Holiday to Canada and USA 29 August - 15 September 2023 - Dave Anderson
The logs contain the aircraft only once during the trip, password for photos is MME any questions drop me a line daveand5@yahoo.co.uk
Following on from our trip to South Africa last year my wife Sue and I went in the opposite direction this time to tick off our holiday bucket list ”The Canadian Rockies”. Planning the 17 day holiday started many months ago sorting hotels, flights and car hire as well as tickets for various attractions we both wanted to see and do. Our itinerary was to fly from Newcastle to Heathrow and on to Vancouver then driving to Calgary via Whistler, Jasper and Banff. From Calgary we flew to Seattle and then drove to Portland for our return flights back to Heathrow and Newcastle. A few of the locations gave me an opportunity do do a bit of spotting / photography along the way.
Due to fly on Tuesday August 29th, the day after the chaos caused by the ATC failure around the country, I was slightly worried about delays / cancellation that was being talked about on TV. We arrived at Newcastle with plenty of time only to be greeted with long delays at check-in as they sorted flights and connections for people who’s flights were cancelled from the previous day. It was straight to the gate where our Airbus A320 G-EUUJ was waiting, however all didn’t seem well when the departure time came and passed and staff were on the phone or huddled around the computer screen. Turned out one of the flight attendants went sick and with only three on an A320 meant fifty passengers would have to be offloaded, but as it happened a stewardess was dead legging to Heathrow to work a flight to Atlanta, after more phone calls she agreed to do the Heathrow leg and off we went an hour late with a full load of passengers.
We had plenty of time at Heathrow to catch our BA Airbus A350-1000 G-XWBH to Vancouver which departed pretty much on time. The 350 is a lovely quiet aircraft and the new club world suites are delightful and made for a great flight. Landing around 7pm local, bags collected and quickly through security despite three Chinese flights arriving at the same time. Our first night was at the Raddison airport hotel, which sits between the twin runways facing the airport just on the other side of the river. Arrivals and departures can be seen, no good for photo’s due to the angle but in the morning when it was light some of the bizz, helicopters and freight can be read off with a scope.
After a good nights sleep and some early morning logging we headed back to the airport to pick up the hire car and start a day touring a few airfields before heading into the centre of down town Vancouver for three nights. Vancouver International is a great airport to spot from and has a good variety of aircraft to see, though a lot do repeat during the days so one day here would be enough. This morning flights were departing from runway 26L giving good views from the official viewing area next to the South terminal where a lot of the commuter aircraft fly from. After a drive around the maintenance and Airport drive road we arrived at the viewing spot, a free car park and a raised platform giving excellent views over the runway towards the main terminal, we were the only ones there. After spending about an hour here we drove the short distance behind the south terminal to the seaplane base on the Morey channel, again easy parking and opportunities for photo’s as well as a nice restaurant, The Flying Beaver, for a coffee or meal. Vancouver area logs here Vancouver International photo's
I had worked a circular route into Vancouver city via five airfields and some tourist stuff, first was Boundary Bay only 13 miles away, lots of based light aircraft, this was just a drive around logging what could be seen. Most airfields have lots of hangers, guessing the very cold and snowy weather may be the main reason. Our next stop along the road was Delta Air Park just 6 miles away and sits against the bay, a small field with a few light aircraft but some unusual ones sat outside, there was no one here Delta Air Park photo's . Abbotsford was an hour away and a stop for some lunch, main reason for the visit was to see some of the Conair aerial fire fighting aircraft and a decent number were parked out, Cascade aerospace have a maintenance facility working on Hercules its a fairly easy airport to drive around, parking at the terminal was only £2 for an hour. Abbotsford photo's The museum at Langley was our next visit, 16 miles up the road, its fairly small but a few nice bits to have a look at, the airport itself again is mainly GA with lots of hangers, those outside can be read off Langley photo's . Last stop on our way was Pitt Meadows 11 miles away again lots of hangers and all GA, easy to drive around and see what’s outside. We arrived at our hotel the Marriott Delta Suites at 4pm, it is well located in the centre for walking around Vancouver city the water front and Gastown. Our room 810 had views of the arrivals in Vancouver International down to 500ft from the corner window of the living area. We spent the evening down the water front, lovely place with lots of bars and restaurants and of course the seaplane base, which is very busy and easy to view. Vancouver Harbour photo's
On 1st September we did a whale watching tour (lots of Humpbacks) from Vancouver Island, the trip to Victoria capital of the Island and back was with Harbour Air in Twin Otter C-FHHA/611. Our first flight in a seaplane, it was great with smooth landings by “Destiny” our young first officer. Victoria Harbour photo's
The next part of our holiday was through the Rockies to Calgary, a fantastic part of the world with loads to see and do including Grizzly and Black bears some next to the car as well as lots of Elk and great food including Elk!!
On our way to Jasper, halfway is Kamloops another base for Conair and all were on the ground when we visited, the small regional airport it has a few daily scheduled services and a number of GA based. On a pole at the entrance is a nicely painted CF-116A Freedom Fighter 116740. This aircraft was one of Four along with F18’s and CT133’s that visited Teesside on 22 April 1987 Nice to see it again. Kamloops photo's Log Whistler - Calgary 3 September 2023
Just outside Calgary is Springbank Airport, a big GA airfield just off the I1 motorway, as expected lots of hangers but a good number parked out, again easy enough to drive around and see whats out, nice AN-2 amphibian was the first thing we saw Sprinbgbank photo's
Onto Calgary International first stop was the museum on McCall Way, it has two hangers one was closed due to recent storm damage sadly it contained the “better” aircraft, fortunately all could be seen as the storm had taken the sides off the building. Being a Sunday driving round the storage and maintenance area was very easy and most aircraft could be seen, but the fences made it difficult to photograph. The car was dropped off and we checked into the Marriot in Terminal Airport hotel, I had pre booked a high floor airport/city view and it didn’t disappoint, looking out of the window was like looking from a high departure lounge onto the ramp. Views of runways are to left and right, some aircraft after landing park to the rear of the hotel but can be seen on departure. Lots can be seen and photographed from here, one of the best airport hotel rooms I’ve stayed in, but not quite Phuket. Calgary photo's
I had originally booked an 1130am flight to Seattle, but that was cancelled some months before we left home and changed to 1530, a few more hours watching and we were allowed to stay in the room till 1330.Our flight was with Alaska Horizon in Embraer 175 N648QX, smooth 1.5 hour flight with nice views of Boeing Field on arrival into Seattle. I’d booked the Hilton Double Tree at the airport in a high level tower room for our three night stay, check-in was a pain very slow and only after a discussion with the manager did we get an airport facing room as booked, not as high as I wanted but it did the job. All arrivals and departures can be seen and when departing runway 16L photo’s can be taken from the balcony. Lots of Alaska and Delta coming and going but still busy with others as well, didn’t do a drive around as not much to see in the way of bizz jets or maintenance.Seattle photo's Log part 3 Seattle - Portland 11 September 2023 The following morning we drove up to Boeing at Everett north of Seattle, the main I5 is a straight but slow run,taking around an hour to get there. Fortunately the very slow bit is right alongside Boeing Field, the first jet we saw was a Boeing 737-8MAX HI-1098 of Arajet landing following a test flight, nice start to the day. Everett is a frustrating place with lots of the parked 779’s only carrying line numbers on the main wheel doors or last two of pending reg on the nose wheel doors. A number of KC46 Pegasus were all painted grey but carried no numbers at all even nose wheel door where they should be, that said still a nice log and a good variety of big Boeings.Boeing Everett photo's The next morning we drove the 15 minutes to Boeing Renton, home of the 737 production facility a great place to view from, our first stop was to be a parking area looking over the airfield but this was closed and being dug up. We started at the seaplane base, nice big car park at the end of the runway and followed the perimeter round to the sailing club which gives views of the rear of the factory. Its easy to park and no problem viewing, Boeing staff were waving and staff at the sailing club just wanted to talk about the UK. Aircraft generally leave here for Boeing Field, but some go to Portland for painting as we found out the next day when the FlyDubai aircraft turned up and the Sun Express had arrived the previous day. Boeing Renton photo's Boeing Field was only 15 minutes away is a big airfield and very busy with GA and bizz jets, you could spend a good day here but we only had the morning. All but two 737’s on the flightline could be read off and the famous storage car park was more difficult than usual as the bushes were in full foliage, there were 21 here all but two were identified. The Museum of flight stretches over the road in two separate buildings connected by a footbridge and is a great place to visit, the first 747 ”City of Everett” was a highlight as well as many other rare aircraft. Everett Museum photo's Boeing Field photo's
Next morning we headed off to Portland, a few toursty things to do but arriving at Portland International just after lunch for our 7.30pm flight. Top of the short term car park was said to be one of the best spots, half of it was closed off for construction staff only but we managed to park ok and views over the runway were great. Only runway 28L was in use, 28R was closed for work. The main issue was the heat it was ”stotting” hot and no shade after a few hours I decided to move to the end of the runway to see if it was any cooler away from the buildings, it wasn’t much cooler. There is a car park just off the corner of NE Alderwood Road, great approach photo’s with the sun behind in the afternoon. We decided to go and check in and cool down around 4pm, spotting from the lounge was ok but only views of the closed runway 28R, would be great if it was open. Portland has a variety of movements and is quite busy (Manchester ish) the USAF ANG base is easy to see but no F15’s were out only two visiting Chinooks. Ameriflight has a big presence and aircraft coming and going all day. Boeing has a paint facility, the Turkish and FlyDubai from Renton were both here Portland International photo's . Our flight home to Heathrow was on BA 777-200 G-YMMK and back to Newcastle an hour late after the first aircraft went tech and changed to A320 G-EUUE
Lots of planes seen, but most of our time was spent having a great time in all of the places we visited.
Photo password MME
Link to log part 1 Vancouver & area 29 August 2023
Link to log part 2 Whistler - Calgary 3 September 2023
Link to log part 3 Seattle - Portland 11 September 2023
Portland International photo's