Tag: police

Aviation photography: plane spotting at the Toronto Lester B. Pearson international airport (CYYZ)

Post author By Stanley
Post date 7 March 2016

Air Canada Airbus A330-343 C-GHLM in Toronto 2016

Here is some information aimed at helping tourists visiting Toronto, who like photography and aviation, and would think of booking one day during their visit to head to the Toronto Lester B. Pearson international airport (CYYZ) for a plane spotting photo session.

Initial planning

If you can, get a scanner or download an app on your cell phone to get real time information on air traffic around the airport: you will then know in advance the type and nationality of inbound or departing aircrafts.

Search for websites giving you access to Toronto airport VHF frequencies and program your scanner if you decided to get one.

Have a look at different plane spotting websites for the Toronto airport: there are many precious advices from experienced plane spotters that will prove useful in heading to the best spots and avoiding common mistakes.

Print two or three maps of secondary routes around the airport so that you can orient yourself when there is a change in runway use due to different winds or if you use a taxi ride to move around the airport: the driver will always ask you details on how to get there since those secondary routes are not a common destination for him (and chances are that he will not know where to go if you ask him to head to threshold of runway 05. Basically, he needs road names, not runway numbers).

British Airways Boeing 777-236 G-ZZZA in Toronto 2016

Before leaving your Toronto hotel

Before you leave the hotel, look at the Toronto weather forecast, among them the TAF, to know the wind pattern for the day. The Nav Canada site has everything you need to know and there is a possibility to choose between coded or plain aviation language.

The Environment Canada site is also very useful.

Don’t forget to bring many snacks as well as a bottle of water since you will possibly be at a good distance from a restaurant for many hours, depending on which runway is in use. The same goes for additional batteries and memory cards for the camera.

Don’t forget the scanner, the cell phone (to call a taxi driver or get access to the arrivals and departures information) and all the photo equipment needed, as well as an abnormally high number of clothing layers necessary in case of winter photography: eight hours almost immobile outside in February calls for an appropriate preparation if you want to appreciate your experience. If you economize on clothing, it is certain that you will have to shorten your photography session.

I chose February for its very interesting light and not for its temperature! Most of the shots in this article were taken in only one day at the Toronto airport, between 10h30am and 18h30.

American Airlines MD-82 N482AA final 05 Toronto 2016

From the hotel to the airport

If you chose to stay at a downtown hotel in Toronto, the best way to get to the Toronto international airport is to use the UP Express train, from the Union Station on Front Street. Its use is very simple and departures are made every fifteen minutes. In February 2016, the cost was CDN $44.00 for a return trip to the airport, while a taxi ride cost $130.00.

The UP Express ride only takes 25 minutes and the train stops at Terminal 1.

It is preferable to avoid using your car around the Toronto international airport since some secondary roads are private and no stopping is allowed. You will take more time to look for police than to enjoy your plane spotting photography session.

Once you are at Terminal 1

Once you exit the UP Express at Terminal 1, get your scanner and monitor the ATIS frequency (120.825) to get the latest information on the runways in use for take offs and landings. For my photo session, the ATIS announced that runway 05 and 06L were in use, both for arrivals and departures. I took a taxi, showed the map with secondary roads to the driver and within few minutes I was where I needed to be and started the photo session.

Air Transat Airbus A-330 C-GTSN Toronto 2016

A preliminary internet search allowed to discover that heavies mostly arrive from Europe during the afternoon et that runway 05/23 is favored for Emirates Airline Airbus A-380 arrival. I thus decided to position myself near runway 05 instead of 06L.

There are two or three quite isolated spots around the airport that provide interesting point of views for aircraft photos but that can present security problems for a photographer working alone with expensive equipment. Experienced plane spotters suggest that you should be accompanied by friends if you decide to opt for those spots (see the “plane spotting” internet sites suggested at the beginning of this article).

Emirates A-380 on final for Toronto (CYYZ) 2016

Emirates A-380 on final 05 for Toronto (CYYZ) 2016

Technical advices

For precise photos of aircrafts in movement, I use the following parameters with my Canon 5D MKII camera:

1. Only the central AF Point of the auto focus system is selected and not the surrounding ones in order to avoid that the camera sets the focus on other objects than what I desire (trees, ILS structure, buildings).

2. The AI Servo setting is more efficient than the AI Focus or One Shot. The aircraft will be followed precisely.

3. If I want to include surrounding objects in the photo, I adjust the aperture to 7.1 or 8, instead of 11 or 13. I thus avoid increasing the ISO too much, which would affect the picture’s quality if it has to be enlarged with Photoshop.

Westjet Boeing 737-8CT C-GWSV Disneyland Livery in Toronto 2016

4. To take pictures of an approaching propeller powered aircraft, a speed adjusted to 1/125 is generally adequate. You must pivot according to the aircraft movement so that it looks like it is immobile in your viewfinder. The picture is easier to take when the aircraft is farther away but becomes more of a challenge when it gets closer and flies by you since you must constantly change your pivoting speed.

Porter Q-400 C-GLQD on final for Toronto Billy Bishop airport (CYTZ) 2016

Air Canada DHC-8-102 C-FGQK Toronto 2016

5. A shutter speed that is too high will immobilize the propeller of an aircraft and make it look like the engine is not working, which will take away realism.

6. Throughout the day, position yourself so as to have the sun behind you (if there is any sun!), unless you are looking for special effects.

7. A very high quality lens, like the Canon 50mm 1.4, allows for beautiful pictures during the evening since there is no compromise on ISO, as the lens does not need much light. The grain size stays relatively small.

Air Canada Boeing 777 final 05 Toronto 2016

8. I use a very low ISO if the photo includes an interesting but far away aircraft, in order to be able to crop the picture with Photoshop. Since I cannot compromise on the speed to avoid a blurred picture, it becomes obvious that it is the aperture that pays the price.

Air Canada Airbus A-330 final 06L Toronto 2016

9. If the situation allows it, add visual references other than clouds to get a bit more variety in your aircraft photo collection.

Air Canada Boeing 777 final runway 05 Toronto 2016

10. Try a black and white photo if the cloud formation is particularly interesting.

C-GQBG CL-415 and cirrus clouds on a black and white picture

11. RAW+JPEG files allow for important adjustments when necessary. A JPEG only photo gives you little leeway when you want to correct mistakes or during problematic lighting conditions.

12. Variable sky conditions and constant direction winds are preferable for your photo session since the runway in use will not be changed in the afternoon and your pictures will benefit from different light intensity and cloud formations.

13. If you want to take the aircraft in relation to the ILS poles and you are looking for a symmetrical photo, just move few inches to the right or left while the aircraft is approaching or going away from you. You will also want to avoid that the horizontal poles of the ILS cut the plane and make it difficult to see.

Westjet Boeing 737-800 final 05 Toronto 2016

14. Have fun experimenting, like taking a shot just above your head while including other objects for added interest.

15. Instead of always showing the whole aircraft, try a close-up view.

Air Canada Boeing 787-9 C-FNOI in Toronto 2016

16. The close-up view might be such that even passengers of an aircraft on final will look at you while you immortalize them.

United Express on final at the Quebec Jean-Lesage international airport.

17. Chances are that you will meet other enthusiast plane spotters in the same area as yours since they also prepared themselves for a successful photo session.

Westjet Boeing 737-800 C-FYPB in Toronto 2016

18. Since you are in Toronto, head to Toronto Harbour when you are back downtown. You will witness the air traffic surrounding the Toronto Billy Bishop airport (CYTZ), formerly known as Toronto Island, and possibly take some original shots.

Porter Q-400 C-GLQM and C-GLQB at Toronto CYTZ 2016

19. This is the photo equipment used for my Toronto airport plane spotting session: Canon 5D MKII camera and the following Canon lenses: EF 50mm f/1.4 USM, EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM, EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM, EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM. No polarizer was used that day since I wanted to increase my margin of manoeuver with fast moving aircrafts under the February low intensity light.

Air Canada Rouge Boeing 767-300ER final 05 at Toronto 2016

American Eagle CRJ-701ER N523AE Toronto 2016

Aviation photography requires much planning for successful photos. But all your efforts will rapidly bear fruits once you are on site and you will not see time pass! Have a great plane spotting session and give me some news of your experience if you can!

Air Canada Boeing 767-375 (ER) C-FCAB in Toronto 2016

You can have access to other aircraft photos taken at Toronto through this link on my site:
photo galleries/aviation only

For other articles on aviation and photography, click on the following link: Aviation photography

Tags AF Point, AI Focus, AI Servo, Air Canada, Air Canada Rouge, air traffic, Air transat, Airbus A-330, aircraft photography, aircraft photos, airplane, airplane photography, airport, American Airlines, American Eagle, aperture, ATIS, autofocus, aviation, aviation photography, aviation weather forecast, B-737, black and white photo, blurred picture, Boeing 737-700, Boeing 737-800, Boeing 767-300ER, Boeing 767-375, Boeing 777-236, Boeing 777-300ER, Boeing 787-9, Bombardier Global 5000, Bombardier Q-400, British Airways, C-GWSV, camera, Canada, Canon 5D MKII, Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS II USM, Canon EF 16-35mm f2.8L II USM, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM, Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM, Cessna 560XL, CL-415, CRJ-701ER, cropping, CYTZ, CYYZ, Emirates Airline, Environment Canada, Europe, GBL5, ISO, landing, light intensity, MD-82, Nav Canada, night photography, Ontario, photo, photo session, photographer, photography, photos, pictures, plane spotter, plane spotting, polarizing filter, police, Porter Q-400, RAW files, security, shutter speed, special effects in photography, TAF, take-off, Terminal 1, tips in photography, Toronto, Toronto Billy Bishop airport, Toronto Harbour, Toronto international airport, Toronto Union Station, United Express, VHF frequencies, Westjet, winter photography

Real life stories as a flight service specialist (FSS): Iqaluit FSS

Nelson Mandela stops by Iqaluit on his way to South Africa

Post author By Stanley
Post date 5 January 2016

On July 1st 1990, few months after having been released from twenty-seven years in jail, the South African President Nelson Mandela stopped in Iqaluit, on Baffin Island in the Nunavut. It was 03:30 AM and the aircraft had just arrived from Detroit in United States. Mandela participated in a special event linked to the three big American car manufacturers where he was invited to deliver a keynote speech.

I figured that this trip to Detroit must have brought him found memories since, in his autobiography, he mentioned that the first car he saw in his youth was a big black luxury car that he later recognized to be a Ford V8.

After Detroit, the jet carrying the Mandela couple followed an orthodromic line around the planet for the return to South Africa. It meant that a stopover for refuel was mandatory and Iqaluit, in Canada’s arctic, was chosen.

In anticipation for the VIPs arrival, the Transport Canada flight service station and the airport installations had been secured by the RCMP. Before meeting the VIP’s, the Mandela couple took some time to walk toward a group of persons outside the airport terminal. They discussed for a while, each group separated by the airport fence.

As reported by historian Kenn Harper in Nunatsiaq News in 2008, the security staff tried to rapidly bring back the Mandela couple inside as there were VIP’s waiting for them. But Mandela answered: “There are no more important people in this town tonight than these folks who have come out to talk with me. I’ll be in when I’ve finished speaking with them.”

In his memoir, Conversations with Myself, he wrote: “What struck me so forcefully was how small the planet had become during my decades in prison; it was amazing to me that a teenaged Inuit living at the roof of the world could watch the release of a political prisoner on the southern tip of Africa.”

Nelson Mandela and his book "Conversations with Myself", image extracted from www.nelsonmandela.org on January 5th 2016 — Nelson Mandela and his book “Conversations with Myself”, image extracted from www.nelsonmandela.org on January 5th 2016

As they entered the Transport Canada installations, Nelson and Winnie Mandela were greeted by several persons, among which Iqaluit’s Inuit chief. A ceremony was held in a room next to where I was working, one floor lower, under the flight service station (FSS) tower.

Around 04:00AM, I came down from the FSS tower to transmit an important message regarding the return flight. At the bottom of the stairs, positioned on the other side of the door, was a huge policeman blocking our staff from accessing the corridor.

I tapped lightly on the windowed door and showed him that I had an urgent message for Mandela’s entourage. He refused to budge. The smooth way not bearing any results, I used the necessary means to achieve success. This did not go without a bit of noise.

The policeman finally let me go through, knowing very well that all flight service specialists were screened for security on a regular basis. But looking at his facial expression, it is obvious that we were not friends anymore.

Obviously, all my attempts at opening the door disrupted the ceremony a bit. As I was delivering the message, I saw the Mandela couple sitting in a nearby room, few meters away, attending a traditional Inuit dance performance. Drawn by the noise in the corridor, Nelson Mandela diverted his attention and we looked at each other for a short moment.

What surprised me the most was to see this remarquable man sitting straight in his chair, like a young man in his prime, showing no signs of fatigue, despite a very busy day and such a late hour that would not allow him to rest before 0500AM. That night, I understood a bit more what involved the responsibilities of a head of State and all the energy required day after day to occupy the position.

For more real life stories as a FSS in Iqaluit, click on the following link: Flight service specialist (FSS) in Iqaluit

Real life stories as a flight service specialist (FSS): Iqaluit FSS

Iqaluit Drug Haven

Post author By Stanley
Post date 8 December 2015

In 1990, Stacey Campbell, a News North journalist, wrote an article that she titled: “Iqaluit Drug Haven”. She wrote that the Iqaluit airport was the main point of arrival for the entire drug being used all over the Baffin Island region, in the Nunavut. Mail was also another tool used by drug trafficker. It was quite easy to find marijuana, hashish and cocaine.

On the top floor of the eight stories building in which I lived, there were an increasing number of drug users. While only a year ago the place was relatively quiet, it was not the case anymore. From my small apartment, I could hear the shouting in the corridor or in the neighbouring rooms and the “OPEN THE DOOR!” ordered by the RCMP police officers.

There were cases of domestic violence, fights, people which I had to step over to walk in the corridor as they were lying down on the floor in their vomit, totally intoxicated. Near where I lived, somebody was thrown out of an apartment in a rather radical way: the door and its fittings were now missing and there was blood on the wall. The place is far less peaceful than last year.

At the center of the picture, a high rise building inhabited by single people in Iqaluit in 1988.

In a nearby room, several drug users met, mostly on Friday nights. Quite often, tension rose between card games. The place had become unsuitable for somebody trying to rest while on a seven days a week shift work providing air traffic services at the local Transport Canada flight service station.

I remember one time when somebody started to kick on my door while I was studying quietly in my room. I could hear him shout: “I am going to kick your ass!” Since I had no idea of what was going on and as it seemed that I was directly concerned, I opened the door.

I then recognized a person whom I politely asked, at least six months ago, to try to lower the noise level. All those months went by and tonight, in an altered state, he suddenly remembered that request. He visibly took my request as a personal insult. He was now under the influence of an unknown substance and was angry.

He was standing in the corridor. Any moderate reaction on my part seemed useless, considering his situation. It appeared that only a quick and radical move would bear some success.

I tried to slowly close the door but he blocked it with his hand. The situation was getting worse. I waited few seconds and tried again, calmly and without a word. In few seconds, if nothing was working, there would only be one solution left. I gently pressed on the door and he totally surprised me by letting go so that in about twenty seconds, the door was closed again.

All this was done in total silence. In my room, I stood few feet away from the door, expecting it to be slammed open but nothing happened. Only that silence all around. After few minutes of having stood still, waiting for the next logical step, I realized that everything was over. What a weird night! This would not have ended the same way in a big city down South.

I can really say that in 1990, Iqaluit was in fact a drug heaven. Moreover, the floor where I had my room was no exception. I was eventually able to move to another floor where there were people with a more balanced lifestyle and the need to sleep once in a while…

For more real life stories as a FSS in Iqaluit, click on the following link: Flight service specialist (FSS) in Iqaluit

Anthologies

Anthologies: le diable à 37,0000 pieds

Post author By Stanley
Post date 3 November 2015

There are seven very interesting articles, in the non-fiction category, in this anthology. Published between 2009 and 2013 in publications like The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Men’s Journal or Q2U.S, they allow the reader to catch-up on events that happened around the planet.

Those stories received a lot of attention from the medias since they covered popular topics like a mid-air collision between two jets, a jewel heist by the Pink Panthers, a botched covered operation by Mossad, wild animals freed by their owner near a small American city, the son of a wealthy American who suddenly leaves United States for Lybia to fight against Khadafi. The reader can also learn more about Apollo Robbins, the king of pickpockets and, finally, comes the weird story of a film making that started in 2006 in Ukraine and is still not ready today.

Le diable à 37,000 pieds (The Devil at 37,000 feet)

This story presents all the elements that contributed to create a mid-air collision: a new crew recently trained on an aircraft loaded with a modern technology that makes flight management more complicated than anything else; air traffic controllers letting their expectations impear their judgment; tired and under pressure careless pilots; passengers disturbing the flying crew by visiting the cockpit on multiple occasions.

It is paradoxal to realize that the extreme precision offered by modern flight navigation equipment also increases the possibility that two aircrafts hit each other in flight.

Pink Panthers

A popular name that sends the reader back to the movies where Peter Sellers played a distracted police inspector. But the article is about the real thing: What circumstances favored the creation and international development of the multiple groups of thiefs that came to be known as the Pink Panthers.

The different Pink Panthers groups have robbed more than 152 jewelry stores since 2002 and pocketed around 250 million dollars. The reader learns that most Pink Panthers members come from the Balkan region and that they operate from Italy, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland.

The author uses the opportunity to explain how the Milosevic’s gangster regime was put in place in Serbia, a State transformed into a criminal business: “In March 2001, soon after the fall of Milosevic, we discovered, in a safe rented by municipal civil servants from a Belgrade bank, more than 660 kilos of a 93% pure heroin, valued at approximately 100 million dollars on the street”.

Montenegro is also associated with significant banditry and the author tells us about a meeting he had in that region with a former Pink Panthers. In order for criminal groups to survive and develop, there is an essential collaboration with politicians and the border services staff.

Opération Dubaï (Dubaï Operation)

In January 2010, a Mossad team lands in Dubaï with the intention of killing Mahmoud al-mabhouh. The agents are part of an ultra-secret section called “Césarée”. Although they reached their goal, the mission was somewhat a failure since it was possible to determine very rapidly who were the killers, which embarrassed Israël.

The article recounts the general progress of the operation in Dubaï and enhances the important mistakes that eventually damaged the Mossad’s reputation for efficiency.

Here are some of those mistakes:

1. Agents are sitting for hours in a hotel lobby, thus attracting the staff’s attention.

2. Two members of the team head towards the hotel washrooms, where they change their appearance by using a wig and sunglasses, all this while their physical transformation is filmed by an hotel camera positioned near the toilet’s door.

3. The man in charge of planning the covert operation has a huge ego and does not tolerate criticism or a difference of opinion.

4. Carelessness is shown when the team members are equipped with Payoneer prepaid calling cards. Those cards are mostly used in United States and the Payoneer’s director, Yuval Tal, is a veteran of the Israel’s Defence Force elite commando. While they were at it, why not give a Mossad colored business card directly?

5. The person in charge of the operation greatly underestimates the capacity and will of Dubaï’s police force to find the culprits behind Mahmoud al-mabhouh’s death.

6. Every phone call made by the team transit through the same system located in Austria.

An increase in the number of operations lead by Mossad certainly contributed to the non-compliance with respect to the security protocol. Meir Dagan eventually had to step down and the relations between the Mossad and other occidental intelligence services were impacted.

La désertion des animaux du zoo (Animals)

This is a very interesting account of an incident that made the news around the world. At the end of 2011, in Zanesville, Ohio, the owner of about fifty wild animals killed himself, not without having precedently opened the cages of all the wild animals he was keeping on his private property.

The story allows us to share a bit of the emotions lived by the inhabitants living close to the private zoo. We witness the quick reaction and organization needed to face the lions, tigers and bears that are now free to go where they want in the fields near Zanesville. It’s a very well written story.

Vacances de printemps arabe (Arab Spring Break)

This is the story of a rich American who abandons his wealthy neighborhood to go fight against Khadafi in Lybia. This type of story, told with a humoristic approach, was possibly quite amusing in 2012. But with the departure of numerous young kids gone to join ISIS during the past few years, the tone used in the article is now kind of awkward.

Le roi des pickpockets (A Pickpocket’s Tale)

The article is about the life of Apollo Robbins, a now internationally famous pickpocket that has appeared on multiple TV programs around the world, among them National Geographic’s “Brain Games”.

Un tournage pris dans l’engrenage (The Movie Set That Ate Itself)

Through the account of a movie director’s eccentric behaviour in Kharkov, Ukraine, the reader is made aware of the exaggerated control that a human can impose on other persons. It also shows the easiness with which people are ready to accept a totalitarian control in their life. All this while the movie itself is about the dictatorship lived in Russia, more precisely in Moscow, during the fifties and sixties.

Title : Le diable à 37000 pieds
Éditions du sous-sol, Paris ©2011, 2012,2013 for the French translation
Feuilleton magazine pocket anthology (Non-Fiction)
ISBN : 978-2-36468-036-4

Original English version:

The Devil at 37,000 Feet: in Vanity Fair, ©2009, William Langewiesche
The Pink Panthers: in The New Yorker, ©2010, David Samuels
The Dubaï Job: in Q2U.S, ©2011, Ronen Bergman
Animals: in Esquire, ©2012, Chris Jones
Arab Spring Break: in Men’s Journal, ©2012, Joshua Davis
A Pickpocket’s Tale: in The New Yorker, ©2013, Adam Green
The Movie Set That Ate Itself: in Q2U.S, ©2011, Michael Idov

Photos of Canada

Photography: Justin Trudeau, Stephen Harper and David Johnston in Ottawa , October 22nd 2015

Post author By Stanley
Post date 26 October 2015

On October 22nd 2015, in Ottawa, a ceremonial service commemorated the anniversary of the attacks that killed two Canadian soldiers in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Ottawa: Warrant officer Patrick Vincent and Corporal Nathan Cirillo. Both families were present at the ceremony.

Policemen on motorcycles in Ottawa, on October 22nd 2015, ahead of the ceremony honoring Corporal Nathan Cirillo and Warrant officer Patrick Vincent

As one could expected, major security measures were put in place. View of the ceremony was partly blocked by all kind of obstacles and the crowd was held at a good distance by fences and an army of policemen.

Part of the crowd standing near the National War Memorial in Ottawa on October 22nd 2015

I was nonetheless lucky enough to find one of the few spots that provided a direct view on the ceremony and the dignitaries.

Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau and Stephen Harper shake hands during the ceremony in honor of Nathan Cirillo and Patrick Vincent held at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on October 22nd 2015

Using a Canon 70-200mm f2.8L II USM equipped with an extender, and benefiting from an ideal random positioning of the multiple secret service agents, policemen, soldiers and officers of all kinds, few other photos were made possible.

A first handshake was visible between Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau and the incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper, under the eyes of Justin Trudeau’s wife Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau.

First handshake between the new Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau and the incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the National War Memorial of Canada in Ottawa on October 22nd 2015

Few dignitaries who were present at the ceremony: The Ottawa mayor, Jim Watson, Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau, Justin Trudeau, Laureen and Stephen Harper.

Jim Watson, Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau and Justin Trudeau, Laureen and Stephen Harper at the National War Memorial in Ottawa in 2015

On several occasions, Justin Trudeau and Laureen Harper were able to exchange a few words.

The new Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau and Laureen Harper in Ottawa, October 22nd 2015

Four CF-18s flew over the crowd, at good speed. I was lucky enough to take a picture of one of them. For those photographers who could be interested, the camera speed was 1/8000 sec, the focal length 400mm and aperture 5.6.

One of four F-18s over the National War Memorial in Ottawa on October 22nd 2015

Justin Trudeau and Stephen Harper then raised and walk toward the National War Memorial in order to lay a wreath on behalf of the people of Canada.

Justin Trudeau and Stephen Harper at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on October 22nd 2015

On the left of the picture below, it is possible to see some of the Corporal Nathan Cirillo’s family members.

Nathan Cirillo family members are sitting behind Justin Trudeau and Stephen Harper in Ottawa, October 22nd 2015

A second handshake, more assertive this time, was exchanged between Justin Trudeau and Stephen Harper.

Second handshake between the new Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau and the incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on October 2015

Comforting words were pronounced by a few people, among them the Governor General of Canada and the military chaplain.

The military chaplain at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on October 22nd 2015

The Governor General of Canada, David Johnston, and his wife are shown leaving at the end of the ceremony.

The Governor General of Canada, David Johnston, and his wife at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on October 22nd 2015

A serious handshake was exchanged between the Ottawa Mayor, Jim Watson, and the Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau. Justin Trudeau’s both hands covering Jim Watson’s was certainly a sign that real cooperation could be expected.

Ottawa mayor Jim Watson and Justin Trudeau in Ottawa 2015

Soldiers of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, of which Nathan Cirillo belonged, did a march- about under high protection. A commemorative plaque was unveiled at the National War Memorial in honor of Cpl Nathan Cirillo and the same will be done next year for Warrant officer Patrick Vincent.

Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Parade in Ottawa, October 22nd 2015

Unveiling a commemorative plaque in honor of Cpl Nathan Cirillo in Ottawa on October 22nd 2015

For more articles in the category « Photos of Canada », click on the following link : Photos of Canada

Photos of Canada

Photography : The new Prime Minister-designate of Canada, Justin Trudeau, arrives in Ottawa

Post author By Stanley
Post date 24 October 2015

Luck was certainly needed to be able to catch the arrival in Ottawa of Justin Trudeau as the new Prime Minister-designate of Canada, after the historical Liberal Party win of October 2015.

Like it often happens after a long photography session, there is a last minute opportunity that allows some totally unexpected shots.

Just as I finished packing my Canon 5D MKII and camera equipment, I saw a policeman on a motorcycle who was blocking the traffic on Wellington street. He was giving way to the Liberal Party campaign bus.

The Liberal Party campaign bus with the new Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau on board arrives in Ottawa on October 20th 2015.

Estimating that the new Prime Minister-designate of Canada was on board, I took the chance to run back to the Ottawa Parliament. Climbing the stairs two by two, I arrived at the same time as the bus. A Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS II USM was quickly installed to make sure that the photos would be in a wide enough format.

Numerous policemen were taking care of security but I was able to get close enough since there was only twenty or thirty people present, the arrival of a Prime Minister being held secret for obvious security reasons. Few seconds only were needed before Justin Trudeau got out of the bus and turned around to salute the crowd.

The new Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau arrives at the Ottawa Parliament on October 20th 2015

He then climbed few stairs, turned around again and showed the thumb up sign.

The new Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau as he prepared to enter the Ottawa Parliament on October 20th 2015

It was only the second time in the history of Canada that a political party ranking third won an election while forming at the same time a majority government, and the first time that a father and his son had been elected Prime Minister of Canada.

For more articles in the category « Photos of Canada », click on the following link : Photos of Canada

Tags Canada, Canadian politics, Canon 5D MKII, Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS II USM, Justin Trudeau, Liberal Party of Canada, majority government, Ontario, Ottawa, Ottawa Parliament, photo, photography, police, political party, Prime Minister of Canada, security

Real life stories as a flight service specialist (FSS): Iqaluit FSS

Two Polish asylum seekers in Iqaluit

Post author By Stanley
Post date 11 September 2015

(Precedent story: the lady who was robbed before my eyes)

A Trans Ocean Airways DC-8-71 and a Sterling Boeing B-727 in Iqaluit (1989). View from the Iqaluit flight service station.

On a 1989 autumn night in Iqaluit, on Baffin Island, Sterling’s Boeing 727 arrived from Europe and parked near the fuel tanks. From the Transport Canada flight service station tower (FSS), we could see the Canadian Customs and RCMP vehicles parked near the airplane, which was unusual. There was something going on as there were many people standing by the rear door of the plane, moving from one vehicle to the other. That was sure a lengthy stopover.

Few days later, on October 2nd 1989, the Journal de Montréal (one of the Montreal newspaper) published the following article: “[my translation] Two Polish citizen who had planned to request asylum in Newfoundland during the technical stopover of their plane on a flight from Gdansk to Vancouver were told on Saturday, by Canadian authorities, that the plane had landed in Canada’s far North”.

The article continues: “[my translation] The two men, whose identity was kept secret, still requested political asylum, said a RCMP police officer from Iqaluit, on Baffin Island in the Arctic. The Polish citizens, who were on a trip to relieve some fishermen on the west coast of Canada, thought they were in St John’s, Newfoundland capital, indicated the policeman in charge, Corporal Gary Asels”.

“The custom officer, using a map, showed them where Iqaluit [in the Nunavut] was located (2100 kilometers north of Montreal). They could not care less, as long as they were in Canada. They were very happy to be here, commented corporal Asels”.

I was told that in order to succeed with their escape from the plane, they had chosen a seat close to the rear stairway of the Boeing 727. They made sure to look like they were sleeping. When the stairway was lowered and the surveillance suspended for a quick moment, the two men just escaped through the stairway and were immediately on Canadian soil.

I am unfortunately unable to confirm today if they have been received as Canadian citizen or if they have been sent back in their country of origin.

(Next story: Iqaluit and the Persian Gulf War)

For more real life stories as a FSS in Iqaluit, click on the following link: Flight service specialist (FSS) in Iqaluit

Real life stories as a flight service specialist (FSS): Iqaluit FSS

Iqaluit: the lady who was robbed before my eyes

Post author By Stanley
Post date 4 September 2015

(Precedent story: two airline captains forced to delay their departure from Iqaluit)

Iqaluit, Nunavut, 1990. One day, just as I was getting out for a walk, a young lady came to me asking that I catch a thief who had just stolen her handbag. Such a request coming from somebody living in a huge city would not have been surprising, but I never thought that I would hear that in a small city like Iqaluit. I initially thought it was a joke and wondered where the hidden cameras where positioned but when I turned around, I saw a man running away with something in his hand.

I instinctively started running after the man and, as I was closing in on him, he had a choice to make: he either slowed down and I caught up with him or he kept the pace while going down a slope made of huge rocks with sharp edges. He chose the second option and started jumping from one rock to the other, lost his balance, and fell head first against the rocks.

Still lying down and with blood all over his face, he saw me closing in progressively until I was just beside him. I requested the bag but he refused to give it back. He certainly expected me to beat him up, but I was not there to give anybody a lesson. I waited a bit, until he calmed down. I then asked him a second time to give me the handbag. He finally agreed.

The man stood back up, barely noticing the blood he had on his face. Without saying a word, he started following me while I was slowly going uphill to meet the lady. Every now and then, I turned around to ensure that he was not coming toward me with a knife or a rock in his hand. Once on flat ground, I meet the lady and give her the handbag. Eventually, the thief caught up with us and the lady started shouting at him, using me as a shield in case the man lost his temper. I did not need another crisis now that everything was settled.

When she was done with him, the thief tried to get closer to me. I made sure to keep the length of an arm between the two of us in order to avoid a sucker punch. I had trouble understanding that after such an incident, the man had chosen to walk with us, like nothing ever happened. He finally said his first words: “You run fast, like Ben Johnson!”

Finally, after a short walk, the three of us arrived exactly where everything had initially started. The incident had been dealt with and the lady decided that she would not call the police. She went away after thanking me, the man returned to the bar where he came from, and I was finally able to take a walk in Iqaluit’s peaceful atmosphere, few hours before going back to work at the Transport Canada flight service station (FSS).

(Next story: two Polish asylum seekers in Iqaluit)

For more real life stories as a FSS in Iqaluit, click on the following link: Flight service specialist (FSS) in Iqaluit

Tags Arctic, Baffin Island, Canada, CYFB, flight service specialist, flight service station, Frobisher Bay airport, FSS, Inuit, Iqaluit, Iqaluit airport, Nunavut, police, real life stories, security, social problems, thief, Transport Canada

Real life stories as a flight service specialist (FSS): Iqaluit FSS

Carrying a .357 Magnum to Iqaluit

Post author By Stanley
Post date 30 July 2015

(Precedent document: Aviation photography: Rouyn-Noranda aircraft photos during 1986-1988 (Part three of three)

In 1988, I left Rouyn-Noranda for the Transport Canada flight service station, on Baffin Island. Iqaluit is Nunavut’s Capital and a designated port of entry to Canada for international air and marine transportation. Located at the crossroads of both polar and high North Atlantic air routes, Iqaluit airport can handle any type of aircraft.

I had to learn new tasks linked to ICAO responsibilities toward international air traffic crossing the Atlantic Ocean, as well as continue to act as a flight service specialist (FSS) and provide air traffic services.

The departure would be made from the Montreal Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau international airport. I decided to bring my .357 Magnum revolver with which I had been training for several years. Official papers authorized me to carry the gun from my home to the Montreal airport. Once there, I headed to a counter where an agent gave me another document allowing me to carry the revolver in the Nordair Boeing 737 leaving for Iqaluit.

There was no stipulation that the gun had to be left in the cockpit. I went through the security zone. The .357 Magnum was in a small case, in an Adidas sport bag. The bag was put on a moving strap, like any other hand luggage, in order to be checked by a security agent. The bag was not open by the agent; he looked at the screen, saw what was in the bag and that was it. I thought at the time that he might have received special instructions that I knew nothing about.

I was a bit surprised at the easiness with which I could carry a gun, but having never tried it before, since I was not a policeman, I concluded that it was the way things were done when all the papers and requests had been filed accordingly. The screening process being completed, I went outside and walked towards the Boeing 737.

A female flight attendant was greeting all the passengers. I presented her my airplane ticket just as I was ready to board the plane and she immediately asked me if the gun was in the bag I was carrying, and if it was loaded. My answers being acceptable, she invited me to go to my seat.

Once comfortably seated, I placed my Adidas bag under the front passenger’s seat instead of the elevated compartments along the aisles. I wanted to be able to see the bag at all times. The airplane took-off and it was a smooth flight to Iqaluit.

Three years passed and came the time to be transferred at the Transport Canada flight service station in Québec City (CYQB). The world had certainly changed during those three years isolated up in the Arctic. In 1989, Marc Lépine got known for the massacre, with a firearm, of fourteen women studying at the Montreal Polytechnic School.

I headed to the Iqaluit RCMP office in order to fill the appropriate documents that would allow me to carry the gun back to Québec City, a gun that would be sold few months after my arrival at destination. The police officer signed the papers and told me that the revolver would be kept in the Boeing 737’s cockpit.

I asked him, in case it was still allowed, if I had the liberty to carry it in my bag and put it under the front passenger’s seat, like I did for the inbound flight. He looked at me and clearly did not believe a word I had just said. But that did not matter. The gun would travel in the cockpit with the pilots and I would claim it once at destination.

When I think again about this story, almost thirty years later, I realize how the world has dramatically changed. There was a time where I could head to the Montreal international airport with my family to watch the landings and takeoffs from an exterior elevated walkway opened to the general public. From this same walkway, chimney smokers would negligently throw away their still smoking cigarette butts in an area where fuel trucks were operating.

The airport’s management eventually forbid the access to the outside walkway after having received too many complaints from passengers who rightfully claimed that their suitcases had been damaged by cigarette butts thrown from the walkway…

(Next story: Iqaluit and the old American military base)

For more real life stories as a FSS in Iqaluit, click on the following link: Flight service specialist (FSS) in Iqaluit

Photos of Canada Photos of Quebec Ship photography

Port of Quebec During Spring 2015

Post author By Stanley
Post date 1 June 2015

Busy morning in Bassin Louise, Quebec City, 2015

In order to give an impression of a very busy day in the Port of Quebec, during Spring 2015, I used a Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS II USM. A zoom is very useful to achieve some special effect in photography.

The apparent chaos in the photo is created by numerous details: first of all, the viewer has to read numerous words that have very different impacts on him: POLICE, CANADA, OCEAN, Sécurité Maritime, Maritime Security, GRC, RCMP, MEGA, Sea Tel, and part of the word Coast.

Secondly, there are numerous vertical lines of all sizes that interfere with multiple horizontal lines. The BUNGE silos, in the background, are themselves vertical lines, but much larger than the others.

The compressed perspective obtained through the use of a zoom gives the viewer a feeling that all the objects are close to each other. We are left wondering how the captain can manoeuver his boat with such little space available.

What is really happening in the scene: it is a very quiet day, where almost everything is immobile. There is only one boat that has started to move and the captain has all the space needed to leave the Bassin Louise and head toward the St-Lawrence Seaway without being concerned with any serious obstacle.

For other boat or ship photos posted on my website, click on the following link:

Ship photography

For other photos on the province of Quebec and also Quebec City, click on the following links from my blog:

Province of Quebec Photos

Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Autumn

Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Winter

Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Spring

Quebec City and Île d’Orléans in Summer

Tags Bassin Louise, Bunge, Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS II USM, compressed perspective, Maritime Security, photo, photography, police, Port of Quebec, Quebec City photos, RCMP, ship photography, St-Lawrence Seaway