 The NetLetter
For Air Canada Retirees
Sept 25, 2010 - Issue 1133
5476 Subscribers
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| About us |
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Vesta Stevenson R.I.P.
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| The NetLetter Web Site |
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| ACFamily Links |
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| ACFamily Obituaries |
Obituaries
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| Greetings! |
Terry Baker
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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 is today. Thanks for joining us!
Terry & your NetLetter Team
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| Comment - by Alan Rust |
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Wow. we didn't know you liked us so much!
We've had numerous emails from subscribers asking if we were still publishing or if they had been taken off the list.
As our regular readers may have noticed, the NetLetter has been spotty in our weekly newsletters since Vesta has passed away.
Although her passing affected us all greatly, this was not the main reason for our irregular publishing schedule in the past few months.
The NetLetter is compiled by Terry Baker and he usually works a few issues ahead. He pulls the content for the NetLetter from current events, back issues of the "Between Ourselves" magazine and various publications from Canadian Airlines, CPAir, Pacific Western, etc.
He then sends all of these articles and images to Bill Rowsell, our in house support and techy guy, who uses Constant Contact (our mailist program) to put it all together.
Then I take over and check the content for accuracy, spelling, etc. and place in more links and images if warranted. Then I add my article to "Alan's Place".
When complete I push the button to send it out to our (over 5,000) readers. This usually happens every weekend. Our target day is Saturday, but this can run to Sunday or even Tuesday at times.
So, what I am leading up to, is that it's my fault for the delayed publishing. I was away from about August 9 to September 17th, 2010 visiting family, driving to Florida, and actually driving (unexpectedly) from London, Ont to Surrey, BC as well. Although I had an Internet connection available nearly all the time, most of them were extremely slow in the hotels we were in or family where I was staying.
Since this newsletter is web based and edited live on the web, which requires a good connection, I had to skip most issues as it just wasn't going to happen.
Anyway, the good news is that I am now home with access to my high speed connection and you should see our future issues coming out as scheduled.
BTW - you can check your connection speed by going to www.speedtest.net
My connection through SHAW is 22.85Mb/s download and .97 Mb/s upload. Not the fastest out there but it's fast compared to what I had when I was away.
Sincerely,
Alan
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| TCA/Air Canada People Gallery - Compiled by Terry Baker |
 Musings from the "Between Ourselves" magazine an Air Canada publication from years gone by.
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 In the issue dated November 1968 was this photo of a BAC Lightning Intercepter.
When the two BAC Lightning Interceptor fighters landed at their home base at Leuchars, Scotland after taking part in the Toronto Air Show at Malton recently, they were seen to be wearing insignia other than their standard air force roundels and squadron flashes. Emblazoned on both fins was the prominent Maple Leaf motif of Air Canada, one of the Lightnings even carrying the name in bold lettering.
Obviously, sometime during the Toronto show, a person, or persons unknown applied the Air Canada decals in a high spirited mood.
These are probably the "hottest" ships to ever wear the Air Canada motif.
(It is not known if the aircraft still bear these insignias - eds)
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 Issue dated January 1970 -
In mid-December 1969, this Boeing B747 made a surprise appearance in Montreal.
Only the second time the aircraft has visited outside the USA. In the TWA colours, the aircraft attracted a lot of attention.
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 Under the heading "Phantom strikes again" was the story of visiting R.A.F. supersonic Lightning interceptor aircraft which mysteriously acquired Air Canada markings during their visit to Toronto Air Show at Malton last year. As mentioned above.
Again, a visiting aircraft to Toronto received a company insignia on a visiting aircraft, this time a Victor flight refueling tanker of 57 squadron The photo was taken at the Battle of Britain Air Display at Leukhars Scotland.
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Issue dated - November 1969
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 Passenger Agents get a new wardrobe effective November 21st. Here is a group of 5 unidentified employees.
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 And another four from Toronto who are unidentified.
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Return fares as low as ca$165 between Montreal and London England introduce effective December 1st. Called Mini Fares, they are the lowest non-affinity fares in history for travel on scheduled flights.
Effective January 1st, 1970, pass privileges for children, dependent parents and husbands of permanent or Temporary full time married female employees will be introduced.
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ACRA PRESIDENTS met with Company representatives at Headquarters in Montreal recently.
Seated from the left are: Norm Hodgson. Admin. Assistant to Comptroller, Winnipeg; Dave Bayliss. Vancouver; Harold Walker, Manager. Suggestions & Employee Services; Harold Shorten (Vice President) Halifax; Vernon Chouinard, S John, N.B.; Bill Stephens. Winnipeg.
Back row: Andre Desrosiers. Sept-Iles; Alfred LeBlanc. Saguenay! Bagotville; Les Powell. London. England; Lucien Bussière, Montreal/Dorval; Kent Tilley, Edmonton (observer); George Wilson. Lethbridge; Cliff Oatway. Edmonton; and Dick Forrest. Director, Industrial Relations.
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| Star Alliance news. |
United Airlines and Continental Airlines unveiled their post-merger livery, which features the "United" name in block capital letters on the fuselage but utilizes CO's logo and colors including its blue-gold-white globe image on the tail.
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| Alan's Space - by Alan Rust |
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747-8's one million pound takeoff
Boeing engineers stretched the fuselage of the iconic 747 to create the new 747-8 Freighter. The bigger airplane boasts a designed maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of 975,000 pounds (442,253 kg), compared to the 875,000 pound (396,900 kg) MTOW of its predecessor, the 747-400 Freighter.
To prove the airplane is capable of taking off with such a heavy burden, the Boeing Test & Evaluation team loaded RC521 with plenty of fuel and stacked dozens of steel plates, each weighing 3,000 pounds, into the cargo hold.
When it was all packed and loaded, the airplane weighed about 1,005,000 pounds (455,860 kg).
Clicking on the image below will take you to a video with more information and photos.
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Canadi>n/CP Air/PWA, Wardair, etc. People & Events
- Compiled by Terry Baker |
 News and articles from days gone by gleaned from various publications from C.A.I.L. and it's "ancestry" of contributing airlines. |
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The following article is from the web site www.cpair.blogspot.com
This picture of a CP Air 737 with a rainbow behind it, is somewhat of a famous photo amongst fans and employees of the airline and I'd thought i would share the photographer's memory of taking it.
The picture was shot by Joe Muff and he writes:
"In August of 1979 i photographed a CP Air 737 in the orange livery, rolling off the active runway 31L and taxiing onto the ramp at Whitehorse Airport in the aftermath of a fairly violent rain squall.
If memory serves me correctly, the 737 had to do a missed approach / go-around on its initial landing attempt due to excessive wind shear from the overhead cell.
At the time, this incident also delayed a prompt landing by our own smoke patrol aircraft, a small twin engine machine operated by Alkan Air under contract to Yukon Forestry, which was getting tossed around in that ugly cell upstairs and wanted to get the hell on to some firm ground as soon as possible.
I waded out onto the tarmac in a good 1/2" of standing rain water with my little 35mm Rollei camera and photographed a number of helicopters on the ramp and when the 737 came into perfect position i took this shot with Kodachrome 64 slide film.
Back in those days, a person could actually wander around the ramp without being immediately slapped into irons. The only place that was definitely off limits was the active runway."
The photograph, the best of several taken by Joe that day became so popular the rights to it were acquired by CP Air's Whitehorse office in June of 1985 and made available to employees for purchase.
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Here's a memory posted by Brian Walsh on web site www.cpair.blogspot.com
Remember the original CPAir agent uniforms? At YXSAP, our supervisor wanted us to be dress alike while on the counter. We all had to have jackets on or all off. One day, he admonished us for not being the same, so we all went back to our lockers and retrieved out ghastly vests that we had abandoned within weeks of issue, and came back to the counter all decked-out in orange. He got the point and allowed us to go back to our usual practice of dressing as we each saw fit. |
| Reader's Feedback - Compiled by Terry Baker |
Ray Bessuille sends us this information - I refer to Netletter No. 1130 where you show a 1999 promo photo of a Canadian Airlines B-747. This photo reminded me that I have 32 photos, most of them air-to-air shots, of Canadian Airlines B-767 & B-747 aircraft in the new colours with the latest goose logo, including the one in your Netletter. If anyone would like to view or download any of these photos, then please follow this link.
To download any of these photos, right click on them and click on Save As. I also have them on my computer in very high resolution - about 18 MB each. If anyone would like a high resolution copy of one or two of these photos, contact me directly at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Regards Ray Bessuille Phone: 604-831-9292
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Jean Downie sends us this memory to share -
With reference to the Copenhagen/Moscow flights (NetLetter 1129) operated by Air Canada, I recall that a crew was based in Copenhagen, for a contract period, and operated those flights.
The Purser for well over a year was Bob Kowch, who was based in Toronto. In anticipation of increased loads for the Canada/USSR hockey games in Moscow, an extra crew was posted to Copenhagen for one week, to fly between the two countries. I was the purser on a few flights between Copenhagen, and Moscow. We were met in Moscow by someone (? A.C.ground staff) who for some strange reason gave the crew 20 rubles to spend during their stopover, to buy souvenirs, food etc. Unfortunately, no vodka, or caviar!! During that week, we also operated one charter flight (DC8) from Copenhagen to Moscow, which carried the Canadian Hockey team, and their manager. I recall Alan Eagleson, Phil Esposito, and Bobby Orr.
Most of the players, just roamed around the plane, chatting to each other. I also remember that the players were under strict instructions not to drink! On this flight, as the flight was on its final taxi onto the Moscow ramp. The Captain on the flight flew a small Canadian flag outside the flight deck window. It's a long time ago, and the details are a bit vague, but wanted to respond to John Fulton's enquiries.
Jean
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Odds & Ends - Compiled by Terry Baker
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In the 1970's, Mirabel International Airport was pegged to be the biggest airport in the world. Designed to handle 30 million passengers a year.
In 1975 the airport was inaugurated by Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau. It was expected to become the sole airport to serve Montreal. International flights to Montreal were expected to use Mirabel.
In 1981 traffic was approximately 2.6 million passengers and excess property was being sold off by the government.
In 1982 a cartoon "White Elephant" was adopted as its advertising logo.
By 1997, major airlines were allowed to move their international flights to Dorval, leaving only charter flights from Mirabel, which were also moved to Dorval by 2002. Bids were called for to develop the empty terminal buildings in 2004, and in 2006, a French consortium came up with a proposal to establish a "AeroDream" theme park..
By 2006, the government began selling 11,000 acres back to the farmers.
Alas, this year, the "AeroDream" is just that - a dream in thin air.
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Terry's Trivia and Travel Tips - by Terry Baker
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| Terry Baker |
More on the Far East Adventure: Jack and Aureen Morath extracted from the UK Pionairs newsletter issue August -
The next morning saw us check out from our hotel and use the hotel free shuttle to town, dropping us off at the Star Ferry Terminal to cross to Kowloon and the Ocean Terminal, a few hundred yards' walk from the ferry.
We had booked our cruise on Royal Caribbean through Dargal and the ship was named Legend of the Seas. It was a five-night cruise entitled Gem of Asia, with an itinerary which included three stops around the island of Taiwan. The ship is 78,000 tons gross and can carry 2,435 passengers and a crew of 765 with 11 decks. As Dargal were unable to give us a cabin in advance, we had to get our final cabin details at the check-in point. We were given a very good outside cabin on the 6th deck, and as it was a higher standard than what we had paid for, we were obviously very pleased with it.
When we arrived in Hong Kong a couple of days earlier, the temperature was 27 degrees but when we departed on the ship at 6pm the temperature had gone down to around l0 degrees (50F) It was raining and cold. On our paperwork our dining time was shown as 'late' instead of early, but we were able to change this without any problem. Early dining was 6pm and late dining was 8pm. Two other couples on our table were also from the UK. Our first port of call was Kaohsiung which was 323 nautical miles from Hong Kong. (to be continued)
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Smileys - Compiled by Terry Baker
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As we surf the internet and back issues of airline magazines we regularly find airline related jokes and cartoons. Below is our latest discovery.
Tower: Hotel Papa Oscar climb four thousand to six thousand and maintain.
Pilot: Hotel Papa Oscar, climbing flight level one-hundred.
Tower: Negative, Hotel Papa Oscar, climb to flight level six-zero and maintain.
Pilot: But four plus six equals ten, no?
Tower: You're to climb, not to add.
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First published in October, 1995
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Chief Pilot - In memory of Vesta Stevenson, Victoria, B.C.
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Co-pilot - Terry Baker, Nanaimo, B.C.
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Flight Engineer - Alan Rust, Surrey, B.C.
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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.
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We hope you have enjoyed this issue of the NetLetter, see you next week!
Sincerely,
Your NetLetter Team
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