I'm bit of a fan of old and classic airline liveries, as, certainly, many folks, also, here, are...and, we know, airlines, do change their colors, though infrequently, to new ones, sometimes, much to the chagrin of followers and enthusiasts, including some diehard fans right here in this forum...🙂...The (recent) livery changes by Lufthansa and Air Canada, are two great examples. A quick search today revealed several comments and expressions of frustration - referring, of course, to the latest liveries of these two Airlines...Oh well...we cannot (usually) control the corporate decision-making process and the associated business motivations...of these Airlines...(and, so, are resigned to accept the change)...

Anyway, regarding Air Canada, the subject of my post here, I've, especially, always, liked one of its old (and long-standing) liveries. The airline, has been, traditionally, well known for its "red-on-white" color-scheme bearing the hallmark "3-D maple leaf" - inside a circle - logo (btw, no shortage of (diverse) SIM aircraft, for us, with this specific livery). The other (later) "mint blue-green" (not sure why it's often referred to as the "toothpaste" livery, but, personally, I think, it's rather elegant!), and the (latest) "black and white" pattern - both these liveries (with the same classic "red maple leaf") are also (now) well-known...(I, do recall seeing these liveries, very recently, here, in this forum)...

In RL, my only (PAX) flight in an Air Canada aircraft, was in a B777, on the 2nd leg of a flight (Chicago -> Toronto -> Montreal) - many years ago. It was an un-scheduled (but, nonetheless, pleasant) substitution from my original United flight (these two Airlines being partners in the same Star Alliance group).

And, here is a bit of historical insight, at least, for myself, about Air Canada...The airline, was founded in 1937 (from predecessor Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA)). On record, I find, that a Boeing Stearman (and a few Lockheed Electras) became its very first aircraft. The predecessor, Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA), had inaugurated its first flight on September 1, 1937, with a 50-minute flight aboard a Lockheed L-10A carrying two passengers and some mail between Vancouver and Seattle. Here, today, I'm re-tracing, the same (CYVR->KSEA) flight, in the virtual world, but, not e.g. in a (little) Boeing Stearman, but, in a (majestic) Boeing B747-400 (SIM)! In 1971, the Airline had introduced five B747 (-100) variants into the fleet. The last Air Canada Boeing 747 was flown, on 31 October 2004, from Frankfurt, landing in Toronto, thereby ending 33 years of (continued) B747 service with the airline.

So, below, please find a set of images of the retro-ACA livery B747-400, on a short flight from CYVR - lifting off Rwy 26L (West - over the waters of Strait of Georgia), and then turning south towards KSEA (I've merely pushed the LNAV/VNAV buttons to do the magic in my case...I've a feeling, in RW, things cannot be just not that simple on the 747!). And, I wish, in RL, during my last visit to Seattle, I could have made the trip up (north) to Vancouver. With not enough time, in hand, I'd to choose between a visit to either "the Boeing Plant" or "the city of Vancouver". I'd chosen the former...

[Note on the ACA livery etc.: Before/during my previous (Air Pacific) post (the first post) on this (iFly) B747 SIM, I thought I'd collected most of the (747) repaints (of interest to me) from the Flight1 Library, but, as I re-visited that website, today, I noticed Steve D's ACA-Red repaint, perched near the top of the list (2nd or 3rd) along with his KLM...not sure, how, I'd missed this nice (retro) ACA livery last time...so, I picked it up from there, today, just for this flight. And, Steve: within the limitations of my (humble) FSX/SE, these images may not match your (glittering) PBR/P3D repaints of the same plane, but, nonetheless, this classic (timeless) aircraft, in whatever livery, never fails to give me a few goosebumps, every time it lifts off the runway...! Truly a remarkable piece of excitement and experience out of our (entire) SIM! So, thank you!!]

Hope you folks enjoy these images as much I did! Supporting notes and comments are always welcome! Thanks for your interest and a Good weekend!

[Meanwhile, on a serious note, hoping for it to plateau...and slow down...soon...all around the world...!]

[iFly(744V2)/Orbx(PNW)/REX]

Edited April 11, 20206 yr by P_7878

Very enjoyable...both pics and text.

John

Great series of one of my favorite paints!   Glad you're enjoying her.

Thanks for posting pics and an interesting story of her!!

John: Thank you! Glad you enjoyed!!

Steve:

Appreciated the comments!

I should fly this SIM, more often...really nice one, it is!

Like I'd mentioned earlier, the Freeware iFly 747, was my first ever introduction to a good (FSX) 747 SIM...So, I'm familiar with iFly since a long time...Of course, you're in the inner circles over there...

And, just now, I looked back, at your "Toothpaste and Canuks" post...I now recall the name, being funny, and also recall seeing the "Toothpaste" A330 images in that post, up front, but, due to some reason, I never kept pace with the rest of the post, and don't recall rest of that post...not sure what happened....but, you've shown the Retro-ACA there too. Trust me, if I'd seen those images, then, you would have see this post just a few days after that post of yours...🙂...Also, please see your first ACA image, there, vs. my 5th image, here, above...strangely similar....thinking alike a bit...🙂...(but, again, I'm seeing those ACA images for the first time today)...

And a bit of recap about our AC (C-GAGN) B747, here:

First of all, I noted, the "343", Fleet No./FIN no., you've duly attached to the tail, please see my 3rd image above...didn't know too much about this FIN No. It seems to be not a unique no. as REG. No. AC uses a 3-digit FIN No. (some airlines use 4): 1st digit for aircraft type (AC's B767s start with "6" and A330s use "9" etc..), the 2nd/3rd digits for delivery date and aircraft model. Interesting...

Regarding C-GAGN, it was converted to an all cargo configuration by Air China (B-2478) in 2006. Then it went into service for Saudi Arabian Airline on a lease from My Cargo (ACT-Turkey) Airlines under registration (TC-ACJ). On June 17 2017, the aircraft was leased to Air Cargo Global (Slovakia) as OM-ACJ. It operated its last service in 2019(?) and has been, since, stored at Sharjah, UAE.

Although it seems still "current", as of now (2020), it's now 27-28 years old, and so may never fly again, but who knows...?

[If you wish to see it, before it left Air Canada, please search for e.g.  "C-GAGN Boeing 747 Jetphotos"....looks good wearing Air Canada's new (black & white) paint...!]

***Fantastic trip down Memory Lane***

One advantage of flying FSX... you get the classic paint jobs. 😉

Patrick and Clutch: Good to hear from you!!

Patrick: I was not sure, if you meant, down the memory lane of Air Canada or down the memory lane of the Queen (or maybe you meant down the memory lane of your own FSX past...haunting you...)...🙂...but, it does not matter, all these are correct...!

Clutch: Yes, you're right! First of all, these folks e.g. the F1 team, (with all the painters over there plus Steve/Brian et al. from here) have contributed so many (high-quality) repaints to (P3D/FSX) e.g. (737/747), I find it mind-boggling! Of course, I dread the (occasional) disclaimer, "Should work in FSX, but not tested"...),...🙂...and I always hope for the best...(usually, no issues, though...)

Added note to Steve:
Steve, when, I used the iFly Config tool, here, to add this ACA Paint, I admit, my 747 came up with "all pitch-black" engines...and, I said to myself, oh..oh..maybe Steve forgot (us) the FSX folks...🙂...! But, then, I realized my (own) mistake, I was not changing the "Engine Type" from "GE" to "PW" in the Tool (that fixed my problem)...

This is what happens, when you fly this once every 3 months...but, one must fly, to keep oneself (like me) honest, and, also, to know "armchair" piloting is, by no means, a taste of "RL" piloting....🙂...!

Great shots.  Being a child of the '70's, that's my favorite Air Canada livery.