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First Air, the airline of the north, is phasing out both its 100 series 727s, C-FPXD was retired in early December and C-GVFA will be retired in a few days from now. With only a handful of 727-100s still operating as passenger aircraft in the world, I couldn’t let the opportunity slip to fly on one. First Air operates out of Montreal on a daily basis, with flights to Iqaluit (via Kuujjuaq) on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and they fly to Kuujjuaq every day.
I called First Air 2 days in advance to find out what the seat availability was, I was told that 20 passengers were booked on flight 866 and around 35 booked on 867, out of 77 available seats, the reason why there are only 77 seats is because the aircraft is a combi, it can be configured to hold anywhere from 8 pallets in a full cargo configuration, or 129 passengers in a full passenger configuration, or in this case, a mix of both, 3 pallets in the front and 77 seats in the back.
Flight info:
7F 866 YUL-YVP-YFB
Boeing 727-44/C, C-GVFA
Departure time from YUL: 10:00
Arrival time in Kuujjuaq: 12:15
Departure time from Kuujjuaq: 13:00
Arrival time in Iqaluit: 14:07
Departure gate from YUL: 41
Gate in Kuujjuaq: Don't think they have gates.
I woke up at around 4am, prepared my camera gear, had breakfast and left the house at 6:30. I had convinced a coworker to join me for this trip, we met in front of the deserted First Air counter at 7:30. The agent gave us seats 21A and C, warning us that we might not get a meal because we hadn’t made a reservation. We made our way through security, and since my friend had just got out of work he wanted to grab something to eat, so we went to Moe’s, a good restaurant if you want to have a nice view of the ramp. We could see our departure gate from the restaurant, so we waited for our plane to be towed in before proceeding to the gate.
AC400 from Toronto.
We got to gate 41 at around 9, and boarding began at around 9:40. The interesting part is that we would board using the rear stairs. After handing in our boarding passes we walked onto the ramp, and around the port wing to the rear stairs. I sat down in 21A which is the last row, but I quickly realized that I would be filming against the sun during takeoff, I waited for everyone to be on board and I took the only seat left on the right side of the aircraft, 16F.
The pilots waited for everyone to board before starting the APU, and then I realized that taking pictures was not an option due to the fact that the APU exhaust is located over the right wing. We pushed back on time facing west, while the safety demo was being done, pre-recorded announcements could be heard. After all engines were started we made our way to runway 24R via Echo and Bravo, and thankfully the APU was shut down during taxi, allowing for a clear view out the window.
We lined up on 24R at 10:10 and after waiting a few seconds the engines spooled up. We rolled down 24R for about 45 seconds. After a shallow climb to 3,000 feet the aircraft banked right and we were headed north to Kuujjuaq.
I really wanted to record the sound of a classic airliner, so I brought my video camera.
Click here to watch the takeoff from YUL
I went back to my seat for the rest of the flight and kept on taking pictures.
The F/A’s came around with the drinks in the late stages of our ascent to FL330. The meals were handed out a few minutes, it was either a vegetarian meal or a hot breakfast.
Unfortunately there wasn’t much to see out the window due to overcast skies.
The very spacious cabin of our 727.
The sliding door at the front leads to the cargo hold.
After spending about an hour at FL330 we started our descent into YVP and the skies cleared up just in time to see the deserted, snow covered landscape.
The pilots maneuvered the 727 abruptly by making an impressive turn to line up with runway 25.
Click here to watch the landing in YVP
After using nearly the full length of the runway we made a 180 and backtracked to the terminal. We arrived about 5 minutes early. We were given the option to stay on the plane or to deplane, my friend and I decided to stay on board because it looked bloody cold outside!
That's the terminal behind the Dash.
About 8 passengers came back on board the aircraft, engines were started on stand and at 12:55 we made a left turn to taxi out of the ramp and onto the short taxiway that leads to runway 25. The plane stopped on the runway and after about a minute the engines spooled up and down the runway we went.
Click here to watch the takeoff from YVP
It’s only a short hop to Iqaluit but we still managed to climb to 35,000 feet. During this leg of the trip only a snack was offered, which was a choice of pretzels, chips or various chocolate bars. I had the pretzels with a Coke.
Briefly enjoyed the view of the Ungava Bay prior to our descent into Iqaluit.
Click here to watch the landing in Iqaluit
As you can see the visibility was quite low. The pilots landed the aircraft as if they were landing on a 6,000 ft runway, probably due to a shorter taxi back to the terminal. The aircraft stopped right in front of the terminal. We quickly got off the aircraft, and I stopped to take a picture:
Flight info:
7F 867 YFB-YVP-YUL
Boeing 727-44/C, C-GVFA
Departure time from YFB: 15:00
Arrival time in Kuujjuaq: 16:10
Departure time from Kuujjuaq: 16:45
Arrival time in Montreal: 19:00
Arrival gate in Montreal: 37
We proceeded to check-in for our return flight, and the agent said the last thing I wanted to hear at this point "2 medevacs will board in Kuujjuaq, they told us not to accept standbys, the next flight is on monday" I couldn't believe it. My friend was working at 11pm that night, and I was working the next day, which was a saturday. She still gave us boarding passes without a seat assignment, pointing out that if there were no-shows we could make the flight. Another problem was that instead of the planned 77 seats, I noticed while we initially boarding the plane that an extra pallet was added, cutting the amount of seats down to 57. I tried to think of a backup plan, but the flight to Ottawa had already left, and the Canadian North 737 which I thought was going to Ottawa was infact going to Resolute. So the only option would have been to spend a night in Iqaluit and fly back via Ottawa the next day. We proceeded through to security and waited patiently, finally about 10 minutes before departure the friendly agent announced that we had made the flight. Thank god. I even got a window seat, 16F, the same seat I had when we left Montreal.We walked on the ramp to the very same aircraft we arrived on, door was closed immediately and after startup we taxied on time to runway 25.
A short takeoff roll followed once again and we made a quick turn south toward YVP, boy was I glad to be on my way home. We climbed to FL340 and once again a light snack was served with a drink.
Excuse the lack of pics and videos from this point on but by that time it had gotten quite dark which made it more difficult to get decent pics.
It was completely dark by the time we reached YVP. We landed on runway 25 once again. The aircraft came to a stop in front of the terminal and we were asked to get off the plane to allow them to install the stretchers. We had to go through security security again but it wasn't before 17:15 that we were allowed to board our 727 for the flight back to Montreal. The aircraft was completely packed this time, and I was stuck in a middle seat in row 16. My friend's seat was already occupied so he had to find another seat.
In the end we left YVP about 40 minutes behind schedule, with a heavy takeoff from runway 25. Cruising altitude this time was 36,000 feet according to the captain who made a brief announcement. Chicken was served, and it was pretty darn good. I couldn't get any pics because my bag was under the seat in front of me, and it was so cramped that I couldnt get my camera out. I enjoyed the meal and tried to get some rest, not easy when when you're in a middle seat.
Interesting approach into YUL from the north, we lined up with 24R and landed at around 19:30, exited the runway via Echo, crossed runway 10/28 and pretty much went straight into gate 37. Said thanks to the friendly flight attendants and once again got off the plane using the rear stairs, YUL was much warmer than YVP, with a temperature of around 5 degrees celcius, compared to 25 below in Kuujjuaq. Gate 37 is located on the aeroquai so we took the tunnel to go back to the main terminal, then waited for the shuttle to the parking lot.
I'm definitly looking forward to going back up north sometime soon, possibly to see the A380.
Thanks for reading.
I called First Air 2 days in advance to find out what the seat availability was, I was told that 20 passengers were booked on flight 866 and around 35 booked on 867, out of 77 available seats, the reason why there are only 77 seats is because the aircraft is a combi, it can be configured to hold anywhere from 8 pallets in a full cargo configuration, or 129 passengers in a full passenger configuration, or in this case, a mix of both, 3 pallets in the front and 77 seats in the back.
Flight info:
7F 866 YUL-YVP-YFB
Boeing 727-44/C, C-GVFA
Departure time from YUL: 10:00
Arrival time in Kuujjuaq: 12:15
Departure time from Kuujjuaq: 13:00
Arrival time in Iqaluit: 14:07
Departure gate from YUL: 41
Gate in Kuujjuaq: Don't think they have gates.
I woke up at around 4am, prepared my camera gear, had breakfast and left the house at 6:30. I had convinced a coworker to join me for this trip, we met in front of the deserted First Air counter at 7:30. The agent gave us seats 21A and C, warning us that we might not get a meal because we hadn’t made a reservation. We made our way through security, and since my friend had just got out of work he wanted to grab something to eat, so we went to Moe’s, a good restaurant if you want to have a nice view of the ramp. We could see our departure gate from the restaurant, so we waited for our plane to be towed in before proceeding to the gate.
AC400 from Toronto.
We got to gate 41 at around 9, and boarding began at around 9:40. The interesting part is that we would board using the rear stairs. After handing in our boarding passes we walked onto the ramp, and around the port wing to the rear stairs. I sat down in 21A which is the last row, but I quickly realized that I would be filming against the sun during takeoff, I waited for everyone to be on board and I took the only seat left on the right side of the aircraft, 16F.
The pilots waited for everyone to board before starting the APU, and then I realized that taking pictures was not an option due to the fact that the APU exhaust is located over the right wing. We pushed back on time facing west, while the safety demo was being done, pre-recorded announcements could be heard. After all engines were started we made our way to runway 24R via Echo and Bravo, and thankfully the APU was shut down during taxi, allowing for a clear view out the window.
We lined up on 24R at 10:10 and after waiting a few seconds the engines spooled up. We rolled down 24R for about 45 seconds. After a shallow climb to 3,000 feet the aircraft banked right and we were headed north to Kuujjuaq.
I really wanted to record the sound of a classic airliner, so I brought my video camera.
Click here to watch the takeoff from YUL
I went back to my seat for the rest of the flight and kept on taking pictures.
The F/A’s came around with the drinks in the late stages of our ascent to FL330. The meals were handed out a few minutes, it was either a vegetarian meal or a hot breakfast.
Unfortunately there wasn’t much to see out the window due to overcast skies.
The very spacious cabin of our 727.
The sliding door at the front leads to the cargo hold.
After spending about an hour at FL330 we started our descent into YVP and the skies cleared up just in time to see the deserted, snow covered landscape.
The pilots maneuvered the 727 abruptly by making an impressive turn to line up with runway 25.
Click here to watch the landing in YVP
After using nearly the full length of the runway we made a 180 and backtracked to the terminal. We arrived about 5 minutes early. We were given the option to stay on the plane or to deplane, my friend and I decided to stay on board because it looked bloody cold outside!
That's the terminal behind the Dash.
About 8 passengers came back on board the aircraft, engines were started on stand and at 12:55 we made a left turn to taxi out of the ramp and onto the short taxiway that leads to runway 25. The plane stopped on the runway and after about a minute the engines spooled up and down the runway we went.
Click here to watch the takeoff from YVP
It’s only a short hop to Iqaluit but we still managed to climb to 35,000 feet. During this leg of the trip only a snack was offered, which was a choice of pretzels, chips or various chocolate bars. I had the pretzels with a Coke.
Briefly enjoyed the view of the Ungava Bay prior to our descent into Iqaluit.
Click here to watch the landing in Iqaluit
As you can see the visibility was quite low. The pilots landed the aircraft as if they were landing on a 6,000 ft runway, probably due to a shorter taxi back to the terminal. The aircraft stopped right in front of the terminal. We quickly got off the aircraft, and I stopped to take a picture:
Flight info:
7F 867 YFB-YVP-YUL
Boeing 727-44/C, C-GVFA
Departure time from YFB: 15:00
Arrival time in Kuujjuaq: 16:10
Departure time from Kuujjuaq: 16:45
Arrival time in Montreal: 19:00
Arrival gate in Montreal: 37
We proceeded to check-in for our return flight, and the agent said the last thing I wanted to hear at this point "2 medevacs will board in Kuujjuaq, they told us not to accept standbys, the next flight is on monday" I couldn't believe it. My friend was working at 11pm that night, and I was working the next day, which was a saturday. She still gave us boarding passes without a seat assignment, pointing out that if there were no-shows we could make the flight. Another problem was that instead of the planned 77 seats, I noticed while we initially boarding the plane that an extra pallet was added, cutting the amount of seats down to 57. I tried to think of a backup plan, but the flight to Ottawa had already left, and the Canadian North 737 which I thought was going to Ottawa was infact going to Resolute. So the only option would have been to spend a night in Iqaluit and fly back via Ottawa the next day. We proceeded through to security and waited patiently, finally about 10 minutes before departure the friendly agent announced that we had made the flight. Thank god. I even got a window seat, 16F, the same seat I had when we left Montreal.We walked on the ramp to the very same aircraft we arrived on, door was closed immediately and after startup we taxied on time to runway 25.
A short takeoff roll followed once again and we made a quick turn south toward YVP, boy was I glad to be on my way home. We climbed to FL340 and once again a light snack was served with a drink.
Excuse the lack of pics and videos from this point on but by that time it had gotten quite dark which made it more difficult to get decent pics.
It was completely dark by the time we reached YVP. We landed on runway 25 once again. The aircraft came to a stop in front of the terminal and we were asked to get off the plane to allow them to install the stretchers. We had to go through security security again but it wasn't before 17:15 that we were allowed to board our 727 for the flight back to Montreal. The aircraft was completely packed this time, and I was stuck in a middle seat in row 16. My friend's seat was already occupied so he had to find another seat.
In the end we left YVP about 40 minutes behind schedule, with a heavy takeoff from runway 25. Cruising altitude this time was 36,000 feet according to the captain who made a brief announcement. Chicken was served, and it was pretty darn good. I couldn't get any pics because my bag was under the seat in front of me, and it was so cramped that I couldnt get my camera out. I enjoyed the meal and tried to get some rest, not easy when when you're in a middle seat.
Interesting approach into YUL from the north, we lined up with 24R and landed at around 19:30, exited the runway via Echo, crossed runway 10/28 and pretty much went straight into gate 37. Said thanks to the friendly flight attendants and once again got off the plane using the rear stairs, YUL was much warmer than YVP, with a temperature of around 5 degrees celcius, compared to 25 below in Kuujjuaq. Gate 37 is located on the aeroquai so we took the tunnel to go back to the main terminal, then waited for the shuttle to the parking lot.
I'm definitly looking forward to going back up north sometime soon, possibly to see the A380.
Thanks for reading.
Stop Searching. Start Traveling. southwest.com 
sounds like you had fun!
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