Inflight Entertainment => There I was... => Topic started by: Chopper Doc on September 29, 2008, 03:08:00 AM
Title: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: Chopper Doc on September 29, 2008, 03:08:00 AM
Working in the high arctic this time of year sucks: winds (on the nose, always), fog wherever there's open water, and icing wherever there's there's fog. The days are getting shorter and the camps are closing until freezeup so the ice runways can be put in service.
I, however, am stuck up on an arctic island on a job that will never get done. We need to fly crews across 13 miles of open water and then a further 60 miles to the jobsite. When we get enough vis to cross the open water we get freezing rain, and when the rain stops it's because of the fog. This is one job that I wish the customer would give up on. Then we'd still be trapped up herre but at least we could bolt when there's a hole in the weather.
Say, in about mid-December.
Title: Re: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: hookedonflight on September 29, 2008, 06:39:09 AM
Whoa thats Crazy :)
Title: Re: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: hookedonflight on September 29, 2008, 07:41:23 AM
That Headwind Pic looks amazing! (so do the others ) ;) ::wave::
Title: Re: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: Chopper Doc on September 29, 2008, 03:12:47 PM
That Headwind Pic looks amazing! (so do the others ) ;) ::wave::
Winds were 40 gusting 50 kts, with some snow, for about three or four days. You can see how any low spots accumulate snow and how the rocks create turbulent accumulation (the streaks of snow). On the ground during a storm like this your vis might be no more than the length of your arm. If you could get ten feet above the ground you might have a mile or more. Problem is, you need that first ten feet to take off or land. That's for the wind-driven snow; if new snow is falling then vis can be 0-0 for days at a time.
Thankfully, this whole part of the north is a near-desert, with very low precipitation rates. Once the open sea freezes over you don't get much new precip though lots can accumulate from drifting.
Another interesting phenomenon during winter ops up here happens in cold, calm weather: ice fog. Your own turbine exhaust can create a fog bank once you start up - without some wind to move the fog off you can make your own aviation weather event without leaving the pad.
Here's a milepost to help orient yourself, taken one summer day in an Inuk village in the high arctic.
Title: Re: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: G-man on September 29, 2008, 03:51:36 PM
Cold cold cold---Better you than me---look on the bright side-at least you have internet ::type:: ::type:: ::type:: Do you fish?
I remember flying into Goose Bay back in 84 and having to put the aircraft right in the hangar so it would not freeze.
Title: Re: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: Chopper Doc on September 29, 2008, 07:18:13 PM
Do I fish? Do you know what a "Five of Diamonds" is?
This is the Grayling season - on the mainland. I'm only a half-hour flight from where the best fishing is best and I can't get there from here.
So yeah, I fish. Just not right now, dammit.
Title: Re: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: Oddball on September 29, 2008, 08:06:37 PM
I like cold climates but that is a bit extreme for me doc ::unbelieveable:: ::eek::
Title: Re: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: Chopper Doc on October 01, 2008, 04:59:35 AM
It's not that cold here yet: the eastern arctic will get temps down to -40 for most of the dark months, and winds that never cease. Not much fun working outside in those conditions.
Also, the fishing sucks once the ice covers the lakes, rivers, and sea waters.
Title: Re: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: G-man on October 01, 2008, 05:40:14 AM
Title: Re: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: Chopper Doc on October 01, 2008, 03:02:08 PM
The commercial fishermen on Great Slave Lake (Yellowknife is on the north shore of the lake) ice fish in an interesting way: prior to the freeze they place a rope between buoys moored at a distance equal to the span of a net. After the freeze, they drive out to where the buoys are, cut them out with a chain saw, and use the rope to full a net under the ice and between the buoys. They come back later to once again cut the ice to free the buoys and reverse the process, pulling the rope across while pulling the net out from under the ice. Fish are flash frozen once pulled from the net, loaded on the sno-cat, and driven to the processing plant. The net is pulled back under the ice. Repeat as necessary.
Below is Yellowknife Bay with the processing plant at the left. The sno-cats are parked in front on the ice. Picture is taken from the Pilots' Monument in Old Town. Note that everything flat is snow-covered ice, and that the ice is at least 4 feet thick.
Title: Re: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: Rooster Cruiser on October 02, 2008, 03:50:50 AM
My grandfather used to work for a commercial ice fishing company during winters in southern Minnesota, and they would use the same technique for the nets on the small lakes there. However, the ice there only got to around 2-3 feet thick. Not as impressive as 4 feet but still more than enough to drive cars and small trucks on the lake.
RC
Title: Re: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: Chopper Doc on October 02, 2008, 03:41:32 PM
The designated ice roads will have ice thicknesses of up to twelve feet or so. They run heavy-haul transport equipment across the MacKenzie river and from Yellowknife up the Ingrahm Trail and beyond all the way up to the diamond mines. Discovery Channel has run a documentary on it several times, with my company's ops manager flying the ice road survey crews and the film crew up the line. I've maintained the aircraft shown in the documentary.
Title: Re: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: Oddball on October 03, 2008, 07:14:07 AM
I've seen that programme a few times Doc.
Title: Re: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: Chopper Doc on October 04, 2008, 05:19:21 AM
I'm living that program right now. Our customer has given up; we're still here until the weather clears. Tomorrow we're going to make a try for the mainland and points south - wish me luck.
Title: Re: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: Rooster Cruiser on October 04, 2008, 06:45:00 AM
Mercy me, Doc! You are way up there beyond the mainland?!?!?! That is extremely unforgiving territory. Hope you make it back south of Yellowknife before winter really sets in. |:)\
Yeah, I've seen Ice Road Truckers too. Listened to a few guys over the road 10 years ago chitchat on the radio about how much money they could make doing that. I decided against doing it myself or even looking into it as I so hated the bitter cold that goes with working way up north.
-45C is bad enough temps to work under, and I did that when I was a kid on a farm in northern Minnesota. Going any farther north in winter means you just have to deal with that much colder temps. Not my cup of (ice) tea. |:)\
RC
Title: Re: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: Chopper Doc on October 04, 2008, 03:11:37 PM
Yup, she's a tough slog at times. The truck can't make enough heat to defrost the cab even while under load, never mind when at idle, and you can't go faster than about 25kph (15mph) on the ice. So the truck never warms up, the door gaskets harden up and don't stop the wind from whistling through the gaps (and the driver), and the drivers fall asleep trying to peer through the gloom at a white road bordered by white snowdrifts under a white sky - during the short days. Most hours are dark and the blowing snow in the lights can induce vertigo. Try that for a few trips and haulin' chickens starts to look real good.
Title: Re: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: TheSoccerMom on October 04, 2008, 08:49:43 PM
Ahhh, yes.... freezing to death.... there's a reason most people avoid it!!!!!! ::rofl::
::rofl::
Title: Re: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: Chopper Doc on October 05, 2008, 01:51:54 AM
Freezing to death: most people never do that again.
I'm trying to avoid it, personally.
Title: Re: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: Rooster Cruiser on October 05, 2008, 03:32:05 AM
Freezing to death: most people never do that again.
I'm trying to avoid it, personally.
...and people wonder why I don't want to leave San Diego ever again? ::thinking:: ::whistle::
Title: Re: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: Oddball on October 05, 2008, 10:45:23 AM
I must be mad then since i lke cold temperatures ::thinking:: or maybe its due to each time I go to a hot climate I end up spending most of my time in the doctors due to my hay fever flaring up.
Title: Re: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: Chopper Doc on October 05, 2008, 02:23:59 PM
Not much hay fever up here: not really much up here for grasses. Now, if you're allergic to tundra plants or snow, you're hooped.
Here is Victoria Island in the summer. The critters are musk ox (sorry for the poor pic).
Title: Re: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: TheSoccerMom on October 06, 2008, 03:17:48 AM
45 Below Zero..... :o
Reason # 27 why Alcohol was invented............. ::drinking::
::whistle::
::drinking::
Title: Re: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: Rooster Cruiser on October 06, 2008, 06:07:02 AM
Reason # 27 why Alcohol was invented............. ::drinking::
::whistle::
::drinking::
Quite Right, S-Mom! ::drinking:: ::drinking:: Gotta keep the antifreeze in your veins topped off! Hehe.
Keep in mind that -45C equates to around -50F. Let me assure you that no respectable Brass Monkey will be caught dead out in that kind of weather! ::eek:: ::unbelieveable::
Title: Re: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: TheSoccerMom on October 06, 2008, 10:46:51 PM
Yeah, even sitting stock-still on a wooden box out on the ice at 40 below sounds like FUN if there's enough brandy involved..... ::loony::
::loony::
::loony::
Title: Re: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: Chopper Doc on October 12, 2008, 12:10:58 AM
How about fishing for a 2ton dump truck?
Title: Re: No Country for Old Men...
Post by: Oddball on October 12, 2008, 07:08:43 PM
aye but you cant cook it or eat it, might as well throw it back ::rofl::
