• Age: 15
• Grade: 10

A nail-biting tour whooshing through the Arctic air alongside the legendary ice pilots, whose story created an international television sensation.

 

Based on the top-rated TV show now airing on History Channel and Global TV in Canada, and in eleven other countries around the world, The Ice Pilots follows a group of pilots in Yellowknife, Canada, and the extraordinary adventures of the most unorthodox flyboys on earth.

 

Renegade Arctic airline Buffalo Airways defies the cold and the competition by using World War 2-era propeller planes to haul vital fuel, supplies and passengers to remote outposts across the world's last great wilderness of northern Canada. From rookie pilots trying to earn their wings in dangerous conditions to vintage planes that flew over Normandy on D-Day, The Ice Pilots brings its readers on an engaging romp through Arctic skies.

 

The intrepid Michael Vlessides -- the writer behind Les Stroud's bestselling Survivorman books -- braves bone-chilling temperatures, treacherous landings and iconic owner "Buffalo" Joe McBryan's famous temper to capture behind-the-scenes stories about the ice pilots, the crew, the passengers and the communities they serve. Weaving in history about bush pilots, plane crashes and the north, Vlessides has crafted an entertaining, informative narrative about aviation: the lifeline of this remote and icy world.

Michael Vlessides is the writer behind Les Stroud's bestselling Survivorman books: Survive: Essential Skills and Tactics to Get You Out of Anywhere - Alive and Will to Live: Dispatches from the Edge of Survival. A graduate of New York University's School of Journalism, Michael Vlessides is the former editor of Up Here magazine in Yellowknife -- where his office was next door to Buffalo Airways -- and he has been published in International Wildlife, Canadian Geographic, British Columbia, Reader's Digest, Canadian Wildlife, Explore, L`Actualite, and Avenue. He lived for six years in the Arctic and now lives in Canmore, Alberta.

Michael Vlessides' profile page

"...the mental pictures you form while reading this well-written work are sharper, thanks to a seasoned writer acting as guide and interpreter."

Air & Space Smithsonian Magazine

"It's a book just waiting to be devoured, especially by those who yearn for the golden era of aviation, when flight was still enough of a novelty as to be a luxury and the men (and occasional woman) who took the controls was an adventurer of heroic proportions."

Rocky Mountain Outlook

The Ice Pilots: Flying With the Mavericks of the Great White North

The Ice Pilots is inspired by the TV series Ice Pilots NWT, a reality program that follows the events at Buffalo Airways, an airline that services remote outposts in the Canadian Arctic. The author travels to the Buffalo Airways hangar in Yellowknife and profiles the WWII-era propeller planes that make up the fleet as well as the unique personalities in this family-run business. Readers learn about aviation, the Arctic, and the determination required to progress from rampie to bush pilot. In addition to the difficulties of flying through the frozen tundra, a major challenge is navigating the personality of Buffalo’s legendary captain and president, Joe McBryan, a volatile yet lovable curmudgeon. This light-hearted look at aviation in the Arctic also profiles WWII planes within the narrative and in fact boxes.

Caution: Includes occasional coarse language.