Ice Pilots NWT Star Mikey McBryan to Speak at AirVenture Canadian Breakfast
By Ian Brown, Editor
April 2019 - If you’re a fan of the show Ice Pilots NWT, as I am, you will be delighted to hear that Mikey McBryan has agreed to be the guest speaker at the Canada Breakfast on Wednesday, July 24, during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2019.
Any self-respecting Canadian pilot is a fan of the show, but just in case you’ve been living under a rock for the last 10 or so years, Ice Pilots NWT was a reality TV show about family-owned Buffalo Airways based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, a real airline founded by Mikey’s father, “Buffalo Joe” McBryan, in 1970. Buffalo has operations in Hay River and Red Deer, too. It also operates door-to-door delivery serving more than 400 northern communities and an extensive firefighting fleet of aircraft including eight Air Tractor 802 Fire Bosses.
Mikey decided not to become a pilot like his dad but instead obtained a diploma in business and is expected to take over the business when his father retires.
Mikey recently bought a stripped DC-3 on eBay out at Montreal Saint-Hubert Longueuil Airport near Montreal. The instruments are all gone as are the engines, but if anyone knows where to get DC-3 parts it’s Mikey. He hopes to be able to fly it to AirVenture 2019 — that’s basically a six-month “homebuilt” project. Wow.
The aircraft flew over the English Channel on D-Day dropping 15 paratroopers and 12 20-pound bombs in the effort to free the French and the rest of Europe from occupation.
There may be other opportunities to meet and greet Mikey McBryan at the EAA Canada Tent during AirVenture. For now, we have no idea what Mikey plans to talk about, but one might guess that his latest DC-3 restoration might be high on the list. The TV show also resulted in a new business for the company Buffalo Airwear.
We hope you are excited as we are to be meeting Mikey in person and hearing his presentation.
