The Nunasiavut Government in northern Labrador has purchased a 51% stake in the regional airline Air Labrador.  The announcement was made at the Northern Lights trade show and conference in Ottawa on February 3, 2012.  Air Labrador serves the coastal communities of Labrador, and some communities on the Lower North Shore of Quebec. Air Labrador operates Twin Otter, Cessna Caravan and Beech 1900D aircraft.

CBC Television has a new dramatic series called Arctic Air. It tells the story of a fictional northern airline, based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.  The series stars Adam Beach, Kevin McNulty, and Pascale Hutton.  The website features on-demand full episodes, and more.   The series also features a major tourism sponsorship by the Northwest Territories.

The Canadian Transportation Safety Board has released a progress report (Jan 5/12) on their investigation into the crash of a First Air Boeing 737-200 C-GNWN at Resolute Bay, Nunavut on August 20, 2011. CBC News story here.

The plane  crashed on approach to the Resolute Bay airport. The report indicates that so far, the TSB thinks the crash was controlled flight into terrain.  They say the crew were just initiating a go-around when the impact occured.

Fifiteen people were aboard, including a crew of 4.   Twelve died in the crash, including all 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.

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.   Aziz is well-known to northern travellers.  Our deepest sympathies go out to him and his family and staff in Resolute, and to the families of all of the crash victims, including the First Air crew.

Crash survivor Michelle Willamson told her story of what happened that day to CBC's The National. Video and transcript here.

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.

The original CBC News story from August 20th is here.

Some photos, IFR approach plate and other information regarding conditions (METAR CYRB) at the time are available in the Aviation Herald article here.

More information was posted at cbc.ca/north on August 22/11. And again on August 23/11

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is investigating the crash. Details here.

There is also an extensive pilots discussion thread available at AvCanada, including IFR approach chart information.

Ice Pilots NWT is now in its third season on Canada's History Television channel.  And shooting is underway for season 4.  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.

Ice Pilots/Buffalo Airways fans might want to check out the new book about the McBryan family and their airline.  It is called "The Ice Pilots: Flying with the Mavericks of the Great White North."  It is written by former Up Here magazine editor Michael Vlessides. It is published in Canada by Douglas and McIntyre.

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.

A Kenn Borek Twin Otter had a hard landing at CYLC - Kimmirut, Nunavut, Canada on Tuesday evening December 6, 2011.

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.

CBC News has an initial report on the incident here.

People across Nunavut were deeply saddened by the tragic loss of a Canadian Forces Search and Rescue Technician involved in a rescue effort near Igloolik.  Sergeant Janik Gilbert was one of three SAR Techs who jumped into the icy waters of Hecla Strait in an effort to rescue two Igloolik hunters on October 27, 2011.

Gilbert was with the 424 Transport and Rescue Squadron based at the Canadian Force Base in Trenton, Ontario.  This group is responsible for aerial search and rescue operations in a large part of Arctic Canada.  Having spent time in a Hercules as a volunteer spotter with the Iqaluit Civil Air Search and Rescue Assocation (CASARA)  group over the years, we've had a chance to see first hand the amazing work done by Canadian Forces search and rescue crews.  Anyone who travels in the north, by air, sea or land, knows the importance of their brave and selfless service.

CBC News has a story about the tragedy here, including links to earlier stories and the official statement from the Canadian Forces.   The Royal Canadian Air Force website also has an article on the tragedy.

Funeral services were held November 5th at La Chapelle Ste-Jeanne D'Arc at Canadian Forces Base Valcartier, Quebec.  Here is an article about the funeral.

UPDATE December 21, 2011:

The Canadian Department of National Defence published the Aircraft Occurrence Summary outlining what happened on October 27, 2011.  Read the report here.  A final report is expected in October 2012.  See the CBC News story here.

In the summer of 2009, John Lovelace of "Wings Over Canada" fame, undertook a major flight project to celebrate the Century of Flight.  The Cross Canada Century Flight saw 100 small planes to make the long coast to coast trip.

The success of the Cross Canada Century Flight has led to the creation of the Century Flight Club.  They're planning annual general aviation flight events.  In 2010, the Midnight Sun Challenge saw 100 small planes travel to Whitehorse, the capital city of Canada's Yukon territory.  Yukon is a great place to visit, with the colourful history of the Gold Rush, strong aboriginal cultures, and miles and miles and miles of beautiful scenery.

The 2011 flight was called the Canadian Wilderness tour, and saw Lovelace and company head to LaRonge, in northern Saskatchewan

For 2012, they're heading to Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories.  More information is available on their Century of Flight Facebook page, or in this brochure.

You can also check out the Century Flight Club website.

The Iqaluit airport supply of 100LL avgas in drums is currently about 186 drums  This is not an official count, just our observation of the drums in the storage area (Dec 24/11).

Current price is  $449.31 CDN per 205 litre/45 CDN gallons/54 US gallons drum (Sep 17/11).  You have to buy the whole drum. Price includes $131.25 drum disposal fee.  The price is generally set once a year, following the arrival of a new year's supply by ship.  So far this year, the price hasn't increased, but if you're coming to Iqaluit in the fall of 2011, check with the fuel supplier for the current price: Uqsuq Corporation (+1 867 979-2855 or +1 867 979-1620. Fax +1 867 979-1628).

Check Iqaluit airport general info here.

The Hamlet of Qikiqtarjuaq on the east coast of Baffin Island also informs us (June 3/11) that they are no longer stocking 100LL avgas. The Hamlet used to keep a few drums for visiting aircraft, but they disposed of their existing stock when it got too old.  And the they have no plans to bring in more avgas.

If you're reading this, it is probably because you're flying a plane that uses 100LL avgas.  There's a great discussion and collection of articles on the future of 100LL Avgas at Avweb.   In the United States, there is a coalition working to promote 100 octane unleaded avgas. You'll find them here. They have a lot of links to various areas of discussion on the future replacement for 100LL.  And General Aviation News maintains an interesting blog on the GA fuel debate.

An Air Tindi passenger plane crashed on a flight from Yellowknife to Lutselk'e in the Northwest Territories on October 4, 2011. Three passengers and one pilot were on board.  Pilot Matthew Bromley, 28, died in the crash, as did passenger Tim Harris, 54. Passengers Bernice Marlowe and Sheldon Catholique survived the crash.

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.

The Canadian Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.  Their initial incident report is available here.

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.

Initial news and photos from CBC News  here.  You can also find early reports here, and here.  There is also a discussion forum at AvCanada here.  The blog Three Miles Final has collected some of the weather information from around the time of the accident.  This GoogleMaps link shows the float base area in Yellowknife.  And Kathryn's Aviation Report has collected an extensive set of photographs.

Friends and family of the pilots have set up a Facebook site in celebration of their lives. You'll find it here.

The Transportation Safety Board is investigating.

It continues to be legal to fly private aircraft in Canada with a 121.5 ELT. And the most recent edition of the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association newsletter reports that changes to the rules aren't likely in the near future.

However, keep in mind that  COSPAS/SARSAT no longer monitors 121.5.  So if you don't have a ELT operating on 406 mHz, you don't have a means of automatically notifying the search and rescue authorities if your plane goes down.  If you're relying only on your 121.5 ELT, the only chance to you have of being detected in an emergency is if another aircraft hears your ELT signal on 121.5.  And in the north of Canada, that isn't something you want to rely on.  The advantage of the 406 ELT is that it can provide data about your flight, and with some units, GPS information about your location.  But the issue about whether or not to convert to 406 is complex.

The Canadian rules on ELTs are expected to change.  But it isn't clear when that will happen, or what the new regulations will entail. Transport Canada sent the proposed new regulations back for "further consultations with stakeholders" in May 2010. And apparently, the new minister as sent them back for further review again in 2011. Isn't isn't clear yet whether Transport Canada will mandate the change to the 406 ELT, or look at some of the other options currently available. The Department of National Defence (DND), which runs Canada's Search and Rescue system,  favours the 406 mhz ELT.  But it isn't clear whether the government is prepared to mandate 406 ELTs, knowing the US is not following suit, and knowing that there is new technology (Mid Earth Orbit Satellite systems /MEOSAT) in the wings that may provide better aircraft tracking options.

In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates the use of radio transmission, announced in the summer of 2010 that it proposed to ban the use of 121.5 ELTs in the US starting in August, 2010. The debate in the US over maintaining the use 121.5 ELTs continues. The Federal Aviation Administration wants to continue to allow 121.5 ELTS to be used and manufactured.  The Aircraft Electronics Association wants the FCC to continue to allow existing 121.5 ELTS to be used, but is against continuing the manufacture of 121.5 ELTs.  But for now the FCC has suspended its plan to prohibit 121.5 mhz ELTs in the United States.

In Canada, there has been much debate about whether the 406 ELT is the best answer for emergency alerting for private aircraft.  The Canadian Owners and Pilots Association has been very active on this file, trying get Transport Canada to look at a wider range of emergency alerting alternatives, including tracking devices like SPOT and Spidertracks.  And wth changing technology, there may soon be other options that could provide a wider range of more effective aircraft tracking and emergency alerting options.

Here's the recent chronology on the 406 issue in Canada:

In May, 2010, the COPA reports that Transport Canada will mandate the use of a 406 ELT on most aircraft flying in Canada, including private aircraft. The regulation has not yet been "gazetted" in the Canada Gazette yet, which means the current 121.5 ELT rules remain in effect.

On July 8, 2010, the Director General of Civil Aviation for Transport Canada, Martin Eley, told the Canadian Business Aviation Association convention in Calgary that " an ELT regulatory package is currently being processed and will come into force as soon as possible."

He went on to say that "the current regulation does not mandate a 406 MHz ELT, but it does require that you have a transmitter with similar performance capabilities. We are also giving you time to make this upgrade to your aircraft. This will also provide time for ELT production to increase." He didn't specify what those timeframes would be.

COPA says it appears that "alternate means of emergency location approved by Transport Canada" in the new regs isn't likely to include some of the new tracking systems on the market, like SPOT, Spidertracks, Latitude Web Sentinel, Skytrac and others.  These tracking systems appear to be unacceptable to DND and Transport Canada because they cannot automatically activate a distress signal in a crash.  But of course, the regular tracking would provide a fairly narrow location to start a search, even if a pilot wasn't able to manually send a distress signal using the tracking unit.  And, as COPA has argued,  ELTs, both 406 and 121.5  sometimes fail to survive a crash and transmit an emergency signal.

In March, 2011 COPA reports that there is no new information on this file. The March 2010 article at COPA noted above continues to be the most up to date information.

In December 2011, COPA again reports that there hasn't been any change in the situation. Apparently, the new Transport Minister has referred the draft legislation back to his department for further study.  As COPA notes, changes in coming satellite technology, improvements in currently available tracking devices and the failure of a number of 406 units in crashes all point to different options for emergency notification for general aviation.

The COPA website has an excellent article explaining the situation. There is also a  COPA article from February 2009 that outlines some of the issues behind the requirement for 406 ELTs.

If you're not a member,  consider joining COPA for important information on this and many other general aviation issues.

There was also some controversy around the original planned requirement that the new 406 ELTs would have to be installed by an avionics shop. There continues to be an exemption in effect that allows the work to be done by a licenced AME on private aircraft installations, where the ELT does not interface with an onboard system such as a GPS navigation system.

Through any transition period that may be prescribed by the new regulations, pilots flying in the arctic regions of Canada will need to think very carefully before flying with just a 121.5 ELT.  Only using a 121.5 ELT means no method of automatically alerting authorities if you get into trouble, other than hoping another aircraft is listening on 121.5.  We've seen some pilots using satellite flight tracking services, and devices like SPOT, in addition to a 121.5 ELT. And as noted above,  Canadian Search and Rescue authorities are strongly encouraging the use of 406 mhz ELTs.

Here's the list of Canadian certified 406 ELTS

Greenland extended a NOTAM (B0443/11) for Sisimiut, Greenland (BGSS) indicating that Sea Rescue service out of Sisimiut is unavailble from August 15, 2011 to January 16, 2012. To see the NOTAM, go here. Enter BGSS in the search field and be sure to check the NOTAM box.

Pilots planning the crossing between Iqaluit and Greenland would be advised to check with the Rescue Control Centre in Sondre Stromfjord for information on the impact of this situation on search and rescue in Greenland waters.  Detailed contact information for RCC Sondre Stromfjord and the Greenland Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre is available in  Section GEN 3.6 of the Greenland AIP here.  This section of the AIP includes a map showing the maritme search areas.  Sisimiut is closest to Sondre Stromfjord/Kangerlussuaq (BGSF). RCC Sondre Stromfjord handles all search co-ordination for Greenland.  Naviair, the Danish air traffic control organization, has also published this handy pamphlet with contact email and phone information.

The Discovery Channel has a new reality show called Flying Wild Alaska. The program featuring Era Alaska, an airline based in Unalakeet, Alaska, flying everything from Cessna 180s on tundra tires to the C-23 Sherpa, to Beech Metroliners.  The Discovery Channel US website features lots of information about the show, and some great video clips.

The show feature quite a bit of flying, and some interesting story lines about life in northern Alaska.

And you'll find the soundtrack music intriguing as well.  Check out Pamyua, the Alaskan group whose music is featured on the show. Great stuff.  And you'll find more groups featured on the show at ThunderCloud Radio.

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.

Admission is free and everyone is welcome. The show is being organized again this year by Eric Leuthold and his team at Frobisher Bay Touchdown Services.  And here's our story about the 2009 Airshow.