Category Archives: Pacific Northwest

Helijet S-76s

Leave a Reply

Despite its age, the Sikorsky S-76 is still a sleek and modern looking helicopter. It has undergone progressive updates throughout its life (the most recent of which took an inordinately long time to achieve certification) but the basic shape is pretty much unchanged. When I worked in London, I sued to regularly see the Royal Flight S-76s dropping in to the back garden at Buck House. I remember chatting with the pilot of one in the 80s as he sat on the sports fields of my high school in between shuttling people to the mainland from Cowes Week.

They have been a regular feature in British Columbia for years with Helijet running a service between Vancouver Harbour and Victoria. I understand that recent years have seen competition resulting in a bit of a reduced service but they are still operating a pretty busy schedule. I have seen them from a distance before but, as we walked out along the harbor, we made a detour to the heliport in Victoria so I could catch an arrival. One helicopter was parked on a pad. A groundcrew member came out to remove all of the covers but it didn’t show any further sign of moving while we were there. The scheduled arrival came in on time so I got some shots of it landing. The schedule is spaced out so no rapid turnaround. It was going to be on the ground for an hour so we continued on our way.

Winthrop

1 Reply

Drop over the North Cascades Highway and you come into Winthrop.  This is the first significant town you come to after going through the passes and it is definitely picturesque.  I had no idea what the town was so coming in to the center and seeing all of these western style buildings was quite a surprise.  Time to park and go for a walk.

The old style of the town jars with the cars parked everywhere.  However, while the cars would be better if they weren’t there, the town still has an old school feel to it.  I wonder what their planning consent rules are in order to stop the place being transformed.  Even the gas station fit in.  It was old and the pumps were pretty old too – not as old as the town of course but still dated.

We wandered around the town and checked out the different shops, restaurants and bars.  There was a brewpub that was really tempting to me but, since we were aiming to be back home by the end of the day, that was not going to be a good idea!

Gulf Air 787-9

Leave a Reply

I caught this Gulf Air 787-9 as it returned from a test flight to Paine Field.  It was at the end of the SkyFair event so the crew will have noticed that there were a lot of people on hand to witness their landing.  Not a particular problem of course but probably one of the few landings of the Boeing production tests to get a large crowd.

Fisherman’s Wharf in Victoria

Leave a Reply

While in Victoria we walked along the shoreline of the harbor and made our way to Fisherman’s Wharf. This are is a mix of houseboats, tour boats and commercial boats. It is clearly a real commercial port at one end but the houseboat end is a different story. The houseboats are real houses. The residents were in evidence while we were there but there is plenty of stuff for the tourists too. The houseboats are painted in a variety of striking colors and on a sunny day it looked pretty nice. The houseboats were quite small and I wonder whether they are a fun place to live, a bit inconvenient or a pain given the people wandering around every day.

Coming In Across the Harbor

Leave a Reply

Often the floatplanes will come in to Victoria Harbour through the entrance to the harbor, touch down on the water and continue straight in to the base.  However, if the wind is in the opposite direction, they sometimes make their approach across the city and the harbor itself.  While we were there, I saw one Twin Otter coming in this direction.  It made its final turn with the large hotel and apartment buildings behind it which made for a shot with more context than would otherwise be the case.

Washington Pass

Leave a Reply

Our trip over the Cascades took us through Washington Pass.  There was an overlook area with parking which allowed us to stop and wander around a bit.  The view of the pass was gorgeous.  There was snow on the peaks surrounding things and a hint of snow on the ground too.  The road drops down dramatically from the pass and comes down the valley below the overlook.  You were almost looking straight down on vehicles as they passed beneath.

There were plenty of places to walk.  The overlook area itself was not far from the parking lot but a short trail wandered up and around the rocks to give a wide variety of views.  The autumnal light was nice and low even though it was very sunny.  Being quite high up meant the sun was a bit stronger than normal.  The panoramic views meant standing and staring was the order of the day.  We ended up staying there for quite a while.  It will soon (if not already) be snowy up there.  As I write this, the road is already closed for the winter.  Hopefully we shall head back up that way when spring arrives.

Minke Whale Feeding

Leave a Reply

On our trip back to Edmonds, after we left the orcas, we had a lucky encounter.  We came across a minke whale.  It was having a good time feeding on bait balls that were easy to spot given the large number of birds on the surface above them.  We saw the whale surface a few times and then it headed for the bait.  Timing its surfacing was tricky.  The birds all started to take flight but they did so a long time before the whale came up through the fish.  I missed the key moment.  However, I did get a few shots of the whale as it was feeding although not of the swollen lower jaw folds as it took mouthfuls of water in.

XF8U-1

Leave a Reply

I certainly won’t stand out from the crowd by claiming that I am a bit of a fan of the F-8 Crusader.  Plenty of people think it is a cracking jet.  I didn’t get to see many of them.  French Navy jets were still in service and, while the RF-8s were in use with the Navy at the beginning of my interest in aviation, I don’t think I ever saw in in service example.  Doesn’t stop me liking them though.  The Museum of Flight has the prototype jet in their collection.  Prior to the unification of the type identifiers between the services, it was known as the XF8U-1.

I first saw it while it was undergoing restoration at the museum’s facility at Paine Field.  My first visit there was when it was free.  You could just show up and wander around.  Now you have to pay to get in but it is still a good visit to make.  Restoration is when things are a lot less glamorous but you do see the work underway to makes things look great.

Now the jet has been moved to the main museum facility at Boeing Field.  It is polished to a fine finish and is complete with an air data boom.  The markings it carries appear to be authentic based on some original photos of the aircraft and, with its location close to the window, it does gleam nicely.  Oh to find someone with a lot of money and a desire to have one of these jets airworthy again.

Diablo Lake Vista Point

Leave a Reply

Diablo Lake sits behind one of the dams as you head across the Cascades.  Overlooking the lake is a vista point and we stopped there to have our lunch.  We certainly weren’t the only ones to think of this.  The parking lot was pretty full and there were tons of people enjoying the view.  For being up in the mountains, you certainly weren’t a long way away from civilization!  On a sunny day, it wasn’t hard to understand why it was so popular.

Across one side of the lake you could see the top of the dam.  Meanwhile, you had great views in all directions.  The vista point was quite high above the water level and looking down on the water and the islands in the lake, you had a perspective that almost felt like flying.  One of the islands had a nice jetty and the water was clear enough to see down to the bottom in the shallows.  I guess the water is snow run off from the mountains so it probably doesn’t pick up too much sediment.