NatGeo TV Goes Cold... Really Cold With Ice Pilots Season 1!
Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 03:27PM 
Ice Pilots season 1 comes to National Gepgraphic TV starting Friday April 22, 2011
Get more info and schedule details at the National Geographic Ice Pilots page
I'm pretty sure you've heard of the Ice Pilots TV show that's been running in Canada on History Television since 2009, but if you're like me, you been a tad frustrated that we haven't had a way to watch the adventures of Buffalo Airways down here in 'land of the free and the home of the brave'. It's actually been even more frustrating since Ice boss Joe McBryan and general manager Mikey McBryan were on hand at Oshkosh 2010 with a DC-3 and DC-4 stirring up attention for the show.
Well, we can fret no more because it's NatGeo to the rescue! Season 1 of Ice Pilots will premiere tomorrow night on The National Geographic Channel. And, while I don't have access to NatGeo with my cable package, I'm looking into an upgrade so I can finally sit at home in a nice warm house and watch semi-crazy people operate 50 to 70 year old airplanes in winter temperatures as low as -30F!
The Buffalo Airways DC-4 in the sunshine and snow
I've watched some of the videos posted at the official Ice Pilots youtube page in the past, and then I recently had the chance to watch an actual episode (via my powerful and influential media connections*) and there are some good conclusions I have about how all this comes together. Three specific things stand to me about Ice Pilots. First, the production quality of the program is quite high. There's a dash of artistic videography mixed in with a really nice method of overall presentation. At no time am I bothered by the way they go about things... and honestly, the modern era of 'Reality TV' has brought with it a lot of shows that are really hard to watch just because of the way they put them together.
(*that's a joke : )
The Buffalo Airways DC-3 at Oshkosh 2010 (Joe McBryan in the orange shirt at right)
The second thing I like about Ice Pilots is the relative lack of absurd tv-generated drama. Maybe it's because flying really old airplanes in the often insanely cold weather brings enough genuine drama with it that they don't have to manufacture it. That may be part of it, but I also get the feeling that there's a little different attitude among the producers of the show. Whatever the reason, I think it makes the show much more enjoyable to watch.
Mikey McBryan under the DC-3 wing at Oshkosh 2010 chatting it up
The third element I like is the most important one. They don't butcher aviation in the process of putting the show together. It seems like the production team might actually like airplanes and have taken the time to be accurate in their portrayal of the aviation life at Buffalo Airways. Now I admit that I'm basing all these opinions on a relatively small slice of the two seasons that are in the can... I'm guessing we'll all be able to form a better opinion after we get a solid batch of episodes under our belt.
A nice low pass by one of the Buffalo Airways C-46 Commando's
So I'm looking forward to watching the always-interesting adventures of Buffalo Airways waaaay up north in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada - about 250 miles south of the Arctic Circle. And I think we should remember to thank NatGeo for doing what nobody else seemed to have the sense to do... bring this established, extremely popular and very well produced aviation-based show to the American airwaves!
Ice pilots Season One video promo
EAA video looking behind the scenes at Buffalo Airways
Reader Comments (2)
I am so going to watch this one. I enjoyed the Flying Wild Alaska series on Discovery as well. Them Tweto girls are absolutely gorgeous!
I have seen all of season one of Ice Pilots. It is great, I like it much better than Flying Wild Alaska. The airplanes are cooler and the personalities are better.