Churchill Manitoba

[onceacop]

Returned from a 2200 mile flight in a C90 powered Champ. Thanks for the input by several of you here. Was a truly special adventure in my logbook. Averaged 74 mph and burned about 170 gallons of fuel. Weather was snotty at times and I might add the Edo 1400's are not a good choice for the big country/big water up there. Here are a few pictures one of the other pilots took with his good camera. You pilots flying this type of landscape day in day out are blessed. The job may get old at times but count yourself very fortunate.

[ski_bum]

Nice photo's! Sounds like an amazing adventure

[Boss Hawg]

Those photos are very well done, thanks for sharing. Looks like a great adventure all round.

[Mark_space]

Simply Awesome....

[Character]

Hey Onceacop thanks for sharing. Those are some terrific pictures.

[North Shore]

Cool trip! Did you stop at York Factory, or fly on by? A fair bit of Canadian history there...

[Vickers vanguard]

excellent pictures.........could you share your routing with us.....places you visited.

[neechi]

fantastic pics....was that shipwreck the one by york factory? there used to be a peer leading out to it but its been years since i was there.

[Cat Driver]

Yah, and please let us know where some of those structures are...we can figure out the animals..

[onceacop]

I departed northern MN on Aug 1st and cleared customs at Sand Point just north of Crane Lake MN. Flew to Red Lake Ontario 264 miles, then to Gillam Manitoba 370 miles. I stopped at Gods Lake enroute to Gillam to fuel from my jugs. I carried a total of 42 gallons for a 7 hour range when I left Greens at Howy Bay in Red.. From Gillam it's 170 or so miles to Churchill. We stayed at the Lazy Bear lodge there. Very nice and they let us use a van for a minimal fee. Take in the musuems, the whale tour, see the Price of Whales fort. The trip down the coast to York Factory (160 miles) should be saved for a nice weather day. We were lucky. Saw 60 Polar bears in 2 hours. From maybe mile 30 south of Churchill to 30 miles north of Port Nelson. I tried to land there and explore the ghost town but was freaked out by the tides and there seemed to be too many hazards and unknowns. Landed at YOrk Factory and tied to buoys at the Silver Goose cabins east of York a 1/4 mile. Left slack rope for the tide swing. Got a boat ride to shore and the 3 planes on wheels, 2 cubs and a Cessna 140 landed on the Island and got a boat ride across. The strip is in poor shape but Pat at Gillam Air is flying a Islander in there weekly. Nice tour of York. Incredible cemetary. Nice staff from Parks Canada. Thumbs up to you Canadians for preserving the history. York Factory will brand your wooden paddle if you have one. Mine was plastic and I tried to trade it with the natives at the goose camp. No dice. Plastic sucks in the bush they say!!!No trade whiteman!!!! Glad I could see it before it's all gone. Flew mostly direct routes. I'll say this. The benefit of floats vs. wheels is a coin flip. Low along the coast there are eskers to land on. At low tide you might as well land on the moon. I had few to no options at times the wheeled guys were able to land. The winds play havoc with the light float airplanes. My worries began when I landed and the wheeled a/c worries were over at touchdown. Docks are in terrible shape at Churchill.

[Inverted2]

Wow, that looks like an awesome trip! Always wanted to see that old fort at York Factory.

[Inverted2]

Wow, that looks like an awesome trip! Always wanted to see that old fort at York Factory.

[gapper]

Great job onceacop. That just goes to show what can be done with a little bit of horsepower and good judgment. What next...how about South America NORDO!!!

[Four1oh]

if my memories serve, that shipwreck is just east of churchill, about 7 or 8 nm, not far from the old radar site.

[onceacop]

Yep it's the Ithaca, not far out of Churchill. There were several other wrecks way farther south. Much smaller ships and right close to Port Nelson. Many seals down there but way fewer whales than the mouth of the Churchill river.

[Freeride]

Great post, nice pics. York Factory is my favorite place in the province too.

[U/S]

Sweet pics. Thats what its all about. I think we all need to realize that every once in a while. All the BS stops when the wheels leave the ground.

[Go Guns]

Very Cool!

[bigfssguy]

I was working FSS the day you came in. SOunds like a great trip!

[onceacop]

Hey bigfssguy,
Thanks for putting up with us cowboys. Flight of three, flight of five, and all that crap.

[Zapp Brannigan]

Very cool, thanks for posting! What is the fort in the second pic? Looks almost modern.

Me not so good at canadian history, was York Factor the first outpost in the north for the HBC or something?

[Lurch]

Very cool, thanks for posting! What is the fort in the second pic? Looks almost modern.

Me not so good at canadian history, was York Factor the first outpost in the north for the HBC or something?

I feel embarrassed I had to google it

http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/mb/yorkfact ... ours_e.asp

[bigfssguy]

Hey bigfssguy,
Thanks for putting up with us cowboys. Flight of three, flight of five, and all that crap.

Ya i always love that,
A/C = "churchill Radio N948237 flight of three inbound for landing"
FSS = "Roger, are you all together?"
A/C = "no the second aircraft is approx 10nm behind and the third is about the same behind the second"
FSS = "okay i'll need you all to report for advisories seperately"


I'm curious onceacop is this a normal thing in the US? When i hear formation flight i usually just ask if your all together if they are, great, if not i just ask them to report seperatley. It's not a big deal, it's just that we only ever run into it with americans? Do you do this often down in the US. the reason i ask is that if there is a flight of 3 or 4 planes strung over 30-40 miles traffic can possibly be different for each aircraft. Thats why i always ask groups to report seperatley so i can tailor my advisory to each aircraft. I'm just curious is all!

[onceacop]

It's a pretty common thing for pilots I fly with and especially on trips into the bush or up to AK where everyone is grouped. On the day inbound to Churchill the other planes were looking at a black wolf and I've seen plenty so I continued on to see the Fort. Then they trailed off to land without making the mouth of the river. In your shoes I would think it a hassle. Is there enough space to land an inbound from Calm Air? How far are you guys strung out? Can you see the a/c ahead of you. Sounds funny but it really isn't very funny when a scheduled charter is circling for a string of puddle jumpers redlined inbound at 100 mph. Ask one question and get three different answers.

[Dark Helmet]

Ahh good old "Ithica" and the "Fort" Awesome Pics onceacop. Did you get a pic of "Miss Piggy"?