Dreaming of learning to fly?   Aspiring pilots are invited to join the Northwest Territories Flying Association on June 8, 2024 for a  "Discover General Aviation" event to familiarize aspiring pilots with the training and processes involved in becoming a recreational or private pilot and acquiring and owning a private aircraft.   After the event, participants can enjoy an introductory flight with an NWTFA pilot.  Participants also receive 12 months of free online ground school, a 90-day free trial of a flight simulator for mobile devices,  and  extensive resource materials.

​Registration is $40 and includes 2024 membership in NWTFA.  Coffee/muffins will be provided.  Participants must be at least 19 years of age.  Advance online registration is required.

The 2024 Rust Remover will be held on May 25, 2024 at the Yellowknife Historical Museum at the former Giant Mine townsite in Yellowknife, NT.  The program will be sanctioned by Transport Canada as satisfying the 2-year recurrent training requirement for private pilots. 

The 2024 Rust Remover will include presentations from Transport Canada, NAV CANADA and other speakers.  Subjects to be discussed will include general aviation safety topics such as runway incursions, icing and float operations, airworthiness topics such as owner maintenance, pilot responsibilities, and ADS-B, operations in the YZF control zone, and best practices for purchase and sale of private aircraft. 

Registration is free for current NWTFA members and $40 for non-members.  Coffee/muffins and a lunch of gourmet sandwiches and mini-desserts will be provided.  Advance online registration is required.

NWTFA/COPA Flight 108 will be holding its 2023 Annual General Meeting and BBQ/Potluck on July 18, 2023 at Anderson Thomson Tower in Yellowknife, NT.  Members, family, guests and prospective members are welcome.  Please RSVP by Sunday, July 16, 2023 so  that we can purchase enough hamburgers!

The AGM will be conducted after the BBQ and will include a report from the board of directors, year-end financial statements, election of officers, and amendments to the constitution and bylaws.  The positions of President and Vice-President are due for election for 2-year and 1-year term respectively.  An additional 1 or 2 Directors-at-Large may be elected for 2-year terms if interested candidates are available.  For further information, please refer to the AGM Notice.

Dominique Prinet, author of "Flying to Extremes: Memories of a Northern Bush Pilot", will present a slideshow depicting his adventures as a bush pilot in the Northwest Territories during the late 1960's and early 1970's.  The free event is open to the public and is presented by the Northwest Territories Flying Association and the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre.

Join us in the auditorium at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre on Wednesday, July 5, 2023 at 7:00 pm for this entertaining presentation.  The slideshow will include tales of memorable flights to northern communities and unforgettable aviation experiences.  Copies of Dominique's book will be available for purchase and autograph.

The Midnight Sun Fly In is excited to present its evening events!  Friday evening will feature a Fish Fry with live music by Andrea Bettger and Saturday night will feature of Steak BBQ with entertainment by Tres Hombres.

Tickets are $70 per person and are now available online.  Click the graphics opposite or scan the QR codes to purchase tickets.

The Northwest Territories offers endless bush-flying opportunities with innumerable remote destinations accessible on floats, tundra tires or skis.  Summer months boast 20 hours of sunlight giving plenty of VFR flying time for exploration.

The Northwest Territories Flying Association has recently acquired a new floatplane dock dedicated for use by visiting aircraft.  The visitor dock is located near the Ahmic Air floatbase in Yellowknife, NT.  Reservations are managed online through the NWTFA website and 100LL avgas is available on site from Ahmic Air.  The visitor dock is made possible through the support of Ahmic Air and with funding from the Government of the Northwest Territories Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment and the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency.

For more information on exploring the Northwest Territories by air, browse the "Visiting NWT" and "Places to Fly" pages of our website.  To reserve the visitor floatplane dock for your trip, visit the "Visitor Floatplane Dock at CEN9" page on our website.

​Registration is now open for pilots and passengers planning to attend the 2023 Midnight Sun Fly In to be held in Yellowknife this summer.  Check out the Midnight Sun Fly In Association website for more information.  Events and activities will include a bush pilot slideshow by Dominique Prinet, pancake breakfast, lunchtime BBQs,  evening fish fry and steak BBQ with live entertainment, bush pilot memorial and more!

​The Northwest Territories Flying Association plans to host a fly-out picnic or other flying event during the Fly In.  All NWTFA members will be invited to participate and volunteers are always needed.

During a recent trip south, we took our 406 ACK Emergency Locator Transmitter for recertification and installation of a new battery.  To our surprise, on the return trip, a diligent security official decided to verify that the unit didn’t exceed the maximum allowable watt-hour (Wh) rating for a battery in carry-on baggage.

According to CATSA guidelines for transport of lithium batteries, any lithium battery over 160 Wh cannot be carried on board an aircraft.  The Wh rating of a battery is calculated as its voltage multiplied by its amp-hour (Ah) rating.  Since neither rating was specified on our unit, the security official had to "perform a calculation".  After examining the label on our unit and doing some math on scrap paper, he determined its Wh rating to be 170 Wh, and announced that we must leave security and somehow place the ELT in our checked baggage.

Motivated by extreme reluctance to be separated from our ELT and its expensive new battery, we questioned the "calculation".  It turned out that the security official had scanned the label for any number that might relate to amperage, finding only TSO C-142a, which he then creatively multiplied by the voltage of the unit.  After explaining that a TSO number is not an electrical rating, we were able to quickly Google the installation/operating manual for our ELT and convince the official that its Ah rating was only 7.75 Ah.  The correct Wh calculation therefore yielded 93 Wh, so the official graciously apologized for the confusion and allowed us to carry the ELT on board.

The moral of this story is to know your ELT.  Better yet, travel armed with its specification sheet which clearly indicates the size of its battery.

NWTFA is excited to present SmartPilot seminars at the 2023 Rust Remover.  The following SmartPilot seminars will be presented by Mike Doiron of Cirrus Aviation Safety Services:

• SAR Awareness
• Ups and Downs

This exceptional training opportunity is made possible through the success of fundraising efforts undertaken by NWTFA in 2022.  Play the promo videos below for a hint of the content delivered by these SmartPilot seminars!

NAV CANADA will also be in attendance to present its annual update on YZF operations and ongoing initiatives.

The 2023 Rust Remover will be held on May 13, 2023 at St. Patrick's Church Hall in Yellowknife, NT.  The program will be sanctioned by Transport Canada as satisfying the 2-year recurrent training requirement for private pilots.  Registration is free for current NWTFA members and $40 for non-members.  Advance online registration is required.

NWTFA will be offering aircraft underwater egress training through Arctic Response on April 13, 2023.  The course includes 3 hours of theory plus 4 hours of in-pool training.  The cost is $472.50 per person.  Underwater egress training improves the survivability of aircraft accidents on water and is recommended for pilots and frequent passengers.  Recent underwater egress training may also qualify for an insurance discount.

​Please complete this registration form by March 22, 2023 to register.  Spaces in the course are limited.  Spaces will be reserved once the registration fee has been paid by e-transfer to NWTFA.

Save the Date!
Annual "Rust Remover" recurrent pilot training has been rescheduled to May 13, 2023 in Yellowknife, NT.  Exciting new presentations are planned for this event with details to follow soon!

Our Rust Removers are designed to satisfy the 2-year recurrent training requirements of Transport Canada.  Topics typically include refreshers on material covered during flight training supplemented by presentations on subjects of interest to northern pilots. 

The Northwest Territories boasts outstanding opportunities for aviation tourism with its vast wilderness and abundance of lakes offering paradise for flying on floats.  In furtherance of its mandate to promote the region as an aviation-friendly destination, NWTFA has acquired a visitor floatplane dock to be placed on Back Bay in Yellowknife.  The dock will be available for use and booking through an online reservation system by summer 2023.  This project has been made possible through the support of Ahmic Air and with funding from the GNWT Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment and the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor).

Lower Pensive Lake is located 33 nautical miles northeast of Yellowknife on the Pensive Lakes wilderness paddling route.  NWFTA volunteers conducted a remote site clean-up at this location in July 2022 with support from Unsmoke Canada / The Great Outdoors Fund and Air Tindi. Volunteers removed accumulated debris and made improvements to the firepit and benches.

Lower Pensive Lake has now been added as one of the "Places to Fly" on our website.  A sandy beach provides excellent parking for several floatplanes.  An open esker behind the beach offers stunning views of the lake and surrounding landscape.  This site is ideal for daytrips or camping and includes an established firepit with several large benches.

NWTFA will be hosting a fly-out beach day at Chedabucto Lake on Sunday, August 28, 2022 (weather permitting).  Members are invited to join us for a day of swimming, kayaking, water frisbee and relaxation at the beach!  For more details, click on the snip below to download the informational flyer.

NWTFA hosted a fly-out work party at Lower Pensive Lake on Saturday, July 16, 2022 to conduct a general site clean-up.  Seven volunteers, being members of NWFTA and/or CASARA, travelled to the site in member floatplanes to participate in the clean-up.  We spent approximately 5 hours collecting a total of 1200 kg of debris, hauling it all down the esker to the beach, and loading it onto a Twin Otter for removal to the Yellowknife solid waste facility.  With a bit of extra time, we also used a few salvaged timbers and donated logs to reconstruct benches around an existing firepit. 

NWTFA extends its thanks to Unsmoke Canada, The Great Outdoors Fund and Air Tindi for their support of this project.  As a result of their assistance and the collective effort of our volunteers and the Air Tindi pilots, this site is once again a lovely wilderness destination with a pristine beach and scenic esker.  Check out our photo gallery for more  shots of this site before, during and after our clean-up and learn more in Cabin Radio's story about the project.