Canada moves to 2% GDP end of FY25/26 - PMMC

[childs56]

Flying in the North is an excellent way to get white hair. Flying 20' above the highway in a helicopters, because the cloud cover has socked in the only airfield anywhere. In Darby channel we also collided with a floatplane doing similar, scuttling under the cloud cover, trying to avoid hitting an island or trees.

We had Pilots counting waves (every fifth wave they would pull up) as they flew across the straight below the weather so we could service their planes before the busy week.
kind of a missed art, knowledge, total luck and stupidness all rolled up into one.
I miss working with those pilots. A wealth of knowledge for all things.

 

[Quirky]

And he was ashamed that our national leadership were travelling in something that, rather than being a flying Taj Mahal, was a clapped out old 1990s Winnebago without the sex appeal.

The CC150 VIP fleet was a perfect representation of the CAF, and the country as a whole.

 

[Kirkhill]

Yukon - 213 private planes or 1 per 220 people
Northwest Territories - 106 private planes or 1 per 424 people
Nunavut - 25 private planes or 1 per 1640 people
Alaska - More than 5000 private planes out of a fleet of 8 to 9000 held by a population of 740,000 or 1 per 148 people.
If we excluded the 370,000 people that lived in Anchorage and said that bush planes were a rural phenomenon then the ratio could be as high as 1 per 74 people.

Canada has more than 26,000 private planes out of a fleet of 33,000 or 1 per 1538 people.

In Alaska the family plane, boat and snowmachine are probably just as likely as a family car in the bush. And those that don't own planes use them as taxis.

Much is being made of self-driving cars as taxis and even self driving flying taxis in urban areas. What would it take to make air transport more accessible up north? Is getting into a self-driving helicopter or a self-driving Twotter a better bet for a short hop in the country? To be honest my money is actually on the helicopter right now - a combination of zero field requirements and a developing track record with rotary wing vehicles of all types.

 

[Kirkhill]

You know they make radials.
Specifically the R-985 Wasp in the Beaver.

Didn't know that.

Nick was adamant that he was better off with the original Goose with its radials (which thanks to you I have just discovered were the same PWC Wasps you mention) than the re-engined Goose with its turboprops.

The radials didn't worry about ingested water and didn't overheat. Water is sticky and getting the Goose into the air was an art. It didn't always come unstuck the first time. If it didn't then the radial Goose could go around for another attempt. The turbo Goose often had to wait for the engines to cool down before the next attempt. As I was told it the overheating was due to them ingesting water. Water didn't faze the radials. I actually assisted in keeping them cool.

Or at least that is what I was told.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I hear you about recency bias. On the one hand, the arctic is really big, so having something bigger and faster than a Twin Otter would be nice.

On the other hand, there are very few aircraft that have the same rough field performance and the ability to operate with such a low logistical tail in such a harsh environment.

 

[McG]

A friend once worked on the CC150 fleet. Not a fan of politicians. And he was ashamed that our national leadership were travelling in something that, rather than being a flying Taj Mahal, was a clapped out old 1990s Winnebago without the sex appeal.

But at least the seats in the 1990s had more leg room.

 

[SeaKingTacco]

Doesn’t exist.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Doesn’t exist.

I know, but it could in a modern form. I have to wonder if there is a big enough market for a small airlifter like the Transall C-160 - Wikipedia