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La Grande Rivière Airport (CYGL) is a remote, unattended airfield in northern Quebec, roughly 30 km south-southwest of Radisson, built to serve the Hydro-Québec workforce developing the James Bay hydroelectric project. A single long asphalt runway and a mandatory frequency arrangement make it a straightforward but isolated destination for VFR pilots venturing into subarctic Quebec.
La Grande Rivière Airport is a public airfield operated by the Société de développement de la Baie James, serving the settlement of Radisson and the wider James Bay hydroelectric development area in northern Quebec. It exists primarily to shuttle Hydro-Québec personnel between Radisson and the province's larger cities, though it has also hosted scheduled passenger services over the years, most notably Air Inuit today, with Nordair and Air Creebec having served it in the past. For a simulator pilot, it offers an evocative picture of aviation in a sparsely populated, resource-industry corner of Canada, with a single long paved runway set among the boreal landscape of the James Bay region.
The airfield lies about 30 km (19 mi) south-southwest of Radisson, Quebec, in the remote James Bay region of northern Quebec. It falls within the area covered by Montreal Center and Quebec Radio for flight information and communication purposes, reflecting its position in uncontrolled, sparsely serviced northern airspace far from major terminal control zones.
CYGL has a single physical runway, 13/31, oriented roughly northwest-southeast. It is 6,441 feet long with a hard (asphalt) surface and is lit, making night operations possible. There is no ILS approach available at the field.
Pilots can reach the field on the mandatory frequency (MF) of 122.3 MHz, which also serves as the aerodrome's A/G frequency. Montreal Center can be contacted on 132.1 MHz, and Quebec Radio is available via remote communications outlet (RCO) on 126.7 MHz, with 122.3 MHz also listed for Quebec Radio contact. There is no on-field air traffic control service; operations are conducted under a mandatory frequency regime typical of remote Canadian aerodromes.
The airport was developed to support the James Bay Project, and its four-storey terminal building was constructed in 1973 and 1974, later expanded in 1991 with a new terminal and several service buildings. Passenger traffic peaked at 93,400 in 1977 before falling to around 15,000 by 1981. During the mid- and late 1970s, Nordair operated weekly nonstop scheduled passenger flights to Montreal-Dorval Airport using Boeing 737-200 jetliners. Air Creebec also served the airport until it discontinued its route in March 2012. The field has seen at least two notable incidents: on 15 November 1975, a Nordair Douglas C-47 (registration C-FCSC) was damaged beyond economic repair by fire at the airport, and on 1 August 1994, an RAF Tornado GR1 (ZD844) made an emergency landing there after a mid-air collision with another RAF Tornado, which subsequently crashed into a nearby reservoir following the crew's ejection.
The airport continues to serve mainly as a shuttle point for Hydro-Québec personnel travelling between Radisson and larger cities in Quebec, and it remains served by scheduled Air Inuit flights connecting to Kuujjuarapik, Montreal-Trudeau and Puvirnituq. Passengers from the Nunavik region travelling south to Montreal pass through security screening at this airport rather than at their point of origin, underlining its role as a regional hub for the north.
