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This year I went on holiday to Canada and the USA for 3,5 weeks.
It wasn't really a spotting holiday, just for family and fun, but I did manage to capture some nice birds during my stay!
Well I'd better not tell to much before I start, I'll just kick off and tell some more along the way!
Enjoy.
02/07/11
#1. Nice start of the trip at AMS, this lovely bird standing all clean at the gate!
#2. Then face to face with my bird, the A332 of Air Transat, C-GGTS which brought us to Calgary as flight TS373.
The window was way too dirty to take pictures through, so no wingviews of this flight unfortunately.
#3. But there was a very friendly crew who allowed me to take this shot
.
#4. A very nice surprise walking to the costums was that you end up above the plane, giving the ability to take shots from this nice angle.
I had a good flight with Air Transat, though I didn't now their seats were that narrow!
Only 16,5 inches wide, you have an even smaller seats than with EasyJet (18.0 inches)
I really enjoyed Calgary, it's a very nice city and there are lots of fun attractions to visit, like the Calgary Hertirage, Calgary Tower and the Zoo,
but also just downtown is very nice, I really liked the sphere there.
After three days we went on to the rockies, and didn't encounter any planes there.
Didn't mind that much, the scenery is absolutely stunning! Lots of beautiful lakes and rivers.
After we travelled from Calgary-Kananaskis-Banff-Lake Louise-Jasper to Clearwater,
I encountered a small helicopter base owned by Yellowhead helicopters, and the very friendly ground staff allowed me to take some shots of the arrival
of one of their helicopters:
#5.
#6.
#7.
Then we travelled through to the small village of 100 mile house, where I, to my surprise, encountered a small airfield:
#8. The airstrip of 100 mile house (CAV3)
#9. Not a sign of activity.
Ofcourse I've spotted bears in Canada! They're just standing at the side of the highway, not caring about all the people watching them.
But I also did a tour in a speedboat, to see the some more hidden bears.
Here one nice snap
#10.
Then again no planes for a few days. We continued our route via several small towns, driving incredible landscapes and enjoying the beautiful views.
Canada is really beautiful, absolutely worth going there. And the people are so, so nice!
Now here comes the somewhat more "aviation"-part of my holiday, after 2,5 weeks travelling through this lovely country,
starting in Victoria!
#11. Arriving in nice light
#12. The Harbour Air base in Victoria.
#13. I really like this paint.
#14. Touching the water surface.
I also made a scenic flight with Harbour air. This was a really nice experience!
I was the lucky one to take the f/o seat of this DHC-3T.
#15. Throttles up, captain!
#16. Turning left over Victoria Harbor after our departure.
#17. Flying at only 200ft altitude
#18. If this would be your office...
I really enjoyed the flight with this beautiful seaplane! It's a fantastic experience,
and the views are awesome!
#19.
#20. Interesting tail
#21. I really like the reflection in the water
Victoria is also a very nice town, it's compact and there were lots of streetperformance during my stay,
giving the city a really nice atmosphere.
Then we went on to Vancouver, really big and busy city all of a sudden after all the quietness of the Canadian rockies!
And ofcourse in Vancouver, there were also lots and lots of seaplanes.
#22. Beaver already "rolling
" for departure as this Otter makes her way back to the dock.
#23. Two otters airborne almost simultaneously!
#24. Busy Vancouver!
#25. Over downtown Vancouver
As stated, my journey continues towards the USA, for a weekend visit to the Boeing factories
!Crossing the Canada-USA border is really a disaster by car, took us almost 3 hours, but it was certainly worth the visit.
#26. Starting at Boeing Field (KBFI) in the afternoon, this really stunning bird came in only 5 minutes after I had arrived!
#27. A Southwest 737 performing some flight testing at BFI.
As there wasn't any more movement planned for that afternoon, I decided to go to Seattle Tacoma airport to see if there was anything nice to catch there.
I met a really nice spotter there, I really enjoyed shooting here!
#28. Love the reflection of this American bird!
#29. Beautiful old lady crossing Mt. Rainier!
#30. Alaska airlines, based in Seattle...
#31. Lovely bird from Taiwan in front of Mt. Rainier!
#32.
The next day I did the Boeing factory tour at Everett, really a massive sight to see,
all those bits and pieces becoming an aircraft. And what a HUGE buidling!
Afterwards, I did some spotting on the viewing deck at the future of flight museum
#33. The 787 parking lot.
#34. Very nice green 737 executing a go around and afterwards a Touch and Go!
#35. YEAH. The 747-800!
#36. AND THEN, totally unexpected, she made a really steep bank out of PAE just after rotation,
WHAT a departure, awesome!!
That was it for the Seattle adventure. We headed back to Vancouver for our trip back to the Netherlands.
Had a spare hour before we had to check-in, so enjoyed some locals at YVR's runway, but then,
this Lufthansa A346 turned up
#37.
#38. Then it was really time to leave, luckily with a clean window to take some shots
! Flight TS334 from Vancouver to Amsterdam, C-GITS.
#39. Sunset over the Atlantic.
#40. And last but not least, a view of the A330's flightdeck!
I hope you enjoyed my report and the images, and feel free to comment!
Kind Regards,
Olmo Müller
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