Whitehorse

CF-CPY Douglas DC-3 Whitehorse, Yukon

If you watched Ice Pilots NWT which aired last winter on the History Channel then you will already be familiar with this WWII machine. This particular plane as you will read below on a photo of the plaque that sits just underneath of it, served in WW2 in Asia and eventually came to rest after working in the Yukon here at the Whitehorse Airport (ICAO:CYXY). Whitehorse sits on the Yukon River and the Alaska Highway runs through town on it's way to....well you guessed it...Alaska ! It reminds me of a Vancouver/Seattle North as it clean and granolaish with lots of outdoor sports.

Looking at CPY from the south east as she rests on a pedestal and weather vanes into the strong south easterly wind.

I tried to capture a shot that would have been a possible movie angle if you were to see this old girl in flight. I have a great imagination and can imagine this old bird flying all over western Canada getting people where they needed to go. Back then the flights might not have been as cheap but at least you got good old service with a meal ! (Not complaining about today's level of service considering you can go from Vancouver to Ottawa for 200 bucks !)

Really no need to describe the above photo....

Whitehorse has tons of trails that take you anywhere you need to go and today I need to get to downtown from the airport. The path I was on took me right under the approach path for the 13's and as I was walking I could see some big airplane turn final about 15 miles or so and I decided to wait to see what it was. There was a trough of low pressure sitting in the area causing some towering cumulus to form in the afternoon which made for a nice back drop to my plane watching.

Holy lederhosen it's zee cherman's ! 767 on short final for 13R as it goes over the gully towards downtown. I believe they serve Whitehorse direct from Germany 3 times per week in the summer. Apparently Germany is crowded and they like being alone so they come to Canada to get away from each other (after they get off the airplane) and enjoy the scenery. Pretty sweet sight though. If I would have shut off "display picture" I could have got a bunch more rapid fire shots but I was only able to get one more before she was on the ground about 700 feet behind me.

Condor 767 about to touchdown...later in the afternoon I was fortunate enough to go up on the mountain in the bottom frame of this picture. That will be the next post but until then fly safe and enjoy the scenery !