Flight 47: Nanisivik to Grise Fiord

Northward Bound in Admiralty Inlet

The next flight takes me well north of the Arctic Circle, to the northernmost civilian community in Canada:  Grise Fiord:

Located at the southern tip of Ellesmere Island, Grise Fiord is one of three permanent settlements on the island. Grise Fiord lies 1,160 km (720 mi) north of the Arctic Circle.

Grise Fiord is the northernmost civilian settlement in Canada,^[5] but Environment Canada has a permanent weather station (Eureka), and there is a permanent Canadian Forces Base (CFS Alert), that lie further north on the island.  Grise Fiord cradles the Arctic Cordillera mountain range.

Grise Fiord means "pig inlet" in Norwegian and was named by Otto Sverdrup from Norway during an expedition around 1900. He thought the walrus in the area sounded like pigs. Grise Fiord's Inuktitut name is Aujuittuq which means "place that never thaws."

There are no connecting roads on Ellesmere Island, so Grise Fiord is connected to the rest of the world by a small airstrip (Grise Fiord Airport) 1,670 feet (510 m) in length. It is one of the most difficult approaches for aircraft, and it is cautioned that only very experienced pilots and DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft attempt the approach.

Grise Fiord Airport (IATA: YGZ, ICAO: CYGZ) is located in Grise Fiord, Nunavut, Canada, and is operated by the Government of Nunavut. The only building at this airport is the Air Passenger Shelter and the companies that operate there are Air Nunavut using the Super King Air 200 and Kenn Borek Air using the DHC-6 Twin Otter planes. Flights to this airport are usually from Resolute and most of them only carry cargo with few to no passengers.

So, for this leg I am faced with a difficult approach.  This was interesting.  It was one of the more scenic and interesting routes I have taken in a quite a while.

Nanisivik Departure

This flight begins where the last one left off, at Nanisivik.  It has a gravel runway.  I fly at low altitude past Arctic Bay, but could not see the airport, perhaps because I did not load any scenery for it?



Society Cliffs to the East of Arctic Bay
 

I fly past the cliffs to the east of Arctic Bay.  However, they are not nearly as impressive in Flight Simulator as they are in real life:

Real World View of the Society Cliffs

After passing by the cliffs, I turned north towards Lancaster Sound, then  I flew over Devon Island and the Devon Ice Cap:



Over the Devon Ice Cap

Devon Island (Inuit: Tatlurutit)^[1] is the largest uninhabited island on Earth. It is located in Baffin Bay, Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is one of the larger members of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the second-largest of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, Canada's sixth largest island, and the 27th-largest island in the world. It comprises 55,247 km² (21,331 sq mi) (slightly smaller than Croatia) of Precambrian gneiss and Paleozoic siltstones and shales.^[2] The highest point is the Devon Ice Cap at 1,920 m (6,300 ft) which is part of the Arctic Cordillera. Devon Island contains several small mountain ranges, such as the Treuter Mountains, Haddington Range and the Cunningham Mountains.

Because of its relatively high elevation and its extreme northern latitude, it supports only a meagre population of musk oxen and small birds and mammals; the island does support hypolith communities. Animal life is concentrated in the Truelove Lowland area of the island, which has a favourable microclimate and supports relatively lush Arctic vegetation. Temperatures during the brief (40 to 55 days) growing season seldom exceed 10 °C (50 °F), and in winter can plunge to as low as −50 °C (−58 °F). With a polar desert ecology, Devon Island receives very little precipitation.

The Devon Island Research Station was established in 1960 and it is maintained by the Arctic Institute of North America. It is located in Truelove Lowland, on the northeast coast of Devon Island

 WikiMiniAtlas

75°40′N 84°35′W / 75.667°N 84.583°W/ 75.667; -84.583 (Devon Island Research Station).

The Devon Ice Cap is an ice cap on eastern Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada, covering an area of over 12,000 km² (4,600 sq mi). The highest point on Devon Island is found at the summit of the ice cap, with an elevation of 1,920 m (6,299 ft). The ice cap has a maximum thickness of 880 m (2,887 ft),^[2] and has been steadily shrinking since 1985.

Approaching Grise Fiord

And...Crash!  This really is a hard approach.  The TBM is probably not the best plane for it.  The runway is very short and it is hard to slow down in time.  I tried it three times, and the last time I came closer, but ran out of runway.  Probably a Twin Otter, or a Beaver would be a better choice for this one.

There are all those packages for dangerous and difficult approaches, but they have missed this one!

Flight 46: Hall Beach to Nanisivik

TBM850 at Nanisivik

I continue my northward trek with a flight from Hall Beach to Nanisivik in the TBM 850.

Nanisivik (translation for the place where people find things) was a company town which was built in 1975 to support the lead-zinc mining and mineral processing operations for the Nanisivik Mine, in production between 1976 and 2002. The townsite was located just inland from Strathcona Sound, about 20 km (12 mi) east of the community of Arctic Bay in the Canadian territory of Nunavut.
There is a port and dock about 3.7 km (2.3 mi) north of the former mine site which was used for shipping concentrate from the site, and receiving supplies.

 WikiMiniAtlas

 / 73.06889; -84.54917It is currently used by the Canadian Coast Guard for training.

Nanisivik Airport located 8 NM (15 km; 9.2 mi) south was used as the main airport for Arctic Bay until 2010 when the lengthened Arctic Bay Airport took over. The airport is about 19 km (12 mi) directly southeast of Arctic Bay but the road between them is 32 km (20 mi).

Nanisivik Airport (IATA: YSR, ICAO: CYSR) was located 8 nautical miles (15 km; 9.2 mi) south of Nanisivik, Nunavut, Canada, and was operated by the Government of Nunavut. Although Nanisivik Mine closed in September 2002 the airport was in operation until 2011 and served the community of Arctic Bay. This was due to the small size of Arctic Bay Airport.  However, on January 13, 2011, First Air transferred all scheduled air services to Arctic Bay's newly expanded airport.

The airport was about 19 km (12 mi) directly southeast of Arctic Bay but the road between them is 32 km (20 mi) and a one way taxi fare was $40.00.

This airport is alive and well in FSX because FSX predates these changes.  I am using some freeware addon scenery and will see how things look.

I left Hall Beach on a heading of 338 degrees.  Things at this latitude start getting wonky and will get worse as we get closer to the North Pole.

Flying Over the Fury and Hecla Strait
 

Fury and Hecla Strait is a narrow (from 2 to 20 km) channel of water located in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. Situated between Baffin Island to the north and the Melville Peninsula to the south, it connects Foxe Basin on the east with the Gulf of Boothia on the west.

Crossing the Strait takes us back over Baffin Island:

Baffin Island (Inuktitut:, Qikiqtaaluk IPA: [qikiqtaːluk], French: Île de Baffin or Terre de Baffin, Old Norse: Helluland), in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada and the fifth largest island in the world. Its area is 507,451 km² (195,928 sq mi) and its population is about 11,000 (2007 estimate).

In fact, most of the flight is over the desolate vastness that is Baffin Island.  There is not much here but miles and miles of snow and ice.  However, on the trip back south, I may head over to the dramatic mountains on the southeastern part of Baffin Island.

Toward the end of the flight, I do encounter some hills:

There is no radio navigation aids into the airport.  There are no charts.  I overfly the airport and then start the circuit in.  I land with no problems.



Flight 45: Repulse Bay to Hall Beach

TBM850 at Hall Beach

The next flight was uneventful:  Repulse Bay to Hall Beach

Hall Beach (Inuktitut: Sanirajak (the shoreline^[6]), Syllabics: ᓴᓂᕋᔭᒃ) is an Inuit settlement within the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada, approximately 69 km (43 mi) south of Igloolik.
It was established in 1957 during the construction of a Distant Early Warning (DEW) site. Currently the settlement is home to a North Warning System radar facility and the Hall Beach Airport. Canadian North and First Air provide air service to Igloolik, Iqaluit. 

Helicopter Transport Services

provides for the North Warning System contract.

Flight 44a: Iqaluit to Repulse Bay

TBM850 at Iqaluit

The last flight was such a disaster that I am going to redo it, but with a different plane and a different destination. I have not fixed the Cape Dorset Scenery, so I will move onto Repulse Bay.  Unfortunately, this just has the default scenery.

Naujaat (Inuktitut: literally "seagulls' nesting place"), known until 2 July 2015 as Repulse Bay, is an Inuit hamlet located on the shores of Hudson Bay, in the Kivalliq Region of Nunavut, Canada.  Repulse Bay is at the north end of Roes Welcome Sound which separates Southampton Island from the mainland. On the east side of Repulse Bay Frozen Strait leads east to Foxe Channel.

Repulse Bay Airport (IATA: YUT, ICAO: CYUT) is located at Naujaat, Nunavut, Canada, and is operated by the government of Nunavut.

Calm Air and Kivaliq air provide service to Churchill, Coal Harbor, Rankin Inlet, Thomson, and Winnipeg.

Flight 44: Iqaluit to Cape Dorset

Iqaluit Airport

The next flight takes us across the southern part of Baffin Island, to Cape Dorset:

Cape Dorset (Inuktitut: Kinngait (high mountain); Syllabics: is an Inuit hamlet located on Dorset Island near Foxe Peninsula at the southern tip of Baffin Island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. The Inuktitut name of the village means "high mountains".

Cape Dorset Airport (IATA: YTE, ICAO: CYTE) is located at Cape Dorset, Nunavut, Canada, and is operated by the Government of Nunavut.

Canadian North provides regular service to Iqaluit, while First Air provides service to Chesterfield Inlet, Coral Harbor, Iqaluit, and Rankin Inlet.


Arctic Tundra

Flying Over Baffin Island

Flying over Baffin Island, it becomes apparent that this is a cold and desolate part of the world.  It is also an area I have not travelled to in Flight Simulator, except maybe as part of a tubeliner at  35,000 feet as part of an Arctic crossing (which is always weird in Flight Simulator).
This Approach and landing was a disaster.  Nothing seemed to go right.  The weather was bad with low visibility.  The RNAV approach did not have me properly lined up with the runway.  The G1000 which comes with the aircraft is a hard to use piece of junk. It's hard to handfly the aircraft and maintain any degree of situational awareness.   Moreover, the documentation is minimal and not too helpful.  I might try to modify the plane to add the Mindstar G1000.  But even the default G1000 in FSX is better.



Cape Dorset - Trees and Autogen Everywhere

I was using FS9 scenery, and I had trees and autogen all over the airport.  I might see if there is conflicting scenery which I can disable.  I really don't know if it is worth the time and effort it will take to redo this airport for FSX;  probably not.

The FSD products are old products and substandard by other planes being released currently.  I think I may leave the Cirrus VLJ for another aircraft -- I have plenty to choose from.  But having a plane that does not work right is not much fun.

Flight 43: Goose Bay to Iqaluit

Cirrus VLJ at Goose Bay

I got tired of fighting the FSD Pilatus Porter, so I switched to another plane from FSD:  the Cirrus VLJ.  It is quite a change of pace.  In the picture above it is parked outside of the tower at Goose Bay.

It was still snowing outside and the airport was only allowing IFR flights.  I got clearance and headed out to Iqaluit.

Iqaluit (Inuktitut: ᐃᖃᓗᐃᑦ; [iqaːluit]) is the largest city and territorial capital of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. It was officially called Frobisher Bay until 1987, after the name of the bay on whose shore it is sited. Iqaluit is located on the south coast of Baffin Island at the head of Frobisher Bay. As of the 2011 census the population was 6,699, an increase of 8.3 percent from the 2006 census; it has the lowest population of any capital city in Canada.  Inhabitants of Iqaluit are called Iqalummiut (singular: Iqalummiuq).

Iqaluit is the smallest Canadian capital in terms of population and the only capital that is not connected to other settlements by a highway. Located on an island remote from the Canadian highway system, Iqaluit is generally only accessible by aircraft and, subject to ice conditions, by boat. Iqaluit Airport is a fully modern facility whose originally Second World War era runway is more than long enough for most classes of modern jet. Plans are underway to build a new, larger passenger terminal building north of the current terminal, which would also include a larger apron adjacent to the new terminal.

Iqaluit Airport (IATA: YFB, ICAO: CYFB) serves Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada and is located adjacent to the town. It is operated by the government of Nunavut. It hosts scheduled passenger service from Ottawa, Montreal, Rankin Inlet and Kuujjuaq on carriers such as First Air and Canadian North, and from smaller communities throughout eastern Nunavut. It is also used as a forward operating base by the CF-18 Hornet. In 2011, the terminal handled more than 120,000 passengers

Cirrus VLJ at Iqaluik

It was a long and uneventful flight.  Except that I really had not figured out how to work the G1000 which came with the Cirrus.  ATC, however, vectored me in, so I really did not need all of the approach capabilities of the G1000.

Flight 42: St. Anthony to Goose Bay

Porter at Flight Ontario's St. Andrews

There appears to be very little in the way of non-default scenery in Labrador, freeware or payware.  So, I'll just move onto Goose Bay:

Happy Valley-Goose Bay (Inuit: Vâli)^[1] is a Canadian town in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.  Located in the central part of Labrador, Happy Valley-Goose Bay is the largest population centre in that region. Incorporated in 1973, it comprises the former town of Happy Valley and the Local Improvement District of Goose Bay. Built on a large sandy plateau in 1941, the town is home to the largest military air base in northeastern North America, CFB Goose Bay.

Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay (IATA: YYR, ICAO: CYYR), commonly referred to as CFB Goose Bay, is a Canadian Forces Base located in the municipality of Happy Valley-Goose Bay in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is operated as an air force base by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Its primary RCAF lodger unit is 5 Wing, commonly referred to as 5 Wing Goose Bay.

The airfield at CFB Goose Bay is also used by civilian aircraft, with civilian operations at the base referring to the facility as Goose Bay Airport. The airport is classified as an airport of entry by Nav Canada and is staffed by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). CBSA officers at this airport can handle general aviation aircraft only, with no more than 15 passengers.

An increasing number of airlines (especially smaller range aircraft like the Boeing 757) have resorted to using Goose Bay for emergency fueling stops, especially common for trans-Atlantic flights impacted by a seasonally strong jet stream over the North Atlantic.^[18] The majority of civilian airliners using the airfield are not regularly scheduled airlines to this location.

Several airlines provide regular flights to and from Goose Bay.  Air Canada express offers flights to Deer Lake, Gander, Halifax, St. John's, Wabush.  Air Labrador offers flights to Black Tickle, Cartwright, Charlottetown, Fox Harbour, Hopedale, Makkovik, Mary's Harbour, Nain, Natuashish, Port Hope Simpson, Postville, Rigolet, St. Anthony, Williams Harbour.  Provincial Airlines operates flights to Blanc-Sablon, Churchill Falls, Deer Lake, St. John's, Wabush, Hopedale, Makkovik, Nain, Natuashish, Postville.  Pascan Airlines offers service to  Montréal-Saint-Hubert.  Exploits Valley Air Services provides seasonal flights to Gander and Iqaluit, which will be my next destination.

Porter at Goose Bay

After my last flight, I did find freeware scenery for both St. Anthony and Goose Bay at Flight Ontario (http://flightontario.com/dl_fs9.html)  This scenery was designed for FS9, but reportedly works in FSX.  http://forum.mutleyshangar.com/index.php/topic/5193-goose-bay-scenery/  For this flight I installed both sceneries.

The Porter is remarkably slow.  I had a pretty strong cross wind most of the way.  My speed was generally around 60 knots.  So it took me about three hours to travel the 160 or so miles.

The plane is still pretty wonky, especially during taxiing.  It actually taxis sideways!  I can attribute some of this to strong winds, but this seems a little excessive. I may try another plane during the next leg -- On to Iqaluit!

Flight 41: Deer Lake to St. Anthony

Porter at St. Anthony

After switching to a more traditional bush plane, the Pilatus PC6, I left Deer Lake amidst the same blizzard I encountered on the way in from Gander.  Perhaps it would have made more sense to wait for the snowfall to end?

St. Anthony is a town on the northern reaches of the Great Northern Peninsula of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. St. Anthony serves as a main service centre for northern Newfoundland and southern Labrador. St. Anthony and surrounding area has an approximate population of 4,330.^[1] The population of the town itself was 2,418 in 2011, compared with 2,476 in 2006 and 2,730 in 2001.

St. Anthony is a popular tourist destination known for it's whale watching

St. Anthony Airport (IATA: YAY, ICAO: CYAY) is located 19 nautical miles (35 km; 22 mi) west northwest of St. Anthony, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

The airport is served by Air Labrador and Provincial Airlines with flights to Black Tickle, Cartwright, Charlottetown (NL), Fox Harbour, Goose Bay, Mary's Harbour, Port Hope Simpson, Williams Harbour, Blanc-Sablon, CFB Goose Bay, St. John's, and Wabush

Victor route V381 connects these two airports, so it is pretty much a straight flight.  At 5500 feet, I am above the clouds.  My first two attempts at landing failed because I did not see the runway soon enough so I flew over the airport.  My third attempt was successful.  But this really was not VFR weather.  St. Anthony did not have an ILS approach, however.

I used the default scenery, which was not too great.  But given the snow, I would not have really seen all that much with nicer scenery.

The Pilatus PC6 by FSD International was something of a disappointment.  It did not taxi nicely.  Instead, if I gave it enough throttle to move, it would raise up, then drop down.  It did this repeatedly.  It's response when hand flown was sluggish.

FSD had a half price sale on this plane.  I got the full package with wheels, skis and floats.  All in all, it cost about $12.00.  At about $4.00 per plane, I got what I paid for.  However, I would not recommend paying full price for this addon.  I eagerly await the Aerosoft Pilatus PC6.

I might try a couple more flights with this, but will probably move onto another plane fairly quickly.

A switch of planes

Pilatus at Deer Lake

After 40 flights, it seems appropriate to switch planes.  The Realair Tubo Duke, or at least my Realair Turbo Duke has some problems:

1.  The panel lights do not work correctly.
2.  I cannot get a reading from the Bendix (autopilot and radio) devises.  They just don't light up.

I just purchased the Pilatus 6 from Flightsim Designs.  They were selling their plains for half price, so I thought I would get a couple while on sale.  Moreover, their planes are being sold for half price until the end of the week.  So it was a good  time to add to my hanger, at a good price.

Plus I am in Bush pilot territory, and have been so for a while.  A bush plane makes sense for Labrador and maybe even Greenland.

Flight 40: Gander to Deer Lake

Turbo duke at Gander Terminal

This is the big 40!

As the title suggests, Around the World in 80 Flights, gives one an itinerary which will take the pretend pilot around the world in 80 flights.  I am at flight 40, half that number, and I have not even left North America, yet.  In fact, I plan to stick around in North America a while yet.  For example, I am planning on flying north into Labrador, before cutting across to Greenland, where I will make at least four stops.  While I am up there, I might run a few of the Dew Line Missions from Rolling Cumulus Software;  I am still undecided on that.

At the tail end of my tour, I will hit North America again, after I cross the Pacific and work my way back home.  The West Coast has all of those wonderful Orbx sceneries, so that could take a while.

Clearly, I am not going to get around the world in 80 flights!

Anyway, flight 40 starts at Gander, where flight 39 left off, and we travel to Deer Lake, the last of the Simaddon sceneries which I will use for the North American part of the flight (at least until I get to the Pacific Coast.)

Deer Lake Arrival

Now, about Deer Lake, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Deer Lake is a Canadian town in the western part of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.  The town derives its name from Deer Lake and is situated at the outlet of the upper Humber River at the northeastern end of the lake.

The town is located in Division No. 5 and is the gateway to the Great Northern Peninsula, owing to an important highway interchange on the Trans-Canada Highway. It is the closest major community to Gros Morne National Park and is home to the Deer Lake Regional Airport.

A hydroelectric plant was established on the Humber River in 1925 to provide electricity to a pulp and paper paper mill in Corner Brook

Deer Lake offers accommodation for tourists as well as restaurants, supermarkets, convenience stores and gas stations. There is a stadium and a swimming pool in Hodder Memorial Recreational Complex. St. Paul's United Church, a wooden church dating from 1955 and the modern Salvation Army building are worth a visit. The Main Street offers a scenic view of the lake.

Deer Lake's population is a  hair under 5,000 people.

Deer Lake Regional Airport (IATA: YDF, ICAO: CYDF) is located 3 nautical miles (5.6 km; 3.5 mi) north northeast of Deer Lake, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It is currently run by the Deer Lake Regional Airport Authority and is the closest airport to the Gros Morne National Park.

The airport is served by Air Canada, Air Canada Express, Provincial Airlines, Simwings, WestJet and WestJet Encore.  Destinations include, Halifax, Toronto, Gander, Goose Bay, St. John's, Wabush and Stephensville.  There are summer charters to Orlando, Punta Cana,  and Varadero.  So if one wants some unusual tubeliner flights, this would be a unique departure or destination.

Turbo Duke at Deer Lake Terminal

The flight started in a snowstorm in Gander.  After departing from runway 31, I quickly climbed to 7,000 feet -- there was not going to be much viewing in today's weather, so it made sense to get above the storm.

It was snowing hard at Deer Lake and visibility was close to zero.  I did an ILS approach on runway 25, and actually saw the runway seconds before I touched down.

Flight 39: St. John's International to Gander (CYQX)

Turbo Duke at St. John's International Parking

 



The next leg of my journey took me to Gander.  This means heading northwest from St. John's International.

Gander is a Canadian town located in the northeastern part of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) south of Gander Bay, 100 km (62 mi) south of Twillingate and 90 km (56 mi) east of Grand Falls-Windsor. Located on the northeastern shore of Gander Lake, it is the site of Gander International Airport, formerly an important refueling point for transatlantic aircraft, and presently a preferred stopping point for transatlantic aircraft that need to land because of on-board medical or security emergencies.

Gander was chosen for the construction of an airport in 1935 because of its location close to the northeast tip of the North American continent.  Gander is near the great circle route between cities of the U.S. East Coast and London. Starting in the 1940s it was a refueling stop for transatlantic flights to Scotland, Ireland and beyond, and continued in this role through the early 1960s.

Officials at Gander International Airport have stated that the future for the airport is grim unless the federal government provides funding to cover costs. Over 50% of all aircraft operating from the air field are military, and do not pay landing fees.  However, domestic passenger traffic increased by over seven percent in 2006, while weekly cargo flights from Iceland show some promise of expansion.

In April 2014, Gander Airport Authority decided on plans to abandon the existing terminal building due to high operating costs and replace it with a new terminal a quarter of the size. The fate of the old building is uncertain. The terminal, which was built in the 1950s and has drawn continuing worldwide interest for its modernist design, has been recognized by other Canadian institutions as a valuable piece of heritage architecture and has many of its original furnishings and fixtures still intact.

Turbo Duke at Gander Airport

The St. John's scenery was produced by Simaddons and appears as an expansion to their Halifax base pack, along with Moncton (Flights 30 and 31) and Deer Lake (which will be the destination in my next flight).

Although I have the Gander scenery from the VFR Shortfields of Newfoundland, I did not use it because reviewers gave it low marks and because it is difficult to install.  This addon, to be quite frank, is a piece of crap, and I would not recommend its purchase.

Instead, Gander is one of Orbyx's freeware global airports, and that is the version which I used for this flight.  I have also used Orbyx global freeware airports for Mountain Air (flights 16, 16a, and 17), Nantucket (flights 24 and 25), Martha's Vineyard (flights 25 and 26), and Bangor (flights 28 and 29).

Flight 38: Stephenville to St. John's Newfoundland

Newfoundland:  Cold and Desolate

The next flight takes us from the west coast of Newfoundland to the east coast, to the St. John's airport.  Before getting into flight simulation, I did not realize that there are two St. Johns in the maritime provinces:  one in New Brunswick and the second in Newfoundland.  During my worldwide tour, I visited both of them.

Approaching St. John's International Airport

St. John's (/ˌseɪntˈdʒɒnz/, local /ˌseɪntˈdʒɑːnz/) is the capital and largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. St. John's was incorporated as a city in 1888, yet is considered by some to be the oldest English-founded city in North America.  It is located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland.  With a population of 214,285 as of July 1, 2015, the St. John's Metropolitan Area is the second largest Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) in Atlantic Canada after Halifax and the 20th largest metropolitan area in Canada. It is one of the world's top ten oceanside destinations, according to National Geographic Magazine. Its name has been attributed to the feast day of John the Baptist, when John Cabot was believed to have sailed into the harbour in 1497, and also to a Basque fishing town with the same name.

St. John's International Airport (IATA: YYT, ICAO: CYYT) is in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It is an international airport located 3 nautical miles (5.6 km; 3.5 mi) northwest of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador that serves the St. John's Metro Area and the Avalon Peninsula. The airport is part of the National Airports System, and is operated by St. John's International Airport Authority Inc.

In 2011, roughly 1,400,000 passengers travelled through the airport making it the second busiest airport in Atlantic Canada in passenger volume. Regular destinations include Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, as well as destinations throughout the province. International locations include Dublin, London, New York City, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Glasgow and Varadero. Scheduled service providers include Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz, Air Saint-Pierre, Air Transat, United Airlines, Porter Airlines, Provincial Airlines, Sunwing Airlines and WestJet.

St. John's International Airport

I flew this leg at an altitude of 3000, which was below the cloud layer and also below the minimum safe altitude. :o  The route was direct from Stephensville.  ATC directed me to runway 16.

For this flight I was trying to use the Stephensville scenery which appeared in the VFR Short Fields of Newfoundland package, but this scenery did not install properly, so I ended up with the default airport.  I really don't like screwing around with ill behaved addons, so I did not mess with it.  However, I cannot recommend this product since it does not install easily or correctly.

The St. John's scenery was produced by Simaddons, and worked without problems.

Flight 37: Sydney to Stephenville

Turbo Duke at Stephenville Newfoundland (CYJT)

The morning finds us leaving Sydney, and Nova Scotia, for the shores of Newfoundland.  There are not many airfields in Newfoundland, and I will be visiting most of them.  My first stop will be in Stephenville:

Stephenville (Canada 2011 Census population 6,719) is a Canadian town in Newfoundland and Labrador on the west coast of the island of Newfoundland.  The town functions as a local service centre for the southwestern part of the island, serving a direct population of 25,000 people from surrounding areas and over 90,000 people along the entire west coast of the island.
Stephenville has a modern 40-bed hospital (built in 2003), schools, stores, banks and government institutions. The provincial community college system, College of the North Atlantic, is headquartered in Stephenville and maintains a campus there for students from the southwestern region of the island. A provincial minimum security jail is also located in the town.

The Stephenville International Airport, formerly Ernest Harmon AFB, serves the entire west coast of the island - a catchment population of 90,000 people from Port aux Basques to St. Anthony, currently offering intraprovincial flights with Provincial Airlines, weekly summer air service is offered to Toronto with Sunwing Airlines, twice weekly international flights are offered to Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, France in February, June and August with Air Saint Pierre, weekly flights to Halifax, Ottawa and Toronto with Porter Airlines connecting to its network in Canada and the U.S.A. As well, Stephenville Airport is an international port of entry airport; the airport is the alternate refueling airport to Gander International.

It was built by the United States Air Force and operated as Ernest Harmon Air Force Base from 1941-1966.  In 1941 the United States obtained rights to construct a United States Army Air Forces base in the St. George's Bay area of Newfoundland. The U.S. 76th Congress approved the 99-year lease and in April 1941, construction began.  The mandate of the base was to maintain a tanker alert force and its capability to meet and refuel Strategic Air Command jet bombers en route to targets. The Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter was employed in this task.

Most of today's flight was over water:  the Cabot Strait.  Stephenville has one ILS runway, runway 27.  The weather was overcast, and I flew to an altitude of 12,000 feet to get over the clouds.  (Most of this trip has been at lower altitudes, typically 2000 feet above ground level, so I can actually see what I am flying over.)

The Sydney scenery is produced by Simaddons and is found in the Halifax base pack.

I was going to use the Stephenville scenery which appears in the VFR Shortfields of Newfoundland addon, but it did not install correctly into Flight Simulator, so I ended up getting the default scenery instead.  The installer for this package is not very good.  First it wants to install into the default directory for Microsoft Flight Simulator, which I don't use because it causes problems.