Some of the favourite characters of the hit History Channel docu-series "Ice Pilots NWT" are hitting the waves off Kelowna's waterfront over the Easter weekend.

Photo: Kelly Hayes

The 'Ice Pilots' are training in the Okanagan Saturday and Sunday.

Chief pilot Justin Simlie has brought his  crew of CL215 pilots to Kelowna for waterbombing practice.  Two of the planes, affectionately called 'ducks' will fly Saturday and Sunday off Kelowna's waterfront.

Originally set for Red Deer, Alberta where ice is still covering the lakes, Simlie chose Kelowna for it's open water and beautiful landscape.

It doesn't hurt that former Chief Pilot, Arnie Schroeder lives in Lake Country and will be making an appearance with the crew.

Lead director, David McIlvride of Kelowna will be part of the crew working through the weekend capturing footage for season 3 of this Canadian television hit!

The series following the adventures of renegade Arctic airline Buffalo Airways set ratings records in its debut last year with its stories of nail-biting challenges featuring the pilots, engineers and crew who put it all on the line flying vintage warplanes across the last frontier on Earth.

Yellowknife-based Buffalo Airways flies World War Two era propeller planes, big old aircraft built by "Rosie the Riveter" that have remained virtually unchanged over the years.

Rookie pilots defy bone-chilling temperatures to fly cargo and passengers through blizzards, breakdowns and transatlantic journeys. It's an impossible job in a merciless place.

New recruits come to slog it out on the ramp in -30°C weather to earn a chance to fly planes that most airlines scrapped long ago.

Classics like the Douglas DC-3 and DC-4 and the Curtiss C-46 Commando, the very planes that once ferried troops and supplies.

Few newbies make it. As they compete to rise up the ranks, they cope with ice storms, forest fires, treacherous landings and legendary owner "Buffalo" Joe McBryan's famous temper.

Buffalo Airways is literally a lifeline to the North.

As Joe's son Mikey McBryan says "You can't separate the North from flying. It's the same thing."

Without Buffalo Airways, food and supplies wouldn't reach the many northern communities cut off from the rest of the world during the long, harsh winter.

Castanet's Kelly Hayes reports.