I'm taking my M5 on floats up to the Midnight Sun Fly-in in Yellowknife this July. Planning on going from Southern Manitoba. Just curious to know if anyone on this site has been there before and what to expect? They're apparently planning an "Ice Pilots" jamboree this year with the Ice Pilot guys hosting it on the dock. Sounds like a good time.

Any comments would be appreciated.

garth

Hi gear, I lived in yzf for past 7 years so I'll fill you in tomorrow when I get on my computer, stuck on itouch now. I just moved back to the Yukon and taking my tundra from Montreal to Whitehorse next week via southern Manitoba and Yellowknife. Cheers

We will be at Nimpo Lake, BC on July 15, 16, & 17 for the BC Floatplane Association's annual meeting, a great fly in for both floats and wheels. After this fly in we are going to continue on to Yellowkife for the Midnight Sun Fly in the following weekend. There will be a number of other planes continuing on from Nimpo. At the last Midnight Sun fly-in, friends attended and said it was awesome. We have yet to decide if we are going to camp or motel it.

Let me know if anybody is coming through the Cariboo of BC.

Backcountry Tundra wrote:Hi gear, I lived in yzf for past 7 years so I'll fill you in tomorrow when I get on my computer, stuck on itouch now. I just moved back to the Yukon and taking my tundra from Montreal to Whitehorse next week via southern Manitoba and Yellowknife. Cheers

You making any stops in Southern Manitoba?

garth

FloatFlyer wrote:We will be at Nimpo Lake, BC on July 15, 16, & 17 for the BC Floatplane Association's annual meeting, a great fly in for both floats and wheels. After this fly in we are going to continue on to Yellowkife for the Midnight Sun Fly in the following weekend. There will be a number of other planes continuing on from Nimpo. At the last Midnight Sun fly-in, friends attended and said it was awesome. We have yet to decide if we are going to camp or motel it.

Let me know if anybody is coming through the Cariboo of BC.

FF -hopefully we can connect in Yellowknife - I'll key an eye out for your aircraft.

garth

Garth - I may be in Churchill and possibly going that way in early july depending on ice conditions.

Brian

Garth - I may be in Churchill and possibly going that way in early july depending on ice conditions.

Brian

185 Bushbird wrote:Garth - I may be in Churchill and possibly going that way in early july depending on ice conditions.

Brian

Hi Brian, It would be good to see you again - was just looking at a picture the other day with me and the 180 you trained me on,....brings back good memories of Cherry Pocket!

Garth, Come on back down next season, we will have the waterfront cabin & floatplane rental packages available along with airboat tours. It has been warm & sunny here and i am getting the planes ready to go back to MN.

Would live to do that Brian if it fits into my schedule next year
Garth

Here is the link to the Midnight Sun Fly-In. http://www.floatplaneflyin.com/events We are making our reservations now. FF

We made it to Yellowknife on Thursday and yesterday I got to talking to a couple of guys that were parked in front of my plane with a nice looking Maule M5. Soon found out that is was Gear and a buddy. Small world and we had a great chat. Lovely weather up here and a good fly in. Only problem was when we took off yesterday for a poker run. Shortly after departure I got a warning of "low battery condition". Showed a discharge on the ammeter and the digital display of voltage was quickly lowering. I turned off the avionics master and tried to reset the master switch a couple of times with no change. Decided that a landing at a remote lake could be a problem if I couldn't start the plane so returned to the seaplane base. Got in touch with a mechanic and he trouble shot the alternator and we decided to replace it. After replacing the alternator, there wasn't enough juice left to turn over the engine!! A guy that maintains a lovely turbine Otter had a 28 volt jump start box and gave me a boost. Engine started fine and alternator was putting out over 28 volts. Decided that the prudent move was to pull the battery and put it on a trickle charge overnight and then load test it. Even though it is less than a year old, a dead battery on a remote lake would be a real bitch of a problem. By the way, the Otter was owned by Max Ward, a legendary pilot/ airline owner of Ward Air.

Ford,

Glad you got that electrical issue figured out, and glad you made it to that fly in. I've always heard it was a fun deal. You're right that a dead battery isn't the most fun thing in a floatplane in that part of the world.

Take care, and stay charged up...

MTV

Have fun Ford, first time in 8 yrs that I miss the fly in... was it Dave or Max that helped you out with boosting your battery? cheers, J-M

BT: Max was here and I think David is his pilot?? Anyway, the guy that helped me was from No. Ireland and said he maintained Max's turbine otter. This am we fly out to the East Arm for a night or two of camping before heading to Lake Athabasca's sand dunes. Later,

Float Flyer - it was a real pleasure to meet you and your wife at the fly-in at Yellowknife. I enjoyed chatting and hope our paths cross again.
For those looking for a great destination - this is it. I had a great time and would like to go back. The people there really looked after us. Meeting the Ice Pilots, and having Buffalo Joe take us on a DC-3 ride was the highlight. He was great - letting me sit in the Captains seat in flight was awesome.

garth

Gear: We got home today just after noon. Yesterday we got within 88 miles from home and had to land on a lake and camp another night, grrrrr. After leaving you and Dan we had many great experiences and a few surprises. Glad you made it home ok. Will catch you on another adventure soon. FF

When you guys get a chance, you will have to fill us in on what all you did.

Steve

The trip was excellent. Started in Falcon Lake, Manitoba, left water at 6 am, sky clear, light breeze. Got to 2000 feet and met up with a 40-45 knot head wind, right on the beak. Seeing 55 Knot ground speed sometimes made me think i might have needed a wide mouth bottle in the cockpit for the first leg . Got fuel in Shoal Lake, Manitoba - great people there - some locals who run the flying club brought fuel to the dock for us - 1st class service. Had to wait out for some weather to clear at next fuel stop and took off 4 hours later with a 25-30 knot cross wind (wont be doing that ever again). After airborn, found the same 40 knot head wind and as we got to our fuel destination (Nipowin, Sask.) clouds were 100 feet off the deck at best, so we diverted to some some town with a lake right next to it. We pulled up to a dock, found some friendly people, and they tracked down someone who came and picked us up, brought us to the airport, and GAVE us 15 gallons of Avgas - he would not take anything for it, nor would he give us his card with his phone number. Left there, dodged some weather, and got into LaRonge, Sask. at 8 pm (long day for 550 miles).

We got a good nights sleep, and were off the water in LaRonge at 8 am next day. LaRonge Lake is huge - we took off in 2 foot rollers (won't be doing that again either with my present set-up ). Got to Uranium City which is right near the Saskatchewan / Northwest Territories Border and fueled up. Got into Yellowknife after lunch and docked for the weekend at the Wardair float base.

For those not familiar with Wardair - Max Ward who is around 88 yrs old started this company many years ago and finally sold to Canadian Air I believe for millions. First class guy that donates his base to the Yellowknife Fly-in each year they have it. He had his personal Turbine Otter there which looked brand new and his personal pilot. Pretty cool.

The Ice Pilots people were at the base for most of the weekend just hanging out and they hosted the Saturday night dinner. Got pictures with Buffalo Joe himself, Mikey and a few of the other cast and crew. Went for a DC-3 ride Sunday with Joe as the captain.

Most of the weekend was just shooting the breeze with other pilots (and floatflyer who is a nice guy by the way). Weather was great and Yellowknife is a nice City and the people that put on the fly-in were great. I'd definately go back.

Left the water 5:30 am monday, had nice tail winds up at 9500' the whole way home and was at my dock by 8 pm.

Once I find my camera, I'll post some pics. THe whole trip was about 25 hours of flying time.

garth

Garth, that sounded like a nice trip, enough adventure to keep you on your toes. A very good excuse to get some hours in. Ford, how many hours trip up there was it for you?

Steve