Brodie Thomas
Northern News Services
Thursday, July 31, 2008

NWT

Pilots from across North America and Europe got a bird's eye view of the Mackenzie Valley earlier this month.

Several communities throughout the NWT hosted competitors for the 2008 Governor General's Cup Mackenzie River Challenge.

The flight competition was designed to test the skills of pilots while giving them a chance to fly to new locations. This year's flight plan took the pilots straight up the Valley and then back to Ontario by way of British Colombia.

Competitors made stops in Hay River, Norman Wells and Inuvik along the way.

David James, of North-Wright Airways in Norman Wells, said people in his community went out of their way to show the pilots and their passengers a good time.

"We're trying to show those guys what Norman Wells and the area has to offer," he said.

The airport helped accommodate the extra planes and staff from North-Wright gave pilots tours around town.

Afterwards they were also treated to a barbecue at the float plane base.

While 18 planes landed in the Wells, he said unfortunately one plane was not tied down properly got picked up by the wind and blown into a fuel truck on the tarmac. Luckily nobody was injured.

"There was no damage to the truck or anything. It was just a small 172 that won't be flying home," he said.

On to Inuvik

From Norman Wells, some of the planes flew to Inuvik.

"We thought that the rally would be a good opportunity for us to celebrate the Mike Zubko Inuvik Airport's 50th birthday," said Karen King, the airport manager. The fly-in coincided with the airport's celebrations.

Only seven planes landed in Inuvik because of the weather. Low cloud cover prevented many planes from even leaving Norman Wells.

The pilots who did land in Inuvik had to make their landing within a 30-metre target on the runway to score points in a skills competition.

"We recruited some aviation people and we evaluated their landings," she said. "They had a very small box to touch down in."

King said the weather wasn't the best for being outside but it didn't stop Inuvik residents from dropping by to see the planes on display.

She said people were especially interested in the privately owned Learjet.

"For the youth to climb up into the cockpit and fool around with the controls, it was very exciting for them," she said.