Buffalo Air

During the daylight hours, when Aurora wasn't visible, we explored Yellowknife. This photos in this collage were taken at the Buffalo Air hanger. If you have ever seen the reality series Ice Pilots, this is where it was filmed. The show aired on History Channel in Canada, and National Geographic Channel in the UK and the US. I think it aired in Australia as well but I'm not sure on which channel. Presently it can be seen on YouTube. Buffalo Air flies cargo all over the Northwest Territories and is a lifeline for many small remote communities. As you can imagine, the pilots are often flying in extreme weather. To make things even more difficult they are flying WW II era DC 3's and Lockheed Electra's from the 1950's. They also fly water bombers to help fight fires in the summer and float planes which land on lakes in the summer and, when fitted with skis, land on frozen lakes in the winter.

The photos in the collage are mine, the Ice Pilots logo I stole from the internet. Clockwise from top left: Cessna float plane, DC 3 (one of six that they fly), Lockheed Electra (one of 8), DC 3 engine, DC 3 being prepped for flight, DC 3 no longer in service. Center: the hanger door.

[Diana]

A wonderful collage and fascinating narrative.

[Dawn]

A fabulous collage

[Brian]

Bravo. A collage for the archives. Great narrative. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[Bucktree]

Excellent collage and narrative. I always loved the look of the DC 3. I learned to fly in a tail dragger, a Citabria, which is much smaller of course.

[Nigel Rogers]

Thanks for the really interesting story, seems a great place to visit.

[Kathy]

Good look at these planes with history.