Friday evening at the Memphis airport I was in a great spot to watch the parade of FedEx jets taking off on their international shots. One plane looked out of place so I grabbed the little Nikon I carry when I can’t be bothered to lug the D80 around. It wasn’t until a few minutes ago that I realized what I’d got.
Airbus Industries F-WWYE. The company’s first A330- 200F which first flew in November of last year. I can only suspect that it was in Memphis to let FedEx kick the tires.
I haven’t commented on the unbelievable story that a Northwest Airlines flight overflew it’s destination because, frankly, the explanations have been unbelievable.
How you could fly through some of the most congested airspace in the world without noticing that you’d passed the airport or fail to respond to dozens of radio messages just boggles the mind. Even with my minimal hours in the air I know that radio chatter is almost constant. That’s in a little Cessna. In a big Airbus on instrument flight it’s probably non-stop. Not to mention that the autopilot knew they were at the end of the route and probably started firing off warnings left and right.
Yet, through all this, the pilots say they were “distracted” because they had their laptops open (breach of company policy) and were having a discussion about the new crew scheduling system. Well, you’ve already been suspended and will probably be fired so I don’t think that crew scheduling is something you’re going to have to worry about in the future.
The NTSB and FAA are still investigating so hopefully we’ll get the truth on this bizarre event sooner or later.
Having said my piece, let’s turn it over to David Letterman and his Top Ten Northwest Airlines Pilots Excuses:
10. Bunch of fat guys seated on the right side of the plane made us vector east. 9. We get paid by the hour. 8. Mapquest always takes you the long way, am I right, people? 7. Tired of that show-off Sullenberger getting all the attention. 6. You try steering one of those airplanes after eight or nine cocktails. 5. Wanted to catch the end of the in-flight movie. 4. Activating autopilot and making occasional P.A. announcements is exhausting. 3. According to our map, we only missed our target by half an inch. 2. For a change, we decided to send luggage to the right city and lose the passengers. 1. Thought we saw balloon boy.
Two years ago I made a visit to the Swiss Transportation Museum in Lucerne Switzerland. Observant me just figured out that I didn’t upload many of the pictures to Flickr.
Spent the morning up at the Brampton airport where the Brampton Flying Club was having their annual open house. Beautiful day and very well attended. Took this shot from the roof.
The museum could have been here but someone decided that we shouldn’t do it. Very bad decision. We could have had the two white tents that you see in the middle of the picture and met thousands of people. But, hell, what do I know? I’m just a volunteer.
A fascinating pictorial of a PBY-5A Catalina flying boat abandoned since 1960 in Saudi Arabia when it was attacked by accident. The aircraft was purchased from the US Navy by Thomas W. Kendall who was flying around the world with his family, secretary and her son.
Today she rots on the beach and is clearly visible in Google Maps.
In preparation for tomorrow’s air show, I was cleaning up the video recorder’s files and came across this.
I took this at the CFB Trenton air show a couple of months ago. The Lancaster from Canadian Warplane Heritage in Hamilton taxis in. Shaky video but still a nice look at the magnificent bomber.
I was lucky enough to score some VIP tickets to the Air Show being held at the CNE this weekend. Sunday, a couple and friends and I will be right down at Lake Ontario watching a tremendous lineup of aircraft dancing through the sky. The latest schedule I’ve seen includes:
CF-18 Hornet 12:30 CF18/F86/Tutor 12:43 Spitfire Demo 12:48 Mike Wiskus 12:56 Horsemen P-51s 13:08 Blue Angels 13:30 F-22 Raptor Demo 14: 40 F-16 Falcon Demo 14:53 USAF Heritage Flight 15:06 Matt Chapman 15:14 SAR Helo Demo/Cadets 15:26 Open Airspace 15:41 Snowbirds/Hawk1 15:50 Hawk 1 Demo 15:55 CF Snowbirds 16:01
That makes 4 hours of fun! The US Navy Blue Angels are making their first appearance since 1983 and should be a great sight. Having a Raptor show up is also a treat.
We’re in the middle of a beautiful stretch of weather and the forecast is looking like we’ll have perfect conditions. Cameras are charged up, extra memory cards are packed and I’m ready to go!
The Memphis Belle is, arguably, one of the most famous aircraft in the world. A B17 bomber, she was the first American bomber of WWII to complete 25 missions.
The original aircraft is still undergoing restoration but the movie stand in still flies and made an appearance today at the Waterloo-Wellington air show outside Toronto.
I’m working here all weekend helping to man the museum’s booth but I, of course, had to duck out to get a chance to see this famous plane.
Seeing her up close was great but watching her glide through the air was amazing. This is one graceful airplane and the crew put on a great show with plenty of low speed passes and tight turns.
The air show organizers have put on a terrific event and I’ve been taking some notes now that we’ve starting preparing for next year’s Wings & Wheels festival.
Friday winding down and the weekend’s on the horizon gleaming with promise. Spending the next 2 days at the museum. Saturday is prep day for Sunday’s luncheon celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Avro Jetliner.
The Avro C102 Jetliner was the world’s 2nd jet powered passenger aircraft. The de Havilland Comet beat the C102 by only thirteen days! CF-EJD (-X), pictured above, took to the air on August 10 1949 from Malton Airport.
In April 1950, the Jetliner carried the world’s first jet airmail from Toronto to New York in 58 minutes– half the previous record (c.340 miles, 352mph). The flight was highly publicized and the crew was welcomed with a ticker tape parade through the streets of Manhattan.
Just like the CF-105 Arrow, the C102 project was ordered stopped by the Canadian government.
Chief Designer of both aircraft, James C. Floyd, will be at this Sunday’s event. Looking forward to some interesting stories!
A rare opportunity. Big preparations today at the Canadian Air and Space Museum for tomorrow’s press conference and announcement timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing.
Our special guest, of the aircraft variety, is the Silver Dart replica. Built to honor the 100th anniversary of powered in flight in Canada, she flew on February 20th on the same frozen lake on Cape Breton Island. Dedicated volunteers spent thousands of hours building the replica and we’re so very happy to have her on hand for our celebration. Watch for some big news!
I was really lucky to spend some time up close before we moved her to the big hanger. Very surprised to see this modification. Pretty sure it wasn’t on the original but I’m sure it comes in handy when you’re sitting in a completely open cockpit on a windswept lake in February.
