Cambridge Bay NU May 12th – 19th 2012

Cambridge Bay NU May 12th – 19^th 2012

Similar to Kugluktuk, I should start with an apology to the community for not getting to know it. This town was work, work, work.

As per previous posts, the plane trip to Cambridge Bay comes from yellow knife and through Kugluktuk, which was where I was. When the jet arrives (Ahh, the jet. lol) off my work partner and fellow NunaTech BK walks. So he meets the Kugluktuk technician I worked with while we wait for the Airplane to be prepared, and then on we get for the 1 hour flight.

We circle once before landing as the pilot tells us “they are still preparing the landing strip”. Even though it’s May and awesome in southern Ontario, in Cambridge Bay, its hovering around 0 degrees Celsius and they are still 8 foot piles of snow and the weather overcast and can be a tad windy. He gets the go ahead and in we come. 

To slow the plane, the back end of jet engines on the 737 open up and basically cover the back of the jet. I’m not 100% certain if this just shuts them off (in a sense) or reverses them, perhaps I should look it up.  Anyway, as this happens the air is filled with snow as if we just landed in a blizzard that started once we touched down. If been on a ton of flights since I’ve been doing this on and off for two years and have never seen that happen. Of course we landed, we are safe (First Air, Canadian North and Calm Air have never let me down ;-) ) and are in the airport when BK tells me that it was his side of the plane that came in close contact with a snow bank and the snow came up into the engine and actually damaged the metal end part that swings down to slow the plane. We are safe but unfortunately for the passengers moving on to their next destination the plane gets grounded for a few days until they can fly someone up to fix it. 

 

Inside the airport terminal

See articles at the end if you care further about the plane incident.

We are picked up by the Region IT manager. He’s organized our accommodation, and hands us keys and fobs that will help us get our job done.

He then give us a mini tour of things we need to know about like the stores and where we are working and takes us over to the “Green row”, where we will be staying. It’s a nice, fully equipped, 2 bedroom apartments. It even has a washer and dryer and soap and bounce sheets. Sorry “Dorset suites”, you’ve just been demoted.

I like suites because we can cook our own food and use our per diem to benefit the whole family, not just me. Sadly I guess for the local economy, I feel no need to leave my money in their communities. Selfish or not, it's reality. 

View from our apartment at 11:15 PM. (land of the midnight sun)

 

Now comes the part I apologized for at the beginning. We started working that day. We worked every day following until late evening. By the time we got back to the apartment I felt like veg’ing and not walking around town. In fact, while I was there, even BK only went for a walk once. And he loves walking.

We had no vehicle as the work sites where within minutes of walking from each other and the apartment. Of course this meant, no cruising around taking pictures either. Sad because I read an article on one of the plane rides about the Northwest Passage and a ship called the “Baymaud” which evidently sank in Cambridge Bay in1930. I was hoping to see if before the Norwegians take it back to Norway to put in a museum.

Also our NunaPM sent me a picture he found on the web about a golf course. Would have been fun to send him a picture I took of it. But noooo……

While we were there, a festival called “frolics” was going on. Much like Iqaluit’s Tunik time, it has a bunch of events that happen all over town. This included a Parade on Friday at 2pm. I set my BB calendar to remind me and off BK and I went to see the parade and get a few pics. Most of the “floats” where throwing candy out by the handfuls. I’m sure the kids enjoyed that part of the parade the best.

 

Anyway, again I have to give the nod to the people I worked with and the accommodations for making Cambridge Bay a good experience. The IT manager bought us and his team pizza on cut night and took us all out to breakfast on Friday as a “thanks for a good job”.  This is not a cheap thing in to do in Nunavut, so it was a welcome treat. He was very organized and great to work with. This was another unexpected Nunavut treat. I heard good things before I went but was pleasantly surprised anyway.

Ps great to do actual work and alongside BK. This is a man who knows how to work and gets it done. Also special thanks to AT. Though you weren’t supposed to ever find this blog to read it. lol  

Local Art. "Instead of stealing skidoos you can play hockey"

Nunatsiaqonline reported:


NEWS: Nunavut May 17, 2012 - 9:39 am

GN investigates Canadian North’s rough May 12 landing in CamBay

Canadian North was upset “for all the right reasons"

JANE GEORGE
(Canadian North plans to resume jet service to Cambridge Bay and Kugluktuk on May 17.

That’s after the airline stopped jet service to the two Kitikmeot communities May 12 after its 737 combi jet was damaged while landing in Cambridge Bay, forcing the company to bring in a Dash-8 to take over the route.

Before Flight 446 from Yellowknife to Cambridge Bay, with 27 passengers and four crew members aboard, readied to land May 12, pilots took a report from operators in Cambridge Bay that the runway was fine to land on, Steve Hankirk, vice-president of operations at Canadian North, told Nunatsiaq News.

“But when they touched down, they found themselves in a lot of slush which tugged the aircraft to the right,” he said.

The pilots managed to keep control, but in doing so the jet drifted off to the north, Hankirk said, and a piece called a reverse bucket made contact with a small snow drift, picking up a bunch of snow and gravel.

Mechanics made repairs and inspected the engine, and the aircraft flew out May 15.

The Government of Nunavut did investigate the incident, Hankirk said May 16, and concluded “the runway condition was not as reported.”

The GN has taken “very clear action that we’re happy with, and they understand what the failing was, and [that] the runway was not suitable for landing, as reported to be.”

Hankirk said the situation could have been “more serious than it was,” because the snow drift — called a wind row — that the aircraft reversal ran into was “actually on the runway inside the runway lights”

“We landed on a condition that we wouldn’t land on,” said Hankirk, who praised the crew for doing an “excellent job.”

Canadian North was upset “for all the right reasons, so we had to move pretty quickly here to regain their trust,” Shawn Maley, director of Nunavut airports, told Nunatsiaq News May 17.

“That’s not how we do business,” Maley said.

The GN’s investigation found that the airstrip had been maintained 90 minutes before Flight 446 arrived on May 12. But, given the weather that day, which included 30 kilometre/hour winds and soft snow, the airstrip’s condition — with a couple of inches of fresh slush — was “unacceptable.”

The “guys slipped up last weekend” and were “too early off the runway” said Maley, adding that runway surface condition reports need to be timely and accurate and maintainers need to get “equipment on the runway as close to flight time as possible.”

Since May 12, the GN has reviewed maintenance procedures at the Cambridge Bay airport. It’s flown in more experienced backup to provide airstrip condition reports to pilots as they come in and plans to put a technician on the ground to work with the maintainers at the airport.

“Normally Cambridge Bay is a very, very good site,” Maley said.

As for who will pick up the tab for the damages to the jet, that wasn’t discussed during meetings with Canadian North, he said.

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674gn_investigates_canadian_norths_rough_may_12_landing_in_cambay/

The Aviation Harold reported:

Incident: Canadian North B732 at Cambridge Bay on May 12th 2012, thrust reverser contacted snow windrow on runway

By Simon Hradecky, created Wednesday, May 23rd 2012 22:17Z, last updated Wednesday, May 23rd 2012 22:17Z A Canadian North Boeing 737-200, registration C-GFPW performing flight 5T-446 from Kuglutuk Coppermine,NU to Cambridge Bay,NU (Canada) with 31 people on board, landed on Cambridge Bay's runway 13T with winds from 60 degrees at 25 knots gusting 30 knots. Following touchdown at 13:04L (19:04Z) the crew had difficulty to maintain the runway center line and drifted to the right prompting the crew to cancel reverse thrust believing the reverse thrust added to the control difficulties. The crew stopped the aircraft safely within the runway boundaries using brakes only and taxied to the apron. The Canadian TSB reported that a post flight examination revealed the right hand thrust reverser had received damage from contacting a snow windrow along the south side of the runway. The windrow was about 3 feet high and 15 feet inside the runway lights. The runway conditions were reported to the crew as covered with 1/4 inch of slush, braking coefficient 0.38, post landing examination however showed 1 or 2 or more inches of slush and a braking coefficient below 0.38 in the first third of the runway. http://avherald.com/h?article=45001d08