Ottawa trip

I recently had a chance to fly from Buttonville to Ottawa and back in a twin engine Piper Aztec with a bunch of friends. Out of 5 of us in that airplane, 4 were pilots, so I found myself in a back seat where I had slightly better photo opportunities compared to middle seat.

Departing from my "home" airport as a passenger free to shoot pictures was a very neat experience. As were were waiting in the holding bay, my namesake airplane (VLD) was landing -I took it as a good sign.


Not needing to worry about look outs or communications allowed me to capture this YKZ shot with Toronto in the background.



Having two engines allowed us to fly a more direct route over some very unlandable terrain interspersed with some occasional signs of human presence.



We were heading to Rockliffe airport and took a scenic route there over Ottawa river. This was my first ever time in Ottawa, and I most definitely appreciated the aerial tour.



Rockliffe is located right beside the Ottawa River so the views from the circuit were superb. Rockliffe is home to a very good aviation museum.

Catching Up

Between March and now, I have accumulated over 30 hrs flying time... as a passenger on commercial airliners. In between hopping on and off large airliners I also re-started my gliding season and already had some memorable flights, but more on those in the next posts and for now, some window shots taken during my April flight from Kitchener (YKF) to Calgary (YYC).

Kitchener is a small airport and the little Cessna's from local flight schools share runways with the WestJet's 737's. The little red structure in the first picture was a version of a windsock.


As the plane flew due West, early April's bare land in Southern Ontario gave way to frozen lakes and rivers over Minnesota and other frozen states in Northern US. Getting closer to Calgary, the snow disappeared again.



It was sunset time by the time of approach to YYC airport and the mountains on a horizon were tinted in pink and orange hues. The sun disappeared below horizon as the plane rolled to the gate.




The departure from Calgary was in the bright daylight and great visibility giving me a good view of the YYC airport.

Window views from 36,000 ft

These were taken on YYZ - YEG - YYC - YYZ trip.

Taking off from Toronto Pearson (YYZ), i could see the lake effect snow that resulted in quite a bit of snow on the ground where I live. The lake effect and otherwise clear skies gave way to stratified cloud formations coming close to Edmonton.


Descending to Edmonton, I enjoyed the clouds, light and rainbows show.

Take off from Calgary to Toronto was during sunrise and I lucked out to be on the mountain side of the airplane to get a little bit of pink mountains in the background.

Visibility over Toronto was unlimited and we once again were landing on Rwy 24 with final approach right over downtown and i was once again on a proper side to get the pictures.

Switzerland from the air

I was in Switzerland recently where I spent a few days on a advanced diving course and then de-toured into Germany to see my parents.

The return trip from Zurich was in the morning and I was at the airport very early, so I decided to check out their observation deck that I read about on airport's website. I thought it would be some high structure away from all action. 2 Swiss Franks got me admission and having gone through security check, I was soon walking towards the deck. And walking… and walking some more, seeing some funny contraptions along the way.

After about a mile (on the top of one of the levels, so on a roof essentially), I came to the deck – which was almost right next to one of the runways. With the mountains in the background! I really missed my semi-professional camera and long lenses, but alas, with 3 overweight bags full of scuba gear, all I could pack was my little travel camera, Canon G9. The runway adjacent to the deck was used for landings and it was neat to see different names on the airplanes, compared to the familiar North American ones. They also had the radio transmitting the talk from the tower, so for a while I was back in aviation photography nirvana listening to conversations and shooting airplanes. Too soon it was time to leave least I’d be shooting my own airplane departing without me.

The weather was nice with little puffy clouds and as we climbed and turned, i could see the airport from my window.

We then flew over Zurich and Lake Zurich and headed towards the mountains. Soon afterwards, the sun was too bright to shoot anything.

Coming near Toronto, i was puzzled to see a dusty red layer immediately below the clouds. As soon as we went into that layer on descent, i realized, it must have been smog as the visibility below clouds was terrible. But it did not matter - i was home. This time for longer than a few days.

Frankfurt - Toronto from the air

Life never turns out the way you planned it, but I guess making the best of what’s thrown at you is part of the fun. I had all kinds of plans to start my glider training and finish my night rating, but life and family matters interfered causing me to be away more than home for the past three months.

"Away" meant Europe where i have travelled twice recently. This meant flying big airplanes, including 777 (as a passenger of course). On a recent trip back from Frankfurt (to see my Dad who is in cancer treatment in Germany), an approach pass went right over downtown Toronto and of course I had my camera ready.

Leaving Frankfurt:


Somewhere over Germany in rainy weather:


Breaking through clouds on descent to TO:


Flying over Yonge Street with downtown in background and another plane headed for parallell Rwy:



Downsview Airport: