Anyone that has been following my posts recently would probably think that I'm pretty spoiled with all this nice Caribbean and Hawaiian flying. And they would be right.
But I was jolted back to reality the other day when I had to dust off the leather jacket... Destination Vancouver.
Looking out my hotel room window in the morning revealed a fresh layer of snow. The news was reporting temps in the low teens! That's nothing for some parts of Canada but it's a little cold for Vancouver. Even the locals were complaining!
From our slow drive to the airport to the slow security process to the slow boarding, everything seems to move slower in the winter.
It has been quite some time since I have heard an ATIS broadcast referring to runways and taxiways being plowed and sanded and to use caution for snowbanks. All taxiways were reported to be icy. So I guess we'd taxi slow also!
De-icing complete and we were ready to pushback and startup. But even the Rolls Royce engines were slow to wake up. And then while taxiing out ( at a snails pace), we had an engine limiter computer failure message. OK...so we ask ATC if we can pull over somewhere and work it out. Ten minutes later we have it fixed and are finally ready to launch for Texas.
Runway 08Right....Cleared for takeoff. Call departure control airborne....Have a good flight eh!
Vancouver looks like a nice city. I wish we had more time to spend there. (In the summertime).
Very soon we were in US airspace and Mt Baker was approaching. Quite a sight in the morning sun.The Cascades would soon pass behind us...three and a half hours remained to DFW. Then a short break and on to Miami for the night. The cold weather ops were now behind us.
I wouldn't be needing that leather jacket in Miami.
Merry Christmas to everyone.
For a look at some more of my photos, please aviate over to Plane & Simple.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Winter Ops
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9 comments:
Merry Christmas, Len! Enjoy Miami.
Cody
Glad you enjoyed your short time in Vancouver :) Your correct about the snow, have over 2 feet on the ground so far when normally there would be 2 inches lol.
Thanks for the great blog Len,
You're lucky you left YVR when you did, we're getting another huge snowfall today!
Enjoy the Holidays.
Mark.
Nice shots Len, amazing how flat at 08R looks at YVR compared to my local.
I don't usually experience cold much below freezing, maybe down to -5*C plus windchill, it's a pain to work in but I love the crisp clear conditions it gives in the cool air.
Happy holidays
Hi Cody,
Merry Christmas to you too! How goes the training?
Len
Hi Mark,
Thanks for stopping by my blog. You should be on the slopes!!
Len
Hi Dispatcher,
Hope you enjoy your Christmas day off! That's a rarity in the airline business for sure.
Happy Holidays!
Len
Hi Len,
The training is going great, thanks! Between work and school I'm not getting to concentrate on flying quite as much as I'd like, but I'm just about finished up.
I flew last night, did a few holds, DME arcs, a couple of VOR and ILS approaches... I'm feeling really good about it. Right now I'm just studying like crazy for the oral.
Having a blast like always, though!
Cody
Great photos - what an awesome trip. I look forward to following your posts.
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