HAY RIVER - Two representatives of Boeing, the world's largest aerospace company, were in Hay River on Oct. 14 to deliver a training session.

Pond Inlet's David Roberts, a regional airports manager with the Government of Nunavut, uses a piece of equipment to test the firmness of a gravel runway during an Oct. 14 training session in Hay River. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

The training was for people from the NWT, the Yukon and Nunavut on how to use a machine to test the load-bearing capacity of gravel runways.

"That's how they test the strength of runways and the size of planes it can hold up," said Kelly O'Connor, the manager of the Hay River Airport.

The training is necessary because the three territorial governments are moving to a system under which they will test the runways with their own equipment, as opposed to air carriers doing the work themselves or contracting it out.

"We are doing it because it's good industry practice to have this data available for the airport operators and the airlines, and it's recommended by Transport Canada," said O'Connor.

In addition, he said such information contributes to the safe operation of airports, along with more economical use of aircraft by air carriers because the right plane can be chosen to fly into an airport.

"These tests are necessary to determine the suitability of a gravel runway to land various types of aircraft," said Stephen Nourse, executive director of the Northern Air Transport Association (NATA). "Obviously, the larger the aircraft, the firmer the runway you have to have."

Nourse said the airports and the territorial Departments of Transportation haven't had the in-house capability to do the testing, which results in the "silly situation" of perhaps three carriers going to an airport in succession to conduct tests.

"For a long time, we've been saying this is wrong," he said. "Shouldn't this be something that an airport operator would publish?"

Hay River was chosen for the training because, in addition to its paved runway, it has a gravel runway.

There were about 30 people at the training session – including representatives of the GNWT, Nunavut, the Yukon, NATA, and the Department of National Defence.

The Boeing representatives came from Seattle, Washington.

The training divided into a half day in the classroom and a half day on the runway.

O'Connor said the testing instrument on which the participants were trained is called a penetrometer, which was created by Boeing many years ago.

"It's almost like a glorified jack thing," he explained. "You have to attach it to some big, heavy piece of equipment like a grader or a front-end loader. It's hydraulic and you punch it into ground, and it gives you readings."

Nourse said NATA, in conjunction with the airports, arranged for the training, and association members offered reduced rates to get participants to Hay River.

NATA has about 30 commercial carriers as members, plus 60 associate members.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.