Another story

[DGP]

I was going to put this under whats up with P/E but I will start a new thread....After I had been on the job in Red Lake for 2 months I get a call and asked if I would do a 2 week job in Gilliam hauling guys around collecting sand samples looking for diamonds...this after asking for time off.. I get told there will be at least 4 hrs of flying a day...so I say ok and load up and head north for Gilliam. I also tell them that this ship will need a 100 hr inspection soon and the usual answer....you will have every evening to work on the ship...great....so I plan on stopping to do some brook trout fishing on the way....as I will be going right past my favourite fishing spot on Gods River that I always stop at going north or going south. Its out in the middle of no where. I land an have a good hour of fishing and then load up and hit the start button...roll the throttle...nothing...lovely.

[DGP]

Well this was not good...I just wasted some battery and now I have to see why this ship won't start. I try the auto relight and can hear the ignitor snapping away so it could be a fuel problem...hopefully not a fcu crapped out. I drag out the tool boxes and my 3 step ladder...disconnect the main fuel line to the fuel nozzle and pull the ignitor circuit breaker...roll on some throttle and with the boost pumps running I motor it over...well fuel is coming out...hook up the fuel line and this is it...not much battery left...crank on her again and that lovely noise greets my ears as fuel starts burning in that motor...load up my junk and I am off...100 miles to Gilliam. Bonus!

[DGP]

When I get to Gilliam I pull the ignitor plug out which had quit a bit of carbon on it so I always carried a new plug...changed it and then pulled the fuel nozzle which didn't look to bad but I cleaned it for good luck. The job would have me shutting down many times out in the boonies and I didn't want to have this happen again as I wouldn't be dragging my tools around so we will see what happens. I called our hangar and a fcu was put on the next jet into Gilliam.

[DGP]

So the jobs starts the next day. We are going out with full fuel...range extender full...2 passengers and a bit of gear...filling 5 gallon white pails full of river sand...this gets heavy in a hurry. Oh yeah I am flying a jetbox...we go out fairly heavy and come back to town real heavy. Every take off is 100 %. We are doing around 5 hrs a day and I have already started doing a 100 hr inspection...usually around 2 hrs of maintenance every night....suppers usually around 7 in the evening. Not too hard a sched....we are shutting down about 4-5 times a day and so far there hasn't been a problem.

[DGP]

The job is going well and should be over in a few days. I have been out for almost 10 weeks now and can use some time off. We are staying in the Gilliam Hotel which is a nice place...spent a lot of time there over the years. The ship has been behaving and I did not change the fcu that had shown up. I think i flew around 70 hrs in 2 weeks on that job...inspection was done...and I got to do some fishing while the guys were digging as all the landing were at or near water.

[DGP]

I just pulled out my old log books and I have a couple of years mixed up. This job was done the year before I did a real long tour...I had just got off a month of flying for Manitoba Hydro ...went home for a couple of days then went to Thunder Bay...picked up the ship and flew it to Gilliam...did the sampling job...then I flew it to Churchill and did 4 days flying polar bear tours...then I flew this ship to Red Lake...swapped it with another 206 and flew my butt into Wpg! That tour started in early June...and ended near the end of August. Flew a lot of hours that year and covered a lot of ground.I got home near the end of July...had a week in Wpg...oh and I could have been working in the hangar or I might have been off...can't remember...but I went out on a fire contract on August 7th and got home near the end of August....time flies when you are flying. I have a pic of my fishing hole on Gods River

[DGP]

That last pic of the L was taken on my way to Churchill...Sept.28...just got checked out on the L the day before...6.6 hr ferry from Wpg

[DGP]

That L-1 has quit the history...it came to Wpg from Las Vegas...last I heard it was working for an company in NW Ontario....I have a few stories about that baby....just about froze going to Churchill...the heat was useless....it wasn't up there for long.It ended up working in Kenora before going to the base in T-Bay. It was there for a few years and then sold.

[DGP]

This L was owned by a casino in Vegas and was stolen and used for a bank robbery in Vegas. The crooks got away in the chopper and landed on one of those plateaus out in the dessert and then they switched choppers and lit this one on fire. They must have not done a very good job as the cops spotted the smoke and got to it before too much damage was done but they did get away. The ship was repaired and then sold to Midwest. It arrived and I was told to give it a good look over as I would be getting checked out on it and then I would take it to Churchill for our base guy up there and I would fly home on airlines. This ship had an old a/c unit that also worked the heater....great big horking radiator up above the baggage compartment and a huge blower motor on the left hand side. I turned on the battery and flipped the blower switch on....I said this motor won't last long....it didn't.

[DGP]

The day I flew this L to Churchill started not great...3C and overcast...got going around 7 am....wasn't to far north when it starts drizzling and the temps are almost down to freezing....suppose to get clear north of Berens river....ceiling were low...and I am freezing...I cranked the heater on and the load meter goes almost to red line...lovely...shut it down for a few minutes and try it again...little bit better ...not red lining but very high....around 50%....not good and there is very little heat.