I am interested to know which airports in the Canadian Arctic are known to exhibit severe mechanical turbulence - as I am considering in doing an undergraduate thesis in this area. I have heard that Pangnirtung can be pretty bumpy at times. From your experience, what other airports have fairly consistent turbulence?

Thanks for your help.

Try Haines Junction Yukon LOL...

I wouldn't say " SEVERE" all the time. However, when it gets windy/ turbulent the passengers get a free roller coaster ride for sure. Depending on the prevailing winds aloft and the surface there can be quite a few different wind directions all within about 500 feet agl. Also, some good viewing of rotor and lenticular clouds as well...

Haines Junction = arctic?
I'm just not so sure about that.

........

and no.. rum ...


YHT is not arctic.. nobody was biting so I figured YHT was better than nothing

canpilot wrote:and no.. rum ...


YHT is not arctic.. nobody was biting so I figured YHT was better than nothing

?? I never questioned if it was or wasn't .. me thinks you are pickin' on the wrong person..

Ya, no shit " rum" ..sorry... really frustrating day at the office ..sry

Here's my top 5 list for N of 60 airports.

Number 5 - Cape Dorset, I've had a few REALLY bad rides in and out of there....hills about 700 AAE < 1 mile SW of rwy

Number 4 - Pangnirtung - had to be on the list due to obvious reasons BUT with generally accepted wind speed limits, you generally aren't in there when turb gets bad... Davidee once told me he was stranded at the CARS for 36 hours due to winds...gusts to 105 knots!!

Number 3 - Pond Inlet, sometimes it just comes out of nowhere

Number 2 - Kimmirut - just a bad place for a rwy. Hills W and NE of the strip

And the Number 1 place for Turb? - Qiqitarjuaq. Why? Because in some cases by the time you decide you don't want to be there....you're already in the thick of it.

Ask about Res Bay, Grise Fiord (which has generally accepted wind limits as well), and Mary River

Cheers,

ETTW

Ask about Res Bay, Grise Fiord (which has generally accepted wind limits as well), and Mary River

Ahhh, Res Bay, I landed a DC3 there one night with a 50 knot 90 degree X/wind in zero zero blowing snow.....fortunately I could see the approach lights and runway lights right down to about two hundred feet and had the crab angle figured out...lucked in and flared at the right time and slid down the snow covered runway still crabbed into the wind....had a hard time taxing back to the ramp and finding the bar.

CYPC - JUMP WINDS
Grise, subsidence
Any place on Baffin mechanical turbulence- prizes to Pang Broughton, Pond and Dorset

Been at least 3 SIGMETs in the last month for Cape Hooper for severe turbulence.

+1 for most of places on the south end of Baffin

BBB

Thanks again for all the replies, your input has been useful!

Junction isn't bad you just got to learn the lines, Kathleen lake is usually a bastard. Ive hit "the wall" coming up from Dezadeash lake when my groud speed went from 140kts to 80kts instantly then up to 180kts. Also Rolled a 206 at about 500ft AGL when slammed by a rotor while doing a survey of the Beattle Kill on what I thought was a calm day

But when its nice out its pretty.

CYPC can be brutal
Got absolutely rocked on a calm night in light snow, comming out of CYXP with ETTW.
Grise can also be pretty bad if the wind is coming from the wrong direction.
Not sure if you wanna call it the "arctic" but Dawson City is almost always a roller coaster with any wind

Cape Town can be a bitch some days especially with the wind coming off table mountain.

But the cloud formation off the mountain is interesting.

Dawson City is almost always a roller coaster with any wind

Agreed, and particularly when coming in for 20 can be interesting rock'n roll with a n/w breeze.

Grise!!

50'minimums wrote:...Got absolutely rocked on a calm night in light snow, comming out of CYXP with ETTW....

And you did a hell of job flying seXXyB out of there that night!!! It was a job very well done.

It was Dead and I mean DEAD calm on the ground as we were loading up to leave that night!

Cheers,

ETTW

Wow what a cool idea, please let us know if you write up any papers on it. I'd be very interested to read more about it.

Duncan Idaho wrote:Wow what a cool idea, please let us know if you write up any papers on it. I'd be very interested to read more about it.

If I end up being able to go through with it, it likely won't be done until about April. I wanted to start it now, but I've run into a few unrelated roadblocks and won't be able to start working on it until January. Keep in mind it is an undergrad paper - so it likely won't be anything too amazing. But if I remember, I will certainly post a link to it for all to read!

.. you are a classic, once I saw the words "Haines Junction" I just knew you would put a two paragraph response about all things Yukon, and as an added bonus the other resident Yukon expert, Rudder Bug, put his two cents in.
Remind us again, how long did you fly in the YT? 4 or 5 months. or was it TWO whole seasons.
206
P.S. All sarcasm aside, your pictures are awesome.
P.P.S. Dawson, in my humble opinion, has the trickiest winds in the Yukon sub-arctic.

Cat Driver wrote:

Ask about Res Bay, Grise Fiord (which has generally accepted wind limits as well), and Mary River

Ahhh, Res Bay, I landed a DC3 there one night with a 50 knot 90 degree X/wind in zero zero blowing snow

Cat Driver wrote:

The hardest thing about flying is knowing when to say no.

Quote:
Ask about Res Bay, Grise Fiord (which has generally accepted wind limits as well), and Mary River


Ahhh, Res Bay, I landed a DC3 there one night with a 50 knot 90 degree X/wind in zero zero blowing snow

Cat Driver wrote:
Quote:
The hardest thing about flying is knowing when to say no

So what is your point jetboy?

Cat Driver,
You should mention that sometimes in Res "no" is not an option......

I'll second the "no is not an option" sometimes for YRB