Flying from Calgary to Whitehorse
On Tuesday, April 8th, I flew home with Air North after a particularly good visit with most of my family and a life-long friend. I had my son drop me at the airport at 10:30 for my 12:35 flight – being early greatly reduces my stress levels and of course I always enjoy exploring airports.
C-FKRF is WestJet’s 2014 Boeing 737-8CT.
C-GWSQ, a 2014 Boeing 737-7CT. Whenever possible, I try to get the skyline in my aircraft photos – Calgary has sure changed!
I decided I wanted a good breakfast, but couldn’t find a restaurant that could do that. Finally, the last restaurant before my gate looked like it could do it. But I missed breakfast by a few minutes at Flames Grill. The lasagne, though, was very good, as was the service.
I got a table at the window, too 🙂
At 11:30, I watched my limo arrive. C-FNYA is a 2011 Boeing 737-8AL they bought 2 years ago.
Calgary is Westjet’s base. It’s hard to believe that they just started operations on February 29, 1996. With 181 planes now, they’re the second-largest airline in Canada. Most of their aircraft are Boeing 737s, but there are a few others as well. C-GDEN is a 2015 De Havilland Canada DHC-8 (Dash 8) that they bought new.
Westjet announced last month that they’re closing their freight division, so their four 737 freighters including C-FTWJ, a 2003 737-804, will be sold.
We took off right at 12:35 as scheduled.
Each time I go down, I expect to see that the historic community of Balzac has been erased in favour of another mall, but it still survives. Wikipedia describes it: “A Canadian Pacific Railway station began operating at Balzac in 1910. It was named by William Cornelius Van Horne, then president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, after one of his favourite authors, Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) a noted French novelist. The post office here was opened on April 1, 1912 under the name Beddington and was changed on July 1, 1925.” The official population in 2006 was 1.
Two minutes after takeoff, I could see a rainstorm ahead, and then the world disappeared.
At 1:35 the clouds broke as we were west of Mackenzie, BC.
It’s quite possible that there are no humans living in the entire area. I see no evidence of roads, so it may well be true wilderness. Like seeing wildlife at great distances, I like knowing it’s there.
The Alaska Highway curves around to the right. At the “T” is Jake’s Corner, once a famous lodge but now just a gas cardlock. That road leading up towards the left is the Tagish Road, and going off to the left from it is the Atlin Road.
At the foot of Marsh Lake, the open water provides a crucial rest stop for migrating waterfowl, swans in particular. The Swan Haven interpretive centre is located there. When we passed over there were only about 200 swans there, but eleven days later the number had peaked at about 1,100. Numbers are dropping rapidly now as waters further north open up.
A distant look at the new Whistle Bend community that’s being slowly developed. A wind from the south as we had forces the best approach to get a good look at the city.
A closer look at Whistle Bend as we were on final.
A new residential area is being developed beside Northland Trailer Park.
Dozens of businesses have moved into the Marwell Industrial Area in recent years, with new buildings going up to the north and northeast of the original area.
Ahhh, back home! We had a good tail wind and landed almost half an hour early. That’s C-FVGP, a 1989 Aerospatiale ATR 42-300 that Air North bought in 2016.
Air North is famous for the warm chocolate chip cookies they serve on each flight. Love the truck! 🙂
A final look back. Unless something unexpected happens, I’ll be on the ground now until June 22nd when we fly to Europe for five weeks.
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