Rough descent into Miami

Descending through thick cumulus and nearby storms into Miami. From Toronto. Rough flight most of the way down. Late by over half an hour. Air Canada A-320.

Air Canada A-320

AC A-320 in newish colours. On approach to Toronto Pearson. Launched in October 2004, here's what the press release says about the new look for Air Canada:

"The strength of Air Canada’s brand and red maple leaf is recognized world wide. In redesigning the livery, we wanted to leverage the existing strengths while communicating a new Air Canada – more flexible, more dynamic, more contemporary," said Claude Salzberger, Creative Director for FutureBrand Worldwide, the company hired to design the livery, and one of the original designers involved in the carrier’s last complete makeover in 1994. "The industry has moved away from a pure corporate look to one that is closer to the customer, and that is what we have achieved with the new livery. We’ve taken advantage of the latest technology in paint, masks and decals. This couldn’t have been created ten years ago. The technology just wasn’t there."

The restyling includes a new and innovative design that mixes art and technology to reflect the unique and dynamic personality of the airline. The design showcases a new expression of the familiar red maple leaf and plays with a refreshed palette of colors to integrate the aircraft’s exterior and create an overall more comfortable in-flight experience. Air Canada’s refreshed colour palette embodies the nature of Canada: Canadian Red, Silver Sky, Forest Mist, Maple Red, Pacific Blue and Arctic Green.

An evolution of the natural leaf design in use today, the new tail features a dynamic red maple leaf that captures the plane’s energy when in motion and changing light conditions. The Air Canada Maple Leaf in Canadian Red is complemented by a graphic dot pattern representation called the "Frosted Leaf." Rendered in Forest Mist green, it is designed to evoke the natural freshness of a Canadian forest after the first frost. The artistic expression of the new design is countered with technology: An innovative, iridescent paint is used to accentuate the aircraft’s aerodynamic lines and integrate tail and fuselage. The overall design, the first of its kind, challenges the established language of aircraft livery design, while retaining the qualities inherent in a flag carrier.

Sanyo Airship

Sanyo airship over TO on Saturday and docked at Toronto Island Airport. Although seemingly awkward, slow in the air, landing was impressive. Very helicopter-like. Rapid decent and round-up into the wind, dropping precisely onto the landing zone. According to Sanyo website,
this is largest passenger-carrying airhip in N.A. Sanyo uses it to take kids with life threatening disabilities for rides in cities all across North America.

....snow and ice....looking good now

It's been a hot summer in Toronto. Most days up over 30 degrees C and nights not getting much cooler. Power usage is hitting all-times. Constant smog and humidity warnings. However, you don't hear many complaints. Here's why. Everyone knows, winter is never far around the corner and we'll soon be longing for some summer heat. This pic taken in March at Pearson en route to the sun in Miami. Pearson spent 10's of $millions few years ago on this de-icing pad. Incredibly expensive, inefficient, environmentally lousy way to do things. There are way better ways, but with red tape, industry self-interest, etc, new technologies taking a long time to gain traction. Company called Radiant Energy uses infra-red to melt snow and ice from aircraft. It has a facility installed at Newark (pic above) that Continental is using. Aircraft simply roll-through deicing 'hangar' on way to take-off. Efficient, and mostly eliminates glycol use. Interest from the Europeans, US Air Force and others but painfully slow to get off the ground. When it does, betting it's the way of the future.

Miami Beach from the air

Take off from Miami for Toronto. Left turn over Miami Beach to head north.

Island Airport Tower

Grainy, lousy picture of the tower at the island airport. Actually has people in it. This was a very quiet Friday night with only one departure in over an hour. Connection to the airport is via ferry which is just out of view to left of this shot.

Swiss International Airlines A-330

Approaching Europe. Early morning sunrise. Within minutes sun was a bright orange ball. Everybody else on the plane sleeping. Approx an hour and a half out of Zurich. Flight from here over London, Paris and into Zurich.

Swiss International Airlines A-330

Swiss Airlines A-33o taking off from Montreal Pierre Elliot Trudeau (Dorval) Airport en route to Zurich. International terminal on the left with KLM and Air France loading for return to Europe. The Airbus A-330 is impressive. 2 engines generating over 70,000lbs of thrust each. Swiss International Airlines operates with 2 classes - economy and business - with total seating at over 300 passengers. Here's a good link with more info at Airliners.net.

Air Canada A-320

At right is a great air to air shot of Air Canada A-320 in 65th Anniversay colors. Over Calgary.
Not real. From Flight Simulator 2004. Downloaded aircraft from flightsim.com. Tons of great aircraft. And other great FS stuff. Have seen this aircraft land regularly at Toronto, Pearson. Aircraft was originally painted in 2002 and is still wearing paint scheme today. According to Air Canada web site, AC has 50 A320's in the fleet. Pic at top is of actual aircraft from Awesome80's.com

Westjet Boeing 737

Beautiful Westjet Boeing 737-600 on approach to Toronto Pearson runway 15R. One of the problems taking pics with a camera like the A520 is shutter speed. Capturing an aircraft from this angle is a bit like throwing a football to a fast receiver - you've got to lead him by a fair bit! Still works, but I'm jealous of the guys with the really nice cameras.

CF-104 Tiger

Canadian F-104 in tiger paint scheme. Inside exhibit Canadian Warplane Heritage.

Wings folding

Wings folding for tow into hangar.

More Sea Fury Pics

Hawker Sea Fury

Hawker Sea Fury

Unique two-seater. Interesting non-paint job. No visible registration. Internet search on this plane suggests it was probably with Iraqi Air Force when it first went into service many years ago. Here's a link to some info on this plane http://www.warbirdregistry.org/furyregistry/fury-n58sf.html

Here's a link to the Canadian Warplane Heritage. http://www.warplane.com/