Morningstar Panda Express Boeing 757-2BSF Takeoff @ Toronto Pearson Int’l

March 27, 2018 flight2000it

Morningstar Panda Express Boeing 757-2BSF Takeoff @ Toronto Pearson Int’l March 23, 2018
Well, here we have it! The five years are up for the Panda’s and here is how it unfolded:

In 2012, China partnered with Canada to have two Giant Panda’s loaned for ten years as a part of a global conservation program to the Toronto Zoo and Calgary Zoo respectively for five years each. In 2013, Giant Panda’s Da Mao and Er Shun arrived at Toronto Pearson Int’l on board a McDonnell Douglas MD-11F as the Panda Express. Since I was not a hardcore spotter at that point, I unfortunately do not have that movement captured anywhere in my videos but nevertheless, on we go to 2015 where the pair had two new Panda’s; Jia Panpan and Jia Yueyue which made it the first time in history that Giant Panda’s were born in Canada.

Moving on to 2018, the five years are up and its time for the Calgary Zoo to takeover the Panda operation. On 23MAR18, I headed out with several aviation enthusiasts to RWY 23 to catch the aircraft carrying the Panda’s taking off. They were trucked over from the Toronto Zoo at 0900hrs and arrived around 1030hrs to Toronto Pearson Int’l via a special police escort. Unfortunately, FedEx was completely closed off during the time of the loading so I was unable to capture any of that so I settled for a RWY 05 departure shot from RWY 23, aware of the heat haze but still, glad I was able to get them taking off!

Farewell to the four Giant Panda’s and I hope you enjoy your new home in Calgary! 🙂

AIRCRAFT INFO:

Airline: FedEx Canada (Operated by Morningstar Air Express)
Flight: MAL8989
Call sign: “MORNINGSTAR PANDA EPXRESS 1”
Aircraft: Boeing 757-2BSF
Registration: C-FMEQ
Destination: Calgary Int’l (CYYC)

Date Filmed: 23MAR18
Time: 1251hrs

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