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Floatplane / seaplane services in Victoria - Harbour Air | Kenmore Air


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#1 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 21 December 2006 - 10:29 AM

Sea to ski: Howe Sound Seaplanes will take advantage of the Whistler market starting in early 2007
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Owner Brett Baynton of Howe Sound Seaplanes plans service to the Squamish-Whistler area.
Photograph by : Ray Smith, Times Colonist
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Font: * * * * Carla Wilson, Times Colonist
Published: Thursday, December 21, 2006
A new seaplane business is planning to offer scheduled flights from Victoria to Squamish in the new year to take advantage of the Whistler market.

Howe Sound Seaplanes has also joined the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce, where it became its 1,500th member last month.

The chamber is celebrating reaching the 1,500 membership mark. New members are being attracted by a stronger advocacy role, chamber president Robin Adair said yesterday during a recognition ceremony for Howe Sound Seaplanes.

Adair also credits chamber CEO Bruce Carter with bringing stability and a new direction to the organization. Carter was appointed CEO in the summer of 2004.

Howe Sound Seaplanes is owned by Brett and Angela Baynton of Nanaimo.

The company has two de Havilland Beaver aircraft, with room for five passengers each.

Howe Sound offers two 25-minute flights daily between Nanaimo and Vancouver.

It has just started operating out of the Hyack Air floatplane terminal in Victoria's Inner Harbour with two 35-minute flights daily between Victoria and Vancouver, Brett Baynton said.

Early in 2007, the company will begin scheduled service to the Squamish- Whistler area. Victoria passengers can fly to Vancouver, where there will be a brief stop, and then on to Squamish. A bus will carry them to their destination in Whistler, Baynton said.

He had been offering seaplane instruction in Nanaimo when he decided to launch Howe Sound Seaplanes and looked for routes that were not being served.

The Island links with Vancouver and Squamish-Whistler made sense to him, particularly with the 2010 Olympics in Whistler approaching.

Baynton is originally from Lloydminster, Alta., where he learned to fly.

"Once I started flying, I knew that was exactly what I was supposed to be doing ... I liked it so much, I bought the school." The school was later sold and Baynton and other family members took over the Baker's Narrows fishing lodge outside Flin Flon, Man.

Baynton started a seaplane company for the lodge, but weather conditions limited flying to four months a year so he moved to Vancouver Island.
<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#2 Holden West

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Posted 21 December 2006 - 12:09 PM

Looking at the photo on their website,

http://www.howesoundseaplanes.com/db/

it looks like they're flying piston Beavers with two-bladed propellers (as opposed to Turbo-Beavers). As I understand it, this is about as noisy as a floatplane gets compared to three-blade prop piston Beavers, Turbo Beavers or the Otters of Harbour Air and Kenmore Air.

I think the residents of the Songhees condos will have something to say about this!
"Beaver, ahoy!""The bridge is like a magnet, attracting both pedestrians and over 30,000 vehicles daily who enjoy the views of Victoria's harbour. The skyline may change, but "Big Blue" as some call it, will always be there."
-City of Victoria website, 2009

#3 G-Man

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Posted 21 December 2006 - 12:16 PM

I am worried that their commentary might be linked to the bizarre weather we have been having.

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#4 Holden West

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Posted 21 December 2006 - 12:20 PM

Yes, we do allow skies, snowboards, bikes and golf clubs as cargo.


Yes, I am frequently dissappointed at the appearance of the skies when I fly and always bring my own.
"Beaver, ahoy!""The bridge is like a magnet, attracting both pedestrians and over 30,000 vehicles daily who enjoy the views of Victoria's harbour. The skyline may change, but "Big Blue" as some call it, will always be there."
-City of Victoria website, 2009

#5 G-Man

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Posted 21 December 2006 - 12:31 PM

They should sell that at BCAA in their travel section. It could come in a compact carrying case.

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#6 Holden West

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Posted 21 December 2006 - 12:53 PM


Owner Brett Baynton of Howe Sound Seaplanes plans
service to the Squamish-Whistler area.
Photograph by : Ray Smith, Times Colonist

====

O.K., so they've wisely upraded the props.
"Beaver, ahoy!""The bridge is like a magnet, attracting both pedestrians and over 30,000 vehicles daily who enjoy the views of Victoria's harbour. The skyline may change, but "Big Blue" as some call it, will always be there."
-City of Victoria website, 2009

#7 Ben Smith

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Posted 03 January 2007 - 03:16 PM

Hey cool, I'd bet thatd be a nice flight.

Just for randomness's sake, did you guys know we are the biggest sea-airport in the world?! And one of the busiest harbors in North America?!

#8 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 03 January 2007 - 04:49 PM

Hey cool, I'd bet thatd be a nice flight.

Just for randomness's sake, did you guys know we are the biggest sea-airport in the world?! And one of the busiest harbors in North America?!


I do know that Helijet is only the second SCHEDULED helicopter airline in NA (I think NY has one). The Hamptons to Manhattan in 18 minutes, no airstrip required! j/k, I don't know what it is, but it's in NY.
<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#9 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 03 January 2007 - 04:54 PM

EDIT: the damn internet has all the answers..

Type "scheduled helicopter service" into Google and first up is Helijet, second is this:

http://www.flyush.com/



Your time is valuable. Why spend it stuck in airport traffic? At US Helicopter, our regularly scheduled flights will travel from Manhattan to JFK and Newark in just 8 minutes. And while our helicopters let you soar over traffic, our prices are firmly on the ground. In fact, we’re roughly the same price as an airport limo.

Ah, helicopter for the price of a limo, great. Now we'll have 17-year old drunk grads drinking champagne and yelling out the moonroof of helicopters.
<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#10 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 13 April 2009 - 09:23 PM

Not sure what is with this Howe Sound service, their website seems wacky.

Anyway, I nipped over to Van last Sunday to catch a really bad Canucks game.

Took Harbour Air as usual, and despite the fact this little overnighter cost me probably $1400 total (for me and my date), let me tell ya, once again the harbour-to-harbour flight is the best thing going.

It is so quick and convenient, and a gorgeous flight, it always leads me to wonder if they couldn't make the thing $69 and attract enough business to make it viable to keep all their planes and more in the air for the full set of daylight hours....right now, with tax, it's getting up to $150 each way.

#11 G-Man

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Posted 14 April 2009 - 07:02 AM

Yeah it is pretty expensive if you are not buying bulk.

#12 G-Man

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Posted 14 April 2009 - 07:49 AM

Orca Air between YYJ and YVR has some great deals right now of 69 bucks each way.

#13 Bob Fugger

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Posted 14 April 2009 - 07:53 AM

Not sure what is with this Howe Sound service, their website seems wacky.

Anyway, I nipped over to Van last Sunday to catch a really bad Canucks game.

Took Harbour Air as usual, and despite the fact this little overnighter cost me probably $1400 total (for me and my date), let me tell ya, once again the harbour-to-harbour flight is the best thing going.

It is so quick and convenient, and a gorgeous flight, it always leads me to wonder if they couldn't make the thing $69 and attract enough business to make it viable to keep all their planes and more in the air for the full set of daylight hours....right now, with tax, it's getting up to $150 each way.


One of the perks of getting into grad school (crossing fingers) is that I would once again be able to qualify for the student standby fares. The getting edumacated part is nice, too. ;)

$69 each way? One, please. Screw you, BC Ferries and your minimum 4 hours doorstep-to-doorstep.

#14 Holden West

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Posted 16 August 2009 - 07:28 PM

Sagging Quincy Dock eyed by developer sized up for hazards

Harris wants to repair the dock for a seaplane landing and boat moorage during summer season, then pull the floats for winter storage.

The [Port Townsend Quincy] dock would be designed so seaplanes could fly into Port Townsend Bay from Seattle and Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia, and tie up there.

Kenmore Air officials have already expressed interest in landing the company's seaplanes out of Elliott Bay and dropping off passengers at Quincy Dock.


"Beaver, ahoy!""The bridge is like a magnet, attracting both pedestrians and over 30,000 vehicles daily who enjoy the views of Victoria's harbour. The skyline may change, but "Big Blue" as some call it, will always be there."
-City of Victoria website, 2009

#15 Barra

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Posted 27 August 2009 - 01:53 PM

Victoria's harbour airport is the ONLY certified marine airport in North America, and probably in the world. Interestingly, however, it is certified under a draft federal airport regulation that has never been properly reviewed or finalized through Parliament. There is an interesting difference between the regulation for land-based airports and the draft regulation for marine airports. For land-based airport there is a regulated "transition zone" which must be kept clear at all times. This "transition zone is parallell to the runway/landing zone and extends in a triangular formation at an 11 degree angle from the ground. The transition zone is above the 11 degree line. If this were applied to the Victoria harbour, guess what - the Queensport condo and Shutters extend in to the transition area - i.e. in to a potentially dangerous area.
So - the draft Reg. for marine airports, rather than putting safety first, looked at the Victoria scenario and said - Oh, darn! buildings! So they ditched the existing land standard and chose to require what is known as "coffin zoning" (interesting choice of name) which is allowed in the standard Reg. but only in remote settings such as mountainous valleys. The theory, I guess, is that if you hit a mountain only the passengers would get killed. Conveniently, the transition zone described in "coffin zoning" consists of a 15 meter vertical line, followed (at the top) with a line drawn at a 27 degree angle from the ground, starting at the top of the vertical line. Now we have a line that puts the condos in a "safe" area.
Coffin zoning would never be allowed for a land-based airport, nor would it be allowed for buildings to be built so close to a runway.

Don't you just love living in Victoria????
Pieta VanDyke

#16 Mike K.

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Posted 27 August 2009 - 02:48 PM

In all the years that we've had seaplane service to and from our harbour, never once was there an accident between an aircraft and a building. On the other hand, consider how many times aircraft of all sizes have crashed into buildings miles from the airport that happened to be on the approach or departure path?

We have a safe harbour airport and the danger these aircraft pose to nearby buildings is obviously low enough for it to continue operations.

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#17 G-Man

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Posted 27 August 2009 - 02:56 PM

Please... just we need people complaining about the seaplanes. Thank goodness that transport Canada had the foresight to look beyond the local Nimbys and go ahead with their new ATC tower in James Bay.

#18 LJ

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Posted 27 August 2009 - 08:33 PM

Please... just we need people complaining about the seaplanes. Thank goodness that transport Canada had the foresight to look beyond the local Nimbys and go ahead with their new ATC tower in James Bay.


Just FYI - it is not an ATC tower it is a Flight Service Station.

They provide an information service not a control service.

It is also not being built or operated by Transport Canada it is run by NavCanada - a not for profit private corporation.
Life's a journey......so roll down the window and enjoy the breeze.

#19 LJ

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Posted 27 August 2009 - 08:54 PM

Victoria's harbour airport is the ONLY certified marine airport in North America, and probably in the world. ??



Where did you get that information from? I don't find it plausible.

Have a look at this if you want to see what a busy float plane airport is like.

http://www.airport-d...ort/LHD/#runway
Life's a journey......so roll down the window and enjoy the breeze.

#20 Barra

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Posted 28 August 2009 - 09:32 AM

I got that information from Transport Canada - both in written form and in their presentations to City Council at their Standing Committee on the Harbour Airport.
Pieta VanDyke

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