🇨🇦 887th fly-in: Iqaluit, Canada (CYFB)

[Kumiankka]

link to fly-in index thread

Quote

This week is another one of those with a double announcement, first of course the next fly-in destination for Sunday, January 9th. Instead of digging into the suggestion list like last week, this time our destination comes from another to-do list that's growing longer by the week. That destination is Iqaluit Airport (CYFB), located on Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada: a single-runway airport not too far from the Arctic Circle, surprisingly well equipped for a remote town of just a few thousand inhabitants. The airport's history starts during World War II, when it was established as a transport airbase code-named "Crystal II". Following the war it was known as Frobisher Bay as was the nearby town - when the town changed its name back to its traditional Inuktitut name of Iqaluit, the airport changed its name along with it but retaining its old ICAO code. Another remnant of the past (in the X-Plane world only) is the old yellow terminal building found in the custom scenery, which in the real world was replaced by a much larger and more modern (not to mention differently colored) terminal facility a few years ago. The scenery, while a few years old already, is definitely worth installing and includes other pieces of Iqaluit's history such as the massive A380 undergoing cold-weather testing. So we know even the heaviest jumbo jets can certainly land here safely, but you should still watch out while taxiing - an earlier visit by a 747 didn't end so well, resulting in an embarrassing collision with the fuel pumping facilities on the ramp but luckily no casualties.

The second announcement is about the upcoming Home Base tour, which is scheduled to begin in three more weeks, on Sunday, January 30th. In case you missed the news last year, we will be visiting the home airports of those fly-in participants who have been the most active in posting screenshot and/or video PIREPs during the past year (counted since fly-in #840). One point is up for grabs each week by posting a PIREP with at least one screenshot or video, the top ten will each get a fly-in at their home airports, and the current running top ten is below - note that all of these are not final results yet, there are still a few more weeks to go until the start of the tour but I will start sending out PMs to the likely winners soon to confirm your schedules as well as the correct airports to visit.

First, the already confirmed winners (as there are not enough fly-in weeks left to overtake them in points anymore)
1. @Vega66 with 46 points
2. @ostkamp with 42 points
3. @Quintao and @rajo with 41 points each, and incredibly the tiebreaker count of additional helpful posts is also tied at 31 each.
5. @ghun1 with 26 points
6. @surfintucson with 18 points
7. @F5Chaser and @CHASMAN2014 again tied with 9 points each

And finally, there's still close competition for the last two places:
9. @cyl8 with 6 points
10. @172MC with 4 points

Close behind we have @schmax also with 4 points but fewer posts in the tiebreaker category - also, I believe @schmax and @rajo may share the same home airport anyway according to their forum profiles, which would leave room for one more winner should both of them end in the top 10. 

Following at 3 points are @Skylark2992 and @bootsie, then at 2 points @durian and @ScubaCruiser and finally with 1 point each @ManofMac, @pugwash, @Luis Jimenez and @Edd-1e.

Keep those PIREPs coming, and see you at the next fly-in!

Have a nice trip - ᓈᒻᒪᒃᑦᓯᐊᕆᑦ

 

 

 

New pilots are always welcome, read the guide below by @bootsie to get started:
How to connect to X-Flightserver

Or to connect using the new Swift client, see this tutorial by @ostkamp:
Swift client quick reference guide (pdf)

Be considerate towards your fellow pilots, and above all, have fun!

 

 

[cyl8]

Kumi you should also include your home base since you were there with PIREPs 100%!!

[surfintucson]

2 minutes ago, cyl8 said:

Kumi you should also include your home base since you were there with PIREPs 100%!!

Completely agree! And I think there is a recent scenery for EFOU and another for the surrounding area. <g>

[ManofMac]

I'll third that

[Kumiankka]

Yes indeed that is the plan, the 890-899th fly-ins will be the Home Base tour top 10 winners, after that for the 900th we'll be heading north for the city of snow, tar and junk food 😃

[Quintao]

Flying in the winter on the arctic will make it challenging to have any daylight for pictures  .

Below is a test picture with the most sunlight I could find in January.

Edited January 8, 2022 by Quintao

[Skylark2992]

Thank you @Kumiankka, I have just read your PM and forum posts. Because of my very busy work schedule, probably I cannot join another fly-in until Sunday 3rd April which I have noted on your Doodle poll, but as always I will be following your PIREPs closely!

I also agree that we should all (hopefully) fly to the place that you call home. FYI, I currently live in a very remote place in the UK; however, I choose London City Airport (EGLC) as my nearest well-known and appropriate/accessible airport. There are plenty of freeware and payware options, plus this airport's unique 5-degree glideslope always makes approaches (particularly from the west) both interesting and visually stunning.

Thanks again for the great job that you do hosting these fun events @Kumiankka, and for everybody else who also make these events worth joining (or in my case following). @Quintao Wow, what another beautiful screenshot! If X-Plane 11 had a universally-functional Librain with the Vulkan API, then I could gladly wait longer for X-Plane 12. If what we see with X-Plane 11 + Vulkan + Librain + Enhanced Skypscapes etc. is any indication, then I really look forward to getting back into X-Plane with version 12.

Blue skies up everybody!

- Skylark2992

[ATC Brambo]

Hello. Where may I read further details on how enter these competitions and what are rules ?

Thank you

ATC Brambo

[Kumiankka]

13 minutes ago, ATC Brambo said:

Hello. Where may I read further details on how enter these competitions and what are rules ?

Thank you

ATC Brambo

 

The main fly-in index thread is where you'll always find the latest updates on the most recent fly-ins, and/or contest announcements. The home base tour competition is almost over and unfortunately there isn't enough time for new entries to catch up to the top 10 anymore, but there will be more special events in the future and anyone is free to join the fly-ins themselves. Welcome aboard if you're interested!

[Quintao]

Started this fly in not too far, just 215nm away, at Salluit airport CYZG on the Carenado Cessna 208. Pretty cold and dark over there. This is the most sunlight one could get in January.

Backtracked to runway 03.

Took off from CYZG RWY 03.

Flew the route at 4,500 ft.

Halfway there, @gordoxproenca joined on an F-16 and performed some aerobatics as an welcome show!

He escorted my flight all the way to Frobay when I joined the downwind for RWY 34. Seems like he had the landing gear down to support the slow flight behind my Cessna 208

Nice pictures with the sun light while at final.

The runway lights reflecting on the water on final were pretty nice.

Parked the the building with the FBO sign, went inside for a coffee.

After the coffee, reset the clock for some more sunlight, and taxied to RWY 34.

It was getting busy at this time. Was the 2nd plane holding short 34, behind @Vega66 while Gordo was landing the F-16.

Held short for @CHASMAN2014 to land on a CRJ.

Took off RWY 34 and stayed in the left pattern.

While on final, felt tempted to land on the aircraft carrier, but that likely would not end well, so continued for 34.

Once in the ground, taxied back to the FBO and took a group picture. Looked pretty busy by this time.

Before logging off, watched @ManofMac landing with Chas holding short.

Shutdown procedure complete in Inuit territory.

Stay healthy my friends! Hope a speedy recovery to Chas and Gordo!

Edited January 9, 2022 by Quintao

[rajo]

All flights for pilot rajo

Date	From	To	Aircraft	Type	Duration	Distance	Earnings	Action
2022/01/09 17:46:17	CYXP	CYFB	C-FFHI	Dornier 228	01:11	161	-$302.12	View
2022/01/09 16:22:12	CYFB	CYXP	GL-TNW	Australia GAF N22 Nomad	01:13	161	$960.03	View
2022/01/08 20:49:45	CYFB	CYXP	C-FFHI	Dornier 228	00:54	161	$5,596.47	View
2022/01/08 03:18:52	CYZG	CYFB	C-FFHI	Dornier 228	01:21	216	-$401.21	Vie

started today cold an dark at CYXP. A new problem for me with the Carenado D228 is the landing gear. You cannot retract the landing gear, when started cold and dark, unless you have done a warm start beforehand. Maybe only on macos?

final ILS 34

and again many participants

after sight seeing I switched to KODI, which can be a FSE substitut for "Australia GAF N22 Nomad"

and finally the DO228 again, because I'm still not completely familiar with it.

happy week, happy flying, happy landing, 

[Vega66]

For this week planned together with @gordoxproenca to perform a few legs recreating one of the WW2 North Atlantic ferry routes, moving a couple of DC3 from KHMT - Manchester Boston Rgnl to our destination, with scheduled stops at Bangor and Goose Bay, also a part of this route.

 Departure Saturday evening at Manchester Rgnl

Clear weather, good  for enjoy the scenery lighted by the warm winter sun.

First stop at Bangor

Next, a four hour flight towards Goose Bay. Flying with real time/real weather took us to a night landing at Goos Bay, favoured by calm winds and clear skies.

After a few hours sleep, time to make the final leg towards Iqaluit.  

Touched down around 9AM local, but still amidst dark skies.

 

Parked between an A380 and a C17 and wnet for a breakfast brake, while waiting for the sunrise and other arriving fellow pilots.

 

Getting back, a change to a Dash8 to pay a short visit to CYZG - Salluit, from where @Quintao had departed a few hours ago. 

Holding short for an incoming Hawk

And departed over a Golden Sky

Challengig appro ach amidst the endless snow covered hills, but fortunately the weather conditions were good for a steady and safe approach. 

 

To speed up the journey back to Iqualit, a supersonic leg with the usual F-16. Landed and parked near @CHASMAN2014

And then a round trip on a Caravan to pay a final visit to nearby CYLC - Kimmirut.

At Kimmirut was welcomed by @172MC that joined in his Kodiak for the flight back to Iqualut.

And close the day with another leg of the North Atlantic air ferry route, this time aboard the B29.

 

Million thanks to all for another great Fly-In. Have a great week

 

[Kumiankka]

Shuttled between two previous fly-in destinations today, Pond Inlet which we visited in 2013, and Goose Bay back in 2009.

 

Takeoff from Pond Inlet in the FJS 737-200 was thrilling. With 25 degrees flaps and engines throttled up to max EPR, the 737 lifted off just in time.

 

With real time of day in these northern latitudes, the first daylight only started appearing as I was starting my approach to Iqaluit. The livery is that of Canadian North, who still operate the 737-200 to gravel airfields similar to Pond Inlet, but are due to retire it this year.

 

As some others mentioned on Teamspeak, the reflections in the water looked very pretty during the approach. Although I wonder if the bay should really be frozen over this time of the year instead.

 

After my landing, @gordoxproenca took off in his Hawk and then performed a low flyby

 

Arriving at the old yellow terminal, I found an interesting surprise in the form of an exact duplicate of my 737 already parked

 

Switching to a Canadian Forces C-130 (or rather, CC-130) about half an hour later, I taxied back to the runway behind Gordo who had already had time to return and switch to another aircraft, although the CSL system was still showing the same old Hawk

 

The sun was just coming up as I took off for a scenic tour of the icy coastline

 

Approaching the Hudson Strait

 

Returning to CYFB about half an hour later and setting up for the ILS again

 

The old C-130's autopilot wasn't doing a very good job tracking the ILS, so I flew the plane down manually instead.

 

Finally I switched to another Canadian Forces plane, the mighty C-17 Globemaster III or the CC-177 as it's known in Canada. Again, an exact duplicate of my plane was parked nearby.

 

One last look at the yellow terminal before departure

 

Takeoff from runway 34

 

Clear skies on the way south

 

Arriving in Goose Bay, I had to go around once, making it down only on the second attempt due to the runway 26 localizer playing some tricks on me.

 

Have a great week everyone, and stay safe! Also best wishes especially to Chas and Gordo, take it easy and get well soon!

[bootsie]

Bit of a late departure for me again today.

I flew out of CYRT Rankin Inlet on Canadian North flight 238 to Iqaluit.  Amazingly cold weather - minus 36C !

Parked up with @surfintucson who landing only a few minutes after me

[CHASMAN2014]

Greetings fellow X-Plane pilots!

Started my flight from Kangerlussuag (BGSF). Kangerlussuaq, which is a settlement in western Greenland in the Qeqqata municipality. It is Greenland's main air transport hub and the site of Greenland's largest commercial airport.  Besides that it is the only airport I could locate with a paved runway 😀.

Started the approach into Lqaluit Airport 80 miles east of the airport for the RNAV approach to RWY 34. I was flying the Bombardier CRJ200 which I believe is widely used in the area.

Beautiful scenery almost looks real.

Parked along side @Kumiankkaalready at the gate.

Even though I was sick today, I  still enjoyed the fly-in, see you all next week.

King regards,

Chas

[surfintucson]

Greetings, Pilots!
A little late for me again this week but still some pilots on when I joined:

Real weather and time throughout (so some shots are a bit dark); and no winter textures for me (I fly a lot with orthos and have not converted much to snow--hoping XP12 addresses this in a way that doesn't have me duplicating all my cold area orthos for winter with simtiles.)

After last week's tropical Kiribati, this was a big change---1F (-11C) and snowing. Brrr!  I was starting from BGSF Kangerlussuaq, Greenland from above the Arctic Circle. Had flown in the day before. Enjoyed a nice stay and a bowl of suaasat at the Hotel Kangerlussuaq (link: https://www.hotelkangerlussuaq.gl/en/home/). Will need to come back in summer when I can see the scenery.

Headed over to the airfield in the early afternoon darkness (!) to preflight my C-130 Hercules. I had wanted something with some speed to cover the long empty distances up here but also something a little rugged just in case I needed to make an off-field emergency landing. Also carrying some supplies and cargo for various little places en route this week.

Not much wind, fortunately, but a low pressure of 29.14. And did I already say cold? And snowing. Started engines 2 and 3 and let them warm up a bit. And warm up the cockpit.

Taxied out to runway 27 and started engines 1 and 4. While they were warming up I checked my flight plan and clearances. All good. Advanced throttles and started down the snowy runway. Vr good, rotate, positive rate of climb, gear up.

Picked up some snow and clouds at 4000 feet on climb out; then again at my intended cruise altitude of 8000 feet. I was worried about icing so popped on the oxygen bottle and continued climbing until I reached clear skies at 11,000 feet.

Settled in for a decent length cruise. At about the midpoint of my flight @gordoxproenca GORDO and flight AIO0066 were headed eastbound. I tried to get a photo but the closing speed and distance were too great.

Approaching Baffin Island the sky got pretty as I even caught sight of the sun for a little bit:

Tried tuning in CFRT 107.3FM, Iqualit Community Radio https://www.cfrt.ca/, without success. Did manage to pull in CKIQ (http://www.northernlightsentertainment.ca/) but after a couple of songs of treble-y "rock" and John and Heidi from "The John and Heidi Show" (go figure) I switched it off. Besides, I was approaching TOD and would need to focus on flying.

I've noticed lately that adjusting the autopilot in my Herc causes mayhem--enter a new target ALT and a VSPD and BAM--massive trim deflections and yaw deviations. Trying to regain AP control with Wings Level doesn't change the mayhem. No option except to disconnect the autopilot, manually re-trim, and hand-fly the remainder of the flight. Fortunately I was only about 90nm out so it wouldn't be that long.

From the server map and radio calls, @bootsie BOOTSIE (as AXX135) was inbound for CYFB as well, in a 737 from the west. He had speed on me so I set up for second to land. After last week, I did look up how to pronounce the airport name (ee-KAL-oo-it). <g>

Weather conditions were VFR with runway 34 active; though the "weather" tab for the airport in LittleNavMap said: "Conditions: Moderate Ice Crystals". What??!! The only place I want to see "moderate ice crystals" is on the shaker for my martini.

Out over the water I descended and turned downwind above BOOTSIE who was on final. As I called out my turn for final BOOTSIE radioed runway clear with a "slippery runway" advisory. Okay. So two notches of flaps to fly slow. Picked up the ILS and carefully monitored glideslope and airspeed. Even so, I landed a bit long.

Tracked centerline with gentle control inputs and used reverse props to slow down. Turned off the indeed slippery runway and skated--er, taxied--over to the ramp. Shutdown the engines and secured the Hercules. Dark again as I left the field. Time to head over to the Frobisher Inn and grab an Arctic Char burger (the cilantro lime sauce makes it)

Until next time, Pilots!
Surf, out.

 

Edited January 9, 2022 by surfintucson

[ScubaCruiser]

Took off from CYTE, Kinngait, to CYFB, Iqaluit with a nice sunrise on the way.  Hard taking off from gravel runway.  Just made it up at the end. Flew through a little snow shower before landing.  After landing, somehow airbrakes didn't deploy (even though they were armed), reverse thrusters didn't deploy, and the brakes didn't stop me before end of runway probably because of the slippery conditions.  I went way off of end of runway, but didn't go in water.  Managed to turn in grass, make it back to runway to backtrack to taxiway for parking.  Found out I couldn't see other aircraft because of Vulcan.  Turned off Vulcan after parking and restarting and caught Chas parking while Vega066 was taxiing for takeoff.  Still was fun.  See you next week.

Edited January 10, 2022 by ScubaCruiser

[172MC]

@surfintucson, your PIREPS are marvelous!

As usual when able to join the Fly-in, I only had a little time and therefore decided on the shortest hop possible: Kimmirut (CYLC) to our destination Iqaluit (CYFB) in my Kodiak.  While going through the checklist, spotted @Vega66 who had just landed

After @Vega66departed and as soon as I was ready, I taxied and took off, clearly disturbing the gravel under the snow!

and set a direct course to Iqaluit

where, after landing, I taxied to the ramp and looked around

I am not sure, assuming we are both using Swift, why the ground clamping is not quite working.  My Kodiak totally was dwarfed by the scenery's A380, which really does not belong (I meant to remove it along with a 767 before the Fly-in but forgot), and the identical aircraft choice of both @gordoxproencaand AIO0066

The scenery was very nice

and the nice weather we enjoyed and the time I chose to fly allowed me to see how low over the horizon the sun is at its highest point this far north at this time of the year

That is all pilots.  Stay healthy and see you next week!

Edited January 10, 2022 by 172MC

[F5Chaser]

Nice PIREPs everyone! I love the snow textures!

Keeping with the WWII theme of the field, I decided to fly the B-29 and because of its runway requirements and my available flight time, my flight was a weather reconnaissance mission around Frobisher Bay.

Going through preflight checks with @Vega66 parked behind in what Swift thought was an F-18. I just installed the reflective textures for this plane and they are amazing! It feels so real!

Weather reports didn't look to good before departure. Overcast skies and potential icing. However most of that appeared to be above me as I cruised along the bay at 3,500 taking in the sunrise. I read that the bay was initially mistaken for a strait when it was first discovered and I could see why! It is so large I could barely make out the other shore as I turned around at the ocean for the return leg.

Coming back we already had three on final with @rajo, @Quintao and Merlin circling to land. Finding myself too high and without much room for a fourth on final, I opted for an overhead break approach. Merlin is visible in the right photo, landing as I turn to downwind.

The approach was still a little high but finished without even a squeak from the wheels as the Superfortress touched down. I parked up next to the hangers as @gordoxproenca taxied for takeoff with @CHASMAN2014 and @Kumiankka parked across the way.

See you next week!

[surfintucson]

On 1/10/2022 at 1:46 PM, 172MC said:

@surfintucson, your PIREPS are marvelous!

Thanks! I get a little carried away sometimes. The "full fantasy immersion" takes over and the PIREP can be as much fun as the flying.

[ghun1]

Another late pirep from me. Got in some much needed practice using the inibuilds A310. There is a nice Canadian Armed Forces livery. Takes quite a lot of work to set everything up initially, but satisfying when it works and nothing makes X-Plane decide to crash (which it seems to do often when I change settings in the plane). Set off from Goose Bay (CYYR) with nothing much to tell other than it was a long flight! Still no sign of a fix anywhere for sun reflections in the instrument panels of planes when the sun is behind you. Low sun made for some pretty screenshots though, so here are a few. Arrival saw some snow but no problems (keeping the anti-ice on during descent was probably a good idea).

see you next time

Gary

 

[Skylark2992]

Brrr, I feel cold just reading your PIREPs everybody.

On 1/12/2022 at 12:39 AM, surfintucson said:

Thanks! I get a little carried away sometimes. The "full fantasy immersion" takes over and the PIREP can be as much fun as the flying.

I like how you add a kind of RPG element to X-Plane. If something like Second Life merged with X-Plane, then your PIREPs would probably have their own blog by now. Always enjoyable reading, thanks!

@F5Chaser What a difficult approach, particularly with those pillars right in front of you.

@ghun1 Great cloudscapes again. How do you find the performance hit? For me it seems reasonably small (approximately a 10-15fps reduction when using overcast clouds in a densely-populated city or similar scenery; typically I run X-Plane 11 at 60fps+, spec is W10 64-bit, Intel i704790K base clock at 4.4GHz, 32GB DDR3 RAM, 1TB SSD, and an AMD 6600XT 8GB factory o/c).

Thanks again everybody, it looked like fun.

Edited January 15, 2022 by Skylark2992

[F5Chaser]

38 minutes ago, Skylark2992 said:

What a difficult approach, particularly with those pillars right in front of you.

 Tell me about it. I'm always leaning to look around the frames, then I remember that's what arrow keys are for!