Airline and Airplane Discussion, Photos, and Videos

[Koastal Karl]

Seeing there is a separate thread for Rail photos I thought I would start one for anyone who is interested in the Airlines which is second behind my interest in ferries.

A few airline photos

My plane that took me from Victoria to Calgary to Edmonton one December


C-GWSL


Flying over the rockies in December on route to YYC and YEG


Air North at YEG


And yes just like ferries, I take photos of everything

And plus WestJet is the best!

Cabin view


Calgary approach


view from my plane on a trip back from YEG to YYJ via YLW and yes just like ferries I like to take the long way home instead of a direct flight which is leaving from the next gate, lol


And some videos for anyone who has never flown before this was from my trip last summer to Ottawa this was on the way back landing in Toronto on beautiful summer day


And a landing in Calgary in December video


And some photos from my last trip in December to Las Vegas

Alaska Airlines approach into beautiful Las Vegas


Jetblue at LAS


Allegiant


Jetblue


Air Trans 737 with winglets


Southwest Airlines which you will know if you have ever watched the A&E reality show called Airline which was all about Southwest Airlines




Leaving Las Vegas


Sunsets from the air are amazing. On route to Vancouver


Flying is awesome, I love it and having our own Cessna 172 is awesome too.

Airlines and Planes that I have travelled on before

WestJet
737-200, I really miss seeing those beauties just like our Tsawwassen and Vancouver Saanich and Esquimalt the 200 series aircrafts have been retired now which were the main aircrafts that WestJet started out with.

737-600
737-700
and the 737-800

I only flown with Air Canada once and I must say WestJet is nicer but I do like the variety in planes that Air Canada uses. The Air Canada ones I have been on are

Dash 8 when they were Canadian Airlines
737 with Canadian Airlines
767 with Air Canada
Airbus 319 or 320 not sure which one it was

Alaska Airlines I have been on a few times too on a
737-400
737-700

This December I hope to fly somewhere again for my bday hopefully Vegas now with the new non stop flight from Victoria that will awesome.

A little airline/airport info for anyone who dosent know

Airport Codes which I will use from time to time as they are easy to use

Canadian Airport Codes List

Calgary, AB (YYC)
Campbell River, BC (YBL)
Charlottetown, PE (YYG)
Churchill, MB (YYQ)
Cornwall, ON (YCC)
Dryden, ON (YHD)
Edmonton, AB (YEG)
Fort Frances, ON (YAG)
Fredericton, NB (YFC)
Gander, NF (YQX)
Goose Bay, NF (YYR)
Halifax, NS (YHZ)
Inuvik, NT (YEV)
High Level, AB (YOJ)
Kelowna, BC (YLW)
Kingston, ON (YGK)
Kitchener, ON (YKF)
London, ON (YXU)
Moncton, NB (YQM)
Montreal, QC -all airports (YMQ)
Montreal, QC -Mirabel (YMX)
Montreal, QC -Dorval (YUL)
Nanaimo, BC (YCD)
Noranda/Rouyn, QC (YUY)
Opapamiska Lake, ON (YBS)
Ottawa, ON (YOW)
Povungnituk, QC (YPX)
Prince George, BC (YXS)
Prince Rupert, BC (YPR)
Quebec City, QC (YQB)
Regina, SK (YQR)
Rouyn/Noranda, QC (YUY)
Saint John, NB (YSJ)
Saint Johns, NF (YYT)
Saint Leonard, NB (YSL)
Sarnia, ON (YZR)
Saskatoon, SK (YXE)
Sault Ste-Marie, ON (YAM)
Sept-Iles, QC (YZV)
Sudbury, ON (YSB)
Sydney, NS (YQY)
The Pas, MB (YQD)
Thunder Bay, ON (YQT)
Timmins, ON (YTS)
Tofino, BC, (YAZ)
Toronto, ON (YYZ)
Val-d'Or, QC (YVO)
Vancouver, BC (YVR)
Victoria, BC (YYJ)
Whitehorse, YT (YXY)
Windsor, ON (YQG)
Winnipeg, MB (YWG)
Yellowknife, NT (YZF)

A few US ones that I know without looking at the list

Los Angeles LAX
Seattle Tacoma SEA
San Diego SAN
San Fransisco SFO
Las Vegas LAS
Dallas Fort Worth DFW
Denver DEN
Anchorage ANC

That's it for now!

[Canucks]

Thanks for photos Karl! I will have to agree that Westjet is a very good airline. I have a bunch of airline photos I will post later. Also, good job on the airport codes, quite often I will want to look one up and have to resort to searching it on Google which isn't very reliable.

[Canucks]

Ok Here we go.

These were taken in Abbotsford.





Calgary
This was a Royal Air Force L1011. Not sure why it was there.














Condor 767

[Nickfro]

Some nice photos from the both of you.

Karl, you are a rare breed. I, personally, like the A-to-B approach when it comes to flying. Unlike a ferry, there isn't really anywhere to get up and walk around on a plane. Therefore I like the quickest route possible!

An easy way to distinguish between an A-320 from a 319 is the fact that the 320 has two exit doors on each side above the wing. . .the 319 has only one.

The only Westjet plane I have flown on with them is their 737-700. It seems to always be that one.

I have flown on quite a few Air Canada planes, including:
-De Havilland Dash 8 (100)
-De Havilland Dash 8 (300)
-Embrarer E190
-Airbus A319
-Airbus A320
-Airbus A321
-Boeing 767-200 (soon to be replaced by new 787's)
-Boeing 767-300

I almost went on one of their Boeing 777's last week coming home from Toronto, but it was full. I intentionally booked myself on the last flight of the day, but tried for the 2nd to last (the 777) since I was finished in T.O. early, but it was 25 people overbooked! The 767-300 I flew on had those angled 'pods' in business class. I have lots of trouble sleeping on a plane but I'm sure I could sleep in one of those if I was ever so fortunate to feel like I'm kind of a big deal and get the opportunity to fly up front! ;D

Other planes I have flown on include:
-numerous types of B737's
-Boeing 747
-McDonnell Douglas MD-11
-McDonnell Douglas DC-10 (back in the day)
-Piper Navajo to Tofino from YVR South Terminal
-Saab 340
-De Havilland Beaver (seaplane)
-De Havilland Twin Otter (seaplane)

[Mill Bay]

Great images, guys...

Is it just me, or do airplanes always seem to wear grumpy expressions... something about their rounded, pointy noses and small angular cockpit windows always seems to make it look like they are glaring angrily at you.

[Koastal Karl]

Some awesome photos you have there. I love the head on shots and the WestJet photos at Abbotsford. I have never seen a Horizon CRJ before as we only have Horizon Dash 8's come into Victoria. I really would love to fly on the Air Canada 777 and a CRJ too as I have never been on any of those.

As far as long flights go I dont mind if they are non stop but if I was going to say Calgary which is only just over an hour flight from here I would rather take a flight that stop or connects and for the same price more flying time. It is true on a plane you really cant get up and wonder around unless you need to use the lavatory but I just like sit and relax and enjoy the flight.

[Northern Exploration]

I loved flying the CRJ into DCA (Reagan Airport in DC or if you are a local you refuse to call it that that and it is still National ). Occasionally they would fly with the cockpit door open (prior to 9/11). The landing attitude of the CRJ is nose down until just a few feet over the runway when the aircraft flares (raises the nose). So if you were on the aisle you could lean over and watch the approach over to the runway. Older CRJ's have the worst seats - feels like there is bar in the middle of your back, and the CRJ200 windows are lower than comfortable to look out so you end up with a crooked neck. The larger CRJ700 and 900 series have a lower floor and a slightly raised window so you don't get the same neck ache.

I have yet to fly Air Canada's 777's. My brother has quite a number of times now and never misses an opportunity to call me and brag about it.

[Kahloke]

Great photos! And you've hit upon another one of my interests - commercial aviation. I am, by no means, a frequent flier, but I have flown several commercial airliners over the years:

Airbus A320: America West, Iberia
Airbus A330-300: Us Airways
ATR-42: Air Pacific
Beechcraft C99: San Juan Airlines (airline ceased operations in 1989)
Boeing 727-200: Delta Shuttle, Western Airlines (absorbed into Delta in the late 80's), United
Boeing 737-200: Aloha, Air Cal (Air Cal was absorbed into American in the late 80's), Canadian Airlines (before they were absorbed into Air Canada)
Boeing 737-300: America West, United
Boeing 737-400: Alaska
Boeing 737-800: Delta
Boeing 747-200 & 300: Qantas
Boeing 747-400: British Airways
Boeing 757-200: Northwest, United, US Airways
Bombardier Canadair CRJ-700: Horizon Air
British Aerospace Jetstream 31: United Express
De Havilland DHC-3 Otter (floatplane): Kenmore Air
De Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter: Air BC (before they became Air Canada Jazz)
De Havilland Dash-8-200 (Q200): Horizon Air
De Havilland Dash-8-400 (Q400): Horizon Air
Cessna 402-UL: San Juan Airlines
Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante: San Juan Airlines
Embraer EMB-120 Brazilia: Sky West (Delta Connection)
Fairchild Swearingen Metro III: Horizon Air
Fokker F27 "Friendship": Horizon Air
Fokker F28 "Fellowship": Horizon Air
McDonnell Douglas DC-9: Hawaiian Air, Republic Airways (shortly after Republic bought out Hughes AirWest. It was probably Hughes AirWest metal that I flew on. This airline was a short-lived stint, because Northwest eventually bought out Republic, or at least this part of it)
McDonnell Douglas DC-10: Northwest, United
McDonnell Douglas MD-80/82 Series: Alaska, Spanair, PSA (remember them? Catch Our Smile? US Air bought them out in 1988 or 89)
Pilatus Britten-Norman Islander: San Juan Airlines, Sunflower

Unfortunately, I never took any photos. For a lot of these trips, I was still a kid and didn't have a camera back then. For more recent trips, I've been erring on the side of caution, and just haven't brought my camera out in the airport, or on the airplane, especially since 9/11. I just don't want to give security any reason for detaining me or pulling me aside. In a couple of weeks, I'm going to try Southwest for the first time, as I fly back to Providence, RI. Most likely, I will be on 737-700's, so I will be able to add that type, and airline, to my little list here.

On a side note: I'm glad to see Alaska has finally retired all of its MD-80's, and now just operates 737's. With all of the new 737-800's its brought online, Alaska actually has a fairly young fleet now.

[Koastal Karl]

I have never had any trouble with taking photos around an airport or on the plane. I usually try to do it when the flight attendants are away if I want to snap a quick cabin photo, but you really shouldent be afraid to take photos. I mean we are tourists, tourists take photos all the time on planes out the window of the scenery and so on. I guess if you have a small point and shoot camera it is easy but if you have a bigger more proffessional camera that is more easy to spot, lol! I have only taken photos at Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa and Las Vegas airports and I have had no trouble.

[Retrovision]

Great idea for a thread, Karl, I'm looking forward to contributing.

Nice shots, Karl and Canucks. That Royal Air Force Lockheed is especially interesting.

-

Once I was taking photos of the Vancouver transit garage, VTC, and climbed up a part of the remaining dock infrastructure of the Eburne mill that used to be there that was about 30 feet up and all of a sudden the planes stopped landing at the north runway and started landing at the south runway, lol. Hope I didn't do that.

[DENelson83]

Next challenge: Take a video of a takeoff from inside a plane while holding a GPS.

[Northern Exploration]

Now if that doesn't attract some very unwanted attention from FA on the flight I would be surprized since they still make the announcements to turn off electronic devices on take-off and to leave them off until cruising altitude is reached. Some testing is underway and has been done about cell phones during flight and even that still has a huge amount of controversy about it. You likely still would not be allowed to use them until cruising height is reached.

[DENelson83]

According to this page, WestJet allows the use of a GPS receiver during the cruise phase of flight. And I've seen countless YouTube videos of takeoffs from a passenger's point-of-view with a GPS receiver being used. But I imagine they only use the GPS for the first few minutes of takeoff and then turn off the units until cruising altitude.

[Canucks]

Sept 17, 2008 14:43:20 GMT -8 DENelson83 said:

According to this page, WestJet allows the use of a GPS receiver during the cruise phase of flight. And I've seen countless YouTube videos of takeoffs from a passenger's point-of-view with a GPS receiver being used. But I imagine they only use the GPS for the first few minutes of takeoff and then turn off the units until cruising altitude.

Most of Westjet's planes have a TV in the seat with about 16 different channels. One of which is a GPS station with ads about Westjet, kind of a default station. It tells you the height of the plane and the speed in MPH but is not very accurate as the plane is not to scale with the map. The plane fills up the space between Vancouver and Calgary, however it is still better then Air Canada.

As For electronic devices, I flew this summer and had my camera out and visible when we were taxiing out and recorded a video during take-off without any one commenting on it.

[Nickfro]

So tell me this: what is the point of filming a takeoff while using a GPS receiver?? What does one accomplish by doing such a thing? Is it just for the thrill of tracking exactly where you are, or is it for the thrill of seeing how many different technological instruments one can have in their hands and play with at the same time? (of course, during moments where you're not supposed to be using electronic devices)

I can't figure out where you're coming from on this one.

[Canucks]

It's all about multitasking! How many devices can I have on the go at once when I'm not supposed too. A camera to take off, a GPS to see where we are, an ipod to listen to music and cell phone to call your friend in the next row to tell him what can he see from his side.

Although this may seem silly a lot of people I know do 3 out of 4 on a daily basis.

[Canucks]

Here are two videos. The first is taking off at Calgary and the second two are landing in Abbotsford. I had to chop the last one into two so it would upload easier on Photobucket.

[Northern Exploration]

Air Canada has a similar feature called AirShow. There is a better version coming with the new inflight system that has been installed on most of the older aircraft that are staying in the fleet for a while and all of the new aircraft. The Airbus 330's are just receiving them and all will have them by Christmas. The last of the 767's that are staying around for a while are just getting the system.

It is an entertainment system on demand with tons of movies, Sirius satelite radio, TV and games. You can build your own playlists of music. There will be some additional for pay features added. The system is by Thales and is the first installation so unfortunately there have been a lot of bugs but it is pretty cutting edge - when it works .

[Koastal Karl]

I have numerous videos from takeoffs. I have been told to turn off my camera once during landing. I did for a min but then I turned it back on and filmed the landing. It really depends on the airline too. Some dont care, some do. I know WestJet is pretty good! Like I said earlier if you have a small camera it's alot easier, lol! This is the Live TV that Westjet has in every seat!
. It really is neat cause you can see where you are.

[DENelson83]

How about hearing communications between the plane and ATC? Can you do that on board WestJet?

[Nickfro]

Sept 17, 2008 17:06:25 GMT -8 Northern Exploration said:

Air Canada has a similar feature called AirShow. There is a better version coming with the new inflight system that has been installed on most of the older aircraft that are staying in the fleet for a while and all of the new aircraft. The Airbus 330's are just receiving them and all will have them by Christmas. The last of the 767's that are staying around for a while are just getting the system.

It is an entertainment system on demand with tons of movies, Sirius satelite radio, TV and games. You can build your own playlists of music. There will be some additional for pay features added. The system is by Thales and is the first installation so unfortunately there have been a lot of bugs but it is pretty cutting edge - when it works .

I really enjoyed their entertainment system on my recent trip to Toronto. They have lots of shows, movies and documentaries to watch. They also have boatloads of music to choose from, including full albums that you can listen to from start to finish. That feature came in really handy for me on my flight home, as my eyes didn't want to stay open very much on the 1055pm last flight of the day out of Toronto. The two planes that I was on for that trip were the 767-300 and the A321.

According to this page, the Airbus 330's (all 8 of them) will have their upgrades complete by the end of next year, not this year. They call this upgrade Project XM.

[Northern Exploration]

Correct Nickfro I reversed the models with the correct statements. The A333's are just starting and the 767's will all be complete by Christmas. There have been some chinks to the schedule because AC was considering not giving the Airbus the XM treatment. They had to see what flights were being cut during the recent route cancelations and cutbacks. As well they were looking for some leased aircraft to fill in for the smaller 762's that are being retired. The aircraft market is particularly tight right now (as the Liberals leasing a clunker of an old very non-green 737 for the election attests )) with the 787 delays, so AC has decided to XM the A333's and keep them in the fleet a bit longer.

* Dave some airlines have a channel on their entertainment systems that allow you to listen in on the cockpit airtraffic control conversations. Some airlines also have a live outside cam that you can watch as well. Emirates has a tail mounted one on the A380 so you watch the take off and landing from that high vantage point.

[Koastal Karl]

If you want to listen to Live ATC there is a site online where you can do it too.

www.liveatc.net/feedindex.php?type=canada

Just click on the airport you want to listen to. It's really cool.

[DENelson83]

Sept 18, 2008 7:28:55 GMT -8 Northern Exploration said:

* Dave some airlines have a channel on their entertainment systems that allow you to listen in on the cockpit airtraffic control conversations.

Yes, I know. United Airlines is one example.

Sept 18, 2008 8:23:23 GMT -8 Koastal Karl said:

If you want to listen to Live ATC there is a site online where you can do it too.

www.liveatc.net/feedindex.php?type=canada

Just click on the airport you want to listen to. It's really cool.

I meant from inside the plane you're travelling on.

[Koastal Karl]

The Snowbirds did a flyby Clover Point this afternoon and were also see at the airport too.



WestJet's new non stop flight to Vegas baby getting ready for the return flight to Vegas!!