A couple of new countries and new experiences!

Things have been extremely busy this 2016 so far!

We're well on our way to our busiest year yet at the company.  So that's a very good thing.  So much so there's been a requirement for more staffing to keep everyone sufficiently rested and keeping our flight hours well within the regulations.

For those that have started already and are just starting...  Welcome aboard!  It will be a pleasure working with all of you in the near future!

Most recently, my trips have taken me to a couple of new places, including the Bahamas and Cuba.  I was also fortunate enough to head across to Ireland.  In Cuba, we stayed at an all-inclusive resort near Varadero.  I met TONS of Canadians down there on vacation.  After all, it's about that time of year!

 I got to fly with our Operations Manager and discuss some of the future of the company and some changes / progressions we'd like to make.  All things in good time though.  Once we get our staffing levels up and they can really sit back and evaluate where things are at and where we'd like to take them.


 In Ireland we visited the Bunratty Castle and Folk Park.  A castle built in the 1400's and abandoned after a war around 1700 where it was heavily damaged.  During the 1950's a family restored the castle and its grounds and converted them to a tourist attraction.  Similar to some of the historic sites in Canada, such as Lower Fort Garry, Fort Edmonton, the Citadel in Quebec, etc etc.

It was a whirlwind tour to Ireland.  The routing took me from Toronto, to Nashville, to Nassau, to Varadero, to St. John's, to Shannon, to St. John's, to Minneapolis, to Edmonton, to North Bay, and finally back to Toronto.  Just over 32 hours of flying.

Here's some photos from the trip...

SH-60 Seahawk in Nashville

It was night in the Bahamas and when we landed in Varadero, so I couldn't get any photos really.   But the resort in Cuba during the day was gorgeous!

Here are some photos from the Bunratty Castle and Folk Park near Shannon Ireland...

Drainage Grotto Near the Castle

The home of a Fisherman.  All of the homes here had a thatched roof like this one.

It works very well, it was raining that day, and the inside of the homes was very dry.

The thatching on the roof is about a foot thick as you'll see here.

People appeared to be quite a bit shorter back then!   The beds were VERY small!

Living the simple life

Washing Machine

Appears it was a Washer-Dryer Pair!

A rooster and his ladies!   This poor guy didn't know what time it was!   Crowing all day!

The Blacksmith Shop

Cannons in the Courtyard of the Castle

The Castle

Themed Banquets are still held a few times a year at the Castle in the Main Dining Room

The Castle Gate

The Lower Armoury

The Dining Hall where dinners are still held.  The small door in the back, barely 3 feet high is the entrance to the dungeon.

After being drug down the stairs.  The prisoner had the shackle placed around their neck and was kicked from this ledge down into the pit...   15 FEET!!!

When the person died,  someone was lowered in by rope to retrieve the body.

The Earls Bedroom

Controls for the drawbridge

The dining hall from above

The Great Hall on the second level of the castle.

The stairs were extremely narrow and extremely steep!

ALL of the stairways in the castle were like this...  There was barely room for one person to sneak up or down.   Very steep and difficult to get used to!

The kitchen.  Looks like a good meal!

I'll have the Turtle Soup!

One of the bedrooms.

The great hall was adorned with these tapestries.

Up to the Roof

The Irish Countryside

Must have been a wealthy family.   They had a loft!

This poor fellow wasn't so lucky...

Some Gypsy Carts in the Castle Grounds

Apparently Ireland has a significant Gypsy Problem.  Even today!

While we were there, a Halting Site (Gypsy Camp) was shut down due to unsanitary conditions and many people were displaced.  There are sites all across Ireland and some in the UK.  Usually on the outskirts of towns and cities.  They can be the home to a great number of people bringing with it a huge number of problems.  They are recognized as the most discriminated against group of people in Ireland today.

Well until the next update!   Happy (con)trails!

New Year, New Pictures, New Adventures!

Happy New Year Everyone!

As we usher in 2016, it's time to share some of the recent adventures with my job!

Before the Holiday Season, I had the opportunity to visit some new places!

I had the opportunity to visit Anchorage, Alaska for a couple of days.  We visited the aviation museum, which was amazing.  The collection there is very "Alaska Specific" meaning everything in the collection had some connection to Alaska's Aviation History at some point.

The Mountains of Alaska near Juneau

Here are some shots from the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum

The Museum

The Original Reeve Airways Shack

Eventually Became Reeve Aleutian Airlines

Man am I ever glad we don't have to keep the jet warm like this!

A Ski Collection from various aircraft.

The Fairchild Pilgrim

An Alaska Airlines 737-200

(Canadian North operates similar aircraft as well)

The Vortex Dissipator Probe

This probe shoots compressed bleed air from the engines to the ground in front of the intake to prevent the engine from creating a vortex and sucking up gravel and dirt from the ground.

The Grumman Goose

(This was part of the exhibit on the invasion of the USA by Japan during WWII)

The museum is located on the shore of Lake Hood.  In the winter time this becomes an active ski-plane base with several ice runways.  In the summer it is an active float base as well.  The tower at Anchorage controls traffic on the lake as well.  As you can see, it's extremely close to the airport.

The Mountains near Anchorage

After Anchorage we crossed the continent, and an ocean, to end up in Frankfurt Germany.

On the way, I encountered an interesting aircraft.


The Grob 520T is an airborne platform for long endurance operations.  It's ideally suited for things like survey, surveillance, atmospheric testing.  It's a 2 seat aircraft with a 14 hour endurance.   And I thought we had it bad with no toilet for 4 hours!

Had a bit of an icy day one day in Moncton as well!  The airplane sat outside in a blizzard, and got COATED!


Thankfully Voyageur Airways let us into their hangar to defrost for a while.  We got the plane cleaned up and departed without incident.

Frankfurt at Christmas time holds an outdoor market in the town square.  Christmas is a pretty big deal in Germany, and they love to celebrate.  Germany celebrates Christmas Night on the evening of the 24th, as opposed to our Christmas Day.  Here are some photos from the Christmas Market!  It was a beautiful evening, a couple of degrees above zero.

Giant Pretzels

Huge Pots of Chocolate Fondue

This Christmas Tree had to be about 100 feet high!

I got to head home and spend time with my family over the Christmas Holidays returning to Toronto on the 27th.

Then when I got back, it was straight back to work!

This time, off to Vienna, Austria!  We went out for dinner in the center of the city, Old Vienna.  

The following images are of St. Stephen's Church in Downtown Vienna

It is the Mother Church of the Archdiocese of Vienna

The current church lies over an original structure built in 1147.

The tall steeple at centre is over 440 ft high!

Now how could one go to Austria and not eat one of the most famous foods to come from that country...  SCHNITZEL!  Well we ate schnitzel alright!

The Table as we Dug In!

Look at the size of that thing!!!!!   It hangs over the sides of the plate!

The restaurant we ate at was also actually where the Schnitzel is claimed to have originated.  Feel free to check out their website and read more about this dish now enjoyed around the world!

http://www.figlmueller.at/en/about.html

On the way home from Austria, we ended up down low over the Atlantic and got some spectacular views of Greenland.  Enjoy!

The areas between the mountain ranges may appear to be clouds.  But that is actually ICE.  THOUSANDS of FEET THICK!