Still 15 days from its second birthday, Boeing 787 airframe ZA001 will fly today to Palmdale California ending a short life as a test aircraft. The next time she flies (which could take quite a long time) will probably be back to Seattle to a permanent home at the Seattle Museum of Flight.
I took this picture at Oshkosh 2011 when 001 made a one day visit to see tens of thousands of adoring fans. One of the huge highlights of my first trip to AirVenture.
More information from FlightBlogger.
Still almost 2 months to go before the new year but I’m already antsy to break out the cameras and head out to watch airplanes.
Here in the Great White North (take off eh?) the airshow season cranks up around the beginning of June. Looks the Waterloo Airshow will be first of the mark in this area with their show on the first weekend of June.
Since that’s a long dry stretch between here and there I took the plunge and made my bookings to attend SUN n FUN in Lakeland Florida at the end of March.
Lakeland is about 1/2 way between Tampa and Orlando and is second only to Oshkosh for Fly-In participation and large crowds of aviation enthusiasts. This event has been on the bucket list for a while so it will be good to cross this one off.
Air Canada flight to Tampa booked (thank you Aeroplan). Courtyard Marriott in Brandon booked. Rental car booked. Tickets purchased. Flying down Monday the 26th and coming home late on April 1. Sunshine, warm weather and things that fly. That’s the way to beat the winter blahs!
Thunder of Niagara air show.
All year long I’ve been running into Dan Dempsey, pilot of the Discovery Air Hawk One Sabre from Vintage Wings of Canada. Last month up in Gatineau we talked for a few minutes and I asked if he had any Hawk One badges. “Not with me”, he said but he promised to see what he could find. I gave him my address but didn’t think anything of it.
Today in the mail came a plaque for the Canadian Air & Space Museum (click the link to visit their website and see how YOU can help them survive) which I’ll hang on to until things settle down and a few other goodies. 
On the left is the current patch and on the right is the 2009 patch celebrating the 100th anniversary of powered flight in Canada. 2 very rare and very cool additions to my collection.
Thanks Colonel Dempsey (that’s him above and below waving from one of the most beautiful offices in the world.) It was a pleasure working with you at Wings & Wheels where we were all so amazed at your stamina and how much fun you were having with the kids. And thanks for making Hawk One dance.
Probably spend all winter retouching photos. Here’s one off the list.
It’s going to be a long dry spell before I see things like this again.
Now that the season is over it’s time to start going through the thousands of pictures that I’ve taken this year. Under the top picture (handsome dude, right?) there’s a link called “AIR SHOW PHOTOS”. Hover over it and you’ll see a listing of shows. Click on any and you’ll be taken to a separate page where a Picasa slideshow starts. Click on any photo and you see it larger and you’ll be able to navigate through the shots at your own speed. Comments are very, very welcome.
As I write this ANA (All Nippon Airways) is taking delivery of the very first production 787 “Dreamliner” at a ceremony outside of Seattle Washington.
A day long awaited and a day that will change air travel, again.
(photo above of first 787 aircraft taken by the author at AirVenture 2011 in Oskosh, WI in July 2011)
My last airshow of 2011 provides a memory to get me through the cold months to come. Courtesy of Vintage Wings of Canada and Canadian Warplane Heritage a sight that may never come again.
The CWH Lancaster flanked by Vintage Wings’ Spitfire, Hurricane, Kittyhawk and Mustang thundering across a perfect sky in Gatineau Quebec. The sound of all those Merlin engines is unbelievable and you can easily be transported back in time to when these aircraft ruled the sky and helped turn the tide in World War II.
Another 1000 pictures to go through this winter as I make the plans for 2012.
Click on the “AIR SHOW PHOTOS” above or here to see the pictures from the Thunder Of Niagara air show held at the Air Reserve Station in Niagara Falls New York. Thunderbirds, MiG-17F(shown above) B1, B2, B52 and a tribute to the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
If you’d rather look at them on Flickr, the slideshow is here.
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