Page 10 - Volume 13 Number 9

after leaving a parking space. Every pilot completed pre- takeoff checks before releasing parking brakes and on the takeoff roll, the two-person crew slowly advanced power levers to avoid gravel spray. Maintaining a straight line became critical since overcontrolled nosewheels raised stones and damaged flaps.
With passengers already sleeping soundly, Mousseau leveled and waited five minutes before setting power levers to 1,000 ft-lbs and recording 690°C ITTs with propellers turning 1,800rpm in -30°C at 19,000-feet. Relaxed, I pondered what other information to pass on to adventurers from the hurricane-prone Gulf of Mexico. They would quickly learn that no one lived in igloos anymore, especially since the government assisted with home and hotel construction whenever a collection of huts popped up on a rock pile. No more tinned butter, beans or bacon. Guest tables in most hotels are as well stocked as any in New Orleans or Baton Rouge.
When my pencil broke, thoughts drifted to youthful days. On final with a Cessna 180 toward a cluster of spots on Hudson Bay shore ice, the skis had missed them all. The innocuous targets were plastic sacks of human feces placed to float into Hudson Bay at spring breakup. Incoming Louisianans never need worry. Flush toilets became standard long ago in Canada’s Arctic.
I borrowed Mousseau’s nail file to sharpen my pencil and continued note-taking when Cape Dorset’s weather necessitated an RNAV approach over Hudson Strait where snow squalls and aggravated saltwater wavelets lowered ceilings. With the Garmin GNS430 providing guidance, Mousseau dropped into the polar depths and maintained a 307-degree inbound track as surface winds edging the King Air 100’s 25-knot crosswind limit demanded constant corrections. Her gentle touchdown used less than half of Runway 31’s 3,988-foot length.
Our wait allowed leisure time to explore Cape Dorset and encounter some of the 1,441 residents whose ancestors came upon the secluded bay in 1000 B.C. By the 1950s, the village’s artistic stone carvings had been recognized worldwide. Notes to my Louisiana colleague would emphasise this fact and include a precaution that his corporate customers pack a gallon of insect repellent.
With tower and line inspections concluded, our passengers needed one night in Rankin Inlet where Mousseau happily replenished her doughnut supply. From this prosperous community and its superb paved
Author, Robert S. (Bob) Grant and First officer Sarah Mousseau at Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, where Buffalo Airways is based.
Fuel availability and payment varies in the Northwest Territories; some require fuel by pre-arrangement, other more popular stops have fuel trucks and pumps, and there are places that don’t accept credit cards.

8 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
SEPTEMBER 2019