Up in The Air: August 2005

Victoria International Airport

By the end of today, I'll have done 18 legs between Vancouver and Victoria in 4 consecutive days. You would think going to the same place over and over again would get boring. Truth be told, it's one of my favorite trips. 99% of the time, the weather is nice enough that we go VFR, making the trip a nice relaxing 12 minute flight.

As with most of our departures, we start lined up on the south runway in Vancouver (08R/26L). Off of 26L it's the Gary Point Departure, which is a left turn off the runway out over the west shore of Richmond. Off 08R it's the VOR departure, a right turn off the runway, over the City of Richmond towards the Vancouver VOR on Westham Island. Through 1000', we'll swap over to the Vancouver outer Tower on 125.65 and ask to go direct to Active Pass, and through the tower's good graces, we usually get it. Leveling off at 2000', we cross the Georgia Strait bound for the Gulf Islands at 230mph.

Vancouver Area

Somewhere in the less then 5 minutes it takes us to cross the Georgia Strait, we grab the ATIS from Victoria, call company in Vancouver with our off time, call company in Victoria with our ETA, and fill in the logbook. We cross between Mayne Island and Galiano Island at Active Pass. Here we switch from Vancouver Tower to Victoria Tower. Victoria Tower then lets us know how they want us to approach the airport. Nine times out of ten they clear us for the Beaver Point arrival for runway 13 in Victoria. This takes us along the south shoreline of Saltspring Island. From there, it's a left turn over some nice homes on a hill just North of the airport (who's owners probably call the Airport Authority with a noise complaint every time a plane passes over) and on to runway 13. We taxi to Victoria's very nice and fairly new main terminal, where we share the ramp with Westjet 737's, Air Canada A319's, Air Canada Jazz's Dash 8's and RJ's, Horizon Air's Dash 8's, Regional 1's Dash 8's, and Air Speed's Cessna 402's.

Victoria Area

Sometimes we're lucky enough to have time for breakfast in Victoria, however, most of the time, we're quickly boarding again and headed back for Vancouver. We fire up our trusty PT6's and taxi bravo for runway 02. Once cleared for Take-Off we're headed on the Moresby Island Departure which takes us straight out over Moresby Island and thence a slight left turn to Samuel Island. The Departure calls for a level off at 1500', normally we request and get to climb to 2000'. At Samuel Island, Between Mayne and Saturna Island, we swap over from Victoria Tower to Vancouver Tower. Again, we're talking to company in Victoria and Vancouver, grabbing the ATIS from YVR, and getting the paper work done. Approaching Vancouver for the 26's, we're cleared the Coal Pile Arrival. This takes us over a large pile of coal at Robert's Bank, thence to the Vancouver VOR, over Richmond and onto, hopefully, 26 left, the south runway at YVR.

If the winds are out of the East, we're cleared the Sandheads arrival for the 08's in Vancouver. This again takes us over the Coal Pile, but then it's a left turn out to the Sandheads Lighthouse then on a right base for 08R.

The Victoria area has a fairly rich aviation history and is home to the BC Aviation Museum. The Airfield was originally built in the late 1930's as Canadian Airforce Base Partricia Bay and was run as an airforce base until it was handed over to Transport Canada in 1948. For history of the airport, as well as some of BC's aviation history you can visit the BC aviation museum's website at www.bcam.net. The Airport itself is right next to the quiet community of Sydney, BC. It's 26 Kilometers, or about 20 minutes, from downtown Victoria. The airport is run by the Victoria Airport Authority.

Bandit FPCX parked at the terminal at the Victoria Airport. cool reflection.

Bandit PCX next to Westjet's 737 - 700 FWCC headed on to Calgary and Winnipeg