I planned a 2-day trip to Seattle to check out Everett, and see the new 777s up there, as I hadn't been to Seattle/Everett for a few years. I wanted to take the 09:00 Winnipeg-Vancouver flight, but it plane-changed from an A320 to A319, and was full. So I had to wake up a few hours earlier than planned, and fly through Calgary on an 06:45 departure. We pushed early, de-iced, and were airborne off RWY 36 on time. A fruit plate was served in Executive Class. I played flightsim on the laptop for most of the flight. Our arrival into Calgary was a few mins early. After the airplane parked and unloaded, it was towed to the transborder terminal, for departure to Palm Springs. I had 1 hour 20 minutes to connect in Calgary, and the Calgary-Vancouver A319 flight had a lot of open seats.

Again, we pushed back on time from Calgary, and the airplane was de-iced before passengers had even boarded. I was surprised at how little snow there was on the ground in Calgary. There was more brown grass to be seen than snow. We departed off RWY 28 ontime, and climbed to FL380. I used the laptop for most of the flight. Descent into Vancouver was routine, but there was low ceilings and thick fog covering the airport. We landed on RWY 08L in near zero visibility. This was probably the most foggy arrival I have encountered, and I am surprised we were able to make it down. It must have been a CAT III approach. When we were taxiing to the C-Terminal, you could hardly see the building until you were pulling into the gate itself. I deplaned a took a few photos of aircraft on their gates.

I was worried that the fog might cause cancellations on the Jazz side, cause usually flow control results from such crap weather conditions, and the first flights to get the axe are short-distance, commuter flights. The flight was still operating on schedule, but with a Dash 8-100 instead of the planned Dash 8-300. I was late checking in at the transborder area... too late. The woman told me I needed to be there 45 mins before departure, I was there 35 prior. So I told her to set me up for the next flight, and I would run to the gate to try to make it on. Clearing customs was easy, but security post-customs took 15 minutes. I thought, no way in hell I'm gonna make it. I ran to the gate, where the signs showed "DELAYED" by at least 25 mins. So I made it in time, but still didn't expect to get a seat, as I was flying standby, and the numbers didn't add up with the downsize to the 37-seat Dash.

Eventually my name was called, and I was the 36th pax boarded. We departed off RWY 26L this time, and headed down for Seattle at 13,000 feet. The anticipated flying time was 33 mins, and the calculation was precise, as we landed on RWY 16R or Centre (not sure if it's a 3-runway layout at SEA-TAC now), exactly 33 mins after rotation. We held short of 16L, and waited for Asiana's 777 to depart for Seoul (wicked sight by the way).

We then deplaned, and I grabbed my Hyundai Accent rental car to head up to Everett. A Chrysler 300 was offered as an upgrade, but I didn't want to waste the extra gasoline costs associated with that.

The drive north was nice. I took some photos of downtown, as I passed it, and traffic wasn't overly bad. When I arrived at Paine Field in Everett I noticed a plane flying slow north of Everett, and thought it must have been a test flight. So I went to the small parking lot of the Hilton Garden Inn, or whatever it is (perfect spotting location for Paine Field, by the way)... and only had to wait about 45 seconds for this 777-300 to touch down. I asked another local photog what it was, and he said "Pakistan, doing its first flight". Sweet! So I got some photos, and asked the gentleman if anything else was flying... he said no, so I drove around the field and took some more photos.

Aircraft at Paine Field included two military 762s (for the Italian Air Force maybe?), Kenya 777-200, Pakistan 777-200 and 777-300/ER, Air India 777-200/LR, EVA Air 777-300/ER, ANA 767-300ER, and Air France 747-400/ERF. At the Goodrich facility, there were 4 Delta 767-300s, one of which with no paint. I didn't take any photos over there, cause the last time I did that, I was almost arrested for taking pics on their property, so I laid low and didn't snap anything.

After getting over the airplane fix, I headed for downtown, went up the Space Needle, and went by some downtown car dealerships to satisfy the other passion (cars).

The next day, I went by Boeing Field to get some shots of the stuff at the Museum (USAF 707, Prototype 747-100, Speedbird Concorde). Boeing Field had the 747-400 LBCF or whatever they call that monster, the 737-900 ER in Company colours, and Air Tran 73G which was being de-iced for a test flight, and various other 737NGs.   I went back into town, took a few photos of downtown, and went by a few more car dealers in the Bellevue area, before heading down to Renton to see if there was anything interesting to photograph (there wasn't). It time to return the rental car and head back home. I had about 90 minutes to spare at SEA-TAC before the Vancouver flight, so I walked around the whole airport taking a few photos. I was really impressed with the new A-Concourse. Last time I was there --> it was a complete dump. The refurb was really nice. Some notable aircraft at SEA-TAC that afternoon included a Korean Air 744/F, Korean 777-200, EVA Air 747-400 which departed for Newark, Speedbird had a 744 was strange, as I was expecting to see their 777 their. Not much else, other than the Disney 737-400 leaving for Sacramento. This flight was relatively empty, so I took a seat at the back, hoping to get some aerial shots of the terminal as we departed to the North. We had to sit short of RWY 34R (full-length) for 20 minutes because of flow control into Vancouver (fog)... but were eventually airborne off 34R. I managed to get some aerial shots, but their didn't turn out as great as I had hoped, as the window was dirty, and I guessed the wrong light settings on the 20D.     Arrival into Vancouver was before sunset, and it was nice to land into the low layer of fog covering the airport. This flight was showing a 40 min delay, so I went to the Fairmont and surfed with web for a while. The EMB-190 flight was showing totally full, so I could have been screwed if I didn't get on. Backup plan was to fly an upsized A340-300 red-eye to Toronto, then back-haul back to Winnipeg in the morning. But I got the 92nd out of 93 seats on the 190, and we were underway. Most pax watched the on-demand PTVs during the flight. Alcohol was free because of the 1 hour delay (late equipment), so I took advantage... and played flightsim, doing touch and goes on the aircraft carrier by the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a great trip. Weather in Seattle couldn't have been better. It was convertible weather, really... to bad the Hyundai wasn't a convertible! Photos are copyrighted by Contrails © 1990-2008.