Buffalo Airways Curtiss C-46D C-FAVO takes on a load of avgas at Inuvik for a charter flight hauling building supplies.

Delivered to the USAF in 1945 as 44-77846 this C-46D is one of two Commando's currently in service with the 'flying museum' of Buffalo Airways .  Based in Hay River, Northwest Territories, Buffalo operates a large fleet of classic propliners including DC-3s, DC-4s, C-46s, PBYs and a recently acquired pair of L-188C Electras (among other less glamorous types).

Blower 134 pulls off to let a Canadian Forces CC-130H (KC-130 tanker) pass on taxiway 'B'

Winter arrived right on schedule today with several inches of snow falling on the airport.  Most of the snow fell in the space of a couple of hours early in the afternoon resulting in a successful 'all hands' effort to keep the runway clear.  Inuvik actually gets less snow than most places in Southern Canada but by mid-October the temperature stays below freezing so the snow doesn't melt until May.

Canadian Forces CP-140 Aurora 'Demon 118' rolls down taxiway 'C' at Inuvik before heading out on patrol over the Beaufort Sea

It was exactly 50 years ago in 1957 that the Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprop airliner made its first flight.  It was also exactly 50 years ago that the US Navy issued a requirement for a maritime patrol aircraft to replace the piston engined P-2 Neptune. 

Due in part to a string of crashes caused by a flaw in the original design (subsequently corrected) and the introduction of turbojet airliners, the Electra never really caught on with passenger carriers and only 170 aircraft were built.  Lockheed's proposal to develop a maritime patrol variant of the L-188, however, was the hands down winner of the US Navy competition.  With the Allison T-56 turboshaft engines already proven in the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, the maritime version of the Electra (eventually called the P-3 Orion) was ideally suited to long duration, low speed patrols and quick transits to and from patrol areas.

In 1980, Canada took delivery of the first of 18 CP-140 'Aurora' aircraft which were based on the P-3 Orion airframe but contained the more capable anti-submarine weapons suite from the carrier based S-3 Viking that had been introduced a few years before.  The aircraft pictured above is 140118, the last of the Auroras to be delivered to Canada back in 1981.

The Sheep in Wolf's Clothing

Lockheed kept the P-3 production line running continuously until 1990, first at Burbank and then at Palmdale in California.  When Lockheed decided to close down their plant they realized that they were going to end up with three P-3 airframes that had no buyers.  Having a requirement for additional training and surveillance aircraft, Canada moved to acquire the three aircraft.  These aircraft were outwardly identical to any other P-3 but were delivered without any offensive avionics or weapons and were designated the CP-140A 'Arcturus'

First Air Boeing 737-200 C-FACP on the ramp in Inuvik sporting it's distinctive 'Northern Lights' tail colours.

One of the things that interests me about older aircraft like C-FACP is their history.  The places they've flown and the airlines that owned them is always fascinating.  This particular 737 has had a remarkably diverse heritage and thanks to the Internet one can easily find evidence of its previous lives.

Manufactured in 1979, this aircraft (s/n 22072/623) was originally delivered to the Danish airline Maersk Air in their splashy sea and sky livery.

This photo is actually one of its sister aircraft from the same time frame.

Around 1980, the aircraft was leased to Egyptian carrier Arabia for a short time and repainted in their colors.

In 1982 it emigrated to Canada and flew with QuebecAir.

Not liking the Canadian weather, the following year she spent some time flying in the South Pacific for Air Nauru.

Back to Canada, this time for good, in 1985 it was purchased by CP Air and assigned its present registration C-FACP as the "Empress of St. John's".

Following the merger of Pacific Western, CP Air and Wardair, she spent the next decade flying in Canadian Airlines colours.

Canadian Airlines was just in the process of repainting all their aircraft in their new 'Canada Goose' colour scheme when Air Canada took them over in 2000. Here it is wearing a hybrid of both paint jobs.

It wasn't until 2003 that it finally got the Air Canada lettering but it sure didn't last long...

Only a few months later it was transferred to Air Canada's low-cost subsidiary operator Zip and repainted in their new colours.

After the demise of Zip the aircraft was sent to the California desert before it was purchased by Canadian North. I haven't been able to find any photos of it in Canadian North service but they only had it for 10 months before it was sold to First Air in October 2005.

CF-18 'Parka 02' over the threshold of runway 06 doing touch and goes after returning from patrol.

As mentioned in a previous post, Inuvik also hosts a Canadian Forces 'Forward Operating Location' which consists of hangers and other facilities for a handful of CF-18 fighter aircraft and their support and service crews.  Normally unmanned, the FOL can be operational within hours of the arrival of the first support personnel.

This is the fourth time the base has been activated this summer.  The exact reasons for each visit are not disclosed but its usually training and exercises or 'sovereignty patrol' which means keeping an eye on the Russians during their Arctic operations.  Depending on how long they are staying they frequently show up with one or two Hercules transports carrying supplies plus maintenance and support personnel.

In the photo below CF-18 'Parka 01' catches the arrestor cable in a simulated emergency landing. 

Although Inuvik's 6000ft runway allows plenty of room for normal operations, the arrestor gear is always in place for takeoffs and landings in case of trouble.  The usual reasons to stop on the cable would be an aborted takeoff or having to land heavy on fuel and ordinance.

Very similar to US Navy and Marines F-18C's, Canada's fleet of CF-18's specializes in both air-to-air and air-to-ground operations.  By placing a number of their aircraft in ready-reserve (basically mothballed) status Canada expects to stretch the remaing life of their sixty or so CF-18's until they can be replaced in ten or fifteen years.  Likely replacement candidates would be Lockheed's Joint Strike Fighter or Boeing F-18E's.

This Sikorsky S-61 has been based in Tuktoyaktuk all summer supporting a refit of an offshore drilling platform.  It makes a weekly trip into Inuvik for reasons unknown.  The crew likes to pretend they're an airplane and land on the runway before taxiing over to the ramp.

For 40 years now the 'Mainliner' (barely anyone still uses that term) has ferried passengers and freight in and out of Inuvik on a daily basis.  In this shot, C-GDPA "Empress 445" waits on taxiway 'A' for clearance to depart on runway 06.

The daily milk run starts in Edmonton, Alberta then to Yellowknife, NWT and up the Mackenzie River valley to Norman Wells, NWT and Inuvik.  After a brief station stop it departs and flies the same route in reverse. 

The original 'Mainliner' was operated by Pacific Western Airlines first with DC-3s, -4s and -6s in the early 60s and then switching to 737-200Cs in the late 60s.  These 737 'combi' aircraft are ideal for hauling a variable mix of cargo and passengers.  With a relocatable mid-cabin partition, removeable seats and a palletized cargo system these aircraft can quickly be configured for the required freight/passenger ratio.  Self-deploying airstairs and an APU allow them to operate with no ground support equipment.  Most of the ones that come through here are equipped with the optional 'gravel kit' to allow operation on unpaved airstrips (ours is paved).  The gravel kit consists of a nose gear deflector plate and vortex eliminators projecting from the lower edge of the engine inlets. 

The gravel kit and the combi option are no longer available on new 737's.  There is a QC (quick change) option that was available on 737-700's but that was for cargo OR passengers, not both.  The US Navy bought a combi version of the 737-700QC but I'm not sure that modern safety and security issues would allow a civilian version to be type approved.  Time will tell.  The last of the civilian 737 combis came off the line in the 80s.

'Empress 445' is the radio call sign and flight number.  Flight 444 is the northbound leg (Edmonton-Yellowknife-Norman Wells-Inuvik) and Flight 445 is the southbound leg (Inuvik-Norman Wells-Yellowknife-Edmonton).  I believe this flight number actually dates back to the 70s when it was used by Pacific Western Airlines on this route.  PWA purchased Wardair and CP Air in the late 80s to form Canadian Airlines International.  CAI kept the eloquent 'Empress' radio callsign inherited from CP Air.  CP (Canadian Pacific) used to name all its aircraft Empress's (like the 747 'Empress of the Orient' and the 737 'Empress of St. Johns')  Back in the 90s CAI sold its Northern operations to Norterra Inc. who operate as 'Canadian North'.  Canadian North originally leased its aircraft and crews from CAI and their flights used the same 'Empress' radio call signs.  When CAI was taken over by Air Canada in 2000 Canadian North 'inherited' the famous 'Empress' call sign once heard worldwide.

Most of the 737s arriving here can trace their lineage back to PWA or CP Air but this particular one is different.  C-GDPA was purchased in the 1980's by Dome Petroleum to support its offshore drilling operations in the Arctic.  I have seen photos of this aircraft landing on the gravel strip in Tuktoyaktuk, NWT and at an offshore sea ice strip, both of which it did on a regular basis ferrying personnel and supplies between there and Calgary.  With the demise of Dome's Arctic operations at the end of the 80s the aircraft was picked up by PWA during their transformation into CAI (I don't think it ever wore PWA livery).

This waterbomber was brought in from Hay River earlier this month to stand by in case of forest fires.  It sat on the ramp for a week then went home.

A Douglas C-54G (msn 36088), it started life in 1943 with the USAF as 45-0635.  After an honourable discharge it came to Canada in the 50's with Wheeler Airlines.  It served with Nordair in the 60's and 70's flying into remote Arctic communities and DEW Line stations.  In the 80's it spent a few seasons at the other end of the world with Kenn Borek and Antarctic Airways.  After a short rest in the Arizona desert in the 90's (with US reg. N4218S) it was purchased by Buffalo Airways and converted for fire fighting.

If only planes could talk I bet this one could go on for hours.  Do you think it was in the Berlin Airlift...?

I thought it would be fun to start a spotting blog for the airport I work at.

Inuvik Mike Zubko Airport is the main transportation hub for the Mackenzie Delta region of the Northwest Territories.  Inuvik itself is a bustling community of about 3,500 located near the end of the Mackenzie River.  Geographically we are about 450 miles Northeast of Fairbanks, Alaska just north of the Arctic Circle.

The airport averages about 150 movements per week, with roughly 10% being scheduled jet transports, 50% regional turboprop traffic, 35% local helicopters and the remaining 5% being an assortment of transient aircraft.

Since we don't get a huge number of 'strange' aircraft on the ramp its always fun to see what turns up.  Sometimes I'm able to find out what brings them to this remote corner of the world and sometimes not...

Inuvik also hosts a Canadian Forces 'Forward Operating Location' which consists of hangers and other facilities for a handful of CF-18 fighter aircraft and their support and service crews.  Normally unmanned, the FOL can be operational within hours of the arrival of the first support personnel.  It is usually activated two or three times a year.

Well, lets get started, shall we?