Stage 1 Final Preparations

Starting to assemble the equipment.  Lot's of details to go.

This morning completed final testing of the auxiliary fuel storage tank which will be within the plane's cabin, for the extra long runs.  Assembling portable electric fuel pump, generator system, gell batteries, solar collectors for backup power, and other odds and ends.  Everything is coming together well so far.  June is fast approaching.

Havis seat mount docking station for Toughbook (used for Police cars)

Auxiliary fuel tank - lower right

Did  obtain   Inuit Lands permission / permit. 
The NIRB, Canada's multi faceted agency representing local people, habitat; wildlife, water, etc. has no adverse issues thus far.  I will be hearing of final all around approval in early June, so have to wait and see till then to know for sure.

I will be planning on making extended stays in Churchill, Manitoba on the way up and, maybe on the way back.  Aside from checking out the abundance of unique wildlife, I plan on doing some general bush flying/exploring.  I should say "tundra and rock" flying/exploring, as there are almost no trees that far north.  This is about 2/3 the way to the ultimate destination of King William Island.  In 2000 I had found an old abandoned trading post from what looked like the 1800's, over 250 miles out of Churchill, in the bush.  Much was intact, like a new found ghost town.  It was only one structure....and inside, many relics to photograph.  Some type of butcher scale type thing with cobwebs was still on this broken down counter.  I hope it is still there because I am going to try to re-find it.  Unfortunately I had lost all my film pictures on that trip (kinda before digital camera's, or they were just coming out).  In addition I will explore for more intriguing finds.  It's cool to just set the compass on a heading and fly hundreds of miles scanning for interesting ground anomalies.  Here also are a few pics from a couple of interesting locations; an old Nike Missile range, from the Cold War days, abandoned long ago.  

Abandoned Nike Missile Base

Also an abandoned DEW line structure, intact with much equipment still in place...like all of a sudden everyone just quickly left. These particular sites are somewhat known, but was amazed by how much of the contents were still there and remained intact.