Checking in

Once again, it's been a while.  I'm going to blame my lack of posting on Facebook...the main reason I started the blog was to be able to post pictures for far away family to see, and it's a bit easier on Facebook.  

Anyway, my big news for now is that I am going to be flying the Dash 7.  I'm still really enjoying flying the Twin Otter, and will most likely still spend the summer on it, but we're going to Dash school in May. I am really excited and the timing is exactly what I was hoping for.

Coppermine adventure

At the end of September I was sent with Russ Hepburn to Coppermine/Kugluktuk (pronounced koo-look-took) for three weeks, to fly for Fred and Martin Webb. After we got there, we flew the guides and camp gear to Ross Point, Lady Franklin Point and Hope Lake so they could set up. After that we basically only flew every fours days or so to switch out the hunters. We walked around the place a lot, also rented a quad for a day and went out to the Bloody Falls.

Thanks to Russ for all the great pictures, here's the public link to some more on Facebook if you are interested.

Oh wow

It has been a while since I last posted, I wonder if anyone still reads this!

Summer went by in a blur, I logged 250 hours of float time and thoroughly enjoyed doing it, and am sad it's over. I'm never going to be able to post about everything that happened, so I'll just start again with my Coppermine trip.

Reid Lake

I felt like it was time to put up a new post but haven't really got anything current (besides more plane/work pictures) so I'm posting some of camping at Reid Lake last month. It was still a little chilly but that kept the bugs down, so I didn't mind.

The first pic isn't of bacon, it's to show my new little stove. It folds up small and can run on any type of fuel, so it'll be good to keep in with my flying stuff in the plane in case we get stuck somewhere again! We had this Fire Opal thing, it's a small sealed package that you stick in the fire and it makes the flames change colour, it was kind of fun to watch. Not a very good picture but you get the idea. And the rest are just of scenery. I wasn't wearing a watch, so I don't know what time the sun went down, but we didn't need a lamp at all, it stayed light enough to see where you were going.

My crazy plant

Kim found this curly grass type thing while we were buying our annuals. It's really cool and weird, and it's survived my care so far!

An fun day

A few days ago I was on a trip to Lac de Gras roadcamp strip, and had to hold while a guy went to another camp and did some things before going back to Yellowknife. So instead of waiting at the strip I got to go for a helicopter ride into camp and back.

After that we went to Bathurst Inlet with some tourists, my safety briefing got translated into Japanese as I was giving it. We took a bit of a scenic route up and saw some caribou calving grounds, some muskox and Wilberforce Falls, the tallest falls in the Arctic. We also showed them Ekati diamond mine and part of the ice road that's still there. I was quite surprised to see three pairs of swans just before we got to Bathurst, I had no idea they went that far north.

What I flew today

Okay, so I didn't do an actual trip, but I flew with Wes (chief pilot) this morning and MAS was ready to go from the airport to the floatbase when we were done, so he took me to do some splash and goes. Weeeee!

I got some pictures of the maintenance guys putting it in the water and then we had to wait a short time so they could take the beaching gear off. I missed getting a photo of the apprentices with their "don't-run-me-over" vests and their little stop signs, they have to bring the plane across the highway to get to Long Lake, so they have to stop the traffic.

The other picture is from when we did a trip to Burnt River and tried out the big wheels.