Ice Pilots NWT

Rookie co-pilot Scott faces his worst nightmare when a faltering Curtiss C-46 Commando engine and low fog force a scary landing. Ambitious young flyer Alex must prove himself when Buffalos chief pilot gives him control of the 20-ton Douglas DC-4 for the very first time. And boss son Mikey gets in hot water when "Buffalo" Joe needs the backup Douglas DC-3 – and its nowhere near ready.

A string of bad luck turns chief pilot Arnies 66th birthday run into the flight from hell – and threatens to spoil his naughty birthday surprise. Ramp hand Jeremy is desperate to move up the ranks, but a female newbie could throw a wrench in his plans. And after the crew works all night to turn the DC-4 into a flying gas tanker, new co-pilot Alex flies a tricky fuel haul.

Mechanic Cory races against the clock to turn two short-haul waterbombers into trans-Atlantic aircraft for the epic journey to Turkey. Its up to engineer Adam to get the C-46 crew out of a jam on a remote airstrip in minus 40. And when captain Devan and co-pilot Scott encounter the menace of wind shear at notorious Bear Rock, its a hair-raising experience that tests their friendship.

A furious Joe fights against a federal suspension that will prevent him from carrying passengers for the first time in 20 years. Its also a setback for Jeremy and the other rampies, which takes a turn for the worse with an unexpected injury. For the Turkey waterbomber team its finally a go. Arnie, Justin and the crew set off on the first leg of their journey, a risky trip across Canada in the dead of winter, with no de-icing equipment.

The Turkey crew makes the critical jump over the North Atlantic. But en route to Portugal, one crew is forced to turn back. With no power on one engine and no way to maintain altitude, they must get back into Santa Maria, where the airport is on full emergency alert. And Mikey and Scott search for a new rampie, while Jeremys hopes plummet even further.

Across the world in spectacular Izmir, after thousands of hours of painstaking preparation and life-risking flying, a terrible accident devastates the Turkey crew - and everyone at Buffalo Airways. In Yellowknife, the spring melt is well underway, and northerners are finding ways to celebrate, from checking out the melting waterfalls to racing jet boats onto the remaining river ice. Its also Wilfs first run as flight attendant on the DC-3 - for which he insists on wearing a shirt and tie to the consternation of the entire company. Its the final push Jeremy needs to move to HQ in Yellowknife. Kelly and Jynelle dig up a house-warming surprise that practically brings tears to the gruff rampies eyes.

After her husbands acrimonious departure from Buffalo, Kelly has a confrontation that decides whether she, too, will quit. Jeremy makes a mistake that could end his Buffalo career. An aviation gas shortage brings a sobering dose of reality to the McBryans. And after a visit from his mom, fate throws Scott an unexpected curve ball. When the dust settles, someone will be leaving Buffalo Airways.

When a deadly fire destroys a northern outpost a week before Christmas, Kelly puts aside her personal dilemmas to rally Buffalo to the rescue. Scott and AJ face an onboard alarm.

Mikey goes on a Venezuelan treasure hunt for a rare CL-215 waterbomber, and new pilots Andrew and Graeme face their toughest test yet - flying with irascible boss Joe McBryan.

Crusty mechanic Chuck scrambles to ready the Electra for a mission to the High Arctic, and former rampie Audrey returns to Buffalo and reignites the battle of the sexes.

Young pilots AJ and Andrew get the chance of a lifetime to fly the DC-3 mounted on snow skis, and tension mounts across the company as Buffalo’s Mackenzie Valley food mail delivery contract is up for renewal.

Chief pilot Arnie lands the DC-3 on a homemade sand strip at a remote lodge. Electra expert Chuck faces off with a stubborn power unit, and Rods wife Sasha goes into labour.

A potential Electra plane purchase in Coventry, England has Joe showing Mikey the ropes of international business. New dad Rod misses his daughter while away on a job.

Joe hires outsider Duane Hicks to help Buffalo navigate the future and coach Mikey. Gord and Seans DC-3 delivery mission to the High Arctic goes awry when blizzard conditions and a broken oil cooler force an emergency landing.

Critical of the many stops and starts in the Electra program, and frustrated with the constant drama at Buffalo, Chuck quits. Joe clashes with the maintenance department when a series of delays puts the sale of an old Canso waterbomber in jeopardy. Mikey goes on an ATV hunting trip and Rod babysits his daughter, Emma Rae, while his wife Sasha goes to a wine gala in town.

When a ferry breakdown causes a gasoline shortage in Yellowknife, new manager Duane begs Chuck to return and prepare the Electra for a fuel haul. Cory leads a clandestine rescue mission to retrieve an abandoned C-46 and Mikey escapes to Ottawa for a birthday joyride in a fighter jet.

The Electra flies to Alert, the northernmost settlement on Earth, forcing Adam and new senior manager Duane to work things out. Hay River rampie Tyler is on the fast track to a co-pilot seat, but first has to prove his flying ability to Buffalos new chief pilot, Justin.

Trying to make his mark at Buffalo, Duane lands two more Electra contracts. But his over-zealous efforts result in a clash with the crew and with Joe, and a down-to-the-wire midnight departure to meet a deadline. Rookie DC-3 co-pilot Tyler discovers that landing the big plane takes practice.

Mechanic Jimmy is sent to a northern mining camp to create an ice landing strip on a remote lake where AJ will have to land a DC-3 and the much bigger C-46. New co-pilot Tyler faces the ultimate test – flying the sked with Joe. And Mikey turns the Buffalo hangar into a playhouse for his niece’s first birthday.

Rookie waterbomber pilot Scott gets his first taste of action when Buffalo responds to an emergency callout to fight fires in Alberta. Mikey and Rod think they hit the jackpot when they buy a million dollar firefighting plane on eBay at a bargain price. Joe marks his 50 years of flying by returning to the place he grew up in his historic Norseman. And Arnie shows up in Yellowknife to cheer on daughter Caitlin in a cancer fundraiser.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper visits Buffalo Airways; Joe clashes with inspectors; the Electra crew flies to Sachs Harbour for a meaty assignment.

After taking command of an intense airlift, and dealing with the ugliest Electra load hes ever seen, Scott takes a scary fall on the icy tarmac. City girl Christine moves to Yellowknife to give the unglamorous rampie life a shot, firebrand mechanic Chuck returns to the Buffalo hangar and immediately stirs the pot, while Joe helps out an old friend, "Ice Road Trucker" Alex Debogorski.

Just months from retiring, Electra captain Ray Weber leads his crew on a multi trip mission that requires landing on a rough ice strip on a remote lake. The ice strip landing goes fine, but when the plane takes off from the strip, the right landing gear gets stuck in the wheel well. Ray and his crew try to get the wheel down but to no avail, and are forced to perform an emergency landing that theyll never forget.

Buffalo has to get a CL-215 water bomber to buyers in Korea. So Justin and Cory fly the plane to Vancouver Harbour, where it will be hoisted onto a cargo ship sailing across the Pacific Ocean to its destination – a method of delivery no one has ever tried. Flight attendant David is fast-tracked to a seat next to Joe on the DC3 sked. But Joes been on the warpath, and is known for being hard on rookie copilots.

As spring arrives and Rays retirement day approaches, Sean surprises everyone by leaving Buffalo for a job with the competition. So Buffalo brings in Electra pilot Brian Harrison to finish the contract. But as ice strip conditions deteriorate, each flight is riskier than the last. When Buffalo gets the news of former chief pilot Arnie Schreders passing, Justin flies a DC3 to pick up Arnies family in Kelowna and brings them back to Yellowknife for a special memorial remembering the aviation legend.

Joe and Mikey hire a helicopter for a salvage mission to retrieve the rare tailpiece from a Lockheed 10A that crashed in the Yellowknife woods forty years ago. Its a personal quest for Joe; he flew that plane at the beginning of his career. Justin and Cory battle severe icing that threatens to send them plummeting into the frigid North Atlantic on the longest ocean leg of their CL-215 water bomber journey to Turkey.

Mikey gets the opportunity of a lifetime when hes invited to host a classroom discussion with Commander Chris Hadfield, calling in from the International Space Station. But reality soon hits, when the first blast of a record-cold winter grounds the DC-4, causing a major backup and grief for new cargo manager Chris Staples. When Mikey dispatches the C-46 to save the mission, it suffers a landing gear collapse on the runway, forcing the entire staff to scramble – with no word on the state of the flight crew.

Joe preps for a race in an antique snowplane – a 1940s ancestor of the snowmobile, powered by an airplane engine and devoid of brakes. No one knows what will happen when he unleashes it on frozen Great Slave Lake. The water bomber crew, led by Justin and Cory, try to move their two fire-fighting planes from Turkey to a maintenance facility in Wales, but get tangled up in red tape, threatening to ruin their chance of meeting up with Iron Maiden front man Bruce Dickinson. Rampie and cocky aspiring pilot Chris Staples pushes his way onto a C-46 flight, where he makes a critical mistake. AJ makes a last-second overshoot.

Following almost a year of repairs after its crash landing, Buffalo Airways Electra returns home to take on an urgent mission – returning to the very ice strip that set off the problems last year. Its the ultimate test for the plane and the crew. DC-4 co-pilot Tyler makes a major decision about his future, but now he has to face Joe. A pilot shows up out of the blue – all the way from Australia. Will Dyer has ten times the experience of a normal novice and quickly works to win a seat in a Buffalo cockpit. But the company throws him a curveball that puts his future in doubt.

Mikey joins the Canadian Rangers for an extreme outdoor training experience farther north than hes ever been. While hes gone, a military Aurora takes refuge in Buffalos hangar for important repairs – pushing Buffalos own mechanics out into the bitter cold. What should be a simple fix turns into a multi-day ordeal and the Air Force has to go head-to-head with Chuck. Joe flies to California to bid on a fleet of firefighting planes that could revolutionize his company. But he discovers he has tougher competition than he ever expected.

The Electra has become Buffalos winter workhorse – the one plane they need to keep flying. During a High Arctic delivery mission, a 5,000-pound power unit tips off the forklift and crashes to the ground, smashing the fuselage – and sending Mikey into crisis management mode. With no backup Electras, Joe races to Atlantic Airways in Coventry, England on an urgent mission to scoop one up from other potential buyers while back at Buffalo, Mikey tries to prove hes really management material.

The Electra is still working around the clock and Buffalo is ready to pick up another, the second of its new British acquisitions. Joe and Mikey head across the Atlantic to fly home their new baby, ending an era of British aviation. Devan preps for fire season with some wild target practice in the DC-4 to see if his aim lives up to his cockiness. When James son enters the local soapbox derby, James builds a Buffalo-style racer and finds out how his ugly green machine stacks up against the slick and pretty competition.

Its been a wild five years for ICE PILOTS NWT. To celebrate the milestone, we pull back the curtain for an inside glimpse into the production of the TV show, and allow the cast of Buffalo characters to reflect on how its affected their lives, for better or for worse. And we meet the cameramen who navigate prickly personalities and brave minus-forty conditions to capture the footage that has made ICE PILOTS NWT a cult phenomenon.

Chief Pilot AJ Decoste is flying up the Mackenzie Valley with Buffalo’s newest Electra, XFC, for the first time. Mechanic Cory Dodd is along for the ride to do some training as a Flight Engineer. They try to make their deliveries before a storm rolls in but when they land in Norman Wells, they are faced with gale force winds. When their takeoff is delayed by two incoming planes, AJ is forced to shut down and wait out the storm in Norman Wells. Later, on their approach to Tulita, they face even stronger winds gusting over 40 knots. Over in Hay River, things go from bad to worse when a warm weather system brings the threat of a rare ice storm. Two daily skeds arrive from Yellowknife and the rampies have to batten down the DC-3s in preparation for a long, rough night—the worst storm in fifty years. And the newest rampie, CJ Asaf, just can’t seem to fit in. Rampie Prefkar is tasked with training CJ on the Hay River delivery route, but Prefkar can’t handle CJ or his attitude.

Buffalo Joe has been a captain on the daily sked for 34 years and his 70th birthday is next week. Joe might have to stop flying if he doesn’t pass his medical and that could spell the end of Buffalo. Before Joe leaves to undergo five days of medical tests at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona, he calls two rampies, Sam Storm and Jeff Tapper, into his office to greenlight their DC-3 checkflights. Both Jeff and Sam have slogged away for eight months waiting for this chance. But on flight day, Sam is sick to his stomach from eating bad eggs the night before. Sam is not about to let a bad egg beat him and he helps Jeff prep DC-3, LFR. Just before takeoff, nausea wins—Sam has no choice but to back out and there’s no telling when he’ll get another chance. Jeff, on the other hand, has to overcome the jitters that have haunted him ever since he was in a crash landing earlier in the year. Mikey, Rod and his family prepare to greet Joe with a birthday cake shaped like a DC-3. At the last minute, Mikey gets a call that Joe isn’t coming back today; instead he’s decided to celebrate his own way—going for a ride in a classic 1940 Boeing Stearman biplane.

Mikey talks to a 15-year-old aviation buff in England via Skype, who has discovered that Buffalo’s DC3–WZS–flew on D-Day. This inspires Mikey to do something special for the 70th anniversary. He invites Cory to do a tandem parachute jump and finds out that Cory’s grandfather was a paratrooper at the invasion of Normandy. Meanwhile, Mikey takes mercy on Prefkar, working the ramp in Hay River, and offers him a chance for some pilot training on the morning DC-3 freighter. But when the time comes, Prefkar learns that he’s been bumped for pilot David Alexandre. It gets worse for Prefkar when he’s given another chance and this time the fog rolls in. Prefkar might not stick it out at Buffalo. Mikey’s D-Day plans get even bigger when he contacts the Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry, who were part of the Allied airborne forces that dropped behind German lines in 1944. He pitches his plan—a reenactment jump from WZS, an actual D-Day plane. But there’s a hitch: the plane needs to pass inspection, and Mikey needs to lose weight to make the cut for tandem jumping. Mikey tries everything he can think of—from juicing, working out with Dan at the gym and even sweating it out in spin class. Cory and Mikey go over what they need to refit DC-3 WZS for a static line jump. Cory is sent on a scavenger hunt for parts in Red Deer and finds a brand-new bracket from the 1940s—but they still need to find the missing rear bracket, and nobody even knows what it looks like.

The Buffalo boys gather in Red Deer for Mikey’s D-Day tribute jump. Joe and Sam scout out the designated military drop zone over Abraham Lake in the Rockies only to discover the canyon is too narrow for the DC-3. So Joe cancels the whole thing—it’s too dangerous. Mikey uses Joe’s own philosophy against him: at Buffalo, there’s always a backup plan. Joe flies out to scout a new location for the drop on the lake but hits bad weather. As Joe is about to scrap the trip, twenty paratroopers from the Canadian and American armies arrive for the big jump and are ready to go. They board WZS and Joe takes off to a site he hasn’t scouted, in weather that just keeps getting worse. As they near the drop point, he finally calls it—no jump tonight. They turn back, with all the troops still on board. Mikey’s only hope is a narrow window first thing the next morning—but only if Joe gives the final okay.