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In partnership with the
Greater Toronto Airports Authority, Peel Regional Police & Royal Canadian Mounted Police
  
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Tours & EventsBack to Tours & Events main page |
Bombardier Aerospace Tour
On Sunday, April 29th, the YYZ Airport Watch Members were treated to a tour of the Bombardier facility at Downsview. Unfortunately, numbers had to be limited and many members were unable to participate. We hope to visit the Bombardier facilities again in the future and that members who missed this tour, will have an opportunity to do so at that time. A big thank you goes out to YYZ Airport Watch member Trevor Ogle for preparing the following summary of this great tour.
April 29th was a beautiful sunny day as members met at the front entrance to the plant. Some of us took the opportunity to arrive a few minutes early to see if any aircraft were outside and therefore available for photographs. The only aircraft outside were a Global Express and a Dash 8 400 which is destined for Luxair, both in primer. No cameras, or cell phones with cameras, were permitted on the tour for security reasons.
Our group was divided into two by our tour guides, Mr. Bill Tee & Mr. Norm Beauchamp both of whom are retired from Bombardier. Since it was a Sunday, there were a limited number of employees working on the lines. I was very surprised at the number of airframes being worked on, perhaps greater than 40 and this does not include those airframes just beginning their life. As always occurs when you have the chance to stand beside an aircraft, the size is quite surprising with even Dash 8's appearing much larger than when spotted on approach to YYZ. The Global Express is a very large and impressive airframe. Perhaps I am a little ignorant but was surprised to learn that Bombardier also builds the wings for Learjets and ships them to Wichita, Kansas for mating with the fuselages.
The "scribblers" on the tour were busy
noting the airframe numbers and registrations on the
aircraft, our tour guides were very patient and
understanding of our love of the industry and allowed us
access to ensure that no registration went unnoticed. The most enjoyable part of the tour for me was to see the fully painted aircraft almost ready for delivery to their customer. Their were only 3 Dash 8 400's which were fully painted, the first one for Luxair, one for Japan Air Lines and one for FlyBe. Many others appeared ready to enter the paint shop and had the prospective customers name on the airframe.
The tour lasted approximately 2 hours and I highly recommend other members take the opportunity if and when it is offered.
The YYZ Airport Watch would like to thank the following persons for helping make this a memorable and enjoyable event.
Bombardier Aerospace - Mr. Terry Millman, Mr. Martin Laus, Mr. Bill Tee, Mr. Norm Beauchamp, & Ms. Marina Iacobucci.
The Airport Watch Committee would also like to thank Mr. Mike Ody for his help with getting this event organized and off the ground.
Photos courtesy of Ken Keen & Andrew Cline
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