BC news round up - week 32

A round up of aviation news in BC/YT and with major airlines who serve BC.  All photos my own unless stated.  

If anyone has any news or photos particularly from elsewhere in BC or Yukon - please comment or send to me via email cangloballog@gmail.com

NEW DELIVERIES

None

CANCELLATIONS

None

ACCIDENTS

3rd August ... two Cessna 172's collided mid air over northern Chilliwack.  The aircraft involved were L model C-FBZQ with Pacific Rim Aviation Academy of Pitt Meadows which crashed into a quarry lake in between the Skwah 4 and Skway 5 First Nations with one fatality.  The other was S model Skyhawk SP C-FMNB  with Aquila Aviation of Abbotsford which made a safe landing at Chilliwack airport.

FBZQ seen just in June at the Pitt Meadows open day

5th August ... a helicopter fighting fires in the Big Bar area crashed near 70 Mile House, the pilot received minor injuries.  According to social media commentary, it was a Bell 212 with Mustang Helicopters [Blackfalds AB] though I have not seen this verified by any official source yet.

NEWS OF THE WEEK

3rd August ... Delta A/L flight DL2482 from Minneapolis St Paul [MSP] changed from 737-900ER to A320.

4th August ... Canadian Snowbirds display in Victoria over the Dallas Road waterfront.

4th August ... WestJet and CUPE reach a deal to resume flights, most flights resumed the following day with some cancellations and delays due to out of place aircraft and crew.

6th August ... additional mainline Delta A/L A220-300 from Salt Lake City [SLC] DL1049 arr 1245 DL1046 dep 1320, switiching to DL1121 8th September arr 1218 DL1064 dep 1323.

7th August ... Port Alberni based Coulson Aviation announce a deal to purchase ten retired RCAF Lockheed C130H Hercules which were all built in the mid 1970's.  The announcement was made at Cascade Aerospace in Abbotsford on the first day of the airshow and one of their aircraft performed including a drop.  There have been quite a few aircraft arrived on the Cascade ramp in the past month (covered in a previous post) so it is quite likely these are the aircraft in question.  This will double the fleet to 20, they have some ex Norwegian Air Force aircraft though they do not operate in Canada, with bases in Oregon and California and extensively operate in Australia.  They will be equipped with the RADS-XXL retardent delivery system which can carry up to 4,000 USG / 15,000 L of water or retardant.  For comparison, a Conair Q400 carries 10,000 L and a CL415 6,140 L.

8th August ... NASA sent their Edwards AFB based Lockheed ER-2 (modified U-2 spyplane) N806NA up from Great Falls MT for the INSPYRE program (INjected Smoke and PYRocumulonibus [PyroCbs] in the earth system) and links to extreme wildfire program.  It flew over central BC north of Kamloops including over the Big Bar fire in the southern Cariboo regional.  From NASA quote: "PyroCbs are a poorly understood and inadequately predicted severe weather phenomenon driven by large and intense fires and unique meteorological conditions.  These fire generated cloud are linked to extreme fore behavior that impedes forefighting efforts and can devastate communities.  PyroCbs can also inject volcanic scale smoke plumes into the stratosphere that encircle the globe, reside for more than a year, alter stratospheric circulations, extend the lifetime and size of the Antartic hole, and effect Earths radiative balance.  Given the ongoing and projected increases in fire activity and severity, there is an urgent need to better understand and predict global and fire-scale impacts from PyroCb activity."

7-9th August ... Abbotsford International Airshow.  I will produce a separate blog covering the visitors, but !!PHOTO REQUEST!! if anyone would like to send me flying shots from the show or arrivals / departures that would be great!!  Meanwhile a little teaser...

16-46018 ~ Boeing KC-46A Pegasus ~ USAF 133rd ARS

130608 ~ Lockheed Martin CC-130J Super Hercules ~ RCAF 436 Squadron

177703 ~ Boeing CC-177 Globemaster ~ RCAF 429 Squadron

C-GTBU ~ Shorts SC7 Skyvan Srs 3 ~ Nomad Air

130339 ~ Lockheed CC-130H Hercules ~ RCAF 435 Squadron

148802 ~ Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclone ~ RCAF 443 Squadron

86-0021 ~ Lockheed C-5M Super Galaxy ~ USAF 9th AS

15+03 ~ Airbus A319-133 (CJ) ~ Luftwaffe (Open Skies)

67-14849 ~  Northrop T-38C Talon ~ USAF 469th FTS

N2114L ~ Lockheed P-38L Lightning ~ Erickson Collection

RCAF Snowbirds - final AIAS performance and penultimate display in BC

FOR THE DIARY - from YVR unless stated

12th August ... Canadian Snowbirds display over White Rock commencing 1730 - the last time in BC.

15th August ... Chilliwack Flight Fest night party - and air fest following day 16th gates open 1100.

15th August ... Comox Air Force museum open cockpit day 1000 - 1600.

22nd August ... Air North resume seasonal Yellowknife [YZF].

28th August ... final Sun Country A/L Minneapolis St Paul [MSP] seasonal flight

29th August ... Langley Regional airport Air Fare between 1000 - 1700.

31st August ... final summer seasonal ANA service from Narita [NRT] NH135/6 arr 1040 dep 1230.

1st September ... BA86/7 reverts from 777-200ER back to 787-8.

7th September ... final weekly AC315/6 787-9 service to Honolulu [HNL].

8th September ... BA84/5 from London Heathrow [LHR] switches from A350-1000 to 777-200ER.

18th September ... final British A/W BA2278/9 summer seasonal from London Gatwick [LGW].

1st October ... final British A/W BA86/7 summer seasonal from London Heathrow [LHR].

3rd October ... Flair A/L commence Leon El Bajio, first airline to do so from Canada.

22nd October .... final summer seasonal Edelweiss Air from Zurich [ZRH].

24th October ... Aviation Expo at South Arm United Church 11051 No 3 Road between 1100-1600.

25th October ... Lufthansa from Frankfurt [FRA] switches from 747-400 to 787-9.

25th October ... final summer seasonal Condor from Frankfurt [FRA].

26th October ... KLM from Amsterdam [AMS] switches from 777-300ER to A330-200.

17th November ... additional 3x weekly Philippine A/L A350-900 from Manila [MNL] PR136/7 arr 0800 dep 1210 for a daytime departure.  Will revert to 777-300ER 1st December.

21st November ... Delta A/L twice daily from Los Angeles [LAX] with A319 DL3192 arr 1140 dep 1250 and DL3184 arr YVR 1810 dep 1930.

1st December ... Air Canada AC1314/1317 to Cancun [CUN] upgrades to 787-9.

December ... new Air Canada (Rouge) seasonal services : 3rd Monterrey [MTY], 7th Puerto Escondido [PXM], 13th Liberia [LIR], 15th Mazatlan [MZT] and 17th Sapporo-Chitose [CTS] (mainline 787-9).

30th January ... 3x weekly additional Philippine A/L from Manila [MNL] PR136/7 reverts from 777-300ER to A350-900.

1st May ... Air Canada Rouge launch Raleigh Durham NC [RDU]

28th May ... Air North launch Kamloops [YKA] summer seasonal Monday & Friday, later Wednesday.

INTERESTING VISITORS - foreign registered, special liveries and rare non scheduled visitors

3rd August ... 9H-VJD ... Bombardier Global 6000 ... VistaJet Malta

3rd August ... XA-BEG ... Dassault Falcon 900LX ... Servicios Ejecutivos Continental [Monterrey]

4th August ... N388MM ... Gulfstream III ...  AC Travel [Van Nuys CA]

Photo by Rob Reid arriving from Oakland CA and later departed to Boise ID - sadly the hushkits did too good a job on those old RR Spey's

4th August ... G-FGFG ... Bombardier Global XRS ... Concierge U [London Stansted]

Arrived from Farnborough

5th August ... XA-MJT ... Bombardier Challenger 605 ... Aerolineas Ejecutivas [Toluca]

5th August ... CS-GLH ... Bombardier Global 6000 ... NetJets Europe [Lisbon]

6th August ... 9H-VIK ... Bombardier Global 7500 ... VistaJet Malta

6th August ... VP-CDA ... Bombardier Global 7500 ... TAG Avn Asia [Hong Kong]

Photo by Ron Reid - arriving from Los Angeles

6th August ... D-AFAB ... Bombardier Challenger 604 ... FAI Rent-A-Jet [Nuremberg]

8th August ... N44GJ ... Gulfstream G300 ... Mira Vista Avn [Van Nuys CA]

One of only 13 built, seen on a previous visit

8th August ... N950TR ... Boeing 737-7CG (BBJ) ... Silver Air Private Jets [Santa Barbara CA]

Seen on a previous visit last year

9th August ... 2x McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet ... RCAF - not had time to check the serials yet

3rd and 4th August Victoria saw Nolinor 737-2B5C (ADV) operate a roundtrip charter to Nome & Anchorage AK no doubt cruise ship related.  They also saw a pair of Hornet's on the 8th, presumably the same pair at YVR on the 9th, I have not had time to check the serials so far.

5th August I believe unrelated to the airshow, Abbotsford got a Kuwait Air Force KC130J KAF328.  The first Mexican firefighters also arrived from Guadalajara on Canadian North 737-783 C-FHNH.  During the show on the 9th another flight was operated by C-FHBO 737-7CT.

Photo by Nathanael Wood on Flickr seen in Prestwick Scotland

Shout out to Nanaimo who saw a very rare 1987 Dassault Falcon 10 N147GX on 6th August

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