The NetLetter #1116

The NetLetter
 For Air Canada Retirees

April 18, 2010 - Issue 1116
5586 Subscribers
First published in October, 1995
  • Chief Pilot - Vesta Stevenson, Victoria, B.C.
  • Co-pilot - Terry Baker, Nanaimo, B.C.
  • Flight Engineer - Alan Rust, Surrey, B.C.
  • Ground Technician - Bill Rowsell, Londesboro, Ontario
To contact us, send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 
In This Issue
Our first 70 years
TCA/Air Canada People Gallery
Alan's Space
Tech Tips
Canadi>n/CP Air/PWA, Wardair, etc
Reader's Feedback
Odds & Ends
Terry's Trivia
Smileys
About us
Terry, Vesta & Alan Pionair's AGM 2007
Terry, Vesta & Alan
Sponsors
ACFamily Network
ACFamily Links
Air Canada Pionairs

Project North Star

Featured Site
Quarter Century Club

Quarter Century Club
Meeting: Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Guest Speaker: Author Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail will speak about her engaging book, For the Love of Flying: the Story of Laurentian Air Services, as well her current projects: a historical novel about a woman bush pilot who goes to fly for the Air Transport Auxiliary during WWII and a comprehensive history of aviation in Canada's north.

See: www.quartercenturyclub.ca
 
Greetings!
Vesta Stevenson
Vesta Stevenson

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 etal. and share your experiences with us!

The NetLetter is an email newsletter published every weekend 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 has become today. Thanks for joining us!

Vesta & your NetLetter Team

Extracted from the "Between Ourselves" magazine issued January 1951 - A BRIGHT-EYED Stewardess with a wide, happy smile brought her career to a close in November with a fine record.

She was
Dorothy Gilmore
Dorothy Gilmore
returning to earth, after flying the equivalent of 52 times around the globe. A "million miler" Stewardess, she retired with a healthy total of 6,487 hours and 1,297,400 miles flown and 151 trans-Atlantic crossings. This is the longest and furthest flying record in the Company-distaff division.

The Maritimer has flown over every TCA route, including Montreal-London and Montreal-Bermuda and the Caribbean. She was aboard TCA's first North Star flight from London to Montreal in April, 1947.
In January 1943 she joined TCA as a Stewardess and for four years worked on Maritime flights between Moncton, Halifax, Sydney and Newfoundland. Dorothy moved over to trans-Atlantic in 1948 flying regularly between Montreal and London, England.
 
Our first 70 years - Compiled by Terry Baker
Trans-Canada Air Lines/Air Canada


1993
  • Air Canada invests ca$450 million in Continental Airlines.
  • May 3rd - Inaugural flight YYZ to HOU with A320 equipment.
1995
  • June 1st - Air Canada enters cyberspace via the internet and Compuserve.
  • June 16th - Delivery received of the first A340 Airbus at the Paris Air Show.
  • June 19th - Inaugural service between Montréal and Toronto and Washington
  • June 20th - Inaugural service between Toronto and Tel Aviv.
  • July 4th - Introduction of non-stop service between Montreal and Atlanta.
TCA/Air Canada People Gallery - Compiled by Terry Baker
Trans-Canada Air Lines
In this section we provide selections from the "Between Ourselves" magazine (an Air Canada publication from years gone by) as well as various articles from "Horizons", a later Air Canada publication.

Should any photos prompt a long forgotten memory, feel free to send us your comments and thoughts.
 
Musings from the "Between Ourselves" magazines.

Issue dated December 1950
yulstews
yulstews
Members of the latest class of Stewardesses to graduate from the training school in Montreal.

From the left:
Bette Bishop, Muriel Coy!e, Beatrice Clarke, Lucille George. June Craig, Mary Pedley, Eugenie Vascinfa, Olga Sather, Barbara Pennington, Marion Parr, Christine McLeod, Kathleen Campbell and Joyce Gay. Rosemary McKinnon,the fourteenth member of the class, is missing.

Christmas Staff
Christmas Staff
A unique Christmas greeting from Chicago.

Top to bottom, Left to right:
Harry Cooper, Dorine Pinkney, Mary Fardig, Ron McLeod, Norma Seijna, Harry Akin, Earl Latimer, Peggy Randall, Dick Skidmore, Emma Piriak, Audrey Anderson, Dorothy Carlson, Jeanne Karavites, Ann Crews, Ted West, Hugh Burgoyne, Ed Hurn,
Gerry Churchill.

Vivian Hendren
Vivian Hendren
Destination Pakistan, the longest migration for these day-old chicks in the care of Stewardess Vivian Hendren.

Issue dated January 1951

Betty Davidson takes over full editorship of this magazine.
 
In 1944 in a small room off a Winnipeg hangar, the seeds of what became known as the Printing Bureau, in the following 6 years the bureau has grown with the company. The bureau moved to the Gazette Building in Montreal during the 50's. The bureau turned out regulations, manuals, maintenance manuals and company forms. Head of the printing bureau was Morris W. Rothwell, seen here behind the desk. Fortuitously, the entire staff was in his office then this photo was taken.
Printing Bureau
Printing Bureau
Left to right:
Douglas Young, Marjorie Rogers, Jean Mazurek, Anne Gillespie, Leonard Dube, Ralph Reid, Dorothy Humpries in front.

Cherries Delivery
Cherries Delivery
In answer to the dying wish of a veteran in a military hospital in Chicago, who expressed the wish for bing cherries, citizens of Penticton arranged for a shipment of frozen cherries and asked TCA to deliver them.

In the photo, the package is being handed over to Harry Cooper, DTSM at Chicago by Capt. Ross Stevenson. Looking on are F/O Bruce Witney and stewardesses Edyth Jean Wile and Alice Ruth Lawrence.

Gleanings from the "Horizons" magazine

Issue dated May 1993
Air Canada B747 and a 30 member team of pilots, in-flight personnel and maintenance supervisors left Toronto during mid April on a contract with Garuda Indonesia Airlines to provide 44 round trips transporting some 10,000 on their religious pilgrimage.

St. Lucia
St. Lucia
Staff at St. Lucia moved into new accommodations at Hewannorra International Airport.

From left to right:
Gregory Jean Baptiste (LIAT), Denyse Joseph CSA Port of Spain, Ali Ferdinand, Manager St. Lucia, Kim Henry (LIAT), Marva Greenide (LIAT)

Issue dated March 1993
Industry Travel
Industry Travel
This is a photo of the staff at Industry Travel.

Linda Kwoon, Susie Falardeau, Caroline Tune, Irene Vazalinskas, Valerie Woods, Ron Mancini.
Alan's Space - by Alan Rust
Alan Rust
Alan's Space
National Geographic Channel
I don't watch television a lot during the daytime but usually watch the 6:00 PM news and have the TV on while I'm working on web sites until the wee hours of the morning.

Last Christmas I finally broke down and upgraded to a satellite dish from Bell (more on this below) and a new HD TV. I also subscribed to the National Geographic Channel and have enjoyed watching various programs on it. I'm sure many of you also experienced the excellent programming on that channel.

Tonight I watched a great program called Richard Hammond's Engineering Connections about Hong Kong International Airport. It houses the fifth largest international passenger airport in the world - yet before it was built in the late 1990s, its site was no more than a featureless expanse of water.

Richard heads east to learn how the airport was built from scratch on a specially constructed island and reveals how this famous landmark connects with a World War II bomber, cold war spying devices, an 800 year old water pump, a vintage racing car and, oddest of all, a brass band...

Unfortunately, all I have is a preview to the show, but if you have access to the National Geographic Channel and you're interested in engineering I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
  
Hong Kong Airport
Hong Kong Airport

Tech Tips - by Alan RustTech_Tips
Bell Canada
Bell Canada
"To get service in English press 2 for French"
I've had excellent service from Bell for the installation and no problems with my Satellite Dish but in regard to billing, "not so much".

I had a very complex problem with three separate items on my invoice and although I know they are doing their best, their was a language barrier when attempting to explain my problems previously as I couldn't understand their accent.

My brother talked to a Bell technician at his house one day and told him about the same problem. The technician said that if you want an English agent, "that's simple, just call in and when prompted press 2 for French".

Seems that when you ask for French you stay within Canada with fully bilingual agents that speak both languages fluently.

I tried it, it worked! When the automated system answered my call their system asked if I wanted service in English (press 1) or service in French (press 2). I pressed 2 (if you don't understand French, press "0" a few times and you will get an operator) and spoke to a nice lady in Montreal. I know there are also many call centres in New Brunswick. She was quite amused when I told her why I called the French line and she fixed all my issues.

Alan
 
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.
Over the past months we have been publishing various photographs from earlier in-house magazines, should any photos prompt a memory in seeing one of them, feel free to send us your comments and thoughts.


Perusing the "Info Canadi>n" magazine

Issue dated August 1996

Remember when?

July 13th 1949- Inaugural flight arrives in Nadi from Vancouver.

July 1957 - First tenders for aerial ferry work to the DEW
(Distant Early Warning). The Cambridge Bay airlift in the west was awarded exclusively to Pacific Western Airlines . Wheeler Airlines (later Nordair) and Forval Airlines were awarded the Frobisher Bay and Foxe Basin
.
July 14th, 1986 - Pacific Western Airlines , Time Air and Calm Air announced a joint co-ordination agreement to establish the Pacific Western Spirit program to serve communities in the west.

August 1946- Maritime Central Airways, a predecessor of Eastern Provincial Airways, put its first DC-3 into service on August 27th. CF-BZH was acquired from the US Armed Forces and went into service in its military configuration with side seating benches.

dash-7August 1st & 2nd 1978 - Wardair utilized a Dash-7 to fly the Queen, Prince Phillip and Prince Andrew when the Queen came to open the 11th Commonwealth Games at Edmonton.

August 1st- Wardair acquired its first Airbus A300 from South African Airways and registered it as C-GIZL. The first flight was YYZ to YVR on August 21st.
 
Issue dated May 1995
Comprehensive code-share agreement signed with
American Airlines effective April 3rd.
 
Issue dated May 1993
Canadian Holidays introduced pay bar policy on its flight beginning June 1st. Cost ca$3.00 for liquor and ca$2.00 for beer. Non-alcoholic drinks free.
 
Air Cargo launched a "Fly-by-night" service June 14th.two B737 are permanently dedicated to all-cargo service.

Extracts from the "Canadia>n Flyer" magazine

Issue dated April 1997
flyerThis magazine is the inaugural issue to replace the "Info Canadian" magazine.
yxuretirees
yxuretirees
Mike Lemmon had submitted this photo of a gathering at London, Ontario of former CP Air employees 1973-1984 vintage.

Left to right back row:Louis Gagnon, Wayne Cummins, Saskatchewan; John Turcot, YXU; Bill McMurray, YXU; Tony Hodgson, YVR, Rob Siddall, YYZ Brian Burbridge, YYZ; Barb Lemmon.

Centre row:Maryann Burbridge; Antoinette Hodgson; Cheryl Gagnon, YYZ; Kathy Percy; Fran Conway, YXU, with Halloween ghost, Fred, Jane Leschasin; Suzanne Siddall.

Front Row: Mike Lemmon,YXU; John PercycurrentSales manager, YXU; and Darlene Havers, YXU.
Reader's Feedback - From our readers
Reader's Feedback
We are happy to receive feedback and comments from our readers. If you would like to comment on anything you have read in the NetLetter, please don't hesitate to send it to us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will post it here if applicable.

vpeesBetty Morgan sends us this query together with a copy of a "Between Ourselves" page with a photo of some of our V.P.'s  -

"Just wondering where all the rest of these VP's are now?"

This is a 1970ish copy of Between Ourselves or Horizons.

Jack's 90's birthday is July 15th.

Just curious.
Betty Morgan

Trev Trower has sent us this memory prompted by an article in NetLetter nr 1114-

Another case of memory recall when I read the article on Air Cargo. Many years ago, just at the last moments before departure, as the purser on the flight, i would sometimes receive a small ( one gallon size) cooler, which i would put in the f/c frig and hand off to an agent at the next or subsequent airport. in the container would be human eyes or other body parts needed urgently for transplantation.

There was another type of shipment which i was to carry in the cabin, called Value Shipments. one shipment being one thousand watch working movements addressed to Bulova in YUL, this package was given to me in LHR.

In those days we were always proud to take on any responsibility to help the airline prosper.

Trev Trower In-Flight Service YYZ
Georgetown, ON
Odds & Ends - Compiled by Terry Baker
Odds & Ends
Nationair, privately owned company, went into bankruptcy protection March 22nd 1993. Saudi Arabian Airlines, which had chartered 3 B747's and crew  to fly Muslims to Mecca, has canceled the arrangement.
 

British Airways B777 crash at LHR
The basic details are strikingly similar but the outcomes for the captains of two airliners that crash landed without loss of life couldn't be more different.

On one hand, there's Capt. Chesley Sullenberger, sometimes called the Hero of the Hudson, who ditched his A320 in the Hudson River in Jan. of 2009. Sullenberger was able to retire early from an industry of which he was sometimes openly critical.

Then there's Capt. Peter Burkill, the senior officer aboard British Airways Flight 38, which suffered an uncommanded dual engine rollback on short final and crash landed short of the runway at Heathrow Airport in 2008. Burkill recently broke his silence on the crash and has written a book on the topic. He says he resigned from BA due to persistent malicious rumors about his actions during the crash. He's now on welfare.
Terry's Trivia and Travel Tips - by Terry Baker
Terry Baker
Terry Baker
We received this information from Harry Sulley, who is not a travel agent but he's a retired AC employee who organizes two or three trips per year and has been referred to us by John Shea (Ret. AC-Yow).  - My name is Harry Sulley and I am a retiree of Air Canada- Ottawa. I would appreciate if you would again kindly inform all of our retirees and active employees, our upcoming Interline Tours to beautiful Tuscany, Italy, scheduled for June and September 2010.   

We have chosen a lovely resort, which I have personally inspected and can highly recommend, 'PARK HOTEL Colle Degli Angeli SPA & Resort' www.anghelhotel.it in Monte Amiata, near Arcedossa, which is in close proximity to the famous Montalcino, Pienza, Cortona, Montepulciano and Siena. This will surely suit every employee and retiree's needs for a lovely week in Tuscany at a very reasonable cost.
 
Future tours- 2010:
Tuscany June and September: come join us on one of our tours to beautiful Tuscany, either June 6-13th. or September 04-11th. we have an awesome resort, park hotel 'colle degli angeli' spa & resort up in Monte Amiata waiting to spoil you. cost for each week is an amazing low $699.00 usd pp/dbl. for more info visit our webpage www.airlinestravelclub.com or phone 613 521 3091.
 
'RB IV' memorial golf tournament, July 10-13:  this is always a great event... you've heard about the newfie hospitality now come see for yourself!! being held at the Terra Nova golf resort . Special prices for non-golfers.
 
Christmas shopping in China: We are returning to Beijing or Shanghai again in October so you can shop 'till you drop. bring along an 'empty' bag- you'll need it! Pick up gifts at Tiffanys, the pearl market, silk factory and all those children's clothing markets, not to mention the deals on golf and ski equipment- of course we'll take you to visit Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven and-, the Great Wall of China- we may even take a cruise down the Yangtze river!!
   
"Fly, while you still have wings"

H.F. (Harry) Sulley
www.airlinestravelclub.com
613-521-3091

If you are fed up with crowded cities, here is a list of the 10 least visited capitals in Europe -
1. Chisinau (Moldova)
2. Minsk (Belarus)
3. Luxembourg (Luxembourg)
4. Skopje (Macedonia)
5. Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
6. Podgorica (Montenegro)
7. Kiev (Ukraine)
8. Zagreb (Croatia)
9. Belgrade (Serbia)
10. Tallinn (Estonia)
(Now contact your favourite Interline Agency and get moving - eds)

Arriving at YVR and going downtown?
Canada Line customers traveling from YVR Airport, Sea Island Centre and Templeton stations to Bridgeport Station or beyond, who buy their fare zone ticket from a Ticket Vending Machine using cash, debit card or credit card must pay the $5.00 Canada Line YVR AddFare. in addition to your zone fare. This includes concession (seniors and students) fare.
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.
flyerThis cartoon is from the "Canadia>n Flyer" issued May 1997 and will invoke many memories for standby travelers.
We hope you have enjoyed this issue of the NetLetter, see you next week!
 
Sincerely,

Your NetLetter Team