Recently, I've been flying the (iniBuilds) $60 Payware A340-300 (see my previous posts, if you wish). Today, I thought of flying the other Airbus long-hauler of the yesteryears, the A330ceo, also by iniBuilds (and $0...🙂..., aka: a default airliner of MSFS2024). The (quadjet) A340 was produced in 4 variants (-200, -300, -500, -600; note the absence of "-400"). The (twinjet) A330 (ceo) was produced in 2 (pax) variants (-200, -300), plus the Freighter version -200F. The A330 also exists as P2F pax-to-freighter conversions for both -200 and -300. The Airbus A330 is no stranger to me, as a mode of my past transport. In my previous post, I'd done a bit of back-of-the-envelope type calculation to estimate the no. of times I've flown on either A340 (or A330) to be about 40 times each. 

Now, bear with me for a bit more (granular) guesstimate...🙂...: How many times did I fly specifically in the A330-300 variant? Let's see here: Lufthansa (only with which carrier I've flown on either 330 or 340), had 5 A330-200s and 12 A330-300s in its fleet. So, the probability of travelling on the A330-300 in one flight is (12/17). Since, I flew 40 times in the A330 type, I must have roughly flown on the -300 variant (alone) about [(12/17) X 40] times, which is (appx) 28 times...🙂...along with some good memories to go with it. Here is another thing I recall: My highest ever levitation...🙂...above earth's atmosphere was 41,000 ft aboard an A330, on just one occasion that I recall, surpassing the normal (35,000-39,000) ft range that I recall commonly from the 747/777/340 types. 

A330 is/was a nice airplane, considered a successful long-hauler due to its high operational reliability, efficiency, and versatility across a wide range of routes. Today, I was looking for short (in fact very short or shortest) A330 flights in North America. Several candidate flights came up on my radar, but the one that caught my attention was the Air Canada flight between Toronto and Montreal. Actually, an even shorter (only 50 mins and 140 miles) flight is the Air Transat A330 service between Montreal and Quebec City. However, I did not find an Air Transat A330 in my (a/c) repertoire...🙂, so, instead, I've picked the Air Canada (CYYZ-CYUL) flight for this post.

There is one other personal trigger for this flight. I've visited the city of Montreal a couple of times, once by air (via an Air Canada 767 in Toothpaste (blue) livery; Toronto to Montreal, exactly what this flight is), and another time by road (Detroit->Toronto->Kingston->Ottawa->Montreal; alas, ran out of time and didn't (couldn't) make it to Quebec City down the road, one of my life's regrets...🙂...Oh well...for another time). Anyway, Montreal, I recall well, especially from a Christmas time visit, a bit cold but quite memorable, indeed, especially with its so-called Underground City, a vast network of shopping, restaurants, hotels, and other attractions etc., all well-connected by metro stations, secluded from any (external) adverse (winter) weather. 

Then, coincidentally, just this week, I received an individualized card from the manager of Montreal downtown's Marriott Hotel, where I had stayed on one occasion a couple of years ago. The card arrives like clockwork every year, inviting us back to visit Montreal (and the Hotel) one more time...a nice touch of hospitality, that might just work...🙂...

So, here we go, as I fly this Air Canada Airbus A330-300 (RR) from (CYYZ) Toronto Pearson to (CYUL) Montreal-Trudeau, in the evening light. The (RW) flight time is about 1hr 20mins, with a distance of about 300 miles. When I looked up FlightAware today, for (CYYZ->CYUL), I found several flights, and the topmost on the list was, in fact, the one by an Air Canada A330-300 (#AC894). The other flights are operated by a/c such as ERJ, A320, A321, 737 MAX8, and an a/c identified by the symbol "BCS3", which I didn't know, though I knew the airplane...🙂...I'll let you find out what a/c it is...🙂...in case you didn't know...

The RW route shown in FlightAware for this flight is identical to what SimBrief suggested, which is what I've also used. After lift-off from Runway 05/CYYZ, I basically, track along the (beautiful) northeastern shoreline of Lake Ontario bathed in the glorious (golden) twilight brilliance of MSFS lighting...🙂... (see images below). It was a short but sweet flight today, in an a/c type that's (normally) used to fly across far oceans and distant lands...as it did for me too in my distant memory...

Thanks for viewing...!

Fine set !

cheers 😉

9 hours ago, pmplayer said:

Fine set !

cheers 😉

Thanks for the comment, pmplayer. Glad you liked this A333…🙂…

Cheers…!

Some great shots on this flight!

1 hour ago, John F said:

Some great shots on this flight!

Appreciated the observation, John…🙂…

This is the first time I flew all in dusk light…🙂…takeoff and touchdown included (thanks to a very short block time). This Great Lakes region is indeed very pretty, especially when viewed from above…in such (MSFS) lighting…🙂…

Cheers…!