You can't land a 737 on gravel, too heavy. The strip is paved in Ft. Mac and has been for years, since I've been there ('98) and the issue is the length of the strip. Too short for any more modern aircraft to land on. The rocks may be from the each end of the strip where they occasionally go in the winter if they can't stop in time. In the summer, a 737 would sink to the fuselage in that slop at either end.

 

Heavy Equipment Tech

 

Actually 737 do land on gravel strips. They are hard packed and of the required length. They also have special landing gear for rough terrain and deflectors to prevent rocks from getting sucked into the engine.

 

That's correct, the 737-200 can be equipped with gravel kits. The nose gear gets what looks more like a 4X8 sheet of plywood this really slows down the nose gear on retraction. The engines get a pipe that extends forward and down slightly from the front lower of the engine nose cowl. The 4X8 is designed to keeps rocks from spraying upwards from the nose gear and the pipes exhaust compressed air (13 stage if I remember right) to deflect rocks from entering the engine. The engines do get rock damage so does the tail.

The two story?? I'll ask my kid again when I see him, perhaps he meant it was his first two story.

 

When ever I flown up there, it was on a twinprop engine turbojet. The strip was paved, but bumpy. That was the kirby strip back when BP had a camp up there. That must be 10years or so ago. Nice camp, even had time to go fishing in the summer. They had lots of stuff to keep you busy, but limited how many hours you worked. Tons of food, and you sorta have a choice on what meals you wanted. Private room and TV, with all movies channels.

Sure beat my last year trip to Highlevel TCPL camp, the food was all freezer burnt and there was no water. Had to watch a 13in TV in the group room. Thought it was like camping, had work 12's and do you're own cooking/washing dishes. Made for long long days, but they did have a pool table. Dry camp, but we got beer flown in.

 

finning is in suncor, so is komatsu, i think, i havent been out to the main site in a year or two. i dont think there is a strip in the main mine.
if u can get into a camp that is under 500 ppl it will be more agreeable. there are less cooks to mess up the food.
standard shift for suncor employees is 2 in 1 out. though i dont think they have their own mechanics. the mine managers have over all authority. so if u get sent to do something and its not there or your job is no longer relevent. its probably their fault. but dont tell them that. overall workin for suncor is a hassle. there are miles of paperwork and most the guys that are there are only there for the money. chances are halfway through a job something important will break or they will change their minds about how they want you to do it.

though that mite be true for any where.

 

Suncor seems especially bad for that. I hate working there.

 

Wow.. 737 on gravel.. huh.. sorry for the misinfo. I just remember discussing this with the bush pilots I flew with to Zama a while ago. They said it couldn't be done. A 6 seater is the way to fly

 

The best is one of these. When we landed at Highlevel airport, a guy rolled in with a mig 15, it had the russian star on it. It was a private plane. The guy needed fuel. Now thats a neat toy.

The camp that I flew into was 1 1/2hr north of Highlevel. The guys told me that there was wolves that came into the camp, as the there was parts of the fence was down. I didn't see anything wild but buffalo's. The building were we worked on had no heat, so we had to use hermans heaters. Had two guys go crazy over that week. Had to get flown out...

 

I know Wajax is looking for mechanics and electricians for their haul trucks and other equipment. I build their shovels and they will be getting even busier this year. They are on all sites, cnrl, albian, suncor, syncrude etc...

 

almost every site up here has its own airport now,, some are paved, some are not. I have seen 737's at most of them.

 

It's been said that "anything with a prop.... belongs in the water" and "time to spare.... go by air"

 

Thats not what I was told at the job fair. They have their own mechanics and do a 6on with 3days/3nights and then 6 off. Seems like a pretty stupid shift to me. Why not just do all days then off then all nights. Its been awhile since I've done nights but change over was always tough. Also why 6? If they did 7 then you'd be off and on on always the same days. Easier to plan your time off.

They were looking for people to relocate and offering huge relocation packages, $$$. Don't have to relocate, can use the money to commute but then you need to rent a place and pay for flights(or drive) which ends up gobbling up a day at either end of your time off giving you only 4 days at home.

I still looking into it, as well as CNRL and syncrude but I'm really hoping for a camp job.

 

They seem to like stupid shifts up there. A couple years back, I was offered a job at Syncrude, it was 5 on, 4 off, 4 on, 5 off. I calculated it out, it was close to 7 months before the rotation started on the same day again.

Does the 6-6 shift get you a blended rate? Our guys get another 3-4 an hour, but they don't get any OT during their 6 on. If they work any of their days off, it is all double. You can make pretty good money like that.

 

I worked shifts my whole working life and guys bring it on themselves, guys would take their holidays when it was their turn for nights and the senior you are the more holidays you get, so junior guys get forced to nights. When it comes time for a shift vote well each junior guy gets just as many votes as each senior. Pay back time. LOL and not so good shifts.