[Grahame Hutchison]

The Future Of Flight viewing deck.


Overall the tour lasted around one and a half hours, and was simply excellent.

AC33 Vancouver - Sydney: Sat, Oct 06 2012

As we were reasonably early at the airport, check-in and security were very quiet. Normal security procedures were performed, however three security officers stood at the entrance to the aero bridge and randomly spoke to some passengers. Vancouver airport has free Wifi as did Calgary.

Seat allocation was 38HJK
Similar to AC34 on the way over, AC33 is also absolutely full.
2348 Pushback from Gate D51 and a long taxi to Runway 26L. Distance to Sydney is 7775 miles and 14hr 40min.
The route today is via Hawaii and then over the north western tip of Noumea.

Takeoff from Runway 26L with a 30 sec takeoff roll.
0024 Heading 220 at 28000ft and 598 mph with outside air temperature -34.4F
0028 Special meals delivered for my wife and son.
0040 Meal service, Chicken and Vegetables, Salad, Chocolate Cake, Biscuits and Tea.

After a 22km bike ride in the morning, and walking around the Grandville Farmers Markets in the afternoon, five hours sleep straight up was very easy. If I recline the seat and slide forward a bit, I can actually stretch out fully straight with my feet touching the front guard of the seat in front of me.
Movie - five Year Engagement
A few more hours sleep
1253 37000ft at 512mph and -52.6F with 790 miles to run.

Keeping track of time is a little trickier today because of daylight saving starting in NSW, and possible finishing in Vancouver (there seemed to be two hours in there somehow).
Touchdown on Runway 16R was about 20 minutes early, however an aircraft on our Gate forced us to hold on Taxiway Golf for 20 minutes. When we finally moved to the Gate they had to spray the aircraft, which means another 5-10 minutes before we could disembark.
Immigration, bag collection and customs were all good, and our taxi was waiting for us in the car park.

Overall we had a very busy 18 days in Canada and The USA