Page 2 of 5
Re: To the North !
Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 5:00 pm
by just curious
Most of 'em
Re: To the North !
Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 5:36 pm
by Siddley Hawker
Good luck digits. The old timers used to say that the weather that came in with the full moon usually stayed around for a week or ten days, soooo..

Re: To the North !
Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 6:07 pm
by digits_
Siddley Hawker wrote:Good luck digits. The old timers used to say that the weather that came in with the full moon usually stayed around for a week or ten days, soooo..

Hehe, it shouldn't stay, it should move up north with me !

Re: To the North !
Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 9:48 pm
by Snowroller
Should be no problem to see the sun & moon that far north now,too bad I'm not up at YUX now,might be able to "sneak ya some 100 LL that's been lying around not far from the airport bldg in sealed drums the last 3 years for a former beaver that was there..
Re: To the North !
Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 9:36 am
by hartley
This guy is doing good, up and at it in good time this morning
Re: To the North !
Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 12:02 pm
by benoit.baril
Keep on the safe flying and post pics (or it did not happen

)!
Ben / part of your flight following task force
Re: To the North !
Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 4:27 pm
by Rudder Bug
benoit.baril wrote:Keep on the safe flying and post pics (or it did not happen

)!
Ben / part of your flight following task force
I missed his day cause I was busy flying but I see him down in Resolute. I normally follow-up, check his weather, ready to jump on the phone if anything doesn't look good.
All of us, along with his flight plan, could help in the event something goes wrong. The Spot device won't show the polar bears eating him but we'll know he got in trouble just a few hours later.
The weather seems to be cooperating so far, I hope it stays like that until Eureka.
RB
Re: To the North !
Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 4:39 pm
by digits_
Hello all,
first of all, I forgot the spot in the plane, and it's still on, so it will be transmitting all night. Nonetheless, i'm safely in Resolute Bay.
The weather was cooperating, but caused some scary moments. According to the charts, the freezing level was at FL100, so I felt pretty safe at 6000 ft flying through some clouds. Untill I checked the leading edges of the wings

My first ice! Descending wasn't an option since I heard from Taloyoak the ceiling was at around 1000 ft, and terrain went as high as 1900 on the maps. After 10 minutes of climbing very slowly, I got in the sunlight and the ice vaporized.
Very interesting day, 7.30 hours on the clock. I'm in south camp inn, room 33 if any of you are in Resolute. Going for a little walk later this evening though, so if you see a wandering tourist with a camera, say hi
Regards,
Digits
Re: To the North !
Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 5:01 pm
by Rudder Bug
Digits,
You are doing a good job; this is keeping me hung up on my lap top. Can't you stay weathered in for a few days somewhere, eating raw fish and drinking warm caribou blood with your future wife so I can take a day off?
We are looking at a steep learning curve aren't we?
Cheers
RB
Re: To the North !
Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 5:08 pm
by digits_
Rudder Bug wrote:
You are doing a good job; this is keeping me hung up on my lap top. Can't you stay weathered in for a few days somewhere, eating raw fish and drinking warm caribou blood with your future wife so I can take a day off?
If you make it Sushi, can find a girl of my age in this 95% male population somewhere, and if I can drink fresh melted ice water instead of blood, we can talk about it!
Re: To the North !
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 5:52 am
by digits_
I'm off to Eureka today. First some refuelling, then take off around noon I expect.
Re: To the North !
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 3:01 pm
by SAR_YQQ
Looks like he made it. Internet is very sketchy to come by up there - unless he can convince the military or the weather station to log him in.
Re: To the North !
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 3:09 pm
by SAR_YQQ
Just talked to the military guys in Eureka - I can confirm that there is a Cessna on the ground there. They will make an attempt to contact him on our behalf.
Re: To the North !
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 4:33 pm
by Rudder Bug
The last signal I saw was about 15 minutes back, it was 16:07 Atlantic time. We've lost him for a couple hours when he was flying over the sea. That's Globalstar.
The wx seemed ok on the GFA's but could have been sketchy or iffy in the real life in a tiny, fledgling 172. I am confident he made it and he is in a safe place, all in one piece.
We'll hear from him soon.
RB
Re: To the North !
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 6:02 pm
by SAR_YQQ
Rudder Bug wrote:We'll hear from him soon.
Don't be surprised if we don't hear from him tonight. He said that he wasn't going to stay at the weather station - which would have the only real open source of internet. I imagine that he is probably curled up at the bar in the military mess hall.
Re: To the North !
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 6:36 pm
by digits_
Good evening all. I am not staying in the weather station, but they let me use their internet connection. Made it without any problems today, except that my plane wasnt loaded very well, so had to give quite a lot of rudder input during the 4 hour flight. Ill drop by the military outpost this evening, forgot about that, the refuelling took quite a while.
Thanks for following up on me, tomorrow we make a local flight up north, youll see on the spot, if it works

Re: To the North !
Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 11:14 am
by Siddley Hawker
ESN :
0-8085854
Type :
Track Progress
Latitude : 83.98137
Longitude : 85.92325
Time : July-17-11 1:42:05 PM
Good Lord, he's off to visit Santa Claus!

Re: To the North !
Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 1:13 pm
by just curious
While I admit to being dubious about the whole project, he's managed to get further north than 99.9 % of Canadian pilots will ever manage in their lifetimes.
Gotta give him an "A" for effort!
Re: To the North !
Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 4:03 pm
by Rudder Bug
He has been planning it thoroughly and carefully since last winter, paid attention to every detail, asked the people who know. I could sleep like a rock in the back of an aircraft at his command.
Can't wait to see his pics of the north pole.
RB
Re: To the North !
Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 4:47 pm
by culver10
Did this person ever say where he/she was from in any posts? Cheers to you Digits!!

Re: To the North !
Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 4:59 pm
by Rudder Bug
culver10 wrote:Did this person ever say where he/she was from in any posts? Cheers to you Digits!!

This is his first post in here, back in February.
viewtopic.php?f=25&t=71443&p=674727#p674727
RB
Re: To the North !
Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 8:02 pm
by round pounder
if you make it Cambridge Bay we live on 124 45 will let you take the Beaver for a rip supervised of course
Re: To the North !
Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 8:16 pm
by Cat Driver
This guy is really impressing me with his accomplishments so far, and I wish him the best for the remainder of this trip.
. . ( Cat Driver )
Re: To the North !
Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 9:36 pm
by digits_
Look at that, the spot actually worked that far north
As you might have noticed, I just arrived back in Eureka after my flight over the North Pole. Apologies for not mentioning my true goal from the beginning. The reason for this, is that i did mention it on some other boards, and from the moment they knew that was my plan, i was considered an idiot and didn't get any more information. That's the reaon I only mentioned it to some people via a PM instead of on the public board.
Round Pounder, thank you for your offer. I have to check out how I'm going back south now. Fuel consumption was a bit higher, so unplanned detours might be impossible. I'll keep you posted!
Regards,
Digits
Re: To the North !
Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 5:46 am
by Siddley Hawker
Congratulations digits. There's not a whole lot of guys who've done what you just did. Great story for the grand kids!
