Vancouver

Ahhhhh...Vancouvertopia in the spring. Last time I was here in November and they had about 6 inches of snow, one taxiway and one runway open. Now compared to Wabush, NFLD which I recently visited had 16 foot snow banks in the city streets and they seem to manage just fine :) This picture is in front of the Esso Avitat in Vancouver (CYVR) and is looking at the north shore mountains and the big hangar you can see is the Air Canada hangar. This ramp is familiar territory as I worked there two summers ago and was fortunate enough to enjoy this view when I came to work.

Again looking across the ramp now at the air cargo area of the airport. That is a DHL DC-9 sitting by itself probably set to leave sometime in the evening. I know when the Purolator 727's leave (19:00) because I used to live across the river and every night around supper time the apartment blinds would shake to their thunderous take off laden with packages for destinations in Canada. Look at the green grass...sure is good for the soul after just coming out of winter in the east (as in 10 cm's of snow in Montreal last night !!!)

A Central Mountain Air (CMA) Beech 1900D on short final to runway 26L. When people say you can achieve anything if you put your mind to it....they aren't always right :) I tried forever, including 2 road trips to Smithers, BC to meet the Chief Pilot, letters of recommends from CMA pilots and having friends already working there putting in a good word I failed to land a job with them. I had loaded their bags for almost 4 years also and when the persistence campaign of 2000 failed to bear fruit by sheer tenacity I gave up (I sent a resume per day via COMAT (company mail) to the Chief Pilot). But in hind sight I think it was all for the better. I have met so many great people and have had such a tremendous experience so far in the infancy of my career that I would not change a thing. Well.... maybe I would have avoided Aviation College and saved 30,000 bucks, but again the people I am privileged to have as friend's are very much worth it :) The one Captain who had written me a letter of recommend now works for Big Red (Air Canada) and I have twice in the past year run into him at the gate as I am boarding a flight. I seem to have good fortune in meeting people I know all the time wherever I go and it is a constant reminder of how small the world is.

This picture also reminds me of rejection.....(AirBC hangar and CMA airplane)

Before Air Canada Jazz became Air Canada Jazz the western regional connector for Air Canada was AirBC. When I first arrived out west I applied there with no aviation background (gas jockey was my limited experience) and they sent me a PFO letter saying that I did not possess the skills they are looking for so leave them alone. I kept that letter and recently when going through all my old files I found it. Looking back at my tenacity and enthusiasm for my new found journey (life after high school) this letter did very little in dissuading me to eventually get working for an Airline as a baggage handler. To me, working in the airport environment was almost a need...to keep me focused on where I wanted my life to go and to see first hand the life I would be getting into. So to make a long story short I eventually got a ramp job, then apparently my skills were in need to throw bags at Air Canada, Canadian Airlines was taken over by AC and AirBC became part of Jazz.

So here I am climbing up over the south end of Richmond, BC with Vancouver airport just off the wingtip and downtown off to the north. So after all the ups and downs I still am fortunate to get the corner office view I always wanted.