Montrealers at SD 1. (Also for you aviation nuts!)

[Klink]

swissair135 and I made the long journey from Montreal to San Diego (KSAN/SAN) for the opening show of the Vertigo Tour. I have already written a review of the show and would now like to share the journey.

First off, I will admit: This was my first U2 show. I have been a good fan for about 3 years now but that wasn't good enough to catch the Elevation Tour. When the band decided to postpone the new tour back in February, I was worried that Montreal (my home city of 3.6 million people) would be cut from a shortened first leg. This was, in fact, the case. When we found out that Eastern Canada and most of the Eastern US would be bypassed, we made the decision that we weren't going to wait indefinitely. We were lucky enough to get tickets to the opening show. Here's how we got there:

(Captions are above each photo and I’m sorry if they’re too big. I don’t know how to make them smaller.)



1) A gorgeous but frosty early spring morning leaving our town in the suburbs of Montreal, enroute to Pierre Eliot Trudeau Intl. Airport (YUL) in Montreal.

2.) Arriving at YUL.

3) YUL- Interior shot of the new transborder finger at YUL. It's for all U.S. bound flights. I like it.

4.Air Canada Airbus A319-114 (C-FZUG). Interior cabin shot of Air Canada flight 797 (ACA797) our ride across the continent to LAX. Expected cruising altitude will be 32,000 ft. This 8:30am flight is usually full, but Easter Sunday is a slow day in the travel business. I had one whole side of row 24 for the 5hr40min flight. Btw, 5:40 is a long flight in the small A319!

5) Ok, we're off to see U2!! Air Canada's 797 pushing back from Gate 76. Outside the window is an older Air Canada B767-233 (C-GAUB), sporting the STAR Alliance livery. According to Air Canada sources, this a/c will be ending it's long career shortly.

6) A poor quality shot out the starboard window of our A319. An Air Transat Airbus A330-243 (C-GTPS) is at the gate preparing for a Caribbean flight.

7. -"Montreal departures, good morning, Air Canada's 797 is with you." Climbing out of Montreal after a 24R departure. swissair135 snapped this beauty shot of the YUL apron below. We were the last flight of the morning bank. Parked on the ground there are two Air Transat A330s, two A310s, an Air Canada 762 and an arriving 763 taxiing to the gate. (762=767-200 family). In the background you can see the St. Lawrence River, which circles the beautiful island of Montreal. Yes, Montreal is an island.

8) Here we are a few hours later passing over the Rocky Mountains. We’d climbed up to 38,000 feet to escape lower altitude turbulence. Didn't do much good.

9) Descent into LA. What I'm guessing are the Santa Gabriel Mountains. Please correct me there. You'll notice that there's already an urban sprawl developing underneath us. I have a bit of a rant here...OK, LA is ENORMOUS. I've been here before but we flew over urban sprawl for at least 20 minutes before landing. Gigantic.

 

[Klink]

10) Spoilers are extended here to slow us down during our approach.

11) Downtown LA blanketed by the usual smog. Lighting is so odd because it's bright, but also humid and smoggy. We are on a long final to runway 24R at LAX.

12) "Air Canada 797, cleared to land runway 24R." On short final now, about 30s from touchdown runway 24R. Notice the flaps are set for landing.

13) Touchdown! After a bumpy 5hr 43min. Spoilers are fully deployed on touchdown to cancel lift and reduce speed. We are also reversing hard.

14) We are holding short here waiting for departing traffic to clear before crossing runway 24L on the way to out gate. Over the wing is our first treat(s), a set of 3 Qantas Boeing 747-438s that will depart to destinations in Australia and New Zealand later in the day! For those of you from NY, San Fran, London, LA, and other world hubs, try to understand that Asian and Australian/NZ aircrat are a rarity in Eastern Canada. A real treat.

15) Here an ANA 777-200, an Asiana 747-400 and a gorgeous Air Tahiti Nui A340-300. The latter will depart to Papiti in French Polynesia.

16) In front of the LA Airport’s apron tower, an artifact! A classic North West Airlines 747-200 preparing for service to Narita Airport in Tokyo, Japan. It will operate as flight 001.

17) As we exit the jet bridge, I snapped this shot of our A319 (C-FZUG), which will now turn and fly to Calgary.

18) LAX is a treat! The assortment of aircraft is phenomenal. Here: an El Al 767-200 about to depart to Tel Aviv with a stop in Toronto; a Singapore 747-400: an Air China 747-400, a JAL 747-400, a Lufthansa 747-400; another Qantas 747-400 and an American Airlines 777-200.

19) Amtrak 578. Los Angeles-San Diego. Ok, Amtrak was a disaster. We were more than half an hour late boarding and when the train finally departed, it broke down100m outside the station. We stayed on the train for another half hour while they tried to get things going. Eventually they did and we made it most of the way to San Diego until they announced that the train was experiencing technical difficulties and we would all have to get off at the next stop to wait for the next train. At Salena Beach (sp??), only some 40 miles from San Diego they made us get off. No sooner did we disembark than they announced that the same train would be operating passenger services all the way back to LA. So much for technical difficulties! Amtrak threw customer service out the window on this one. They had announced that the next train was 10 minutes behind us. That must have been a George Bush 10 minutes because 35 minutes later, no new train. Almost an hour after we were rudely and dishonestly left on the platform at Salena Beach, we caught the next train. They misled us every step of the way. You know that feeling you get when companies are playing you for a fool? I get that sometimes. One illogical statement leads to the next and you know they’re temporarily feeding you BS until they have no choice but to break the real news to you. For wasting my time and taking the integrity of your consumers for granted Amtrak gets a big two thumbs down. Here we are stranded at Salena Beach.

 

[Klink]

20) The Holiday Inn Express, Old Town, San Diego, California.

No shots of our flight from San Diego to San Francisco. Too tired. It was United Airlines flight UA594…a 737-500.



21) San Francisco International (SFO) - View of Air Canada Boeing 767-209ER (C-FUCL), preparing to commence service as ACA756, our 4hr 25min ride from SFO to Toronto (YYZ). This aircraft has a lengthy dossier, which includes having flown with China Airlines (http://www.airliners.net/open.file/363931/L/), SAHSA and Air New Zealand (http://www.airliners.net/open.file/264965/L/). Another photo of C-FUCL: http://www.airliners.net/open.file/364672/L/

22) In Flight, Air Canada Boeing 767-209ER, enroute from SFO-YYZ at 37,000 ft. Sorry about the quality. I snapped it from seat 35A, the last row on the port side of the a/c. We were hitting a bit of chop at the time.

23) In flight, south-eastern Ontario, Air Canada Boeing 767-233 (C-GAUN). 9:30pm cabin shot on board Air Canada 428 from YYZ-YUL. Almost home! No better way to end an amazing, long journey than on this classic aircraft. Probably Air Canada's most famous commercial aircraft, C-GAUN is appropriately nicknamed the "Gimli Glider". This exact aircraft made a powerless landing on July 23, 1983 on an old air force strip in Gimli, Manitoba after running out of fuel at 40,000 feet. No lives lost, minimal damage. It’s quite a story. Coincidentally the landing sight was determined by one of the pilots who had actual gliding experience in the area and was familiar with the terrain. Honoured to be flying on the glider again!

I hope you enjoyed the photos and the story. U2 was amazing. We came a long way for them it was worth every second. London is next! Taking off for a little while! Great meeting some of you U2 fans!

Jon

 

[RealXJT]

What are those things on the wingtips?

 

[Klink]

You mean the things shaped like a sideways "v"?

Those are winglets. They stream air more efficiently past the wing. It has a lot of advantages: improves aerodynamics by reducing drag which improves fuel consumption and increases range.

There are other kinds of winglets that look different.

Some aircraft with different wing structures don't have them/need them. Depends.

Jon