Started my airline career in DC-3’s in 1966. Continental Airlines had their DC-3’s across the ramp. Ended my career in the left seat of the 747, what a fantastic career. WOW.

As a Basler Turbo employee, it is cool to hear you talking about our product! I spend a lot of time in these guys usually sitting apart in a hanger for months. Cool to hear actual users and hope you enjoy your BT67!

The reason the fuselage is extended is to keep the CG (centre of gravity) in the same place as the turbines weigh a lot less than the radial engines.

Your thumbnail game is STRONG buddy! I haven't watched yet, but that thumbnail made me ask questions I wanted answered!

When I lived in Britain there was a mail service that was heard every night around 10PM that delivered to Manchester.The only aircraft that could do it consistently was the DC3. What a magnificent aircraft.

1:33 that’s why they don’t put turbines on warbirds

Who doesn’t love the sounds of the old piston bangers!

Many thanks Mikey for the insight. I love seeing that you’ve kept the Union Jack 🇬🇧 on the Electra. Humbles me greatly as being a Brit. Love to Canada 🇨🇦 and keep those old birds flying!

I love the unique sound of the DC-3's props slapping the air . When I was in Air Force ROTC, I had a chance to co-pilot a DC-3 (as a C-47). That was 60 years ago and I still remember it well.

In 1966 I was able to fly on ARCO's DC-3. Atlantic Richfield had several corporate aircraft at the time. That was such a fun aircraft to fly in. I could imagine if Basler outfitted a DC-3 with turboprops, they would have to do a major rebuild to strengthen the airframe to handle the increased power to extend the lifespan of the plane to make it worth the 8 million dollar price tag. I would not be surprised to see these planes flying on the 100th year of it's birth. The C-46 was also a workhorse and could carry almost double the weight of the DC-3. It was instrumental in flying over the HUMP in Burma/China in WW II. The fact that you have them still flying at 75 years is remarkable...

The stop animation was top notch!

I knew a turbine conversion would be expensive but I had no idea of the extent that it would cost. Thanks for shining a light on that Mikey appreciate your sharing, "the economics of the situation."

Thanks Mikey!! I appreciate the info / update. I am an older and a War Bird fan - you guys rock. As a kid we had Constellations flying over the house (we were in the pattern) and as silly kids we tried to race the shadows on our bicycles. A few years back I came out of building and heard a nostalgic sound, looked up, and discovered it was from a B-17!! I damn near shed a tear over that sight. Again thanks for taking the time to explain.

Great vid. From a TV guy, your editing has gotten really awesome. You've got a very good feel for pacing and where to cut. That time-cut you did of the C46 starting up was almost unnoticeable. Nice work!

Dude I love your "old school photoshop" with paper cut outs. It really helped me visualize and understand the changes.

The sound of them pistion engines ❤❤❤❤

6:38 "Soon we are getting our own Basler" - Sounds like Buffalo Aiways will finally get a Basler, however, I do like the sound of the piston DC-3 way better

I’m a Quebec native... watch you guys evolve... you make me proud to be Canadian. Cheers and health to Buffalo Airways and to all in the company.

I almost never comment on youtube, but I felt like I had to compliment your creative editing and transitions. Good job!

Mikey you are doing a fantastic job with these videos. When the show was going I never missed one minute of it. Probably some of the best coverage on WW2 aircraft that's ever been done. T56 turboprop mechanic here

You are an intelligent, personable and capable young man. As a presenter you were WELL prepared and had visuals that were fun and really make your points where a plane lover like me can relate. Your manner is engaging and draws us in as if we were there talking to you personally and walking around on that cold tarmac! I particularly love the old planes and the idea an 80 year old anything (I'm 71) can still be useful! I subscribed on this very first to view video so there you go! Hope for more soon.

Loved today’s episode Mikey and very interesting. You really are getting very proficient and these now with the animation and pictures etc.

I prefer the classic version of the DC-3. For me, a turbine on a DC-3 is like installing a propeller on a 737. It just doesn´t look right. ^^

My conpany North Star Air has Baslers and they are amazing! So cool and great to see an old bird rebuilt and even better than it was before!

Another great one! I didn't know the Basler had the fuselage plug and that it cost $6M!!!!!

Worked in Antarctica at McMurdo Station as an ARFF firefighter and came across the baslers all the time. Hell of a workhorse for sure, but didn't realize they cost $8m a pop 😳 ol kenn borek had 8 or 10 of them down there while I was there. They had some serious money rolled up between those and the twin otters!

Nice video, loved the paper trick!

You know what ? Your cut paper switches were far more entertaining than most photoshops ! It looked pretty dynamic tbh

Price is unreal for those! Love watching your channel

So glad your're doing videos here Mike! Loved the show and I'm thrilled to be able to continue getting content on Buffalo Air!

It is great to see the name Kenn Borek. I was working in a camp West of Tuk, owned by the Borek's when Kenn and his daughter were killed in a car accident. That was almost 19 years ago. I remember seeing all your tail draggers every time we took the milk run in or out of Inuvik.

My girlfriend, not watching the video: “are you watching the muppets?”

I actually used to work at Basler. I was there when That’s All Brother was discovered/acquired by the CAF. In fact, the first photos that the CAF used showing work on the plane were mine that I took with my cell phone.

I'm actually envious of the weather you have there. We've had a joke of a winter this year. The municipal ice skating rings here in Helsinki couldn't be frozen at all, because they require at least one week of continuous freezing temperatures, and we haven't had that at all this winter, and won't be having any more as we're in the middle of February. This has happened never before in recorded history. The sea hasn't frozen over properly at all, there have been a couple days when the inner bays have had a couple centimetres of ice and that's it. And we have had autumnal storms all winter. There hasn't been one day you could've gone cross country skiing, and they had to cancel a yearly skiing event in Lahti (100 km north from here) that has been organized every year for decades. A week or two of minus 34 would be a blessing.

2:39 that super cold makes airplanes sound awesome

Thanks Micky. That explains a lot and I love what you did with the cardboard cut outs.. very creative!! 👍🏼👍🏼

My first commercial flight from Burbank to Sacramento in 1949. My parents waiting and wondering on the ground for this little kid that just had to talk to the pilots. Went on the bust knuckles on HU-16s, C-130, HH-52s. This is a great program, most informative. Tks :-)

Thank you for explaining the background economics so well Mikey, you have a talent!

RC M The truly amazing story of this historic aircraft is that it was first produced in 1935 and only had a US manufactured production run of 11 years. Licensed variants made by Russia and Japan brought the total production to over 16,000, and more than 400 still remained in commercial service in 1998. American Airlines inaugurated passenger service with the DC 3 on June 26, 1936, with simultaneous flights from Newark, New Jersey and Chicago. Early U.S. airlines like American, United, TWA, Eastern, and Delta ordered over 400 DC-3's. These fleets paved the way for the modern American air travel industry, which eventually replaced trains as the favored means of long-distance travel across the United States. It saw it's first war time military service with the designation C-47 in WW 2, and has served in every conflict afterwards right up through the Vietnam War. The US Air Force’s 6th Special Operations Squadron was still flying the C-47 until 2008, and it has served all branches of our military. It is an aviation legend and a true workhorse of the skies.

I hope the Basler has more cockpit leg room than the DC-3. I am average height 5'9" and have a hard time fitting my legs into the DC-3 flight deck. I had no idea that the Basler was so expensive. SHEESH! Gotta love those big radials.

Great Channel. Ever since my friends uncle showed me his 50 caliber machine gun that he cut out of the wing of a P- 51H that he claims is in a very cold freshwater lake. He said it landed there in the winter and fell through the ice. He always intended to try and salvage the plane but his health has never been good. I would like to do it but I haven't had the resources in awhile. I also remember from childhood of a place that had 50 P- 51s among other craft and I still dream of going and saving them. My coolest find was 3 Japanese Zeroes, 1 P- 51H with guns, 1 Corsair and a T- 28?... plus 25 Rolls Royce Engines, among others... One day I will save up and go for it. I did get the USAF permission for uncontested ownership of the plane if everything were to work out. They wouldn't guarantee how quickly the National Guard would show up and hack the guns out of the plane and also if the Guard finds it first , they may detonate the plane after the guns were hacked out... sad... If I were to pull it off.. I would float it, get it on shore, assess it , pull the engine and wings, then Use conduit to obscure the shape and tarp it all in separate loads. Then I would have a helicopter transport the pieces to a couple waiting semis and truck them back to humanity. Documenting every thing all the way through. I also have arranged one signature and would have a notary present , it would make the entire venture legal and clear ownership. Only other issue other than all the things that can go horribly wrong, is how to handle the guns... removal in sight and what needs to be done to be able to keep them. Pulling a firing pin , probably wouldn't do it and I actually haven't researched the diagram of the 50 cal. It's all a pipe dream anyway.. but you never know. I've pulled off quite a few pipe dreams in my life, always seemed to be what I was good at. Friends and Family still always say that if it's unbelievable and impossible, that I will figure it out, doesn't matter what .. So maybe there is some hope. I should probably quit typing my dreams out loud. ... It's fun tho....

Thanks for a really worthwhile explanation, Mike. I always knew the Basler's cost more, but I was astounded to hear the real difference. A lot of viewers who aren't in the business think you buy and trade-off working airplanes like cheap used pickup trucks. Buffalo has a huge investment in DC-3's engines, props and one of the world's largest collections of other spare parts (and KNOWLEDGE/TECHNICAL ABILITY) ... you just can't scrap a whole investment like that overnight.

I work for a different northern airline, seen your hangar in Yellowknife, and familiar with Kenn Borek as well. Amazing to see this stuff from other peoples perspective. Best of luck!

Excellent video, excellent production and thumbs up 👍 for answering viewers questions - nailed it

Wow, I just found your channel by chance. I loved watching Ice Pilots when I lived in Canada. We all love you, Mike!

Cant wait for the focker update buddy, and the fox moth please Mikey that would be awesome ✈✈👍👍😋😋

You are really killing it out there Mikey and Buffalo, this vid deserves all the likes 👍

The C46 when it's idling sounds like my late grandmothers GMC Conversion Van idling it had such a similar exhaust sound! except her van had a GM 350 V8 but man did that idle sound bring back some good memories!

Great video bro it explains a lot. All the best to everyone on the crew up your way. Going to be around 30c here in NZ today.

Great to see you Mikey! If I ever came up there, it wouldn't be to experience the cold, it would be to tour Buffalo.

Thanks Mikey that was a short and sweet polite briefing on the subject. You do a great job mate.

Well done Mikey! You have found your calling and a new career! Well presented and the graphics in the cut outs are absolutely hilarious well worth watching.

Thanks for keeping them running.

Gotta love those Basler conversions.

03:12 That made me crack up! Casually saying "lets take this turbine engine and put it on our DC3..." *and then he grabs it right off the photo!* What a Chad!

Damn, I love the sound from those old radials.

This was a excellent explanation on powerplant conversions, -it changes the entire airframe, -the C.G. -everything..basically -there is very little that goes untouched. It doesn't make fiscal sense to even think about one of these turbine machines.

Thanks Micky, nicely done I can understand why the cost variance due to the fact you have to ensure that the airframe is up to the increased power and stress and not just a quick fit and fly.

Hello again from Grimes Field! Our B-17G project aircraft (44-85813) was used to haul a Wright Typhoon turboprop aloft for flight tests: they lopped off the bombardier's compartment. Butt-ugly conversion, but it proved the concept.

Thanks for this Mikey! Answered some questions that have been scratching inside my head for a while 🙃

I want to go to Canada and visit you guys and just photograph your vintage planes with my equally vintage film cameras.

1:34 - That's why. 2:29 - That's why.

The startup of the C46 engine was timed perfectly with your piece to camera!

Analog cut and paste Photoshop. I like your style.

Thanks making a video on this topic Mikey!

DC3 is an icon. Basler is a classic. Oh decisions, decisions....

The reason you do not fit turbines on the old planes is the awesome sound of the radial. Like the c46 in your video.

This sure brought back memories. Flying a C47 up the MacKenzie valley with Gordie Latham of Eldorado airways. A subsidiary of Eldorado Nuclear, which ran the mine that produced the raw material for Hiroshima. Another subsidiary was Northern Transportation, who I worked for. Their operating headquarters were in Hay River, and they ran barges up and down the MacKenzie. That was in 1971. Old Gordie was quite the character. A long career flying that route, which he eventually gave up, saying that even a cat only has nine lives!

Excellent video comparing and contrasting DC-3s and Baslers. Great information. Mikey is an excellent presenter.

His cut and paste technology matches his air planes...i love it !

The paper cutouts were spot on, also, I like the narration, must subscribe.

People just assume you have endless rivers of money just because you have a successful business. But there has to be some common sense mixed into your business decisions. I'm very happy for William. He will make a million memories.

Miss you all Mikey. Love your “photo shop” work. Have a great year.

Good explanation of the Basler conversion. Keep it up Mikey. Great to see partnerships like Buffalo and KBA. They are a 1st class company to deal with!! Lets do an episode on Flight Following one day soon.

The C46 is becoming my favorite plane.

First plane I flew in was a DC3 in outback Aust, bad hangover from the nights before celebrations, pilot must have knew as he banked 180 deg as we lifted, wing appear to brush the bushes, I will never forget my first flight, even though it was over 50 years ago, and have many thousand of Ks flying since.

First time on this channel, hell barely even know about planes (though enough to like the old DC series). Chuckled when I saw the printer paper graphics but then amazed at the moving parts and the little shake-to-change-color. Great simple editing here and I learned something new.

I am VERY glad that the turbine conversions are SO expensive. The radial engines are THE reason the DC-3 is SO cool, and the fewer of them that are ruined the better. We also need to keep the demand for aviation gasoline UP so they’ll keep making it!

Nice video! Greetings from Finland! Love those old birds

Great post production work Mikey and good explanation.

I loved Ice Pilots NWT. I’m glad to see you’re keeping it alive on YT.

Well, Mikey, I know that it's a lot easier said than done. But good on you for explaining it to the curious people out there.

Nicely explained Mikey! I've been lucky enough to fly in three DC3s in my time and I'm delighted that you are keeping them flying.

And we love the DC-3 too! 😊😊 Greetings from brazilian fans. André.🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷

Loving the Buffelo Airways hoody......

Very well explained Mikey.

Really well done video well explained and great graphics

Mikey you are awesome. Grew up as a teen watching you on discovery. Im 29 now still love aviation

You sure pack a lot of quality content is a short time! I flew in DC 3 in Bolivia as 6 year old boy.

I love to that you guys are still flying those old brutes! Shows how tough they built these things

Hi Mikey, that electra looks familiar, i remember this in atlantic airways livery, used to fly around the UK, in particular the Belfast Northern Ireland, to Liverpool, England run, i used to work at Aldregrove in N.I., from where i used to see it a lot. Good to see it still about.

Really enjoyed this. I run a small crane business and while my older (1990’s) picker does consume a bit of maintenance dollars, its safe and paid off and I don’t have the stress of huge monthly payments in these trying times, so I totally get where your coming from :)

I love your Photoshop skills Mikey.

I think it's wild DC-3s are still in use as it is. Nutty.

Good video! I like the way that Mikey clarifies the economics. Consider that a new Twin Otter from Viking Air costs $7.25 million, or $2.5 million for a Cessna 208 Caravan. Need something bigger? A new DHC Dash-8 will run you US$32 million, and it's easy to see why Buffalo hangs on to it's DC-3's, C-46's, and Electra's. Those planes are paid for, all that it costs to fly them is fuel, repairs, and insurance. If the company decided to buy new planes, costs to the customers would have to be raised, a lot, and I imagine that the First Nations people that Buffalo serves in these remote villages can't afford to have the price of their groceries, fuel, and building materials increase very much.

thanks for explanation!

Love these videos Mikey! The editing is awesome!

Great video! The reasoning is about what I expected...but you did a great job explaining it!

Thanks Mikey.