You don’t need a hit international TV show to see that Yellowknife’s Buffalo Airways is the world’s coolest airline. With a fleet of more than 50 planes, including a dozen DC-3s and DC-4s, no other airline can transport you back to the Golden Age of Flying the way these folks do. It’s why guys like Andrew Bromage sit in Buffalo’s humble departure lounge, having flown all the way from Liverpool to fly Buffalo Air on his birthday. Why Germans, Americans, and Australians arrive almost daily to walk among planes that have as much character as the people who operate them, who are all decked in a distinctive “Northern Light” green, with the fragrance of grease and sound family values.
Operating largely as a supply lifeline to remote northern communities, Buffalo’s “ice pilots” and planes are renowned for handling conditions that would freeze the cockpit off a commercial jet. Fortunately, they also fly a scheduled passenger service across Great Slave Lake to Hay River, a short flight I was eager to board. Once the stalwart plane of Second World War–era air forces and airlines, Buffalo’s tail-wheel DC-3s look like props from an Indiana Jones movie. Tilting upward, the lime-coloured interior features large windows and an open cockpit. With Chief Pilot Justin Simle at the helm, we’re in exceptionally safe hands. Buffalo operates the world’s largest fleet of DC-3s, which is why the airline was well known to plane enthusiasts long before it became the focus of the hit reality show Ice Pilots.
“It’s the planes that are the stars of the show,” says Justin, although credit must be given to the airline’s distinctly human element, starting with founder “Buffalo Joe” McBryan. He’s taken only two days off in 42 years, and one of them was for his honeymoon. The family are all involved: youngest son Mikey is the general manager, Rod is the director of maintenance, and daughter Kathy runs operations in Hay River. Visitors are invited to visit the hangar and take a look around, where they’ll be surprised to learn the characters on TV are very much the characters in real life. Crusty Chuck is literally greasing the wheels, while Sophie the mutt wanders about, a dog that has logged more flight time than many commercial pilots.
Your Pilot May Look Familiar
From The Deadliest Catch to Ice Road Truckers to Flying Wild Alaska, TV audiences love the extreme lifestyles and personalities of men and women of the North. With its retro colours, larger-than-life characters, and dangerous working environment, it was just a matter of time before Buffalo Airways flew high in the world of television. Originally produced for the History Channel by Vancouver-based Omni Film (the same company that produced my own series called Word Travels, using many of the same crew), Ice Pilots has been seen on networks including National Geographic around the world, making stars of its very authentic owners, managers, pilots, and maintenance crew. There’s even an Ice Pilots roller coaster in Denmark’s Legoland Park. When these old birds are flying, though, you can rest assured the folks at Buffalo Airways are more concerned with service and safety than with television ratings.
Justin shows me around the interior of a powerful Lockheed Electra, as well as Buffalo’s water bombers (sorry, Mordecai Richler’s ghost, but it’s impossible for a bomber to suck up a swimmer in a lake). I’m itching to get in the air, and it’s time for the 4:30 p.m. departure to Hay River. While Buffalo operates according to the same regulations as any commercial airline in Canada, the age of its planes and the attitudes of its crew are distinctly different. “We’ve got little interest in modern aviation. That’s like sitting in a doctor’s office,” explains Mikey. “Most pilots want to be in a suit walking through a terminal. Our guys love adventure.”
The formalities are minimal, on the understanding that passengers know how to operate a seat belt, and won’t do handstands in the aisles during turbulence. How refreshing to see pilots in jeans. The props roar to life, and in a surprisingly short takeoff the DC-3 tilts forward and gently floats into the big northern sky. It’s a smooth ride at 1,500 metres above the lake, and with the pilot’s permission, passengers can poke their heads into the cockpit, perhaps even take the jump seat and ask some questions. The 45-minute flight to the small transport hub of Hay River is fun, fascinating, and, I suppose, what flying used to be like.
Fortunately, Buffalo’s influence now extends to ensuring there’s something to do in Hay River when you get there. Together with her husband, Fraser, and stepson Spencer, Kathy McBryan has launched Hay River’s first tour operator, 2 Seasons Adventures. Guests can spend the night in a yurt or cabin on the sandy beaches of Great Slave; hop aboard an ATV; go fishing; ski, snowmobile, and ice-fish in the winter; take a jet boat to Louise Falls; party on a barge; spend the night watching the northern lights; or enjoy a barbecue on a boat as they float up the Mackenzie River. “There’s so much to do here,” says hunky Spencer as he cuts a Polaris ATV into the forest. All you need are locals with the right toys, toys that 2 Seasons has in abundance.
Back in Yellowknife, the distinctly green DC-3 lands on the runway. Nobody is quite sure what possessed Joe to adopt the colour, and four decades of aviation life in the northern extremes have blurred fact and myth, even for the founder. Maybe it’s because he was born on St. Patrick’s Day, or perhaps it was to remember the first green planes he ever flew. One thing’s for sure: it makes for memorable merchandise in the gift shop. “People would come and demand souvenirs, and it’s just grown from there,” explains Peter, as we stand in the merchandise store. Everyone’s wearing something that says “Buffalo,” and by the end of my visit, it’s hard to distinguish who’s a passenger, a visitor, a pilot, or a member of the crew.
For making flying fun again — on the ground, in the air, and on TV, too — Buffalo Airways buzzes the Great Canadian Bucket List.
START HERE: canadianbucketlist.com/buffaloair