MBiz

Norman Churchill Chamber of Commerce FLin flon & District Chamber of Commerce Gillam Chamber of Commerce The Pas & District Chamber of Commerce Thompson Chamber of Commerce New & Noteworthy >> More than 450 homes and 25 businesses have already hooked up with Norway House Cree Nation Broadband Inc. High-speed Internet and digital TV service is being extended to 1,400 homes and 7,000 residents. Communities Economic Development Fund partnered with the First People Economic Growth Fund to act as the two lenders for the project. Industry Canada, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, Western Economic Diversification Canada and Norway House Cree Nation also played important roles. >> The province and Parks Canada have partnered to ensure one of the world's largest polar bear denning areas will have more environmental protection, better tourism management and enhanced research opportunities. Both levels of government have agreed to work together to make licensing for tourism operations easier, standardize protocols for rescuing orphaned cubs and improve wildlife management and research facilities for Wapusk National Park and the Churchill Wildlife Management Area. >> The Atoskiwin Training and Employment Centre in Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation (Nelson House) will deliver a 12-week training program to provide students with essential skills to enter the mining industry. The program is part of the Process Operator in Training Program developed by Vale Manitoba Operations with Workplace Education Manitoba and the Northern Manitoba Sector Council. It's one of three northern training initiatives the province included in a recent $1.9 million funding announcement. MBiz November 2013 13 Norman C old weather is proving to be a valuable natural resource in Thompson. Two of the world's largest engine manufacturers are testing for icing problems at a site near the city — creating jobs and injecting cash into the local economy at the same time.    Rolls-Royce PLC and Pratt & Whitney U.S.A. partnered recently to create a $42-million state-of-the-art ice-testing facility. The Global Aerospace Centre for Icing and Environmental Research (GLACIER) uses a huge wind tunnel to spray super-cooled water mist into jet engines while they are running.  "This enables us to recreate and monitor operating conditions that can cause internal icing on the engines' turbines and other interior parts," says Don Pereira, general manager of MDS Aerospace Ltd., the company that built, designed and maintains the GLACIER facility. "Air turbine icing can reduce power and, in rare cases, flame out or damage engines. It can also choke multiple sensors, misleading computers that now manage airliner flight control systems."  Dr. Ibrahim Yimer, of the NRC Institute for Aerospace Research, says that to date icing has caused no deaths, but it may have played a role in dozens of cases involving engine power loss.   "New generations of turbofan engines destined for commercial aircraft are now required to be certified against icing by North American and European regulators," he says. Thompson was chosen as the test site because it's one of the coldest cities in the world readily accessible by road, rail or air. Engines and jet fuel can be trucked to the site and small parts can be shipped quickly from Winnipeg via Calm Air.   "The NRC has a gas turbine icing certification lab in Ottawa; however, it only has the capacity to test small jets used on light corporate aircraft; GLACIER's test bed can accommodate engines with up to 150,000 pounds of thrust," Pereira says, adding that the largest turbine currently built produces about 115,000 pounds of thrust and is used on the Boeing 777.  He says the facility is expected to have a long lifespan as it is designed to test future generations of engines. "To this point, we've certified Rolls-Royce's XWB class of engines that will be used on the new A350 Airbus and generate from 85,000 to 97,000 pounds of thrust," he says.  A less powerful engine with 25,000 to 35,000 pounds of thrust developed by Pratt & Whitney for smaller Bombardier C-series commuter jets has also undergone and passed certification testing.  The benefits of the facility to Thompson are manifold. Through an agreement between GLACIER and the National Research Council, students and turbine-engine researchers from around the world have access to the site to work on their own projects.  Moreover, when an engine is being tested, scientists and engineers representing RollsRoyce or Pratt & Whitney flood into Thompson for months at a time, which is a boon to hotels and motels, restaurants and retailers.  Small businesses that sell and service machinery are called upon to supply hydraulic, electrical and industrial products, while local general contractors are hired whenever possible. "GLACIER has indicated that it will continue to utilize the Thompson facility well into the future," Pereira says. "This bodes well for the budding aero-industry and the town, too." 

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