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Old 12th October 2012, 06:45 PM
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Default Trip Report - Canada / USA Including Boeing Tour

AC34 Sydney-Vancouver: Wed, Sep 19 2012

Today was my birthday, so apart from celebrating this morning, I would celebrate it again when we arrived in Vancouver. Two Birthdays this year because we crossed the International Date Line.

Check-in, customs and security all quite reasonable time wise.
Coffee and Banana Bread in the cafe near the Gate 58.
Aircraft operating the service was Boeing 777-200LR C-FIUA

Boarding was just a few minutes late, seats 32DEG are quite good, third row in the centre section of the rear cabin. Just forward on the left and right are the emergency exits, so the first row is missing on each side gives a feeling of plenty of room. Three seats in the middle is quite good as there is easy entry and exit from the aisle seats. Leg room is quite reasonable, even for me at 6ft plus tall. The entertainment box under the DE seats in front does not really get in the way (each row is the same throughout)

1030 Pushback from Gate 58
Taxi via Alpha to the Alpha 1 holding point Runway 16R, and third in the queue for departure
1055 Rolling Runway 16R with a 50 second takeoff roll – plenty of fuel for the 14hr+ flight.
Slight right then left after takeoff, then left and heading out to sea
1120 Heading 027
Inflight entertainment system not working in many rows so they finally decided to reboot the entire system, about 15-20 minutes for the restart.
1150 31000ft Heading 014 at 608mph and -52.6F and the mood lighting changed from sunset to green for meal service.
1210 Dinner service was Beef with Mashed Potato, Brocolli and Carrots, Bread Roll, Friut and Cake.
1255 Movie - Safe
1442 Blue mood lighting 33000ft Heading 020 and -38.22F 1901miles down 5475 miles to go.
1705 Blue mood lighting 33500ft at 560mph and Heading 030. Outside -38.2F 3337 with miles down 4049 miles to run. Roughly half way between Fiji and Hawaii
2309 37000ft Heading 020 at 575mph and -50.8F with 6751miles down 674 miles to run. Estimated arrival time in Vancouver 0738L
2318 Breakfast service started.
Touchdown Runway 26R and Taxi to Gate 51

You clear immigration in Vancouver, collect your checked luggage, and take it to a drop off area for the next sector. Because of all the delays, we basically walked back around to Gate 51 and boarded the aircraft.

AC34 Vancouver –Toronto

0911 Pushback from Gate 51
0928 Rolling Runway 26L with a 35 second takeoff roll.
0941 33500ft Heading 070 at 539mph and -63.4F with 97 miles down and 2003 miles to run.
Estimated arrival time is 1641Toronto time.
There was cloud cover for almost all the flight, so no opportunity to view the Canadian Rockies and the Great Lakes
At the meal service, two flight attendants were having a disagreement about whether we should receive free food, or had to pay. Once you go from International to a domestic sector, all food must be paid for except for a soft drink, juice and pretzels.
Touchdown at Pearson International in Toronto on Runway 15L on time.

Activities In Toronto / Oshawa
We had a great week in Toronto / Oshawa with family, including a long weekend on Lake Crowe, about 2 hours north. Walking, canoeing, marshmallows over an open fire in the evening. Bass boats and the sound of duck hunters in the morning. Also visited the CN Tower in Toronto, and drove down to Niagara Falls and Niagara On The Lake.

The Toronto City Airport - Mainly Dash 8s operate from here.


The CN Tower, the tallest in the world until 8 years ago. The external lifts have glass panels in the floor, and there are
large glass floor panels on the floor of the observation deck.


Niagara Falls, an amazing volume of water goes over the Horseshoe Falls.


AC716 Toronto - New York La Guardia: Wed, Sep 26 2012

Pearson International Terminal 1 check-in was at a traditional counter, however you then took your bags with you down to the next level to a drop off point. US bound flights do the complete immigration process in Toronto, which included scans of four fingers on the right hand, then right thumb, followed by the same process for the left hand. A quick photograph and we were good to go.

Once through security it was a long walk around to Gate F53.
Boarding was at 1440 and departure scheduled for 1515 but just a little late.
Seat allocation on the E190 was 20CDF, and the aircraft was less than half full, quite surprising. Row 20 is at the rear side of the wing and the view of the ground is slightly backwards. Even at 186cm, the leg room in the Embraer 190 is quite good, and the overhead lockers were a reasonable size for the aircraft.
The inflight entertainment system looks exactly the same as the AC B777, and content much the same also.

An Air Canada E170 C-FEJD at the Gate.


Looking back at Pearson International Terminal 1 with Sunwing 737-8BK C-FTJH at the Gate.




Air Canada Jazz Dash 8 taxiing for departure.


Climbing out we were very quickly into cloud that persisted all the way down to New York. Only on the latter stages of our approach did we come out of cloud. We executed a very winding approach, initially out over Long Island. We touched down on the over water section of Runway 22 at La Guearid, and we're greeted by many fire tenders and airport security vehicles. We later found out there was another aircraft with problems.
Because all the US Immigration was done in Toronto, we walked straight out of the Terminal B Gate area and down to the Baggage Claim. The bags came through quickly, a quick call to Dial 7 and our Town Car was out in the drop off area ready to go. The trip into Manhattan only cost $35 plus $6.50 in tolls, quite reasonable I thought. We were dropped off right outside our hotel on 7th Avenue, directly across from the Penn Street Station.

Overall, quite impressed with my first ride on the Embraer 190

Activities In New York
In New York we visited Ground Zero, where the new memorials are now open, and Tower One is almost complete. There will be four towers on the site, with Tower One being around 1800ft high, compared to 1300ft for the old Twin Towers. Onto Wall Street, the Statue of Liberty, Century 21 shopping and a show on Broadway. We had some rain on the second day, but still managed a walk around Central Park, a visit to the Apple Store in the Big Apple, and Time Square. Because we had a 8am flight out of Newark, we shifted hotels to the Newark Airport Hilton the evening before. We took the Newark train from Penn Street station, and then switched to the Airtrain for a short ride to Carpark P4, where we were picked up by the Hilton shuttle Bus.

The 9/11 South Tower Memorial - very moving to stand there and think about what happened.


All the names from Flight 77.


All the names from Flight 93.


All the names from the Pentagon


The new World Trade Centre Tower 1


The Lady herself.
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Last edited by Grahame Hutchison; 12th October 2012 at 09:25 PM.
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Old 12th October 2012, 06:56 PM
Dave Dale Dave Dale is offline
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Grahame, great start to your trip report. Great photos, looking forward to part two.
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Old 12th October 2012, 07:04 PM
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AC 585 New York Newark - Calgary: Sat, Sep 29 2012

Early start today, shuttle bus from the Hilton over to the airport, about an 8 minute ride. The electronic check-in points read your passport and allow you to pay the $25 baggage fee using a credit card reader. The baggage drop is close by, then it is down one level to the security check point. Today they wanted everything out of pockets including handkerchiefs. Shoes and belts off, and all liquids in clear plastic bags. They were using a PD Scanner for everyone, and it required you to stand on two footprints with your arms raised above your head with hands together. After a quick scan, a big OK comes up on a monitor alongside the booth.

From security, Terminal A has a long corridor to the round Gate area, where there are several food outlets.

Today’s service is being operated by an Embraer 190 C-FNAX from Terminal A Gate 11 Departure at 0800 similar to our flight down to New York from Toronto, and again the Embraer 190 is less than half full, I am a little surprised by this.

Pushback then taxi via the UPS and FedEx Terminals to PD for Runway 04 The first section of the runway has a couple of sharp hollows and the aircraft almost seems to bounce over them during the takeoff roll. Climb out is with The Manhattan skyline to the starboard side, then quickly into cloud at around 2000ft.

Kalitta Air B747-259B/F N701CK


FedEx A300-622R /F N749FD


Climbing out from Newark with the Manhattan shyline in the background.


Track today is via Toronto then Ironwood and Grand Forks.

As on previous Air Canada flights they ask you to use your own headphones, but have some on sale also. This is an environmental initiative.
Shortly after takeoff they offered food for purchase, and free Tea, Coffee, Juice and drinks. Air Canada have 3 Flight Attendants in the main cabin.
I was hoping to see the Great Lakes today, but so far there has been solid cloud all the way. The cloud topped out at around 10,000ft

The E190 wing.


Looking forward in the E190.


0927 The cloud has cleared somewhat and the massive expanse of Lake Huron is visible below. The Great lakes are more like seas, with Lake Ontorio, where we were staying in Oshawa, some 34 miles wide and 100 plus miles long.

0946 Overhead the northern end of Lake Superior just south of Escanaba at 36000ft and 538mph. Now 2 hr 39min out of Calgary.
1000 West of Iron Mountain and the ground is red and dotted with many small lakes. Presumably the red is from the Autumn colours of the trees, although there were areas of green trees and pasture in between.
1043 Turn right to 260 overhead Grand Forks at 36000ft and 569mph with 1hr 40min to run.
1128 Overhead Lumsden heading 230 at 36000ft and 537mph

1205 Top of descent
1226 Touchdown on Runway 34 at Calgary.

We collected our bags and dropped them off at the Banff Airporter counter for the 2 hour bus ride to Banff.

On approach to Calgary with the city visible below, and the airport back to the right.


Turning base for Runway 34 at Calgary.


Activities In Banff
Arriving mid afternoon, we had a good walk around Banff which is a beautiful town, nestled in the valley between the mountains. Dinner was up the Gondola to the mountain top restaurant, which had a spectacular view over Banff, and we walked to the old weather station. The next day we visited Lake Louise and the Athabasca Glacier, below the Colombia Ice Fields – simply stunning. Day two was a visit to Moraine Lake and Lake Louise, followed by a wildlife tour where we saw Elk and Deer in natural settings. Day 3 we walked to the Bow Falls, the Fairmont Bamff, the Historic original houses in Banff, followed by a beautiful walk along the river and forested areas. As we departed Banff they had their first snow fall of the season. The Banff Airporter is a 2 hour drive back to Calgary.

Lake Louise, simply magic.


The Chateau at Lake Louise.


The Athabasca Glacier.


The $1,000,000 Ice Bus takes you to the middle of the glacier, where the ice is 1000ft thick. It was -10 degrees out in the open, but the pure glacial water
was great to drink.


Looking towards the top of the Athabasca Glacier and the Columbia Ice Fields.


Elk on Banff Golf Course - If you hit one you can take another shot. If there are Elk on the green, you can claim par and move onto the next hole. Eighty
people a year in Banff end up in ICU because of Elk attacks - More dangerous than Bears. The antlers on an eight pointer can be the width of a bus.


The Fairmont Hotel in Banff with many sections build from the local rock - quite beautiful.


Morraine Lake, even more impressive natural beauty than Lake Louise.
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Last edited by Grahame Hutchison; 12th October 2012 at 09:10 PM.
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Old 12th October 2012, 07:19 PM
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A Banff Squirrel - they are very fast.


Not uncommon to see Deer walking around Banff, they love eating the flowers. We walked out of the hotel and there were three Deer crossing the road.



AC205 Calgary - Vancouver: Wed, Oct 03 2012

After staying overnight at the Delta Calgary Airport Hotel, it was an early start for the 8am service to Vancouver. The hotel has an aero bridge to the Terminal, so there was no need to go out into the -6degrees, with a strong westerly blowing. Check-in was quite quick however there was an extremely long line at security. Checks today were through standard screening stations, however there were random swab tests and booth scans.

Once at Terminal A Gate 18 there was just enough time for oatmeal, fruit and coffee for breakfast. Boarding was called at 0730 and pushback was right on time at 0800. Today's service was being operated by an Embraer E190 C-FNAP, and in contrast to our three previous AC E190 flights, today's aircraft was absolutely full.

Many people had two carry-on bags, or bags that were too large for the smaller E190 overhead lockers. Seat allocation was 21CDF.

As we taxied for Runway 26, we pulled up at the de-icing bay where two trucks pulled up alongside and gave the wings and tail a good spray. I could see some small amounts of ice break free. With a full aircraft the takeoff roll was a little longer, and once in the air we could see that much of Calgary had been covered in snow. It started snowing as we left Banff the previous afternoon, and the colder conditions from the west rolled right into Calgary overnight.

De-icing before takeoff in Calgary.


We were in cloud fairly quickly, however as we approached the Canadian Rockies, the cloud cleared and there were spectacular views of the snow caped peaks, including Mt Baker.

0837 36000ft 409mph south of Revelstoke, and 38 min out of Vancouver.
As with all other AC domestic services, free refreshments are served (drinks and a biscuit), all other food items, which include hot snacks, must be purchased.
0852 Top of descent and current conditions in Vancouver were 9 degrees with calm winds.

Vancouver Activities : Capilano Suspension Bridge, 22km bike ride around Stanley Park and city shoreline, Grandville Farmers Market and the Boeing Tour. Highly recommend the Steamworks Pub and Brewery at any time of day.

A Beever at the Float Plane Terminal in Vancouver.


The main Floatplane Terminal, a very busy operation.


Boeing Tour

On Thursday 4th October we had a hire car for the day and drove down to Paine Field for the Boeing tour. From central Vancouver it’s about a 3hr drive on the wrong side of the road, the major hold ups being the Massey Tunnel (20min going south and 1hr north) in peak hour, and the US Border crossing (20min). Once over the border it’s a freeway drive down to Mukiteo.

The Boeing Tour operates out of the Future Of Flight building, which includes a museum, the Boeing Store, Theatre, a café and gift shop. The Boeing Tour does not allow any cameras or electronic devices, so you need to leave everything in the car, or take advantage of one of the secure lockers, $1 for a small one and $2 for a larger one. There are no toilets while on the tour.

The Boeing Store at the Future Of Flight - I couldn't stop myself, purchased a Soft Shell jacket, Dreamliner Tee Shirt, Mug, Pen and stickers.



The Boeing Tour entrance.



The Boeing Store and Tour entrance.



The Future Of Flight Cafe



The Future Of Flight Museum - not that big, but still interesting to look over.


The tour starts with a 6min video in the theatre, talking about how flight, and Boeing, have changed the world. At the end of the video you walk straight onto the bus for the drive around the end of the runway, and across the taxiway over on the Boeing Freeway to Building 40, the largest building in the world by volume. A B777 departed as we drove past the threshold of Runway 16R.


Building 40 which houses the B747, B777 and Dreamliner production lines.


First stop was the B748 production line. From the bus you descend a stairway to one of the many long tunnels under the production lines. Part way along we took a lift to the observation level of the plant, where the open deck provided an amazing view of three B748s at various stages of completion. The aircraft closest to the plant door was for a Corporate customer. Directly below were three B748 cockpit sections being assembled, then three other aircraft at various stagesof completing.

Retracing our steps, we were back on the bus to move further along Building 40 to the B777 production line. Down into the tunnel and up to the observation level again, and we could see the B777 line, with an Emitates aircraft almost complete, next was a Philippines Airlines, and further back another B777 undergoing fuselage joining. This is a moving line like the B737 line down in Renton, and it moves at 1.8” per minute (you can just detect the movement if you line the rig up with a fixed point).

The next production line was the Dreamliner, and the most obvious difference was the lack of the noise from the rivet guns. At the head of the line was a B787for Hainan, with a couple more B787s lined up behind. Even at the production stage, the Dreamliners were gleaming.

Once completed, the aircraft are towed along the front of the Building 40 for further work, fuel testing and fill, flight testing, and the paint shop. Because the taxiway from Building 40 crosses over the Boeing Freeway, Boeing only ever tow the new aircraft over the overpass at night, in order to avoid distracting drivers, or having them stop on the roadway to take pictures.

Mary, our tour guide was excellent, and competently answered most of the questions. As we took the bus back to the Furtue of Flight building, we could see a line up of 8 Dreamliners, China Southern, Lot Polish Airlines SP-LRA, Ethiopian ET-ADS, ANA JA816A, Ethiopian ET-ADP, Hainan B-2728, LAN CC-BBB and Qatar A7-BOA and another Qatar. Further on was an unpainted B748, an all white B748, an Air India Dreamliner and a Cathay Cargo B748. Further still was an all white B748 and 5 more Dreamliners, two being for Air India. On the apron opposite the main plant was an unpainted B748, a B748 in Boeing livery, and unpainted B777. The bus driver said that they had two Dreamlifters in overnight, apparently a little unusual.
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Last edited by Grahame Hutchison; 12th October 2012 at 09:14 PM.
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Old 12th October 2012, 07:25 PM
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The Future Of Flight viewing deck.


Overall the tour lasted around one and a half hours, and was simply excellent.

AC33 Vancouver - Sydney: Sat, Oct 06 2012

As we were reasonably early at the airport, check-in and security were very quiet. Normal security procedures were performed, however three security officers stood at the entrance to the aero bridge and randomly spoke to some passengers. Vancouver airport has free Wifi as did Calgary.

Seat allocation was 38HJK
Similar to AC34 on the way over, AC33 is also absolutely full.
2348 Pushback from Gate D51 and a long taxi to Runway 26L. Distance to Sydney is 7775 miles and 14hr 40min.
The route today is via Hawaii and then over the north western tip of Noumea.

Takeoff from Runway 26L with a 30 sec takeoff roll.
0024 Heading 220 at 28000ft and 598 mph with outside air temperature -34.4F
0028 Special meals delivered for my wife and son.
0040 Meal service, Chicken and Vegetables, Salad, Chocolate Cake, Biscuits and Tea.

After a 22km bike ride in the morning, and walking around the Grandville Farmers Markets in the afternoon, five hours sleep straight up was very easy. If I recline the seat and slide forward a bit, I can actually stretch out fully straight with my feet touching the front guard of the seat in front of me.
Movie - five Year Engagement
A few more hours sleep
1253 37000ft at 512mph and -52.6F with 790 miles to run.

Keeping track of time is a little trickier today because of daylight saving starting in NSW, and possible finishing in Vancouver (there seemed to be two hours in there somehow).
Touchdown on Runway 16R was about 20 minutes early, however an aircraft on our Gate forced us to hold on Taxiway Golf for 20 minutes. When we finally moved to the Gate they had to spray the aircraft, which means another 5-10 minutes before we could disembark.
Immigration, bag collection and customs were all good, and our taxi was waiting for us in the car park.

Overall we had a very busy 18 days in Canada and The USA
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Last edited by Grahame Hutchison; 12th October 2012 at 07:46 PM.
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Old 13th October 2012, 09:53 AM
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Excellent trip report Grahame! Really makes me want to visit Canada and Seattle. The Hainan 787 looks absolutely spectacular!
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Old 13th October 2012, 10:09 AM
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The Athabasca Glacier definitely is losing lots of ice. I was there about 5 years ago (in the middle of the Canadian summer) and it looked very different to now.

Anyhow, great photos Grahame. Brought back so much memories of my 3 visits to Canada. Did you notice the contrast in scenery and people between Western Canada, central Canada and eastern Cananda?

Looking forward to going back there again next year.
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Old 13th October 2012, 11:28 AM
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The Athabasca Glacier has retreated by around 1.5km since the 19th Century, and the rate of retreat has increased since 1980, after a slow down between 1950 and 1980. The glaciers around this area are fed by the 325 sq km Columbia Ice Field above.

The mountain scenery in the Canadian Rockies is hard to beat, just so vast, and Banff reminds me very much of Interlaken in Switzerland. The people are definitely different from east to west, Vancouver has more of a Sydney feel, and Calgary very country. At Calgary airport they had senior citizens dressed like cowboys and doing an Information / PR job (they were helpful with directions).

The wilderness areas north of Toronto have the rich change of colours in the Fall, and Crowe lake was so peaceful and relazed, I can see why people have cabins around the lake. The east side of Canada is quite flat compared to the mountains in the west.

Brock, The Boeing Tour is a must do, movement wise it was very quiet the day we were there, however there are some great locations for photography. I had tried to organise a tour on the production line floor, via a contact I have at Boeing who is one of the Chief Pilots, however he was rostered on that day, so we just did the excellent public tour. The Boeing employees seem incredibly proud of the work they do at Boeing.

There is so much to see in Canada, it would be very easy to go back again.
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Old 13th October 2012, 06:30 PM
Adam G Adam G is offline
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The museum of flight at king county airfield is also worth a visit if you're in Seattle - they have a concorde and B707 air force one (among other aircraft) you can walk through.

If you're also staying in town the markets with the salmon throwing are also well worth a visit.
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Old 13th October 2012, 10:30 PM
matthew mcdonald matthew mcdonald is offline
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That brings back a lot of memories from when I worked a winter season at sunshine villiage ski hill in banff. I agree that it is a place you just have to visit in your lifetime.
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