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Aside from the Antonov 12 above, the smokiest aircraft I have seen in Toronto are the B-52H in 2005 and the CF-104D Starfighter in 2006.

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Love the YYZ history!

Here is a bit of GTA helicopter nostalgia.

From the late '70's to the early 90's the company I worked for operated sight seeing rides during the CNE. Located at the north west corner of Lakeshore Blvd and Newfoundland Rd, the rides were enormously popular.

During the busiest periods (weekends) there were 3 helicopters in the circuit. This took coordination as we only had 2 touch down - lift off areas and the rides were quite short, 4 1/2 minutes in the air. The route was clockwise. Climbing westbound, 180 degree turn around the Ontario Government Building (Liberty Grand) continue climbing east and a steep descending turn around the CN Tower back to the CNE.

At times the line up would consistently be over 100 people waiting for their ride. Upon touch down the aircraft were kept at full RPM. A ground crew team would run to the aircraft, quickly assist passengers to disembark, embark the new pax, seatbelts on, and up we go. Touch down to lift off was very brief. The operation ran with 2 Bell 206B Jet Rangers (4 pax each) and 1 Bell 206L Long Ranger (6 pax). The only time the operation slowed was when the aircraft required fuel which was done on site.

Every year we carried thousands of people, many for their first time in a helicopter. Their excitement was contagious which made it fun for us pilots.

A Long Ranger is in the foreground and a Jet Ranger in the background, parked by the drums of jet fuel.
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Holy cow! I remember that and so badly wanted a ride but never got one :(

To this day I've never flown rotary. I really need to work on changing that.
 
Tim MacDonald said:
Holy cow! I remember that and so badly wanted a ride but never got one :(

To this day I've never flown rotary. I really need to work on changing that.
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"A helicopter is a collection of parts spinning in close formation.'

'A helicopter flies by making so much noise and vibration that the earth rejects it'.

'If the wings are travelling faster than the fuselage, you're in a helicopter.'

'An aeroplane, by its very design, wants to fly. A helicopter, by its very design, wants to fall'
 
lenaitch said:
"A helicopter is a collection of parts spinning in close formation.'

'A helicopter flies by making so much noise and vibration that the earth rejects it'.

'If the wings are travelling faster than the fuselage, you're in a helicopter.'

'An aeroplane, by its very design, wants to fly. A helicopter, by its very design, wants to fall'
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My favourite is a Harry Reasoner quote (he was one of the original CBS 60 Minutes hosts). It's often referred to in the helicopter industry.

"The thing is, helicopters are different from planes. An airplane by its nature wants to fly, and if not interfered with too strongly by unusual events or by an incompetent pilot, it will fly. A helicopter does not want to fly. It is maintained in the air by a variety of forces and controls working in opposition to each other, and if there is any disturbance in this delicate balance the helicopter stops flying; immediately and disastrously.

There is no such thing as a gliding helicopter.

This is why being a helicopter pilot is so different from being an airplane pilot, and why in generality, airplane pilots are open, clear-eyed, buoyant extroverts and helicopter pilots are brooding introspective anticipators of trouble. They know if something bad has not happened it is about to."


I'm known to somewhat fit that description. 🤣
 
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Arajet buzzing the field moments ago. I guess they didn't read the notam about the airfeild being closed:
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Might be open to private traffic now:
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Operations have resumed:
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From what I'm reading, 06L/24R and 06R/24L have reopened, but the other runways remain NOTAM'd for the remainder of the 12 hours.There's still a groundstop on other aircraft until 2230 UTC.

I'm hearing that some flights were diverted to YOW/YUL as well.
 
JJTheJetPln said:
From what I'm reading, 06L/24R and 06R/24L have reopened, but the other runways remain NOTAM'd for the remainder of the 12 hours.There's still a groundstop on other aircraft until 2230 UTC.

I'm hearing that some flights were diverted to YOW/YUL as well.
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And a bunch of stuff returned to point of origin. What a mess.
 
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