Victoria Seaplane Terminal - Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Posted by: 
The A-Team
N 48° 25.439 W 123° 22.240
10U E 472577 N 5363492
The Victoria Seaplane Terminal serves the Victoria Harbour Water Aerodrome, located in the Inner Harbour of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
Waymark Code: WMQ1VJ
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 12/01/2015
Views: 3
The history of seaplanes using Victoria's Inner Harbour as an airport dates back to August 6, 1913. On the morning of that day - as part of a week-long, city-wide carnival - American aviator John Bryant landed his Curtiss biplane in the harbour, becoming the first seaplane to land at what would later become the Victoria Harbour Water Aerodrome. Unfortunately, five minutes after he took off from the harbour later that day, he crashed on top of the Lee Dye Building in downtown Victoria and became Canada's first air fatality.
Over the century since that fateful day, air traffic flying into and out of the harbour has increased significantly. Today, the air route between the Victoria Harbour Water Aerodrome (CYWH) and the Vancouver Harbour Water Airport (CYHC) is the busiest route in Canada by number of flights, with over 400 scheduled flights each week. In addition, there are a number of flights from the aerodrome to Seattle and other coastal destinations. The aerodrome is served primarily by Harbour Air (the world's largest all-seaplane airline) and Kenmore Air.
Passenger traffic at the aerodrome is handled through the Victoria Seaplane Terminal, located at 1000 Wharf Street. The terminal has three gates that lead to floating docks where as many as 10 seaplanes can tie up.
The aerodrome itself consists of two water runways at an elevation of 0 feet (sea level):
- Take-off & Landing Area A: Bearing 071°/251°, 3220 feet
- Take-off & Landing Area B: Bearing 015°/195°, 3200 feet
The water runways are in the middle of the entrance to the harbour, leading to significant traffic management issues. A number of white strobe lights dot the shores and markers of the harbour to alert boat traffic to the impending take-off or landing of an aircraft. There are also a number of small-vessel transit routes defined in the harbour to help keep marine traffic separated from the air traffic. However, ferries, yachts, and other large vessels also use the harbour, so aircraft sometimes need to circle the harbour several times until such vessels clear the landing area. Coordination of air traffic in the harbour is handled by the Victoria Harbour Flight Service Station, an air traffic control tower located on the HMCS Malahat Naval Reserve building at 20 Huron Street on Shoal Point.