Posts Tagged ‘Airplane’

Looking for a nice warm place to relax in the Caribbean, I found a package deal from Air Canada for a week at an all-inclusive resort in Cayo Caco in Cuba. Never have been to Cuba before, the price was certainly good, and after researching some YouTube videos about the resort in question, we decided to go for it.

It started snowing heavily when we arrived in Toronto. Perfect weather to start a flight to somewhere nice and warm.

This is what it looked like as we were heading down the ramp at Pearson to our Air Canada Rouge flight:

From my time traveling on business on Air Canada Rouge flights, I got us seats with extra leg-room by the second set of emergency exit doors. Well worth it in terms of leg comfort, though there’s still not much in the way of elbow room either. Also no window to speak of, so no pics of the take-off or landing.

We arrived at the Cayo Coco/Jardines del Rey Airport (which goes by CCC) late that same evening.

It was nice being in the open air shortly after landing, and we exited from the back of the plane, and got into the long line up for Cuban customs, along with the passengers from two other flights from different Canadian airlines that arrived at around the same time.

It took a while to make our way through customs, and they didn’t seem to recognize us as a couple, so we each went to the customs agent one at a time. It was also a very long (almost an hour-and-a-half) wait for our checked luggage to arrive, and with three airplane’s worth of passengers and next to no seats in the baggage waiting area around, it seemed to take even longer. But in the end our luggage appeared, and we made our way to the bus that would take us to our resort.

It was there we met Alex, who got everyone on the bus and gave us a quick and friendly lowdown on how to best enjoy our vacations at the resorts. He had a lively trade in selling cold beer to the passengers.

Our resort was the final stop that the bus made, so we briefly got to see the foyers of a couple of other resorts. Our plane left a bit late and we waited forever for our luggage, so there was no welcoming party for us at the hotel, but we were beat by that point and were very thankful to get on an extended golf-cart which took us to our room. It was one of the “regular” rooms, which was sizable, had a king-sized bed, small TV, bar fridge, and a nice bathroom.

After shucking off our Canadian clothes and getting into something more appropriate for the warmer weather, we headed to the “snack bar” (actually a full restaurant and bar) and got a bite to eat. That is where we met the first of the local cats who hang out at the resort.

After that, we retired gratefully to bed.

A couple of pics taken while waiting for my flight home at Sea-Tac Airport, Seattle.

Southwest Tails on Tarmac

Alexander Eaglerock Combo-wing at Seattle Airport

And one while on-the-wing, flying over the Rockies:

Flying Over the Rockies

Off on another business trip, this time for a couple of weeks in Germany, on behalf of Mekon. The trip will take me first to Munich, then to Berlin. Am also hoping to get the chance to meet the Schengili family over the weekend that I will be in Munich.

My Flight at Pearson International Airport

Making our way back from St. Lucia, we took an island-hopper from there to the island of Sint Maarten, landing on the Dutch portion of the island at Princess Juliana International Airport. We had been told to check out the nearby beach-side pub that is at the start of the runway, alongside Maho Beach.

Here are some shots I took while there, all taken with my iPhone.

Plane Coming in for a Landing Over Beach in Sint Maarten

Warning Sign by Maho Beach

Surfboard with Major Airplane Arrival Times Listed

Liat Plane Coming in for a Landing in Sint Maarten 1

Liat Plane Coming in for a Landing in Sint Maarten 2

Got to the Canadian National Exhibition around 12:30 and managed to find a good spot to view the Canadian International Air Show from. I brought along my f/2 200mm and my f/4 300mm lenses along with me to put them both through their paces. I tended to use the 200mm on the larger or faster planes in order to freeze their motion, and the 300mm on the smaller ones, trading off speed for detail. It wasn’t the best day for taking pics of flying planes, as the skies became cloudier as it went on, and was finally brought to a premature end when the front of a thunderstorm came in. Given that most of the show is over the water and facing south, in most cases side of the plane facing the audience is in shadow, hence the need for a fast telephoto lens. Still, it was a good and rousing show.

I arrived just as three members of the all-female parachute group the Misty Blues jumped out of an airplane. This was followed by some aerial gymnastics by Mike Wiskus in the red Lucas Oil bi-plane, and then some precision flying by the members of the Heavy Metal Jet Team. (The Heavy Metal Jet Team site only mentions having L-39 Albatroses and T-33 Shooting Star, but doesn’t mention what seems to be a swept-wing MiG which had a prominent place in their show). After that came more aerial acrobatics by Pete McLeod in the Red Bull Zivko Edge 540. Then came the Lancaster from the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, one of only two Lancasters still flying. While it flew by they had an pilot who had flown 19 successful missions in one during WWII (and was shot down on his 20th mission), who was given a rousing round of applause by everyone in attendance when he finished. I didn’t catch much of Rick Volker‘s show in his Sukhoi SU-26M since it was mid-afternoon by that point and I desperately needed some food and drink! Then came the demo of the A-10 Warthog, which buzzed by the waterfront several times. At that point the air show was called on account of bad weather, though the MV-22 Osprey buzzed by — allowing me to get a single shot of it as it went by — on its way to shelter at Pearson International Airport.

Here are some of the better shots I took from the show:

Pete McLeod in the Edge 540 #2

Misty Blue Parachutist

Mike Wiskus in the Lucas Oil #1

Heavy Metal Jet Team #4

Had a lengthy wait at Beijing Airport, as I got there early, and found out after I arrived that the flight time had been pushed out a couple of hours in order to switch over crews. So I had a lot of time to do some last-minute shopping in the airport, have dinner, wander, and take a few pictures.

In the end I caught some images of the sun setting over the plane I was going to fly home, which I thought were striking:

Air Canada Flight Just Before Sunset

Air Canada Flight at Sunset

Am heading to a localization summit in Beijing. Here are a couple of pics I took while waiting at Pearson International Airport.

777 Waiting at Gate 175, Pearson Int'l Airport

Contrails Over Pearson Int'l Airport

Had a great time with David Roy as we headed to the Hamilton Airshow and admired all of the planes flying by for what was a perfect day for flying (and for taking pictures). Here’s a selection of what I shot with my camera:

I heard about this place from a colleague of mine at work, who took his son to this museum. Coincidentally, the day or so before it had been officially changed its name to the “Canadian Air and Space Museum”. Vanessa was away all day, so Annie and I made the trek all the way up to Downsview via TTC and got to the museum, which is housed in the old de Havilland Canada aircraft manufacturing building (basically a big old warehouse).

The Entrance to the Museum

A restored Tiger Moth

The vintage maple leaf on the Tiger Moth

Avro Lancaster being restored and the Avro Arrow replica

Full-sized Avro Arrow Replica

This was the Avro Lancaster that had formerly been mounted on a podium near the CNE grounds, and was a familiar site when driving around that part of Lakshore when I was a kid. One of the people there told me that mounting the plane had permanently rendered it unflyable, but the current restoration effort was trying to fix up the plane as much as possible. Made during the final stages of WWII, she never say any action and was in fact pressed into service to help in search and rescue efforts on the coast prior to being “mounted”.

One of the Merlin engines of the Lancaster

I found this an interesting object to photograph: a thoroughly shot-up fuselage of a Lancaster that was used as target practice at a firing range, which apparently still had some useful parts for the reconstruction effort.

The “Ruhr Express” nose marking, which has an interesting history

The iconic British markings from the Lancaster

A classic from the 1930s: A Stinston Reliant

It’s spotless rotary engine

Not just airplanes, but training gear as well: a Link Trainer.

The first human-carrying ornithopter to actually fly

Annie is a-okay in the cockpit

A Bell CH-136 Kiowa Helicopter

A Beechcraft CT-134 Musketeer trainer

Interior of an Air Canada Viscount Simulator

Gears, motor and armatures behind the Viscount Simulator. Flame Out!

The same plane upon arrival in Beijing. The interesting thing about this pic is not the plane or the place (the new airport is huge) but the colour of the sky you can see: it’s not the tint of the glass, nor smog — it’s actually dust in the skies thanks to a sandstorm. I could actually taste the sand when I finally emerged.