Buffalo Airways (Ice Pilots) - Grounded by Transport Canada

[Warbirdnerd]

Transport Canada has grounded the operations of Buffalo Airways, the popular northern airline chronicled over six seasons on TV's Ice Pilots NWT, due to safety compliance issues.

In a release Tuesday, the regulator said it is suspending the airline's air operator certificate due to its "poor safety record."

The suspension took effect Monday at 11:59 p.m.

"The department will not allow Buffalo Airways to resume its commercial air service until it proves it can keep its operations consistently compliant with aviation safety regulations," the release stated.

Transport Canada says it consulted the airline in the lead-up to the suspension.

A history of incidents

The suspension follows a history of incidents.

In August 2013, a Buffalo Airways DC-3 made a hard landing at the Yellowknife airport 30 seconds after takeoff, and right after its right engine burst into flames. All 24 people on board were fine, a fact some attributed to a "darn good pilot."

Four months later, a Buffalo Airways C-46 plane, bound to pick up freight in Hay River, N.W.T., caught fire after it blew an engine while taxiing down the runway at the Yellowknife airport.

Last summer, the company was fined after pleading guilty to three violations of the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act. The airline was charged with using too-large tanks to haul diesel fuel to two remote exploration camps in 2012, with improper labelling and missing paperwork.

Company official Rod McBryan said Buffalo had been using the tanks for 35 years.

This October, a cargo plane belonging to Buffalo Airways crash landed outside of Deline, N.W.T.

Earlier this year, the TSB released its report into the 2013 hard landing in Yellowknife.

The report cited engine failure and an overloaded plane, as well as larger concerns about the airline's safety practices.

The board wrote: "… the organizational culture at Buffalo Airways was not supportive of a system that required the organization to take a proactive role in identifying hazards and reducing risks.

"The company's response to deficiencies identified during [Transport Canada] surveillance activities demonstrated an adversarial relationship between the company and the regulator."

The History Channel aired the last episode of Ice Pilots NWT, which depicted the day-to-day operations of Buffalo Airways, in December 2014.

The show helped the airline based in Hay River, N.W.T., garner a cult following.

Found it here:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/buf ... -1.3346524

[maradamx3]

Wonder if Buffalo still has the food-mail contract for the Valley run? If so, I sure hope those folks have some way to get their supplies.
And, wonder if this was another witch hunt by Trans Can to get Joe?

[marine air]

Didn't Buffalo Airways groundloop a C-46 this summer? And also land a Lockheed Orion gear up last year and also have an accident with their C-54 last year? and it seems like there was a fourth accident last year. NO telling what else they have been doiing. Safety is "kind of a big deal" to the FAA and CAA.

[K5DH]

Didn't Buffalo Airways groundloop a C-46 this summer? And also land a Lockheed Orion gear up last year and also have an accident with their C-54 last year? and it seems like there was a fourth accident last year. NO telling what else they have been doiing. Safety is "kind of a big deal" to the FAA and CAA.

The C-46 incident was a belly landing at Deline. It's probably a write-off.

The Lockheed incident was an Electra landing with the right main gear retracted. When they jacked the airplane up and looked inside the wheel bay, they found a hammer wedged into the gear mechanism. Once the hammer was removed, the gear worked fine. The airplane was repaired and returned to service.

[StangStung]

Pesky hammer, mucking around where it shouldn't have been in the first place...

[Tiger Tim]

I thought the hammer was the cause for the C-46 gear collapse a year or two ago.

[hang the expense]

Ban all hammers

[K5DH]

I thought the hammer was the cause for the C-46 gear collapse a year or two ago.

The failure of the Electra gear to extend was definitely caused by a wayward hammer. This was shown in an episode of Ice Pilots NWT (I have seasons 1-5 on DVD). I think the C-46 gear collapse was due to a faulty or misaligned limit switch, but I'm not certain on that.

[helinut]

Iam pretty sure the hammer was in the C46,the Electra was caused by the hard landing on the lake that jammed something in the retraction of the doors not allowing the gear to come down.

[K5DH]

Iam pretty sure the hammer was in the C46,the Electra was caused by the hard landing on the lake that jammed something in the retraction of the doors not allowing the gear to come down.

I stand corrected.

[dred]

Isn't one of Joe's sons the head maintenance guy?

[Bushranger]

This doesn't surprise me; the head of the place, seems to be a very headstrong independent guy. He's got so many new inexperienced people working both in the cockpit and on the ground its the blind leading the blind. It was an entertaining show !

[maxum96]

This doesn't surprise me; the head of the place, seems to be a very headstrong independent guy. He's got so many new inexperienced people working both in the cockpit and on the ground its the blind leading the blind. It was an entertaining show !

It was just that, a "show". Reality shows are all about drama. Most of what you see on reality shows is fake (aka scripted). TLC approached my brother about being in a reality show they were doing on insane Christmas decorations. He was ready to do the show until he realized they didn't really care about his decorations and only cared about what drama they could find.

[JohnB]

Wonder if Buffalo still has the food-mail contract for the Valley run? If so, I sure hope those folks have some way to get their supplies.

I'm sure the Canadian government won't let anyone starve.
I'll wager there are other outfits waiting in the wings (pardon the pun).

My guess is the outfit was a lot more professional than what we saw on TV, (otherwise they couldn't get insurance or loans) like others have said, "Reality TV" is all about drama.
Joe is probably a bit like we saw on TV....but it probably isn't the bailing wire and chewing gum outfit we saw either.

A few years ago there was a show about a famous (now late) custom car builder. On TV he came across like a real jerk (I'd like to insert a stronger word, but this is a family show).
I don't know whether he was that bad, or the jerk persona was part of the act to make him seem like a tough guy.
Probably a bit of both.

Might be the same here.

[exhaustgases]

Its more of a witch hunt to get rid of Recip planes, kind of like the grounding of the fire planes in the US.
So who does the engine overhauls for Buffalo ? Sounds like a rash of engine failures.