Archive for the Category ◊ Aviation ◊
I still want to be one.
But still trying to figure out how to do everything I want to do, since it all takes time and money.
Taken in the cockpit of the Beech D18S Expeditor, Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. (SOOC, by the way — my Pentax K100 took great photos. I was sad to part with it!)
August 23, 2008
Mount Hope, Ontario
(Hamilton Airport)
While talking to my mother-in-law earlier this evening, I’ve only just realised how late it is in the airshow season and I haven’t flown in the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome biplane yet. ORA’s airshows finish around the middle of October and usually by this time I’ve made several trips over the Hudson River. Maybe it’s because I’ve been to three airshows, flew once with Alan, had a biplane ride in Ottawa in July, and my summer’s flown by at breakneck speed, but it just occurred to me that I only have one opportunity left to make an ORA biplane ride this year. With two weddings booked and various commitments between now and then, my fingers and toes are crossed that the weather — and aircraft — cooperate for my next road trip to Rhinebeck and I can put on my goggles and helmet and fly!
The photo above was taken during the last weekend of the 2007 season. The museum folk know that I like to film from the backseat and are very accommodating about it, so that’s where I usually sit. On this particular trip I was sitting behind a couple who were riding in a biplane for the first time and were pretty thrilled with the experience. I especially remember the wife’s reaction, and I wanted to capture it.
It’s rare that I’m in Toronto on a long weekend, but I committed myself to volunteering on Saturday and needed some catch-up days so here I am. Two years ago Arliin and I joined a bunch of her friends who are members at the National Yacht Club and have an annual tradition of watching the airshow over Lake Ontario from the outdoor patio. (Last year I skipped the airshow and decided to go flying instead. It just didn’t seem the same without Arliin there, and I wanted to be up in the sky.)
This year I found myself wanting the Arliin connection and viewed the airshow from the National Yacht Club patio again, but didn’t take nearly as many photos as I did two years ago. Arliin and I spectated the airshow twice in 2007, the second time sitting on the dock of the Argonaut Rowing Club. It was a scorching hot weekend, I remember getting sunburned at both the yacht club and the rowing dock. I also drove us to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum that weekend, so we really got our fill of aircraft between the museum and watching the airshow over two days.
I’ve uploaded a few photos and a videoclip of the F/A 22 Raptor in action from this afternoon:
I have one more early morning so I’m hitting the sack early tonight. A day of sun has wiped me out!
Canada is celebrating 100 years of powered flight in 2009.
Official Website: http://canadiancentennialofflight.ca
Air Force website: http://canadiancentennialofflight.ca/airforce/
Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=53984079560
CAPA Website: http://www.capa-acca.com
Baddeck Website: http://www.flightofthesilverdart.ca
Hawk One Website: http://www.hawkone.ca
Blog: http://canadiancentennialofflight.blogspot.com/
Right now the weather in Ottawa looks unfavourable for flying this weekend, which means I’ll have to try for a biplane ride another day. Who knows, maybe the forecasters are wrong?
In any case, I’m going to check out whatever aviation exhibits there are in Ottawa celebrating the Centennial of Flight and maybe even get myself to an airport next week to see if I can photograph part of the Century Flight, an armada of more than 100 small aircraft making a commemorative journey from coast to coast, beginning in Boundary Bay, BC, and ending in Baddeck, Nova Scotia.
This is the mobile phone photo I uploaded yesterday via email:
A lowly contrast to the Nikon photos, for sure, but mobile blogging is practically real-time and frees me from editing. Here’s a shot taken from the observation deck at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, where I’m a member:
I’ll write more about the expo later, but for now the album (thus far):
[thumbnails] [slideshow]
Long-range photos taken with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ1, the bulk of the photos taken with the Nikon D300 + 17-55mm f/2.8.
The MIG 15 video was shot with the Panasonic and the other videos shot with the Canon A520 (which I’ll upload later):
[A photo I took of Vinny, the boy who wanted to fly, and did.*]
This is amazing, I can’t believe such a thing exists, but according to the website Air Time Canada has been around for 14 years. They’re in the Vancouver area and fly out of Boundary Bay Airport.
From the website:
Air Time Canada is a non-profit organization that administers free and nearly-free aviation-based leadership and self confidence programs for teens and adults. The program is run and paid for by volunteers and by voluntary donations from past participants.
A FREE introduction to flying? No shilling for companies? They say not. Here’s info on their Co-Pilot Program. After a quick skim, one limitation is that Transport Canada restricts the participant weight to 170lbs (just over 77kgs), which means it really is oriented to young people. But their one-day Ground School is completely free — they even pay for lunch!
If you have kids interested in aviation (or might be) and you live in the Lower Mainland of BC, definitely check it out! And if you do participate in one of their programs, I’d love to hear what you have to say about it. I hope this nonprofit group is around for a long time yet, maybe my nieces or nephew would be good candidates in a few years.
A couple “Flying Fielding” photos:
images & text © 2002-2010 All Rights Reserved by Gail Edwin-Fielding.
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