Air Tarantula
Catherine Moreau was watching a movie on her iPad on a flight to Montreal when she felt what she thought was a wire brushing against her. "I brushed [it] away and it started tickling me again. That's when I noticed the tarantula," Moreau told CBC News.
"I hit it to get it off me before it bit."
Now Moreau is asking Air Transat for a partial refund over her encounter with the spider. The tarantula that climbed her leg was one of two on a Montreal-bound Air Transat flight from Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, on April 18, 2016 the airline and the union representing its flight attendants have confirmed.
Passengers screamed and stood on their seats after learning they shared the cabin with the eight-legged critters.
Julie Roberts, vice-president of Air Transat's flight attendant union, said flight attendants "did what they could to calm people down." "They gave first aid to the person who said that a spider climbed [her] legs," she said. Flight attendants also asked passengers to put on their shoes and cover their ankles.
Lockheed L-1011 - TriStar
The Lockheed L-1011- 1 /15/150 series was added to the Air Canada wide body fleet in the summer of 1973 to serve routes where less capacity than the B-747 was needed. A total of 12 aircraft in this series flew in Air Canada livery bearing fin numbers 501 to 512 (see NL 1326 for my article on the -500 series).
Powered by three Rolls-Royce RB-211-22B engines they were considered to be high maintenance aircraft and are rumoured to have paid off several mortgages of aircraft technicians. I do seem to recall frequent engine changes on this fleet from my early days in Toronto Stores.
Two of the aircraft (Fins 501 and 503) were leased from Haas Turner Corporation and alternated between Air Canada in the summer and Eastern Airlines in the winter for several years. David Varnes, Secretary Treasurer for IAM Lodge 764 in Richmond B.C., has written a very detailed article that features the history of these two aircraft. Click here to read David’s article beginning on page 3 of the December 2013 issue of the Snag Sheet.
After leaving the Air Canada fleet in the early nineties all of the aircraft were leased to other airlines, usually for charter service. I count seven that flew for Air Transat, two for Royal Airlines (now defunct), two for Gulf Air and one for Cathay Pacific. Click here for my list.
All but two have now been broken up. Fin # 501 (C-FTNA) was leased by Air Transat in June 1988, subleased to Air France in June 1989 and then returned to Air Transat in February 1991 where it remained until July 6, 2001 when it was damaged beyond repair after being hit by a hailstorm on takeoff at LYS. Visit Aviation Safety Network for the complete report on the incident. The aircraft is now preserved at Lyon–Saint-Exupéry Airport. (View at Airliners.net). 
The most interesting fate of an aircraft from this fleet is certainly Fin # 510 (C-FTNJ) (pictured). It was parked by Air Canada at Marana, Arizona in November 1990 and then pulled out of storage by Orbital Sciences Corporation in May 1992. It was then registered as N140SC, renamed “Stargazer” and modified to launch Pegasus rockets (View Wikipedia page).
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Ray Valois sent us this photo of an unusual snafu at C&SS YUL from 1964. |
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Pictured at left: Frank Dominick, Frank Pedder, Lucie Chabot and Denis Leduc. |
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Norman Hogwood, in New Zealand, has sent this item he received from his weekly blog -
CF-CZC was built in 1958 and named "Empress of Tokyo" and was fleet number 523. It became G-ATLE with Transglobe Airways Ltd at Gatwick from 30-11-1965 and moved to L.A.S. (London) Ltd from 30-12-1969. I believe it was withdrawn from use in March 1970 and later broken up. (This aircraft was delivered to CPA May 30th., 1958 and also carried the title “Empress of Madrid” at one time. – eds) |
Cartoon by Don Rice found in the “Contact” magazine March 2000.
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The Norwegian government plans to introduce the NOK80 ($9.65) tax on both departing domestic and international passengers this summer. Many years ago, when I was a teenager, my friends and I would visit LHR to record aircraft registrations. In those days, most of the aircraft would have the airline name painted on the underbelly of their aircraft... I noted recently that Emirates Airline has their name on the underbelly of their aircraft. (Looks like Aer Lingus paints their "bellys" too - Alan)
In NetLetter nr 1337 this section had several strange aircraft registrations - here is another one - The aircraft on the Channel Islands register start with the number 2. This created the opportunity for Voltare to register one of their Bombardier Challenger 601 with 2-SEXY. |
