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!