Flight to Tuktoyaktuk

It's a cool and rainy Wednesday -- 43°F in Littleton this afternoon and cooling down, with a forecast overnight low just a few degrees above freezing. We have a nice view of the neighbor's pretty pink dripping-wet blossoms in their yard down the hill.  

 

 

 

 

This is a perfect wet and gloomy day to continue my Canada simulated flying adventure, with a flight in the XCub from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk on the coast of the Beaufort Sea. Here I'm taxiing for takeoff from the snow-covered Inuvik airport. 

 

I'm cruising northbound at 1500 feet, which is plenty high enough to clear any terrain in this area. It's mostly overcast, and with the temperature at -17°C, it's a good idea to stay low and out of those icy clouds! 

 

I have a beautifully reflective view on the approach over the Kugmallit Bay into Tuktoyaktuk on the north coast of Yukon Territory. This airport is like quite a few of the smaller Alaskan airports in the simulator. I never know what I'm going to find when I get there. There's a decent chance that no one has gotten around to simulating the airport in any way. Sometimes there's nothing but trees, which can be interesting, but oftentimes I'll find a runway with no support buildings in sight. One airport had just the rotating beacon light on a tower in the middle of the forest. It's hard to tell from this far out, but it appears this airport's runway and some buildings are in the simulator's database for this location. Good news!  

Here's a zoomed-out map showing my current location, just for a little perspective! It looks like the only thing between me and the North Pole now, is miles and miles of open water.