Ice Pilots NWT - Season II

[albertdesalvo]

I'm another who has a big plasma screen and almost never watches it, but sometimes there's something worthwhile to see. Case in point, on the weekend the National Geographic HD channel aired the six-part documentary "Apocalypse - The Second World War" and it was stunning. The Oasis HD channel is also pretty good.

[W5]

Join Calgary Herald reporter Eric Volmers as he joins History Television’s Ice Pilots for a flight

Short video: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Pil ... z1AfcbYY5J

[W5]

Reality show really is real -- 'it's the way it is'


Ice Pilots so ready-made for TV, it never requires embellishment


Read more: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/entertai ... z1AfksJuop


By Eric Volmers, Calgary Herald; Postmedia News January 10, 2011

It's nearing the end of a dinner party on a frosty December night in Hay River, N.W.T., when Buffalo Joe McBryan addresses a small group of journalists sitting at his family's table.

After an evening of storytelling, bad jokes, reminiscing and general pontificating about the nature of the north, the former bush pilot turned millionaire airline owner turned reluctant reality-TV star is looking for some straight answers.

"You never did answer my question," he says, looking us all over. "What are you going to write?"

Awkward silence, or any sort of silence, is rare at gatherings of the McBryan clan, the lively family at the centre of History Television's Ice Pilots NWT.

But "Buffalo Joe's" query leads to a brief spell of dead air, followed by some stumbling responses from the gathered TV scribes about how we plan to shape the day's whirlwind tour of his Buffalo Airways hangar and its fleet of vintage Second World War planes into a preview for Season 2.
R
By mid-December, a six-person crew was already deep into capturing some swashbuckling adventures at Buffalo Airways for Season 3. The show's tag line -- "the last of the true Arctic aviators, flying vintage airplanes on impossible jobs in a merciless place" -- may sound borderline hyperbolic, but it's a more or less accurate description.

The Ice Pilots' depiction of airline owner and family patriarch Joe as gruff, stubborn, controlling and not one to suffer fools gladly also seems more or less accurate. But his query about how we are going to cover his show doesn't seem to be about control. It seems based on legitimate confusion about why this small team of journalists would want to travel to Yellowknife and spend time with his family. Buffalo Joe may arguably be the star ice pilot, but he seems refreshingly oblivious to the publicity machinery used to promote TV shows. Press tours seem particularly alien to him. When congratulated about Ice Pilots being picked up for a third season, he's quick to to deflect any praise

"It's got nothing to do with me," he says.

This, of course, is not true. But as integral as he is to the show, he comes off as little more than mildly amused by its success.

"He watches it," says Mikey McBryan, Joe's entrepreneurial youngest son and Buffalo's general manager. "He picks out the stupidest things: 'Why was the frost fighter left outside ...?' He's such a stress junkie, everything is so normal to him. It's just like watching your aunt's slide show of her vacation. That's what it is to him. That's what makes it real, too, is that he really doesn't care all that much about the show." Making it real is key to the success of Ice Pilots. Executive producer and show creator David Gullason, in fact, dislikes the term "reality TV" because of its association with the American strain of the genre, which often offers shows that bear little resemblance to reality

In 2007, the Vancouver-based producer was reading a newspaper article over breakfast about the McBryan clan and their adventures in the north when it occurred to him that he had stumbled onto a winning premise.

"I thought 'Why hasn't anyone done this already?' " he says. "It just had the ingredients for a great TV series and a great story. Here's a small, family-run airline that runs Second World War planes in the toughest conditions in the country. It's run by a bunch of northerners who are eclectic and interesting. And I thought it was ready-made for a great TV show."

So ready-made, in fact, that it never requires embellishment. Nothing about the show is manufactured, Gullason says. Watching the young pilots battle the elements while delivering essential supplies to remote communities has delighted aviation buffs, while other viewers appear to delight in witnessing the day-to-day misadventures and dynamics of the McBryan family and their airline staff. The show's 2009 debut attracted 459,000 viewers. This was the highest ratings ever for a Canadian series debut on the History Television.

The second season will again mix family dynamics with aviation adventure. On Wednesday night's season opener, the drama revolves around Buffalo's hotshot pilot Justin Simle and his less-than-triumphant mission to deliver a 3,636-kilogram generator to an arctic outpost.

He chooses to carry extra fuel rather than appropriate heating equipment. This eventually leaves the engines on the massive DC-4 frozen solid and its crew stranded on an icy runway. It also puts the mission, not to mention any chance of profit, at risk.

As with most documentaries, the subjects do not get to choose what does or doesn't go to air. But Simle says having Canada watch his disastrous mission, and its withering post-mortem overseen by his cantankerous boss, is all part of the reality TV experience.

"It all went down like that," says the 30-year-old Vancouver native, chatting with journalists in the cockpit of that same DC-4, which is now safely stored in Buffalo's massive Yellowknife hangar. "That's just the way it goes. It's reality TV and you have to respect that. If they only showed the good stuff, it wouldn't be much of a reality show. It's the way it is."

- - -

Television Preview

ICE PILOTS NWT SEASON 2 PREMIERE

Time and channel: Wednesday at 9 p.m. on History

ead more: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/entertai ... z1AfkgUkPn

[canwhitewolf]

Flying Wild Alaska is only seen in the usa it seems

[Human Factor]

Panties "Buffalo Style" $20.00

Hey Ladies, these are just for you.

Buffalo Air's custom American Apparel's Cotton Spandex Jersey Boy Brief in Kelly Green.

-Cotton/Spandex Jersey (95% Cotton / 5% Elastane)
-Elastic waistband
-Elastic trim
-Matching front panel
-Form-fitting

Also remember that a wider selection of items can be purchased at the Buffalo Airways Hangar in Yellowknife & at Monster Recreational Products in Hay River, NT Canada.

Sold Out

GIGGITY!

[Meatservo]

I like the show, but I can't help feeling slighted by the line "the last of the true arctic aviators". THere are still lots of arctic aviators, and I might agree that men from a bygone generation could be said to be "the last" of something, the young fellers humping pop'n'chips'pampers to Deline are not by any means the only people doing a tough job in aeroplanes in the Arctic. They deserve their time in the sun for having the guts to fly those old pounders (I am ALMOST old enough to remember when everyone flew those things, and the guys who scored a turbine gig were considered lucky) out there in the cold, but there are still plenty of guys way further north who labour away day in and day out without the luxury of runways, terminal buildings, or accommodations if things go wrong.

It's OK for reporters to refer to the Buffalo brothers as "the last of the true arctic aviators" but let's not hear the Buffalo brothers fall for believing it.

[modi13]

I like the show, but I can't help feeling slighted by the line "the last of the true arctic aviators". THere are still lots of arctic aviators, and I might agree that men from a bygone generation could be said to be "the last" of something, the young fellers humping pop'n'chips'pampers to Deline are not by any means the only people doing a tough job in aeroplanes in the Arctic. They deserve their time in the sun for having the guts to fly those old pounders (I am ALMOST old enough to remember when everyone flew those things, and the guys who scored a turbine gig were considered lucky) out there in the cold, but there are still plenty of guys way further north who labour away day in and day out without the luxury of runways, terminal buildings, or accommodations if things go wrong.

It's OK for reporters to refer to the Buffalo brothers as "the last of the true arctic aviators" but let's not hear the Buffalo brothers fall for believing it.

Amen. Yellowknife doesn't feel that far north when you're in Resolute, and there are plenty of companies that do actual work on the ice.

[Cat Driver]

When NWTA operated their Dc3's in Yellowknife they used wheel skis and did a lot of off airport operations, do the ice pilots do wheel ski flying?

[howard40]

Yep but to most of the 450,000 folks that have watched it , timmins!, yellowknife and resolute are in the same place... up north LOL

[KAG]

Watching this show makes me appreciate my time flying around up there that much more...Especially in a turbine

[I WAS Birddog]

The show needs a trip down to Florida where the pilots accidentally stumble onto the set of the filming of " Girls gone Wild ".
Then watch the ratings soar!!!