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.
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.
