Flying the Oil Run With Central Mountain Air

Today I thought I would do a review on one of the smaller airlines that I frequently travel on out here in the west. Central Mountain Air (CMA) is a small airline based of out Smithers, British Columbia and flies to numerous towns and cities throughout Alberta and British Columbia using their fleet of Beechcraft 1900's and Dornier 328's. In previous years, CMA had a contract with Air Canada to operate select flights throughout the west here using their own aircraft and crew. Some of the routes included Medicine Hat, Lethbridge and Cranbrook out of Calgary and several other low density routes out of Vancouver. This past year however CMA cut ties with Air Canada to focus more on charters and its own operations. Air Georgian now provides services on these routes for Air Canada operating under the name "Air Canada Express".

A Central Mountain Air Beechcraft 1900 on Taxi at YYC

Central Mountain Air is also the only airline to provide scheduled air service to several small communities in Northern Alberta including High Level and Rainbow Lake. However, one of the more popular routes that CMA operates is the Calgary-Lloydminster corridor and the main reason its popular is due to the presence of numerous oil refineries and their offices so many executives and workers travel back and forth between these two communities. The route initially started as a twice a day service except on weekends with 1 flight early in the morning and one early in the evening but due to its popularity a third flight was added late in the morning to add extra capacity on the route. Because CMA is the only airline to fly up to Lloydminster, they would be my choice of airline for my flight up north.

Booked on CMA 785, my flight was due to leave at 4:35pm and because these flights typically don't have many passengers, it makes for a very easy check in, so I was able to arrive at the airport an hour before departure. Because CMA only has 3 flights a day out of Calgary, they only have one check-in counter and can be quite difficult to find if you aren't paying attention, especially in the afternoon when passengers are checking in for the 2 international flights that are right next door to the CMA counters. Upon arriving at the check-in counters I was informed that the flight would be delayed due to a mechanical issue with the aircraft. Even though it was just a small delay, the agent provided all the passengers with free vouchers for coffee and snacks; quite a nice touch for a small airline like CMA. Thanks to the delay, our scheduled departure time would be pushed back to 6:00pm. In the end, the gate agent informed us that the issue was a little bigger than anticipated, so the aircraft ended up being swapped out for another one, another benefit of travelling out of a city where an airline is based. Because of CMA`s all Turboprop fleet, they use the Prop gates that Air Canada Jazz uses (The A01 Gates) for all their flights. Boarding commenced for CMA 785 and it's 18 passengers at 5:50pm and would soon be rolling out for Lloydminster.

The Beechcraft 1900 may be small, but it packs a powerful punch flying at over 330 miles/hour making it a perfect aircraft for these short haul missions. Boarding was completed very quickly and soon the pilots fired up the twin Pratt & Whitney PT6A-67D Turboprop engines and began the taxi out to Runway 28. It was a very blustery day in Calgary and from my previous experiences of flying in small aircraft in turbulent weather, it was going to be one bumpy ride out. With the strobe lights turned on, the pilots lined up on the runway and gave full power to her mighty engines as CMA 785 began its 1 hour journey north to Lloydminster. Because the Beechcraft 1900 only carries 18 passengers, a flight attendant is not required on these flights, the pilots do all the work from greeting the passengers to flying the plane. Other than the first 10 minutes of the flight being turbulent, it overall was very smooth and thanks to a bit of a tailwind, we were able to make up for a little bit of lost time. By the time we had reached our cruising altitude of 15,000 feet, it was already time to make the decent into Lloydminster. Because of the strong west winds, we would have to fly over the city and make a sharp left hand turn to line up with Runway 26. But thanks to some skilled maneuvering by the pilots, they brought our plane down smoothly and with Reverse Thrust fully engaged brought her to a stop well within the 4,500 foot runway. Taxi was super quick thanks to the size of the airport, 1 runway, 1 taxiway and 1 main terminal. In 2 minutes we landed, taxied, parked and had the engines shut down. Baggage was promptly delivered and I was well on my way within 10 minutes of landing, not many airports in the world can claim that.

My overall impression with Central Mountain Air was amazing, despite the mechanical delay in Calgary, the gate agents there kept as well informed and very happy with free snacks and coffee. The agents both in Calgary and Lloydminster as well as the flight crew were super friendly and even though it was only a 1 hour flight, they left me super impressed with their level of service. Kudos to Central Mountain Air and its employees, keep up the great work!

The Islands Are Calling My Name: The Journey to Maui with United Airlines

So you may have noticed that this blog has slowly become tales of my travel experiences I've had over the last few years, both on airlines and places I've been to. It may sound a little weird to be talking about Christmas in June, but I thought it would be quite to have a little Christmas during summer. Our family planned a trip to Maui over the Christmas holidays in 2009. However, due to my work schedule I would be unable to join them until Christmas Eve. Nevertheless, our family would be spending the Christmas on the beautiful beaches of Hawaii.

It wouldn't be cheap to fly to Maui on Christmas Eve, but the best deal would be with United Airlines via San Francisco (SFO). It would be an early morning flight out of Calgary, but would have an afternoon arrival into Maui/Kahului (OGG). Arriving at the airport, I was quite shocked to find how long the lineup was to enter US Customs, but thanks to my handy NEXUS card, I was able to bypass the entire line and go straight into customs without having to wait in line. It was quite fun to watch the looks on some people's faces that I was able to get ahead of them. Arriving the gate, I saw our aircraft for United Express/Skywest 6389 would be a Bombardier CRJ-700, the backbone of Skywest's fleet. Boarding commenced 25 minutes to 8am and was smooth and efficient. We pushed from the gate 5 minutes ahead of schedule which gave us plenty of time to deice and taxi out to the runway. 10 minutes later we were rolling off of Runway 28 and heading south to SFO. A beautiful sunrise was all that there was for entertainment for this flight, but for a 2 hour flight that was fine with me. Legroom on Regional Jets leave little to be desired, this was likely the most cramped RJ I've ever been on. The flight was smooth the entire way and before I knew it we were flying over the Golden Gate Bridge and lining for the approach. We touched down on Runway 28L 35 minutes ahead of schedule thanks to a nice tailwind that we had most the way here. A quick taxi to terminal 3 and lots of Merry Christmases all around from the flight crew brought an end to United Express Flight 6389. Now I had 3 hours to relax and explore SFO before continuing on the 2nd half of my journey to Maui.

On approach to San Francisco Airport

San Francisco Airport is huge and is also a United Airlines hub and because of that, all of their operations are in Terminal 3, which made transferring between flights a breeze. 3 hours gave me enough time to have a bite to eat, catch up on some emails and enjoy the many planes coming and going out of SFO. Arriving at the gate for United flight 37, I saw that my aircraft would be a Boeing 757-200, a type of aircraft I haven't been on since I was a little kid. One thing I liked with United here was the use of overhead TV's at each gate to display information about each flight from weather and destination information to passengers who have cleared the standby list. I thought it was quite clever, it reduces the amount of questions that the gate agents get. 45 minutes prior to our 1:40pm departure, the boarding process began for our flight to paradise.

Flying downwind with the Iao Valley in the distance

When I booked my flight, I purchased an option for this flight called Economy Plus, its main benefit is an extra 5 inches of legroom and for a 6 hour flight to Hawaii, I thought it would be well worth it. I boarded my flight to Maui and the moment I sat down in my seat, I could already tell that it was worth the extra money. Even with my bag underneath the seat, I still had plenty of room to stretch out. Push back from the gate was right on schedule and we began our taxi under the power of our twin Rolls Royce engines. We were departing from SFO at the perfect time as it was the quiet period, so there was a minimal wait for departure. United 37 lined up on Runway 1L and began heading southwest for Maui. This 757 was an older model and hadn't been equipped with seat back TV's yet, just the old overhead monitors. Luckily I was sitting next to 2 super friendly seatmates, one with was travelling with her family from South Dakota and the other heading back home to Maui for the holidays. Of course this being Christmas time, everyone was in a festive mood; even the flight crew was in a jolly mood. They decided to have a little fun with the passengers by playing a game called "Halfway to Hawaii". Sounds simple but its harder than you think. All you had to do was guess at what time the flight would hit the halfway mark to Hawaii using the distance, speed, altitude and wind speeds that were provided from the flight deck. I gave it my best shot but I was off by 45 minutes. The winner ended up getting a Hawaiian theme prize pack, but it was fun to try though. Most domestic flights no longer provide meal service, but I decided to try one of United's snack boxes that had a variety of goodies from Pepperoni to Chips and Salsa; I thought it was good value for $5.

Sunset from Keawakapu Beach on Maui

5 and a half hours seem to pass by way too quickly, but thanks to another tailwind, we would be landing in Maui 30 minutes ahead of schedule. The whole flight was smooth minus a few bumps halfway over the Pacific. Soon we were began our decent into Maui and we were fly low enough that you could see beautiful views of Haleakala, the Iao Valley and the fields of Pineapple and Sugar Cane that Maui is well known for. We made a final sharp right turn to line with Runway 2 and with Reverse Thrusters and Spoilers deployed marked the end to United flight 37. The flight attendants and pilots wished us lots of Aloha and Merry Christmas in both English and Hawaiian, which was my signal to officially start my 8 days in paradise. Thanks to having no checked baggage, I was able to skip the busy baggage claim area that Kahului Airport is known for and head straight to an awaiting ride from my father.

 Sitting on the patio that night overlooking the ocean with a drink in my hand, I couldn't help but think about the amazing flights that I had today, what a perfect way to start a vacation off. United Airlines did everything perfectly that day and made my trip Maui smooth and flawless. Mahalo to United Airlines and their wonderful employees that made my journey to Hawaii with them amazing!

My Tales and Adventures at Calgary Airport

So as you may have noticed from the theme that this blog has, I'm a huge fan of aviation, particularly commercial aircraft but I do also like a little bit of military of aircraft as well. I've been "spotting" at Calgary Airport now for over 3 years and over that time I've come to dub myself  "The Cowboy Spotter", mainly because almost every time I'm out at the airport you'll catch me in my black Cowboy hat. I think both the guys in the Tower and Security at the airport know who I am since they have seen me countless times up at the airport. So if you are ever up at the Calgary Airport and you see a red Ford truck (also lovingly dubbed by me as the "Spirit of Taylor Swift") and a guy standing in the back wearing a black Cowboy hat, that is most likely me out enjoying my passion.

A WestJet Boeing 737-800 landing at YYC

Over those 3 years of being at the airport, I've seen a lot of different kinds of planes, different operators and even heard things over the radio that gives you quite a good chuckle. With Calgary being both a hub for Air Canada and WestJet, you do get a little bored seeing that same colours over and over again. A typical traffic sequence in the morning there can be 4 WestJet B737'S in row or 10 aircraft shared between Air Canada, Jazz and WestJet. But with that I've turned it into a little challenge, try to catch every aircraft registration that each airline has. WestJet I've caught all except 8 aircraft and between Air Canada and Jazz, I caught 1 photo of all their Embraer 190's, Airbus A330's and CRJ-705's and very close to finishing of the Dash 8-300's, the Airbus A319's, A320's, A321's and the CRJ 100/200 fleet.

But we still get a wide variety of airlines here in Calgary. Many American carriers fly here on a daily basis. Most legacy and mainline airlines from the US fly direct from their hubs to Calgary; United from Chicago, San Francisco, Denver and Houston; Delta from Minneapolis and Salt Lake City and so on and so on. We even have quite a few international airlines who fly to Calgary; KLM, British Airways and Thomas Cook just to name a few. Lufthansa did serve Calgary for a few years, but made its last flight here back in February and no longer serves our city.

Air Caraibes Airbus A330 lining up on Runway 34

Over my 3 years of spotting, I've come across some unique aircraft. From the massive cargo carrier, Antonov 124 to an Air Caraibes A330, its been amazing some of the planes that have to Calgary. My most recent catch was a C-17 Globemaster from Canada's military rotating off of Runway 16 and when those planes takeoff, they don't mess around. Within just a few thousand feet, the monster had already rotated and was already airborne, quite a spectacle to watch this massive plane takeoff right in front of you.

A C-17 Globemaster rocketing off of Runway 16

So what can I expect for the future of spotting at Calgary Airport? Well with the opening of the new international terminal and runway in a couple years, my hope is we see a few more carriers operating non-stop flights into Calgary, particularly those who operate larger aircraft such as the B777 or A380. My hope is also once construction activities are complete, it will open up some new spotting areas. I have goal of getting out spotting at the airport at least once a month and I have to admit its been tough because of the closure of some key areas, including the southeast field and the north access road (way too many construction vehicles in that area). Mother Nature isn't always a great help, either the winds are in the wrong direction or its too cloudy or rainy. But somehow I've done good, 5 months down and actually have done close to 10 trips so far this year. With still have half the year to go, who knows what I'll catch in the coming months. But if you are ever up at the airport and see a little red Ford Explorer, come on by and say hi, I'll be more than happy to tell you stories of my spotting adventures or answer your questions about pretty much anything flying or airline related.