No Country for Old Men...

[Chopper Doc]

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.

[hookedonflight]

Whoa thats Crazy

[hookedonflight]

That Headwind Pic looks amazing! (so do the others )
 
 

[Chopper Doc]

That Headwind Pic looks amazing! (so do the others )
 
 

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.

[G-man]

Cold cold cold---Better you than me---look on the bright side-at least you have internet      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.

[Chopper Doc]

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.

[Oddball]

I like cold climates but that is a bit extreme for me doc 

[Chopper Doc]

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.

[G-man]

Also, the fishing sucks once the ice covers the lakes, rivers, and sea waters.

Try Ice fishing:

[hookedonflight]

Also, the fishing sucks once the ice covers the lakes, rivers, and sea waters.

Try Ice fishing:

Haha Good one G-man

[Chopper Doc]

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.

[Rooster Cruiser]

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

[Chopper Doc]

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.

[Oddball]

I've seen that programme a few times Doc.

[Chopper Doc]

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.