Ice Pilots Stranded In Iqaluit

Images copyright - Ron Wassink

 Captain Devan Brooks, left, and First Officer Ian

Bottomley, Buffalo Airways pilots, stranded

in Iqaluit.

 View from the tail of the 1944 C46A

 The Buffalo Airways C46A taxis onto the ramp at the 

Iqaluit airport, after aborting a flight to a community
north of Iqaluit.

 The Curtiss-Wright C46A was built in 1944.

Orange engine covers protect the engines against

cold temperatures and are removed before flight.

Buffalo symbol on the tail. Photo was taken on an

angle as I had to shoot through a chain link fence.

Ice Pilots (featuring Buffalo Airways Ltd.) is a popular History Television reality show that has a huge following.

We had a surprise visit from two of Buffalo Joe's Ice Pilots over the weekend. Captain Devan Brooks and F.O. Ian Bottomley, pilots with Buffalo Airways Ltd., of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, had an extended stopover in Iqaluit, Nunavut, due to weather. They were en route from Yellowknife to deliver a large generator to Quiqitarjuaq. They attempted to continue their flight during the noon-hour on Sunday, Mar. 6, but were forced to return to the Iqaluit airport due to bad weather.

UPDATE: The generator was delivered to the power plant in Quiqitarjuaq on Monday. The Ice Pilots returned to Iqaluit, and will return to Yellowknife on Tuesday. The flight and generator delivery was filmed by a production crew. It will be televised in season three.

The aircraft they're flying is much larger than the DC-3 that viewers regularly see on Ice Pilots. The C46A Curtiss-Wright was built in 1944. It has two radial piston engines and has a maximum takeoff weight of 21,772 kgs.

Check out Ice Pilots. I watch it every week. But, seeing one of Buffalo's unique green birds up close was an unexpected and most welcome treat.