The Cold Standard
Reliable and consistently cold winters make the city of Yellowknife a premier destination for cold-weather testing programs. The Yellowknife Airport is the North’s major logistics hub and home to unparalleled expertise, renowned for its experience in operating and maintaining aircrafts in consistently extreme cold conditions.
The Cold, Hard Facts
On average, there are 105 “cold days” (dips below -20 C) per winter
-51.2 C is the lowest recorded temperature in Yellowknife History (-60.1 F)
On average, there are 52 “very cold day” (dips below -30C) per winter
-27.6C is the average low temperature from December to February
Cold Weather Testing History
TRIED AND TESTED
Yellowknife has a sustained and successful history of hosting cold-weather testing programs. Back in the early 1990s, caravans of Porsches navigated the city’s streets during the coldest days of winter. Over the years, aviation companies have certified their aircraft in Yellowknife’s frigid temperatures.. In 2019, Texas-based Bell Helicopters dispatched more than 40 employees and two of its large, next-generation 525 Relentless helicopters for a two-month testing program.
Leading Companies have come to Yellowknife for cold weather testing:
- Raytheon
- Gulfstream Aerospace
- BMW
- Beechcraft Premier Jet
- Robinson: R66
- Honeywell: Boeing 757 engine
- Bombardier: C Series
- Airbus Helicopters: H160
- Eurocopter (now Airbus): EC175
- Sikorsky: CH-148815
- Bell: 525 Relentless
- Porsche: 911
- GE
- Korean Aerospace Industry
- Saab .
“Yellowknife Airport and local aviation companies were very accommodating. We were able to work with control towers to basically shut down a runway while we were doing low-altitude work over the runway. They diverted all of the other traffic to the other runway so we could do our work and they coordinated with us so if they were landing something or taking off something, we still got half the runway to work with. Fuel was very responsive. We were able to get out into the working area really rapidly to do our tests, so they were very accommodating in supporting us. And we got the -40 C we were looking for.”
“We didn’t have any trouble with the control tower or working within the airspace. There’s plenty of nice restaurants in town, so all of that worked out pretty well. If somebody said, ‘Hey, it’s -40 C in Yellowknife, would you recommend going back?’ I’d say, ‘Well sure, we would go back.”
“Why Yellowknife? Because it’s quite a big city. There is a hospital and if there was a problem for somebody on our team, it was easy to solve. The installation and hangar facilities were perfect. When we had specific requests, we went through Summit and each time people found out solutions if we had problems. It was perfect. At the beginning, we were thinking perhaps we will have some problems with the huge fixed wing traffic on the platform, but we did our [cold certification] performance tests early in the morning when there was no wind and it was well managed. I cross-country ski and once I went by cross-country ski from my hotel to the office. Also, we have beautiful pictures and movies of the Northern Lights.”
“Korea Aerospace Industries has conducted more than four times of cold weather flight tests mainly in the U.S. mainland and in Alaska. But this time, we selected Yellowknife as our testing site because it showed relatively very constant cold weather condition than any other region. Conditions at Yellowknife Airport in the winter was cold, clear and dry and this was perfect condition for our testing. The test we did here this time was very successful and we managed to finish our test within our schedule. I think the biggest advantage of Yellowknife as a cold weather flight test site are: very constant cold weather condition, favorable usage of runway & airspace, and strong support from Yellowknife Airport officials. Through Light Armed Helicopter cold weather test, it has been proven that Yellowknife is the best place in the world for cold weather campaign.”