680 replies to this topic

[VicHockeyFan]

New fare classes for HA.  Looking out to a July booking, looks like the lowest fares are $132 on the weekend harbour to harbour, $139 weekdays.

 

[VicHockeyFan]

http://theprovince.c...29-083ae40991e2

 

Harbour Air is partnering with Kenmore Air for Seattle to Vancouver flights.

[Rob Randall]

A Beaver floatplane has crashed north of Sydney, Australia this morning killing six. The plane spent its entire existence since delivery in 1963 in Australia with all maintenance done there so it has no connection to Victoria flight operators or Viking Air. From photographs it doesn't appear VH-NOO had been modified to a turbo engine like Victoria Beavers have been.

[Rob Randall]

Richard Cousins, the CEO of Compass Group, the world's largest food service provider, was killed along with his family in that crash in Australia. Compass provides food and other services to local hospitals including VGH, Jubilee and Saanich Peninsula as well as many of the big nursing homes. 

 

Also killed was the pilot, Gareth Morgan from North Vancouver. I don't know if he ever flew into Victoria Harbour.

Edited by Rob Randall, 01 January 2018 - 07:58 PM.

[Matt R.]

I heard about this crash at the time and today more in-depth about the pilot, but strangely the story didn’t mention the VIP aboard.

Matt.

[spanky123]

A Beaver floatplane has crashed north of Sydney, Australia this morning killing six. The plane spent its entire existence since delivery in 1963 in Australia with all maintenance done there so it has no connection to Victoria flight operators or Viking Air. From photographs it doesn't appear VH-NOO had been modified to a turbo engine like Victoria Beavers have been.

 

If the maintenance facility ever bought any spare parts then it had a connection to Viking. I am not suggesting that it had anything to do with the crash, just that Viking makes all of the spare parts for the Beaver.

[VicHockeyFan]

Looks like they all likely drowned.  Attempted rescuers were there in 60 seconds but could not get the plane doors open.  But they jumped in the oily water and gave it their best.

 

Some photos and decent story here...

 

http://www.dailymail...ught-photo.html

Edited by VicHockeyFan, 02 January 2018 - 09:09 AM.

[Bingo]

Business is taking off.

 

 

 

 

[Bingo]

A Beaver floatplane has crashed north of Sydney, Australia this morning killing six. The plane spent its entire existence since delivery in 1963 in Australia with all maintenance done there so it has no connection to Victoria flight operators or Viking Air. From photographs it doesn't appear VH-NOO had been modified to a turbo engine like Victoria Beavers have been.

 

North Vancouver pilot may have accidentally been knocked out moments before fatal crash

 

 

The owner of an Australian seaplane company says a fatal mishap may have caused a de Havilland Beaver to crash near Sydney on New Year's Eve, killing all six on board, including North Vancouver pilot Gareth Morgan.

Jerry Schwartz told The Australian news outlet that a passenger in the front seat of the Sydney Seaplanes aircraft may have caused Morgan to become unconscious, possibly by striking him in the head with a camera or elbow while trying to take photographs.

https://www.cbc.ca/n...crash-1.4857171

 

[Mike K.]

Harbour Air says its planning on adding an electric float plane to its fleet, and the company is poised for an all-electric future.

 

If this actually pans out over the near future the impact on coastal communities will be huge.

[Victoria Watcher]

is it april 1?

seriously though very short flights like harbour air will be the first with electric planes. but it’s still 20 years away just due to certification issues with aviation.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 26 March 2019 - 05:53 AM.

[Mike K.]

20 years away?

[Victoria Watcher]

yes. there is not even an experimental plane yet. we are too small a jurisdiction to be the leader. beaurocracy here is much too conservative. that’s good and bad. it’ll have to happen elsewhere first. 20 years.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 26 March 2019 - 06:59 AM.

[Mike K.]

Canada pioneered flight in many ways, and we were/are a leader in float plane/bush piloting which applies to Harbour Air's aircraft. As long as the technology is tested/proven there's no reason why it should take two decades for Transport Canada to certify the planes, especially if they're hybrids and allow EV operations part-time, like during take-off when noise emissions and fuel emissions cause the most complaints.

[Victoria Watcher]

we pioneered flight when litigation (against both private companies and government) was minor or non-existent. regulation was almost zero.

different time now.

[spanky123]

I am sure that they could fly an electric plane the 30 minutes between harbours. Not sure if there would be enough room for passengers though. A Tesla battery is about 700 lbs and I would have to think that you would need at least 5x-10x that for an aircraft.

[Victoria Watcher]

well the tesla battery I guess has to last longer than 30 minutes.

it’s the whole weight to power ratio that is not favourable for aircraft.

anyway today’s tc article says they will start with the beaver. not the otters we see mostly in the harbour. it’ll have a 750hp engine. that compares to the ~1000hp engines on the otters that cost about $1 million each.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 26 March 2019 - 09:07 AM.

[Matt R.]

Some more info on the Harbour Air electrification program.

https://www.prnewswi...-300818145.html

Matt.

Edited by Matt R., 26 March 2019 - 10:42 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

although an electric engine might seem simpler that a turbo engine it’s not really. a turbo engine is pretty simple really but just made with some really expensive parts and amazingly finely machined tolerances.

[spanky123]

well the tesla battery I guess has to last longer than 30 minutes.

it’s the whole weight to power ratio that is not favourable for aircraft.

anyway today’s tc article says they will start with the beaver. not the otters we see mostly in the harbour. it’ll have a 750hp engine. that compares to the ~1000hp engines on the otters that cost about $1 million each.

 

 

Looking at the engine specs it requires about 250KW to run at 150HP.  The storage capacity of a 700 LB Tesla battery is 85 KWH

Edited by spanky123, 26 March 2019 - 11:35 AM.