Up Here - March 2006

Up Here: Explore Canada's Far North is a magazine about the people, the land and the stories of the North. To learn more, visit www.uphere.ca.

Scroll down or click on the links below to read the articles in the latest issue of Canadian North's official in-flight magazine, now online.

• Seamless Service During MacKenzie Pipeline Hearings 
• 22 Hockey Senators Fans Win Trips
• The Air Up There
• Upcoming Events 

Seamless Service During MacKenzie Pipeline Hearings

Canadian North and our partner carriers North Wright Airways and Aklak Air are pleased to offer companies and individuals that are planning to attend the National Energy Board and Joint Review Panel Public Hearings (NEB/JRB) seamless passenger transportation and shipment of cargo to any of the communities where hearings are scheduled to take place.

In response to the schedule that has been communicated by NEB and JRP for the upcoming year, Canadian North has coordinated air service into all communities on a regular basis to meet your travel needs.

To speak to someone regarding your passenger requirements, please contact Terry Wallis, Sales Manager Southern Canada, Canadian North at (403) 249-5276.

To ensure your documents/boxes arrive in the communities for scheduled meetings and to request pre-printed waybills to expedite your shipments, please contact Mike Lang, Cargo Manager, Canadian North at 867-669-4031.

NEB/JRP Hearings

For up-to-date schedule information in connection with NEB/JRP Hearings, visit the NEB/JRP Hearings.

Canadian North looks forward to providing you comprehensive, reliable service throughout this important process.

Back to top - Back to main news page 

22 Hockey Senators Fans Win Trips

With one more month to go, Canadian North is winding down its exciting Ottawa Senators Hockey contest. For the past two months, Canadian North has been giving away Ottawa Senator’s hockey prize packages to contest winners living in Iqaluit, Cambridge Bay, Rankin Inlet and surrounding communities. Cambridge Bay and Rankin Inlet AirMail members were automatically entered into the contest while people living in Iqaluit entered the contest by calling into CKIQ Raven Rock. The grand prize includes return airfare to Ottawa, tickets to see the Ottawa Senators in action, and accommodation at the luxurious Les Suites Hotel in downtown Ottawa.

The first lucky winners of the Senator’s contest left Cambridge Bay on January 26, 2006 on flight 447. Mr. Gordon Bligh was accompanied by his two sons Douglas and Neil and and his foster daughter, Rolanda Niptanatiak. Because of the distance Mr. Bligh and his family took a week to travel and see the game. Now that’s a serious hockey fan! The group enjoyed complimentary stays at the Super 8 on their way through Yellowknife.

Mitch Priest became the new Cambridge Bay Canadian North base manager on January 1, 2006. He was very pleased to call the winners. He said, “It was very exciting to phone someone I didn’t know and tell them Canadian North would be sending them and three guests to Ottawa for a week. Talk about making a first impression on the community.”

Over the course of the contest, Canadian North will have presented eight lucky winners with grand prize packages. In total, 22 people will fly to Ottawa to enjoy the benefits of this contest. This is just another way that Canadian North continues to say thank you and reward their loyal customers.

Back to top - Back to main news page 

The Air Up There

By Laval St. Germain, Chief Pilot Canadian North

Turbulence – If you’ve ever flown you’ve almost certainly experienced it. What causes that bumpy flight and how do the aircraft and the pilots deal with it?

First let’s dispel some myths:

“Air Pockets” – Science fiction, no such thing, urban myth. An aircraft is always flying through the air. In order to “hit an air pocket” the aircraft would have to be flying in a vacuum.

“We dropped a hundred feet” – Highly unlikely. The aircraft may ‘float’ up or down, but sudden instantaneous drops of that distance are rare, although your stomach may say otherwise.

“The wings were flapping” – Wrong. Commercial airliner wings are designed to operate under stresses so severe that these types of stresses are virtually non-existent during the hundreds of millions of commercial airline flight hours flown worldwide. Wings are designed to flex in turbulence.

There are several types of turbulence.

Mechanical Turbulence
(Referring to the “mechanics” of the terrain that the wind is flowing over.) Your aircraft is travelling through the atmosphere and the atmosphere behaves almost exactly like a fluid. The atmosphere/air reacts very much like water flowing over obstacles which results in rapids or areas of rough water and eddies. Now visualize that water flowing over a mountain range or over the tree tops beside the runway. As the aircraft flies through these rapids and eddies of air, you will feel it.

Convective Turbulence
Usually associated when flying under or through those puffy white cumulous clouds. Uneven heating of air columns cause this type of turbulence. These air columns are either rising air masses or descending air masses which result in the aircraft either rising or descending as it passes through. Convective turbulence normally disappears as an aircraft climbs higher into the atmosphere. Convective turbulence is more common in summer.

Clear Air Turbulence
Most common when flying downwind of a mountain range or when flying near or crossing a very high velocity ‘river’ of air known as the Jet Stream. The mountain range turbulence is exactly like mechanical turbulence. The Jet Stream forms The Air Up There high in the atmosphere at the boundary of two air masses of different temperatures and therefore different pressures. The Jet Stream is due to the complex dynamics of temperature and pressure combined with the earth’s rotation, which create this very high velocity ‘river’ of air. Of course if you cross the Jet Steam at an angle or fly near the rough air created by it you will get a rough ride – turbulence.

All airline pilots are trained to deal with turbulence and we except this as a normal part of our profession. We follow specific procedures when dealing with turbulence and we always try to avoid it simply to make the flight more comfortable for our passengers. Our pilots are well equipped to avoid turbulence by receiving specialized training in the simulator, through meteorological studies that allow pilots to recognize areas of turbulence and by using technology onboard the aircraft such as the weather radar.

Pilots will make an announcement to the passengers to let them know they are approaching turbulence. Fear or discomfort caused by turbulence is common although some passengers may not be bothered by it. Hopefully this explanation of this common and normal occurrence onboard an aircraft will put your mind at ease. The best thing to do to remain as comfortable as possible is ensure your seat belt is fastened and just wait it out.

Facts:

• Maximum wind speed in Jet Stream – 400 km/h
• Average altitudes of the Jet Steam – 9 to 14 km above the surface
• Aviation has three “levels’ of turbulence classifications – Light, Moderate and Severe
• Cost of a Canadian North air sickness bag – 19¢.

Back to top - Back to main news page