This is a Canadian Classic

This story 'Who's guarding our back door?' from the Toronto Star is an interesting read.

In the fall of 1998, a Russian IL-76 flew over the North Pole to the tiny sub-Arctic town of Churchill on the shores of western Hudson Bay.

Mike Lawson, who was on airport duty, remembers it well.

"We don't get big Russian planes like that in Churchill," he says of the Il-76, an unforgettably large cargo plane that is even bigger than the C-130 Hercules used by the Canadian military. "In fact, in the 18 years I've been here, I've seen only one other like it."

Even more unusual was the pilot switching off his landing lights the moment he hit the tarmac - despite blowing snow and marginal visibility.

The crew members were spotted drinking beer at Gypsies, a popular restaurant, at 10 a.m. the next morning, but they didn't stay long. A Bell 206 helicopter landed at Churchill that day, and the Russians drove back to the airport, dropped the plane's cargo doors, loaded the helicopter and took off.

"Just like that," says Lawson. "No one was there to ask questions or inspect documents. It makes you wonder who's guarding our back door."

The article is well done, and has more stories like the one above. I emailed this story to a Canadian buddy of mine who I meet a few times a year when I work in Buffalo... we like to hit the Casino's in Niagara. His response was, '"does the article say what type of beer they were drinking?" Its a good question, 5 day old tapped keg beer simply isn't acceptable.

On a serious note, no wonder Canada is reconsidering their submarines.