The NetLetter

For Air Canada Retirees
(Part of the ACFamily Network)

 

May 25, 2013 - Issue 1256
First Issue published in October 1995!
(over 5,400 subscribers)
In This Issue
Star Alliance News
Air Canada News
Women in Aviation
Reader Submitted...Photos
TCA/Air Canada People Gallery
Alan's Space
Canadi>n/CP Air/PWA, Wardair, etc
Reader's Feedback
Odds and Ends
Terry's Trivia
Smileys
NetLetter Past Issues

Past Issues
Web Site Information

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Greetings!
Terry Baker
Welcome to the NetLetter!

We welcome you to allow the NetLetter to be your platform, and opportunity, to relive your history while working for either TCA, AC, CPAir, CAIL, PWA, AirBC, Wardair. etal. and share your experiences with us!

Terry Baker and the NetLetter Team

Star Alliance News
Star AllianceAir New Zealand is the launch customer for the 787-9, which is longer than the 787-8 currently in operation. The airline will welcome 10 of these new generation aircraft into its fleet between 2014 and 2017.

Air Canada News
Air Canada
Air Canada touts "greenest ever" flight. Airbus and Air Canada joined forces in June 2012 to perform a flight from Canada to Mexico that cut CO2 emissions by more than 40% compared to a regular flight.

The Airbus A319 flew from Toronto to Mexico City and used bio fuels as well as streamlined air traffic management procedures to achieve the emissions savings.

Air Canada flight AC991 was the second leg of a series of four bio fuel flights taking ICAO Secretary General Raymond Benjamin to Rio de Janeiro for the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.
 
Airbus, Air Canada and BioFuelNet Canada have formed a partnership to assess Canadian solutions for the production of sustainable jet fuels with a long-term goal of supplying Air Canada.

Women in Aviation - Compiled by Terry Baker
Tony Iudica has supplied some information and photos of the "Dreams take flight" article we mentioned in NetLetter nr 1255:

I am so glad you were doing a piece on Dreams! It's a fantastic Air Canada charity. I've been doing it for about 20 yrs... it never gets old!

On May 8th, 2013 Dreams Take Flight arrived in MCO for the day. Here I am with three Female Captains and a Female mechanic! The Capt. on my right is Cathy Fraser, then there's Tony (me), Maint. Wendy Neilson, Capt Dawn Wells and kneeling is Capt Janet Clay. Capt Cathy Fraser's husband is Dafydd Williams who flew 2 space shuttle missions. She has wonderful pictures of him in space, and I actually got to touch her Capt bars which flew in space. She wouldn't let me touch her wings which flew in space too...  Ha.

They were the best front-end crew I've ever worked with! Although all crews front and back who do the Dream Flights are fantastic. This crew was special! The Acft. arrived at 10:10 am with a mechanical, which was solved around 2:00 pm by Wendy with some great UA Avionic guys. Thank the 767 gods Amen! I was too busy working when the kids were on the ground to take a pic. It was a 4:00 am till 2:00 am day for us volunteers from Tampa... but the Kids had a BLAST! There's nothing like it! Thanks to all... Thanks Again. Tony Iudica 

four girl

dft

Reader Submitted Photos - Compiled by Terry Baker

Readers PhotosReader Submitted Photos -  The photos and information below have been submitted to us by our faithful readers.  


 

Jack Stephens sends us this message referring to NetLetter nr 1252 under "Readers submitted photos"
Thanks for publishing the photo. I forwarded the NetLetter to Norman Wells. Warren Wright who started the air service, sits on the board of the Norman Wells Heritage Centre. I am working on a submission to the Centre/museum.  The photo came from the Curator. Here is another one, from them. North-Wright DHC-6, Norman Wells Airport, Circa, 2012. The Franklin Mountains in the distance.
Jack

TCA/Air Canada People Gallery - Compiled by Terry Baker
 
TCA/Air Canada  LogoBelow we have musings from the "Between Ourselves" and "Horizons" magazine, Air Canada publications from years gone by, as well as various in-house publications.

The NetLetter has been fortunate enough to have our readers donate vintage Trans-Canada Air Lines and Air Canada publications from as far back as 1941 to share with you. These have been scanned and are being prepared for presenting in a special area of the ACFamily Network for archival and genealogy research.

History highlights - Here is a photo of CF-AZY landing at Seattle on the first scheduled flight for Trans-Canada Air Lines on September 1st, 1937.

1958 - Service introduced to Brussels, Belgium and Zurich, Switzerland.
1959 - Service introduced to Vienna.
1960 - April 1st, DC-8 equipment introduced on trans-continental          
           routes.
        - June 1st, DC-8 introduced to trans-Atlantic routes.
1961 - June 30th, last flight of the North Star.
        - February 1st, first flight with Vickers Vanguard equipment.
        - ReserVec electronic reservations system introduced.



1964 -The flight crew for the Queen's Flight from Ottawa to London, England October 13th.

From the bottom: Captains, A. Ander, E. Leek and I. March; P. Powell, F. St. Hilaire, R. Roth, G. Smith, K. Mclnlrre, J. Lacroix. and H. Neilsen.


Allan Gray
rescued this plaque which was presented by President and CEO Claude Taylor to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the company. Allan was Customer Service and Sales Agent in YYZ reservations, then  YVR reservations and  YVR airport also Allan was artist liaison for AC on their 40th & 50th anniversary presentations and operates Strathcona Creative Ideas.

Issue dated - April 1977
Some items gleaned from the "Horizons" magazines.
Top suggestors of the various Branches and Regions are from the left : Jean-Claude St. Hilaire, Bill Albers, Roger Gamache, Wally Beaton, Tom Toothill, Bill McLellan, Paul Di Genova (most suggestions adopted), Norm Graham (Suggestor of the Year), Dave McKenzie, Jim Pearce, John Sagriff and Jerry Vlk (most suggestions adopted).


Nassau bids boss farewell.

When Bahamas District Manager Barry Macinnes left the sunny south to take up his new post as Airport Customer Service Manager, Vancouver, the Nassau staff gave him a royal send-off.

Shown at the party are, standing from the left: Don Aranha, Donna Sherman, Pete Pemberton, General Manager - South, Jacqueline Duncombe, Dolly Armbrister, Barry MacInnes, Fairle Kraft, Edison Rodgers, Jennifer Cates, Richard Neeley and Rod Hall. Kneeling center, is Acting District Manager Z. W. Bethel. In front of him, from the left, are: Jerry Smith, Louis Isaacs, Jr. and Stephen Burrows. Front row, from the left, are: Noel Henderson II, Phillip Major and Frank Deveaux.


To honour the company's 40th anniversary, Air Canada and the Royal Canadian Mint had combined to design and strike ten commemorative medallions pictured here in these illustrations. The "heads" side feature the general anniversary log. Made of cupra nickel with a satin finish.

At the time - the medallions were available for $18.00 per set and were available through Air Canada Medallions, Kitchener, Ontario. Sets in silver at $150 each could be purchased from the Royal Canadian Mint in Vanier City, Ontario.

Alan's Space - by Alan Rust
Alan's SpacePublished on Jul 9, 2012 - CBS Report on Air France flight number 447:
In response to the release of the final report on the crash, Captain Sullenberger comments on the event and what brought airliner down.


Air France Flight 447 (abbreviated AF447) was a scheduled commercial flight from Gale�o International Airport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris, France. On 1 June 2009, the Airbus A330-203 airliner serving the flight crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 216 passengers and 12 aircrew. The accident was the deadliest in the history of Air France. It was also the Airbus A330's second and deadliest fatal accident, and its first while in commercial passenger service. Follow this link for more information.

Air France 447: Final report on what brought airliner down 
Air France 447: Final report on what brought airliner down


Canadi>n/CP Air/PWA, Wardair, etc. People & Events
- Compiled by Terry Baker
CAIL TailsNews and articles from days gone by gleaned from various publications from C.A.I.L. and its "ancestry" of contributing airlines.
Issue dated - February 1976
Items from the "CPAir NEWS" magazine -

In 1976, CP Air launched TravelSure. Recognizing limitations in many conventional insurance programs, CP Air made available in Canada a unique combination of insurance benefits to the traveling public, including employees.

Checking informative literature on TravelSure program at Vancouver Ops Centre from left are Ken Wood, Manager Business Travel Development; Mrs Marilyn Munro, Pass Bureau Supervisor; and Larry Weisgarber, Manager Corporate Insurance.
 

ONE BAY in the new simulator building containing the DC-8 and Boeing 737 simulators is viewed by senior simulator instructor George Wurtele. Another Identical bay will house new simulators for Boeing 727 and 747 which were on order.



Noticed in the issue dated March 1976

Author Lauds CP Air Pilots. A story by W. R. Shepherd in an edition of Air Classics Quarterly Review, a California publication, gives a pat on the back to CP Air pilots who assisted a crew recovering crashed World War II U.S. aircraft north of Fort Nelson in 1971.

The article, entitled "They Returned" is an interesting diary of the group and their difficulties during the three month episode. While stranded on the ground awaiting an aircraft which did not materialize on time, they contacted a CP Air jet flying overhead and the crew arranged a helicopter and food lift. "To me, those CP Air crews are the kind of people every airline should be honoured to have in their employment.

Those crews concern for our safety and their assistance in our evacuation was and still is a credit to themselves and their company. Any company that has people who will take the time to concern themselves with the problems of other people, especially people they never see, has got to be a company of exceptional quality. "We never had the chance to thank those crews in person so, I would like to say now, thank you Canadian Pacific Airlines and thank you gentlemen, whoever and wherever you are." (Any reader have any information or crew names on this article? - eds)
 
Three CP Air specialists were in Bangladesh to review national airline, Biman Airways at Dacca, and submit recommendations on operations facilities etc. Left to right: George Smith, Supervisor Quality Contract; Bill Whiskin, Manager, Facilities/Planning and Buz Bancroft, Director of Supplies/Services (Contracts).

Reader's Feedback - Compiled by Terry Baker
Reader's Feedback
Every week we ask our readers for their stories or feedback on what they have read here in previous issues. Below is the feedback we have received recently.
In NetLetter nr 1254 under "Readers Feedback", Bernard Desanlis suggested that NetLetter subscribers may wish to let other readers know when their first flight was, aircraft type, from/to and any other memory they wish to tell us.

Here is Bernards own memory: April 1943 (I was 6 and a half) on a  Luftwaffe Junkers 52 between Tunis and Naples with a fuel stop at Trapani (Western Sicily) with British fighter planes based in Malta trying to shoot us down.

Rommel who was retreating to Germany was airlifting whatever he could from what was left of his Afrika Korps and sometimes, he would fill up aircraft with fleeing civilians like me, my mother and my newborn sister (Born Jan 23 of that year). We'd be on the airfield every day to "hitchhike" a flight to escape the allied bombings of this last pocket of Africa just before it was given up by the Germans in May of that year.
Cheers BD

We have received some more "first flight" information from our readers:

Lawson Tremellen - My first flight was in January 1957 on a DC3 from Saint John to Montreal.
Cheers Trem


(Note -  Trem didn't mention which airline so we added a photo of our favourite one, TCA)




Brian Walsh tells us: My first flight was on an RCAF Beachcraft C-45 "Expeditor" as an Air Cadet. Probably about 1962.






Aubrey Winterbotham tells us about his first flight:  I was 18 and flying from Karachi to London aboard a BOAC Argonaut stopping at Basra, Beirut and Rome.

As night fell, I remember the Flight Engineer telling the passengers not to worry about the flames coming out of the side of the engines as this was perfectly normal.

Odds and Ends.

Image Blank 200pxSometimes we receive articles and information that just doesn't fit in our other areas. This is where it goes!

Here we have an aerial view of the International Airport at Beijing in China.





An additional distraction for drivers who are on cell phones texting at the Leipzig-Halle airport in Germany.









Terry's Trivia and Travel Tips - by Terry Baker

Terry BakerGreg Bennett of KVI sent us details of many world wide interline deals. Here are just a few of the many deals, world wide, on offer.  

 

KVI offers far more than just interline cruises! We are also a full-service, international travel agency. That means your friends and family can book their vacations with us too. Whether it's an ocean cruise, a river cruise, an escorted tour, an all-inclusive resort, a hotel, flight, car rental, rail, insurance, or a fully customized dream vacation package - whatever it is, your personal KVI Travel Professional can make it a reality!
 

Roundtrip Seattle Sailings:

1. Oceania Regatta (5*+) - 7 nights
Seattle, Cruising the Inside Passage, Ketchikan, Cruising The Tracy Arm Fjord & Sawyer Glacier, Wrangell, Prince Rupert, Cruising The Outside Passage, Seattle
Jun 28 - Inside $1549, Outside $1749, Balcony $2469
Jul 5 - Inside $1399, Outside $1699, Balcony $2339 

 

2. Royal Caribbean Rhapsody of the Seas (4*) - 7 nights
Seattle, At Sea, Juneau, Alaska Inside Passage, Skagway, Tracy Arm Fjord, At Sea, Victoria, Seattle
Jun 7, 14 - Inside $449
Jun 21, 28 - Inside $549, Outside $750 

 

3. Holland America Oosterdam (5*) - 7 nights
Seattle, Puget Sound, At Sea, Scenic Cruising Tracy Arm, Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, Victoria, Seattle
Jun 9 - Inside $399, Outside $449, Balcony $549, Suite $1399
Jun 16, 23 - Inside $499, Outside $599, Balcony $699, Suite $1399  

 

Vancouver Sailings 

 

4. Holland America Amsterdam (5*) - 7 nights
Vancouver, At Sea, Glacier Bay, Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan, Scenic Cruising The Inside Passage, Vancouver
Jun 7, 14 - Inside $399, Outside $449, Suite $1999
Jun 21 - Outside $499, Balcony $1099, Suite $1999
Jun 28 - Inside $699, Outside $749, Balcony $1099, Suite $2199
Jul 5 - Inside $649, Outside $699, Suite $1999
Jul 19 - Inside $449, Outside $499, Balcony $1099, Suite $1999
Jul 26, Aug 2, 7, 9 - $699, Outside $749, Balcony $1499, Suite $3199
Aug 16 - Inside $449, Outside $499, Balcony $1149, Suite $2199
Aug 23 - Inside $649, Balcony $1299, Suite $2999
Aug 30 - Inside $649, Outside $699, Balcony $1199, Suite $2799
Sep 6 - Inside $599, Outside $649, Balcony $1199, Suite $2249
Aug 13 - Inside $499, Outside $549, Balcony $1199, Suite $2249 

 

Note: Holland America interline rates are available to North American residents only and Holland America reserves the right to bump interline passengers at any time. Rates quoted are generally USD as these all come from the USA. Canadian can be used in most circumstances. These rates include port charges. Taxes are extra. KVI does not charge a fee.  

 

Greg Bennett is an independent contractor so call 1-877-760-2583 or email at  www.kvi.travel anytime. Evenings and weekends call Greg and leave a message or email: [email protected].

 

You can also book online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! Make sure to add my name when prompted so I will receive your details. *Please send me a follow up email so I can monitor your booking.*    

 

Smileys - Compiled by Terry Baker
Smileys
As we surf the internet and back issues of airline magazines we regularly find airline related jokes and cartoons. Below is our latest discovery.

Our cartoon is from the "Between Ourselves" issued May 1955 by Gus, London Evening News.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


The NetLetter is an email newsletter published (usually) once a week and contains a mixture of nostalgia, current news and travel tips. We encourage our readers to submit their stories, photos and/or comments from either days gone by or from present day experiences and trips. If we think that the rest of our readers will enjoy it, we will publish it here.

We also welcome your feedback in regard to anything we post here. Many readers have commented with additional information, names and personal memories from the photos and articles presented here.

The NetLetter, which is free, is open to anyone that wishes to subscribe but is targeted to retired employees from Air Canada, Canadian Airlines and all the other companies that were part of what Air Canada is today. Thanks for joining us!

We hope you have enjoyed this issue of the NetLetter, see you next week!  
Sincerely,
Your NetLetter Team

Disclaimer: Please note, that neither the NetLetter or the ACFamily Network necessarily endorse any of the airline related or other "deals" that we provide for our readers. We would be interested in any feedback (good or bad) when using these companies though and will report the results here. We do not (normally) receive any compensation from any companies that we post in our newsletters. If we do receive a donation or other compensation, it will be indicated as a sponsored article or link.

 

E&OE - (errors and omissions excepted) - The historical information as well as any other information provided here is subject to correction and may have changed over time. We do publish corrections when they are brought to our attention.
First published in October, 1995
  • Chief Pilot - Terry Baker, Nanaimo, B.C.
  • Co-pilot - Alan Rust, Surrey, B.C.
  • Flight Engineer - Bill Rowsell, Londesboro, Ontario 
  • Stewardess - Lisa Ruck, Brooklin, Ontario 
To contact us, send an email to [email protected]