I wasn't working alone - sure would have taken all night!

Just as we were bringing in the last 3 airplanes to clean and leave inside the hanger for the weekend, the Operations manager told us we needed to tie down all the light singles so they don't blow away in the windstorm! SO... back out into the blowing snow! Boy was it ever cold! The shot below is the one picture I thought I would take picking up the big 45 Gallon Oil Drums with the forklift to keep the aircrafts from blowing away. At that point, I was more interested in getting back inside than anything else at all!

Blowing Snow on a cold fall night (feels like winter!)

Palettes with 45G Oil Drums to tie down the aircraft wings

With this weather, I think I will be wearing my winter coveralls, all the time now - I am told they will keep me toasty up to -60 C. Hopefully its true, because I'm the only one in town already walking around in a parka!

Happy... Late... Thanksgiving!!

Sunset Thanksgiving Sunday (October 10, 2010)

Well, it's been a week since my last post and I apologize to my avid followers (never thought that would happen!) about not posting sooner, and a little more frequent. I have switched to the morning shift at work, so I am up by 4:30 every morning to make it to work by 6 by bike!

For all of you who emailed about the infamous trapper, who I went on a medevac to get: He's known as 'Pi' around these parts, he is 84 years old and has spent every winter except 1 in the bush for the last 76 years!! The poor guy had a stroke within the 3 days he was up there, and once back in Fort Smith, had another one the following day, so he was taken on another medevac flight to a hospital in Edmonton, AB. The last mention was that he had no feeling below the waist, so I am just wishing him well! Here is a link to the article which was in our local news paper the 'Slave River Journal' (http://srj.ca/index75.htm)

Pi being loaded into the Otter with the dogs on the trip out

His dogs were returned, and unfortunately I was dealing with scheduled flights inbound at the time, or else I would have plenty of pictures of his 12 dogs being unloaded (they returned safe and sound!)

This weekend was quite a fun one, I was able to go on quite the hike down by the Slave River around 'The Rapids of the Drowned' which is 1 of 4 sets of rapids around the town of Forth Smith, which connects Lake Athabasca to the Arctic Ocean. The 4 sets of rapids were impassible by the early settlers which is why Fort Smith was established; essentially a portage point to cross, then an outpost (of the Hudson's Bay Company). It was previously the capital of the Northwest Territories up until the 1960s and I have been told by several it is the most scenic and picturesque town in the north, all the trees here are originals and can date back 1000 years, as most of the other towns have very few trees, and if they do, they are more recent growth.

It's quite amazing to see how rapidly the trees have changed from a glowing yellow from the Birch trees to more green from the lasting ever greens.

In the next few weeks to come, I will be trying my best to make it out to hike the other sets of rapids and the caves, which I am told are quite amazing to see!

They may not look like much, but when you get up close there is
quite a large drop in the two levels of water

My Roommates girlfriend was up visiting from Abbotsford, BC this weekend for Thanksgiving, we carried some of the Thanksgiving traditions from the South up here and had our own dinner. It was quite a last minute thing, and unfortunately wasn't able to get a turkey to thaw in time. (Who knew the stores only carried frozen solid birds!!) Well, being the problem solving pilots we are, we figured we could get away with 4 large chickens instead (pictures below) and just hope nobody asked why there were 8 small legs from 1 turkey!

Roomate Tom and his girlfriend Kalina

We had one of the Aircraft Mechanics from Kenya named Sunny (fitting, no?) and Adam from Calgary who works in Operations over for a great dinner (... if I do say so, myself!)

Myself, Kalina, Sunny, Adam & Tom

This week I have been working mornings which has had me up well before the crack of dawn (and putting me to bed well before dusk!!) I much prefer the bike ride in the morning as opposed to the evening: The northern lights and millions of stars light up my path on my bike ride to work, which is quite nice! I haven't been able to get any pictures of the lights yet, they are still fairly faint. I'm told that as winter nears, they will become stronger and more vibrant, and more easily seen by my dinky camera.

Being at work a few hours before the sun actually rises has a few advantages (only a few!) The day goes by a lot quicker; most of the scheduled flights depart fairly early in the morning, meaning that the Jetstreams must be cleaned, taken out of the hanger and fueled, then brought down to the Terminal to be loaded and send off. By the time the last one is send off, there is time to take a quick break before the first one gets back from Yellowknife. With all the sending and greeting of aircrafts; there is plenty time spent outside, which has the most magnificent skies; whether its dawn, throughout the day or dusk. The sky turns almost every colour imaginable: Even in the middle of the day, the blue of the sky is so crisp as there is no pollution up here. (This is by far my favourite thing about being up here)

Early morning departure to Hay River, NWT

One downside to spending most of the day outside is that the temperature is starting to drop like a rock, it was about 15*C before the weekend, and has been hovering just around the freezing level. Below are a few photographs of a few frosty wings, which I had to brush off to send some early morning charters off.
Once all the scheduled Jetstream flights have been launched, we spend a few hours cleaning and preparing the single engine aircraft for various charters which they may have. Yesterday we had a funeral in a small town called Camsell Portage in Northern Saskatchewan, so the casket was sent off in the Otter, while the Cessna 206 and 210 were jam packed with a pastor and a group of ladies.

Camsell Portage, SK. Approximately an hour flight in the Cessna To drive there from Fort Smith I am told you have to drive down southwest to
Edmonton, east, then north. Seems a flying is a better option!

Today was welcomed with rain, snow flakes, then more rain (... but SNOW!!! Already!!) It didn't stick to the ground, so I won't count it as our first snow fall! Until Next time...

Hump Day

Wednesdays are slow days for Northwestern. There is usually not much going on at the airport apart from two scheduled flights up to the Diamond Mines for crew changes. The greater part of our Jetstream fleet was on the ground, so the Mechanics were busy working away at many of minor snags or issues the various airplanes had. I spent my Wednesday cleaning. I was able to sweep the hanger from end to end before it became full of high-powered aluminum, then spent the rest of the day giving the aircrafts baths, both inside and out.

After speaking to Heather on the phone during my 'lunch break' as they call it (It happens around 5pm and seems more like 'dinner' to me), I came across a pretty magnificent sunset, so I thought I would fire a few pictures from this evening

Best,

A

Up Hill... both ways!

Well, trudging my way through week two, up here in Fort Smith! The weather is getting colder in the mornings, the grass is completely frozen, right up until about lunch time.

Last week, I was able to catch a ride with one of my roommates who is a mechanic at Northwestern, however this week and for the next couple of weeks, I'm working 11 - 8, which means I take his bike to work instead! It's pretty cheap transportation for the moment (free!) but I'm not sure how long it will be able to last! The ride from door to door is 12 minutes at balls to the wall pace. The funny thing about biking here, is anytime I ride, I'm always riding into the wind. Monday night, I rode home with the winds blowing from the east (the town is east of the airport), and this morning the winds had changed around and were coming from the west. Surely enough, as I left the airport after my shift tonight, the airplanes were landing towards the east (airplanes try to land into the wind as much as possible), so lets see what tomorrow morning brings!

The one downside to the bicycle is the ride home at night: A section of the road from the airport into town passes through WoodBuffalo National Park, where there are no lights, no road side markers or anything. Just ditches, two walls of trees and the pitch black northern sky! There is a construction company in town, paving all the roads, so they have not yet paved lines or markers defining the sides of the road, but hopefully they get to that soon! (Apparently they only come up once every 8 - 10 years) In that darkness, I can barely see my front tire! So even if there was a bear in front of me or little forest gremlins of the North chasing me, I wouldn't be able to tell! We will see how many afternoon shifts I have to work before I cave in and start looking for a cheap car!

At most places you work at, no two days will ever be the same. This is especially the case for the airlines! Today I was asked to go help out to load a medevac (air ambulance) flight from a lake about an hour North of Fort Smith (out in the real bush!). To give you a little pre-lude to this: This past Saturday, our company took up an 83 year old gentleman and his 12 dogs up to his camp for the winter. He has been going up for several decades, and is dropped off with supplies, food and his dogs and spends the winter in the true wilderness trapping animals, and has a pre-arranged flight to return in the spring when the lakes thaw and Float planes are able to get back to his lake. He lives in pure isloation, alone with his dogs and I was told he was one of the few 'true' trappers still left in Canada. He doesn't bring anything like TV's or computers or even a phone. Just the himself and the wilderness. I didn't spend much time thinking about it as I wasn't working on the Saturday to see him off, I only briefly pictured a man all bundled up mushing huskies on a dog sled; I didn't think too much about his camp. However, today sure opened up my eyes!

Anyways, our company got a call from his brother, saying that they needed an airplane ASAP to go pick him up as he got word that the trapper was in some trouble up there (he had a vhf radio), and he needed an air ambulance. Luckily, I had my camera on me so I could quickly snap a few pictures! Chances are I won't get to see this again ever! The pilot, myself and the trappers brother went up to the camp (the brother was going up there to look after the dogs while the trapper was coming back to the hospital).

As we arrived at the camp, it really put things into perspective on how he was living. (take into consideration that the first picture of the house is zoomed in. In reality, the door frame came up to my shoulders and I had to bend down while inside. It couldn't have been bigger than 10 x 8ft inside and had a small bed, a chair a wood fireplace and two of his bags. There was no stove or oven or sink even, just somewhere to sleep! (I now know that I can't complain about being cold inside an insulated and heated house!!)

The second picture is of his dogs who were howling away, while locked up in their pen. On the way back the Trapper said if he wasn't able to go back up (which he most likely will not) They will either have to be let go, or shot.

The Gentleman was not able to walk, in the 4 days that he had been up there, something pretty serious had obviously gone wrong if he was calling for help as he usually spends the majority of the year out there. He wasn't able to walk so the pilot and I had him sit in a chair, which we carried down to place in the a/c to get him back to Ft Smith as quickly as possible. On our way down to the water, I saw he had a large pot of water with a bar of soap in it.... right... the sink!

On the way back, I sat in the back and was able to take a few pictures of the true untouched Northwest Territories

First week down.... and I'm Still Alive!

Well, its actually pretty hard to comprehend that my first week working at Northwestern is over, and that today is my 7th day being here already: It sure doesn't feel that way. Its Saturday today, which is one of my two days off this week and its a perfect fall day (which I thought they didn't have up here) 16 degrees and sunny - So this afternoon I will be out adventuring, checking out the trail and the river and the 'other half of town'.

This week was a great experience, constantly learning about how this airline and many other airline operations function. The majority of the week was spent finishing up necessary introductory company exams, like Dangerous Goods training and the different functions of a 'Rampie' and the daily and weekly checks which we must complete.

I can now tell you what all of these mean in detail!

Dangerous goods training is a big part of our operations here at Northwestern, as we deal with a lot of Cargo from Edmonton to the North. The Dangerous Goods Training allows us to fully understand what is being shipped in the boxes, how it must be packaged and labeled and how it can be shipped. Depending on what type of product it is, there are different specifications on the ways it can be shipped, We have to know if it can be placed on a scheduled passenger flight as Cargo, or if it has to be on a full cargo load only. For example if there is bio hazardous materials coming from a laboratory, it would have to be shipped on a Freight flight, for the odd chance that the packaging is broken and the materials are released in the aircraft, infecting the passengers.

In the Yukon and the Territories, there is a lot more leeway for residents to send whatever they want, as we fly to many remote locations where aircrafts are the only mode of transportation. My second day, I loaded the Otter on floats to its Maximum takeoff Weight full of jerry cans full of Mogas, propane tanks and non-perishable food, along with the pilot and one passenger. If you were trying to to send those same goods on Air Canada or WestJet from Toronto to Halifax, that would never fly!! It could be a bomb waiting to explode with the amount of fuel loaded. However, this one gentleman was going up to his fishing lodge until Christmas, and needed supplies to get him through and this is the only means possible.


The ramp staff were also trained on how to use some heavy machinery (not the kind that flies) but the fork lifts, (used moving fuel barrels and loading aircraft the float planes, which sit about 7 or 8 feet off the ground!) and our Jeeps, allowed me to drive on the air-side, and tow the Jetstreams to and from the Terminal and in and out of the Hangers.

Although the act of towing, is quite easy. It becomes a little more difficult when the tow bar has two pivot points instead of a regular camper or car trailer with just one. A 12 foot Iron Pipe Is attached to the nose gear of the aircraft, which pivots the aircraft's nose-wheel and on a ring on the front of the car, which allows the car to pivot as well.

Towing takes a lot more care and precision when towing, parking them in between the fleet of aircraft, sitting side-by-side and especially when bringing it inside and outside of the hanger as they it was built specifically to hold three Jetstreams, with only a few feet spare on each side! Any slight deviations and it could be thousands of dollars worth of damage! I haven't made enough yet to be able to fix one yet!

Speaking of the hanger... one of the weekly duties are to keep it in some type of orderly fashion, sweeping it regularly and mopping it! (I must admit, it was quite hard for me to keep my camera on me to take pictures this week; however, there will be many more photos to come very shortly!) When I was told that was one of the jobs, I didn't think much of it...... two days later, I had it all finished! It took myself and the Ramp Lead, Alex, two hours to sweep the entire thing, and then about a full day, mopping it with and without help from the other rampies. It wasn't so easy as it hadn't been done regularly, so it had to be scrubbed pretty vigorously with frequent mop bucket changes to get all the oil and grime off the floors. One of the other rampies was complaining about how it was such a crappy task, but personally I didn't mind it, as it meant I had some time from out of the cold doing something I could do at my own pace! I think I have a weekly chore cut out for me now!

Wednesday happened to be a bit of a special day, apart from there being only two scheduled flights to the Diamond mines for crew changes in northern (redundant?) Northwest Territories, we also had a special visitor, which was a Canadian North 737 that came in for an out of the ordinary fuel stop, enroute to Edmonton.

737 on the rollout after landing on RWY 29 at CYSM

Wednesday also brought about a winter operations course for all ground staff on the different procedures for de-icing aircraft, which I'm told will start very soon (yes, its getting cold!!!). The purpose of deicing the aircrafts right before flight is to ensure the wings and critical surfaces are clean, and free of snow and ice, which can alter the shape of the wing, and significantly increasing the weight, reducing lift and altering the design characteristics of the aircraft.

Ice Buildup on the leading edge of the wing

I will get into more detail about this, once the winter operations are fully in effect. For now, here are some pictures of me in the process of learning how to control the 'Kangaroo' and de-ice our Jetstreams.

That silver tank holds the Orange De-Ice fluid, kept at 165 F

On Friday, as I was finishing up my duties for the day. I got a call on the radio asking for some assistance to unload the Single Otter on floats as it had just come back from a Northern lake with several people and their cargo on board. As I was unloading all these strange cardboard boxes, I couldn't figure out what would rock in a box the way it was, however be so heavy at the same time. After getting a chance to peer through the opening of one of the boxes not properly shut, I was taken back to see animal fur! We unloaded a few thousand pounds of small game, like Beavers, Whitetail Dear, Caribou, fish and Black Bears! (I REALLY wish I had my camera this week to take a picture)

As I waited by our baggage cart while the passengers unloaded their boxes into their cars, one guy jokingly asked if I needed some black bear (bears, beets, battle star galactica). I overheard them talking about going to Kaesers, the local grocery store to cash some checks! If I go to the grocery store today and find a special on fresh Black Bear or Beaver, I will know exactly where it came from!

Anyways, I received my Northwestern 'jumpsuit', which is funny enough, made me feel a lot more like part of the team, but ALSO has many pockets for the many things I may need to hold on me. Allowing me to keep my camera on me a lot more for some up-close and behind the scenes footage! Off to do some exploring!