Querétaro International Airport at Sunset with a Volaris A320 Destined for Cancun
One of the perks of working at the Bombardier Site in Querétaro, México is that we are located at the International Airport. From my desk on the 3rd floor, I have a perfect view of the runway.
This is not a very busy airport – mostly a few daily ERJ 145 flights from American Eagle and United Express (my preferred escape home). Volaris and Areomexico have recently added flights to Monterrey, Mexico City and Cancun. DHL and Fed EX make a daily run here as well, and of course there’s the usual mix of business and private aircraft. Even Bombardier has a weekly shuttle from here to Wichita and Montreal for its never ending stream of employees.
It is cool working at an airport – especially one that is not overly congested. Not quite as cool as my days at NAVAIR where I had a similar view of an F-18 Squadron flying daily and the Navy Test Pilot School flying every variety of aircraft imaginable.
On a recent Saturday I was working here all alone and to my surprise a massive National Air Cargo 747-400 Freighter taxied by heading to the south end of the runway. Even though this is one of the longest runways in México, it looked magnificently out of place here.
When it finally took off, the wingspan was so great that it kicked up a humongous trailing dust cloud for the entire length of the runway and beyond. To this day I can kick myself for not pulling out my little S-100 and capturing the most magnificent take-off that I ever witnessed on video. Since then I keep it handy (thus the shot above).
So as tedious as life gets here in México, there are a few perks. And as much as I want to get back to the US, I certainly will miss the dozens of folks that I work with here when I finally leave.
I have to head home again this weekend to finally sign the closing papers on my house refinance. Then I have long spell back here until the Easter Holiday, when virtually everything shuts down for a week. It’s too early to say what I will do that week but I am tempted to hop that Volaris flight to Cancun!
