Planespotting mania

It felt like the perfect summer day yesterday. Not too hot, not too cool.. I only had a handful of small domestic crises and plane spotting was on the agenda for the afternoon...

I was nearing the end of my book The Third Translation so I got wrapped up in it all morning... so much for solving the BBQ crisis, cutting the grass, fixing the clothesline and what ever else was going to break down, need attention or give me heartaches for the weekend. The book by the way is a strange one... it's not really mass market reading although to some extent I guess it's riding on the coat tails of The Da Vinci Code even if it's nothing like it... just the whole concept of cracking an ancient code is enough to sell it. The main character in the story seemed illogical to me. If he spent half his time trying to see his situation in a realistic clear headed manner instead of getting stoned and drunk half the time I think he'd have had a lot less problems. Perhaps it says something about the author, I don't know... but nevertheless I did finish it off and it was satisfying even if nothing really tied itself up in the end. A reverse criticism of how I felt about The Da Vincic Code where everything tied itself up too neatly... life isn't like either of these books. Still it was different and worth the read... but back to non-fiction for now.

Anyways, by 2:30 I was on the Met heading for a MacDonald's in Cote Vertu, a part of town I go to rarely so I wasn't sure where it was located. On my way up it dawned on me I had no clue where the Cote Vertu Metro station was beyond being on Cote Vertu somewhere and quickly grabbed my car map searching for and a way to get to it.. With a few wrong turns and a detour I finally found it, picked up Sergio and Jordan and headed off to the end of YUL's runway 24R where we could do our thing.. we plane spotters are a unique group of peope... nerdish for sure.. obsessed also.. and the most bizzare things can set our moods into a rollercoaster ride. I sometime question if we are fully human...

Anyways, for those of you out there that love planes.... here ya go.. I'll start with the props and regional jets and build up to the good stuff...

American Eagles is sending it's ATR-72s back to Montreal. I think it's coming in from Boston.

ASA flyes CRJ-200s for Delta on the Atlanta run

Continental Express sends in these ERJ-145s from Cleveland under the Expressjet name

Air Canada's CRJ-200s are slowly being shifted over to the Jazz brand.

Comair's CRJ coming in from Cincinnati for Delta.

US Airways CRJ200 arriving from Philadelphia

American Eagle sends in these new CRJ700s from Chicago O'Hare

Air Canada Jazz now operates CRJ200s out of Montreal.. nice in these colours

Air Air Canada transitions to it's new livery many planes are in this hybrid mode.. old colours on the fuselage and new colours on the tail like on this A320.

Northwest is one of the last airlines using DC-9s which are now near 30-40 years old. THis one is coming in from either Detroit or Minneapolis.

Here is a fully painted A320 in Air Canada's new colours. It's often referred to as a breathmint or a toothpaste tube given the blue green "polar ice" colours. I personally don't like it.

American Airlines sends in their MD-80s from Dallas Ft.Worth.

Cubana Airlines leases out planes with other airlines. This TACA A320 is operating for Cubana on the Havana-Montreal run or perhaps Varadero-Montreal.

A Westjet 737-700 with winglets

An Air Canada A319 in the old colours.. tail looks kinda faded.

A Westjet 737-700 without winglets.

Humm.... looks familiar...:) Swiss's A330-200 HB-IQA, their first A330. Like the one I just flew on last week. Cool to know exactly where this plane originated.

This has got to be the most graceful aircraft flying today.. looks like a giant bird landing with it's wings outstretched and wheels looking to grab the ground.. simply amazing..

Corsair is a French Charter Airline... this A330-200 is coming in from Paris.

One of my favorite planes and one I've flown very often.. KLM's MD-11. An older aircraft but powerful and beautiful especially in these colours. I've flown everyone of KLM's MD-11s as I go to the Netherlands for work quite often.

Here's an Air Canada 767-300 in new colours. The colour itself isn't awful but there's just way too much of it. They should have broken it up with a darker green or blue somehow.. perhaps painted the engines the darker colour. Also the tail design is sharp up close but from a distance it looks like a cloud hangs over the Maple Leaf.. kinda sad really.

Now here's the same plane but the -200 model in their old colours. Kinda plain but I think better. The tail was dark I agree and the fuselage too white. Anyways, nothing's perfect I guess.

Air Transat flies charters and some scheduled flights from Montreal to Europe and the Caribbean. This A310 was probably coming in from France somewhere. They fly to about 6 or 7 cities in France. The A310 isn't really a popular plane but I kinda like it.. a stubby widebody.

Still the Queen of the skies, this 747-400 flies faily to Paris from Montreal for Air France. It's the only airline sending in 747s now although KLM does on occasion and I believe Corsair will too. I've flown this plane as well.. 747s feel so right in flight.. big, huge, smooth.. I luv em.. it's a shame Air Canada has gotten rid of theirs.

In 2007 Air France will send it's double deckker A380 to Montreal... so that will be a site to see when it happens. For now they have 3 daily flights in the summer, 777-300s, 747-400s and I believe wither a second 777 or an A340. AF tends to change it's aircraft on the YUL route quite often with the 747 being the only one that's consistently in here.

Zoom is based in Ottawa... flies YUL-CDG with this 767-300. Nice colours.. I can take this more easily for some reason. Perhaps the white logo breaks it up more or the colour is more appealing. I believe they also fly to Gatwick in London from here too.

Lufthansa is flying to Munich from Montreal... summertime only though with this A340-300. Another graceful bird.. basically a 4-engined version of the A330. Technically it's got a reputation for being a "slow climber". Watch an MD-11 soar up into the air and this baby here will take twice as long and half the angle... it struggles to get in the air or so it would seem. Still though it looks good in LH's colours.

Olympic coming in from Athens.... lucky people heading back :) They also use the A340-300. Unfortunately OA isn't in the best financial situation so no one is sure how longthey will last flying inter-continental flights. I hope they survive and keep fling here, they seem to do well out of Montreal... been flying here for decades.

Lastly Air Canaada's A330-300.. the stretched version of the Swiss A330 I took last week. They use it to fly to Paris and Toronto.. this is likely coming in from Toronto for the outbound Paris flight that left later in the evening.

Afterwards we headed out to Ste-Anne de Bellevue and took a walk along the boardwalk and then ate supper at the Thai restaurant where Clem & I went a week or two ago. The food was ok this time but not outstanding. The waitress seemed underpressure and hurried. We were desperate for water and I think Sergio had a headache brought on my hunger as it was around 8:00 now.

The walk along the boardwalk was nice. Many people were out for the Canada Day weekend. People was dancing on their boats, all the restaurants were full... lots of activity. It felt like we were out of the city.. it's just such a shame the railway bridge goes by it all.. kinda ruins the atmosphere when a train rumbles through. Still though it was fun. It was the first time for Jordan and Sergio and I think they liked it. We saw a few good looking students as it is a college town... anyways, here's some pics of the area;

I kinda like this pic, the town is very picturesque.. very 1930's...

THis is kinda the main drag.. many restaurants on the left side with the boardwalk on the other side.

The Thai Restaurant we went to;

J & S up against the fence at 24R;

It's a long way from that restaurant in Amsterdam to here.....

Of all things CLem called tonight and wanted to come over for a BBQ..... is that bad timing or what?... I took my BBQ apart but really can't see what caused the flame out. I guess I'll have to buy another one tomorrow at lunch.. I swear it's not two years old yet. I miss it already. ANyways we're either going down to the Jazzfest... which will mean a ton more pics tomorrow or out to Lachine and find a place along the canal to eat.. both good options but I would have loved to have had them over for a grill fest...oh well..