Airbus A400M Atlas: Tactical Helicopter & Live Cargo | Season 4 Episode 6 (Full Episode)

Versatile, reliable and tough as nails. We use it to thaw out the airplanes. They'll be too stuck to the ice. There she goes. The Twin Otter is a Canadian legend and the key to a modern-day Arctic boom. We got like three operating diamond mines going here right now. From boots on the ground to diamonds beneath it. The Twin Otter allows us to push the limits. It's critical. If you make a mistake, you're miles from nowhere. There's no better plane to fly. We're going to stay away from that. When there's no other place to land. It's only going to be my next 30. It could be in Costa Rica. Happy 30. Yeah. Twin Otter is small, but her mission is mighty. The Twin Otter has brought us out of some really tough situations. They're really well built, reliable. In Canada's frigid north, with few roads, it's a lifeline for remote communities and mining operations. Kind of a nasty place. It's minus 20. The winds are probably 30 clicks. I don't know, maybe 40. Canada's northwest territories are rich in mineral resources. Gold and diamonds have made it a modern Klondike. In 91, in the fall of 91, we had a very large diamond discovery up here. And ever since then, we've had people come up to look for more diamonds. With the camps that are only ski accessible, there really isn't any other airplane up here that flies through the mining camps. It's mostly all Twin Otters. They've been probably the most important airplane to serve as a camp. The billion dollar potential of the region keeps Air Tindy's pilots busy around the clock. Air Tindy operations. The airline offers scheduled and charter flights throughout the Arctic. From its home base in Yellowknife, the capital of the northwest territories, to the Yukon, Alaska and Nunavut. NWT in 45. Their five Twin Otters do it all. One day, she's a passenger plane. The next day, she's hauling cargo. The plane is 15.8 meters long and 5.66 meters high. It can carry more than 2,000 kilograms of cargo, 2,000 liters of fuel or 19 passengers. It has a wingspan of 19.81 meters. That's longer than a semi-trailer. We're going to get organized here to get going here pretty quick. Captain Mike Murphy is a pilot with Air Tindy. I've been flying for 30 years. Mostly in the northwest territories in Nunavut. Where do I sign up? Down at the bottom there. I was never great in school. Always looking out the window. So I figured aviation or this type of flying would be good for me. I love people. All right, here we go. Mike knows the challenges of the north better than most. His Twin Otter is frozen solid. So Kenny, next thing we're going to do is we're going to put the heat to her. 23-year-old First Officer Kenny Burke is Mike's co-pilot. His career is just taking off. I've been flying the Twin Otter and I was a co-pilot for about a year. You going to do it? Mike's a funny guy. He's fun to fly with. He's got a lot of experience, a lot of knowledge, but you kind of have to bug him for it. 30 minutes of hot air from this giant blow dryer helps loosen the plane's hydraulic fluids. We use it to thaw out the airplanes. Minus 30 out today, so it's good to warm it up. See if you can get a bit more hoses. We're going to heat the inside of the aircraft so that when we get in to start it up, everything will work. Especially the avionics is where we have our problems. The GPS and the radios, they won't work when we start it up. Whereas if we heat it up, everything just runs a lot better. Hit you there. Kenny's going to pull these engine tents off. We put them on when we commit at night. There's heaters inside the nacelle in the engine. And when we put the tents on, we plug it in and it keeps the engine warm. So right now when I go to start it, it should be like a plus 10 or 20 degrees centigrade. It'll be like your vehicle if you don't plug it in. When it's cold, it's hard to start. Give him a good shot. You're just kind of... There you go. Before it can fly, it has to be unstuck from the frozen lake. We may need to blow... I'm more delicate with this one. A lot of the time, they'll be too stuck to the ice to get going, so we like to loosen them up. It won't move. You can go to takeoff power, and the plane won't move. It'll just sit here. It's like having your park brake on. This is one of these. Swing her, and there she goes. So it looks like we got four drums of gas. There are no gas stations where they are going. The Twin Otter carries fuel as cargo and then stores or caches it in remote locations for future use. Fueling up in the north, it's pretty important to get your fuel calculations bang on because you don't have many airports to stop at. Well, I try to get the weight to the center of the aircraft, so we kind of want to get it mostly right around the wing so counter the drum sitting up front. Today, Mike and Kenny are delivering five 200-kilogram drums of fuel to an environmental monitoring station at Back River, 1,000 kilometers northeast of Yellowknife. The pristine Arctic is sensitive to any human activity, especially mining. These remote stations are essential because they can detect any change in the local environment before it becomes a problem. Air Tindy does 80 fuel caching trips a year. Yellowknife Tower, good morning. Discovery 602 at East Bay. On every trip, they are fighting the cold and the clock, needing to get the job done before the sun goes down and the temperatures drop. From Air Tindy's base in Yellowknife, the pilots will fly out 547 kilometers northeast to Bailey River, where they will stop to refuel. From Bailey River, they continue northeast 363 kilometers to the environmental monitoring station at Back River, load up any empty fuel drums, refuel, and then head back to Yellowknife. Prairie 602, Tower, the wind at the field is one foot off your discretion. It's been an honor. It's been extremely important in making it all work for the mining companies because there really isn't anything else that can do this type of work. Airborne 602. So it actually won't be too bad. It might be minus 30 on the ground. You've been doing this too long. When you say, oh, it's only going to be minus 30. It could be in Costa Rica. The other end. The other end. Happy 30. Yellowknife is the home base of another team of twin otters. Captain Corey Gander is a pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force's 440 Transport Squadron. Their nickname? The Vampires. 440 Squadron is Canada's northernmost operational Air Force unit. Our responsibility is everything north of the 60th parallel. That whole chunk of Canada that everybody considers very cold, that's us. The aircraft we're using is the CC-138, the military designation that we give the twin otter. This aircraft is one that we're using in the north because of its versatility and durability. The twin otter gets its name from its twin turboprop engines. So this aircraft is suited to fly in extremely cold temperatures because of its Pratt & Whitney engines. Those engines do enjoy operating in the cold with the dense air. The turboprop engine uses a turbine to turn the propeller. Air passes through a compressor, then mixes with fuel. The combustion turns the turbine, which drives the propeller. It is reliable in temperatures as low as minus 60 degrees Celsius. Cold air is more dense, allowing the engine to intake more of it and provide more power. Turboprops are much more fuel efficient than jet engines and more powerful than piston engines. They can move the two-man crew and the weight of a pickup truck at a cruising speed of 151 knots or 280 kilometers per hour. They typically give you a lot more of a kick when you're on takeoff or even operating at low altitudes. Anything from minus 10 and below, you'll notice the difference. You'll reduce your takeoff roll, you know, 300 feet. In just a few days, the Vampires are supporting an exercise in extreme Arctic conditions using three of their CC-138 twin otters. In order for him to go, Corey must prove he can land and take off from a short distance on a frozen lake with skis. I'm excited. I haven't flown on skis as an aircraft commander this year, so the rehack for me is just to be qualified as a ski aircraft commander. Complete pilot. Start it on, lights out. On these specialized ski-wheel combinations, the twin otter can take off from a runway. Its skis then extend for landing on snow and ice. Still Oscar. 3029, pilot and standby. In the north, harsh weather and remote operations can result in landings far from an airport, so Captain Chuck Rockwell must prepare Corey for the worst. Good afternoon, it's Vampire 2 with Oscar. Up here, they learn to deal with some of the most severe flying conditions in the world. The difference up here is if you make a mistake, you're miles from nowhere and miles from hell. So the more prepared we can get the guys before they go and do the job, the better. All right, Vampire 2, we're on a company note up to Quita Lake this evening. Requesting runway 28, and we'll be 2,000 feet below us. Okay, Vampire 2, runway 28, wind 350 at 5-0-3-0-3-1, taxi Bravo Charlie, contact tower 118.5, over. Good. A frozen lake is an ideal practice site, but surface snow could conceal danger. Roger. Airspeed at 85, steady, full flap. Check selected. Final check. Don't land beyond the tracks, down into there. LTA, maintain this part of the lake. Roger. So the pilots have to be trained in judging the type of ice, the surface that they're landing on, how rough it is, is the ice thick enough. Corey's first challenge is to ensure there is no surface water under the snow cover. We're going to go down, and we're going to do a touch and go with the main skis. A touch and go doesn't commit the pilot to landing. Water from spring runoff can accumulate beneath the snow. It's an invisible menace to skis. Knowing when it is appropriate to land, I'd say, is the biggest challenge. If the light isn't right, or the cloud cover is obscuring your view, it can be hard for you to get all the information you need. The layer of snow could be covering water on the surface of the ice. If the plane lands, that water could freeze to the skis and disable the retracting mechanism. The plane could not return to the airport. Corey and Chuck would be stuck on a frozen lake. Royal Canadian Air Force Captain Corey Gander is checking for surface water on a frozen lake. It's the kind of experience you can only get on the Twin Otter right now. Corey uses the skis to brush the snow aside. There we go. Fifty-five. Fifty-five. Go around. We're going to go back and have a look at the tracks from the air and see if any water is ingressed into our tracks. You saw those tracks, Lee? Affirmative. OK. Did you see anything that would preclude us from doing a 50-foot recce? Negative. Now that Corey is sure there is no water beneath the snow, he's clear to put the plane down on the frozen lake. Coming in at 300 feet, final check. Final check. Skis. This is in height. Twenty. Pull your skis, please. All right. Coming forward. Safely on the lake surface, the crew can move to the next stage of the exercise, making sure the ice is strong enough to support a base camp. The Twin Otter has been a part of the Royal Canadian Air Force since shortly after the first plane rolled off the assembly line in 1965. Originally constructed by the De Havilland Aircraft Corporation, the plane is now built by Viking Air in Victoria, British Columbia. Right now we're in stage one of the wing assembly line. We're taking the very bones of the wing itself. We start with the main spar and we start putting on the various ribs, which offer the strength of the aircraft. A lot of components you can see throughout the wing line, a lot of different fasteners. Some of these components that we're going to put in, it will be years and thousands of hours before they see the light of day because the wing has a time life of 30,000 hours before it needs to be replaced. The aircraft itself has high lift wings. It's designed specifically for short takeoffs and short landings. These broad, high lift wings are the key to the Twin Otter's agility. With skis, the Twin Otter can land on a strip under 150 meters long. More importantly, it can take off and rise to its required altitude from a strip that is less than 250 meters long. The average passenger jet requires a runway at least 10 times that. A few hundred kilometers away from Yellowknife, Air Tindy's Mike Murphy tests the Twin Otter's short takeoff and landing capabilities on a blanket of snow and ice. Could I show we've burned Tindy drums up there to get us back to the Bailey River? Yep. Okay. Sure, go ahead. We've got fuel up there. Mike and his co-pilot Kenny are delivering 1,000 liters of fuel to an environmental monitoring station 1,000 kilometers north of Yellowknife. We're going to go into Mack River. I've been in here before. I've done several winter water survey jobs out of here. All these water survey sites have a little shaft with an oil stove and some pumps. Whether they're hunting for diamonds or monitoring the environment, workers here depend on stored fuel to keep their operations running smoothly and to keep them safe from the cold. Mike and Kenny use the stored fuel to keep their Twin Otter flying. Right now we're en route, Yellowknife to Bailey River. I think it's about 350 miles northeast of Yellowknife. Because of the weight of the fuel drums, Mike will need to refuel from the fuel they have stored in advance at Bailey River. We have to put fuel on the plate, otherwise you can't fly it. It's kind of like having a car, driving along and running out of gas. So we deal with the same issue. Exploration and mining companies, as well as government agencies, spend millions of dollars in this region each year. Without roads, the only way to deliver fuel to the remote bases is by plane. And the best plane for landing out here is a Twin Otter. We're going to continue northeast again another 240 miles to a place on the back river, north of Baker Lake. Storing fuel now is the only way to guarantee that mining companies and environmental monitoring stations have the fuel needed to continue their work. In the course of a year, Air Tindy drops as much as 160,000 liters of fuel in remote locations across the Arctic, which also work as fuel stops for their Twin Otters. I'd say the Twin Otters and the helicopters have been extremely important in making it all work for the mining companies. They're pretty versatile. We burn jet fuel, and it's the same fuel the helicopters burn. Most of the camps have helicopters so we could use their fuel. I'm looking for a smooth spot to land. That's what we're always looking for, where there's no drifts. I might land right down in this little bay. Every pilot needs a safe place to land. Up here, a spot that looks safe from the air can be anything but on the ground. So when carrying a plane full of fuel, there's no room for rattled nerves. We've got to be fairly careful in picking our landing spots. You can't just land anywhere on the lake. That's a tough way of making a living. The fuel caches are located by GPS. But you need eyes in the sky to spot the barrels in the snow. There's the drum. I picked a spot. I'll be looking at conditions. I'm watching for large snow banks or really rough snow. We're going to stay away from that. A textbook landing. Now they can refuel and move on to Back River. Northeast of Yellowknife, Royal Canadian Air Force Captain Corey Gander has safely landed his twin otter on a frozen lake. Flight Engineer Corporal Lee Johnson needs to measure the thickness of the ice to determine if it can support the weight required for a temporary base camp. Drilling the ice, we need minimum 18 inches. Stuff's like drilling concrete. There's 18 right there. Nothing, that'll drop. The ice is thick enough to hold an army. Now we can certify the strip safe for operations. And if we were really doing an operation here, we would go back and start hauling troops and equipment out to the ice. That went really well. I'm happy to practice on the lake ice. It's always good to sharpen my skills. Tower, good evening again. Vampire 2 with you. Vampire 2 cleared straight in. Runway 16 identified 1000. Corey is re-certified for ski landings. In a few days, he'll be heading even farther north, deep into the Arctic Circle in support of one Canadian Ranger Patrol Group, an Arctic Reserve Unit of the Canadian Armed Forces. The Canadian Rangers are the eyes and ears of the Canadian Forces in the north and relied on for their expertise in the local area. He's a pretty talented guy, but he'll be challenged in the north. Baffin Island's going to be slightly more challenging. Because of the cold temperature that prevails throughout the year, what we can end up finding is kind of snow drifts that have formed with the prevailing wind, and that stuff will freeze because of the cold temperature and become essentially like a concrete block. And those can be hard to see. Those are the ones you really don't want to hit. High over the Canadian Arctic, Air Tindy pilot Mike Murphy and his co-pilot Kenny Burke are delivering fuel to a remote environmental monitoring station. Look at all the blowing snow. This stop at Bailey River is just to refuel. Air Tindy's clients and crews depend on fuel storage sites to extend their range. Okay. So this is the newer stuff. In the north, pilots do much more than fly planes. It's demanding physical work. Go to the end first, Kenny. About here? Yeah, just so we can see the gate on it. Oh, they want us to burn the oldest stuff. You have to be pretty able. You have to be physically able to move these drums around and stuff like that. Once they've dug out the barrel, they have to get into the plane. You've got to be very focused. You can't be kind of wandering around. Especially when you're out and it's cold, you try to think about everything you're doing so you're not repeating yourself. Extreme cold can kill you in minutes. Survival is all about being prepared. Okay. It's good? Yeah. If we didn't have this fuel today, this cash fuel, we wouldn't be able to go cash more fuel. Sometimes it takes cash fuel to cash some more fuel and to get the mission accomplished. This is one of the job sites we come to when we're working for Water Survey. We cashed this fuel probably two years ago. Nobody would be out here using this. We're about the only people. Next stop, the environmental monitoring station at Back River. 120 miles north of Baker Lake. We're going to drop our fuel off. Then he's going to launch them down the ramp. They're going to go shooting out onto the snow. Holy. That one's heading all the way down to the river. If I had a good co-pilot, he'd get them all in a nice line. The barrels are not in a nice line, but they're off the plane. They'll load these drums in a sled and take them up to the top of the hill. You can't leave them here because the water will come up into this bay here. Their mission is accomplished, but their journey isn't over. After flying 1,000 kilometers one way, Mike and Kenny are on their way back home. Back in Yellowknife, members of the Vampire Squadron are preparing for one of their biggest exercises of the year, a ground support mission on Baffin Island, 2,100 kilometers northeast. Our squadron has four Twin Otter aircraft. Our area of responsibility is north of 60 all the way up to the North Pole. Major Andrew Oakes is the Vampire's detachment commander for their upcoming exercise. His team will support the Canadian Rangers on a mission into the Arctic wilderness. We will be specifically taking out soldiers and rations in and out of austere locations. We'll be operating on skis and not onto runway environments, but onto sea ice or snow-covered environments. Before the Vampires can take off, this Twin Otter needs some mending. We had found some damage on the landing gear in the front here that the skis were banging. Corporal Stephan Van Chesting is an aircraft technician for 440 Squadron. When the ski lands on the ice, there's a lot of tin canning and bending, so we decided to replace the landing gear. We're putting on the brakes, we'll put new tires, new bearings, and then we'll reinstall the skis today. These are the planes you want to use up north. They have to be tough. All right. Detect runway heading. Line-up check. Line-up check. Transponder set. Speed of heat. Lights. Set pilot. Boom. Line-up check. Corey and the Vampires are heading to Iqaluit with three Twin Otters to rendezvous with the Canadian Rangers. Just gorgeous up here. Many nations have territorial claims in the Arctic. The Rangers helped to stake Canada's claim in this vast space. From its base in Yellowknife Northwest Territories, the Vampires are flying 2,100 kilometers east to Iqaluit on Baffin Island in Nunavut. From Iqaluit, the Vampires will fly 1,200 kilometers to Pond Inlet in support of one Canadian Ranger patrol group. We'll put your cooler here. Okay. On the ground in Iqaluit, the Rangers are preparing a sled team for a 150-kilometer trek. My name's Captain Matthew Durand. I am the Australian Bravo Company with the 1st Canadian Ranger Patrol Group. The Rangers conduct surveillance and operations across Canada's remote Arctic from their communities in the Yukon Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Over the next few days, the Rangers from here in Iqaluit, as well as six other communities on Baffin Island, The Rangers will drive their snowmobile train nearly 150 kilometers southwest and establish a base camp and airstrip in the high Arctic. By incorporating the Air Force into it, it allows us to push our limits further, ensures that we can get resupply out to the Rangers, provide things like medevac or vehicle recovery if required. So how far are you driving tomorrow? Depends. Yeah. How we can see the land. Yeah. This week, visibility will be a challenge for the Rangers on land and the Twin Otters in the air. They carry a good bit of equipment, and they can get into some of the challenging locations that the Rangers need them to get to. As the Rangers begin their trek, their only lifeline will be the Twin Otter. Twin Otters are integral. Without them, we would not be able to resupply. Back in Yellowknife, Pilot Mike Murphy and co-pilot Kenny Burke are heading out on a new mission to do one of their twice-weekly deliveries of fuel, food, and exploration equipment needed at a remote prospecting operation. From the Air Tindy base in Yellowknife, they will fly north 292 kilometers to the Kelvin Lake Exploration Camp. It is believed that this vast, barren space is rich in diamonds. Mineral exploration is a multi-million dollar industry. You got like three running or operating diamond mines going here right now, and there's people always looking for more. So this camp has been in place for about, I think, maybe four years. We are delivering some fuel, 600 liters of gasoline, and then we got a bunch of cases of oil and some pails. I'm guessing that they're probably for the drills that are running there right now. So basically I will circle around and take a good look at it, pick a landing site, and then we'll just land right there. Is that a whole different camp and everything? It's probably a drill camp. So maybe the guys, in case the weather goes out or something, they're right by the drill. The Kelvin Lake Exploration Camp is an outpost of this modern Klondike. Prospectors depend on flyers like Mike and Kenny and their twin otter to keep them alive. We certainly rely on the twin otters because, you know, bringing in groceries, freight, supplies for the drilling, they're sturdy machines. They come in here and they can land on the lake and the ice. If we ever had to medevac people out, if they were injured or ill, this is how we rely on getting people in and out. Probably pull these up the ramps, eh? Yeah. They need to deliver the supplies, load up with new cargo, and get back to Yellowknife. Kenny packs in the outbound shipment. The blue barrels contain contaminated snow or soil from the drill site. It will be disposed of properly in Yellowknife. We're running out of room. Because that bag that we put in up front, so it's filled up a big chunk of the front of the airplane. In the spring, daylight is precious. There are only a few hours left of it. Mike wants a final look at his take-off route. We're trying to find the flattest spots in here. So you're basically kind of looking inside the plane and watching. You're also looking outside, trying to find a spot between some of the drifts. This is the kind of stuff I'm trying to avoid. Thanks again for today, and we'll see you in a couple of days. Yeah, see you next time. Mike's been around for a long time, and he's one of the veterans. It's all good? Yeah. He's been flying up here in the north for years, and he's great. I have to get airborne before it gets dark here, because we're running out of daylight. Nearly 292 kilometers from Yellowknife, Mike wants to be in the air before visibility drops to zero. It's real cold as soon as that sun goes down. And in the Arctic, weather can change any time. So on the one-hour flight home, anything can happen. Nearly 2,000 kilometers away in Iqaluit, Royal Canadian Air Force pilot Corey Gander faces a major mission. But the weather isn't cooperating. So right now we've been hampered by some bad weather. Corey will be flying one of the Twin Otters. It's not the worst we've ever seen. However, it's inhibiting us from flying, especially with our ski planes. Major Andrew Oakes is the detachment commander of 440 Squadron for this exercise. It's producing winds up to 100 kilometers an hour. With that, it's bringing visibility potentially down to zero. Up here, the weather rules. Major Oakes and his team have to be ready to go the instant they get the all-clear. Personal survival gear. So it has our heavy jackets, our mucklucks, our big thick gloves. So in case we were to get stranded in the middle of the Arctic, we can survive. Or have a chance at surviving at least. It's frustrating to deal with because it seems like you're on the ground forever and then you have a window that seems very short. Finally, Corey has a window in the weather. We're going to Pond Inlet today. It's exciting to finally have a prospect of getting in the air. Major Oakes will fly this leg of the journey. Corey will co-pilot. Flight Engineer Corporal Shane Belair is in the cabin behind them. They have only one passenger, but an important one. This little plane is as tough as they come. But when it comes to limits, only the weather can decide. It is very important to maintain situational awareness of your options. It's one thing to have a plan, but another to ensure that it's a plan that remains safe at all times. As the Twin Honour crew flies east from Yellowknife, deep inside the Arctic Circle on remote Baffin Island, the Canadian Rangers have set up a base station for their exercise. Right now we're going to make an airstrip on top of the ice. Canadian Ranger Sergeant Titus Alulu has a deep knowledge of the land, which is critical to the safety of the mission and to the Twin Honour crew. What we are doing now is marking the runway so that the pilot is able to make contrast between untouched snow, untouched snow, to give him depth perception. When you look at the snow, untouched snow, it's pretty hard to judge how far that is. Titus and his fellow Rangers use their snow machines like snow plows. If it's run over by a snow machine, he can pretty well tell how far it is to the ground. They can quickly map out a landing strip on the surface of the ice. The Twin Honour could land on our airstrip now. Safe to land. While the sun shines on the Rangers, 400 kilometres southeast, Major Oaks and Captain Corey Gander are hoping the weather holds for them. It certainly is nice outside here. Their destination is Pond Inlet. Corey calls ahead on the satellite phone to check the weather. I'm just looking for the latest weather from Pond Inlet, please. Temporarily visibility D5, ice crystals. The cloud cover at Pond Inlet is too low, and with minimal visibility due to ice crystals in the air, Major Oaks can't risk landing there. Wow, that is unbelievable. The way the weather is, we're probably 50 pounds shy of the fuel we require. Yeah, I concur, Doctor. You always need to have an out, so we run on the assumption that the place we're going to, we will not be able to land at. If poor visibility at Pond Inlet continues, they must divert to another airport. Before they can make an attempt at landing there, they will need to refuel. So basically... We need an alternate or we need to go somewhere else? Okay. Okay, so Hall Beach? Yeah. Okay, so let's go to Hall Beach. Hall Beach, go ahead. ...of the radios and the flight plan. Unfortunately, the actual weather and the forecast weather became a little bit worse, so we've diverted or are currently on our way to Hall Beach. Corey and Andrew have diverted to Hall Beach to refuel. There's not a lot of places for us to get fuel. We have to watch our fuel and have our backup airports when our primary airports may possibly not be suitable to land on due to weather. Final check. Final check, probably worse. Unlike other Twin Otters that rely on fuel caches to get where they need to go, the Royal Canadian Air Force keeps some extra fuel stored on board. In order to go the distance we want to go, with the amount of weight that's in the aircraft, we have to have extra fuel in the wingtips. The Twin Otter is equipped with large fuel tanks that hold a total of 1,400 litres. The optional extended range fuel tanks are installed on the wingtips. The tanks hold an additional 336 litres of fuel. This not only extends the range of the plane, but also improves lift by redistributing weight and reducing the amount of bend in the wings during flight. From here, they are continuing on to Pond Inlet. The plan will only work if the visibility and cloud ceiling remain good enough for visual flying, a requirement for ski operations. The wheeled plane has a longer range because it doesn't have the aerodynamic drag of the skis. However, the ski plane is the only plane that can land on a sheet of snow and ice. With the way the weather is unpredictable out here, you never know how long you're going to end up being out on the land for, so you always need to make sure you're prepared for a worst case scenario. Here I've got food for a couple of days. Now the hope is that once they're in the air, the Arctic weather lets Captain Corey Gander complete his mission. 100 kilometres from Yellowknife and 1,000 feet in the sky, Air Tindy's Mike Murphy is piloting a passenger flight. But all is not well on board. As well as its charter service, Air Tindy offers flights from Yellowknife to five other communities in the Northwest Territories. Today's flight is a one-hour hop to the tiny community of Lutselkay, 195 kilometres to the east. On board today's flight are 12 passengers. With a plane load of passengers, Mike will have to trust his instincts rather than his instruments. Fuel gauge seems to have stabilised itself. It's not moving around here as much, but still. High above northern ice, Air Tindy pilot Mike Murphy has a problem with the Twin Otters' fuel gauge while in the midst of a passenger flight. If we ran out of fuel, obviously we'd have a bit of a situation here. We'd have to land on one of these lakes. So, yeah, I wouldn't be good at all. 205 is final for 26 left. Roger, 12 right there, 203. OK, thanks, 205. Mike has a low-tech solution, but that won't help until they've safely landed in Lutselkay. All right, Lutselkay, Discovery 205 is down. OK, now we're going to go check dip the bat tank here. So I'm going to get you to dip the tank, and you can see there's front and rear. You're going to want to use that one. A dipstick is a simple instrument, but it never fails. Pretty old school. This is old school. So it just kind of goes right. Yeah, there you go. When you fly with Mike Murphy, you learn something new every day. 400 a bit. It's actually a little less. So that gauge is out of line. Yeah. Because it's over-reading by quite a bit. After more than 30 years of flying the Twin Otter, Mike knows this plane as well as any pilot can. Yeah, this goes to show you that you can't always trust the instruments that we have inside. 500 kilometers east near Pond Inlet, the RCAF Twin Otter ski plane is ready to meet up with the Canadian Rangers on a sheet of Arctic Lake ice. This is Vampire 2, Twin Otter. Just on the main apron. We'll be number two for takeoff. What was it? 202. Roger, 202. Freshly re-qualified for ski landings, Corey will pilot the final leg to the Ranger base camp on Baffin Island. Ready. When we get down nice and low and we're doing our close-up recces, we're also looking for undulations in the area that we want to land on and any ice chunks or cracks or crevices or snow drifts. Corey approaches the Rangers camp. There's the runway. Nice. Bolt at. Bottom check complete. 72, 84. 55. Proves he's got the right stuff for the far north. This is easily the best strip I have ever seen in my life, so for all that I said about the hazards and obstacles, this is about as good as it can possibly be. Along with resupplying the Rangers with fuel and food, the Twin Otter has also delivered a very important package. How you doing? How are you? Good. It's a great, great airstrip. It's clearly marked. The pilot said no problem finding it, so you guys did an awesome job on this. I'd rather land here any day than on an actual airport. They couldn't have done it without the help of the Vampires and, of course, the Twin Otter. It's a mutual admiration society. That strip is amazing. Easily the best strip I have ever seen made. Ever. By far. The Twin Otter is an essential tool in Canada's Arctic, going places where other planes could not. I really enjoy flying it. The moment I heard that these guys were out here operating on skis and Tundra tires and that sort of stuff, back when I was in the training system, it was more than I could resist. That was my first request, was to come to 440 Squadron and see this kind of thing. You really don't get to fly like this anywhere else. While you can't learn this on a video or on a laptop or in a classroom, you have to come out and do it. That's what they're doing is they're learning this stuff. So they get us guys here to teach them. A bit more so that when it comes over, it stands like vertical. I think Kenny will do good. He's going to be fine. The Twin Otter, a Canadian-made legend, is the rugged aircraft of choice in the North that delivers every day, in every way, on land, sea and ice.