The NetLetter
For Air Canada Retirees
(Part of the ACFamily Network)
November 19, 2013 - Issue 1281
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First Issue published in October 1995!
(over 5,400 subscribers)
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NetLetter Past Issues
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Donation Information
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Send cheques payable to "ACFamily Network" to:
ACFamily Network
#800 - 15355 24th Ave, Suite 523
Surrey, BC V4A 2H9
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Sponsors
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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
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| Upcoming events - Compiled by Terry Baker |
 NORTH ISLAND - COMOX VALLEY AREA CHRISTMAS BUFFET.
Date: Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Time: Social 5:00 p.m. Dinner 6:00 p.m. Place: The Comox Golf Club - Tee Box Restaurant. Cost: $28.00 per person. Send your cheque to Marjorie Thorpe, 1769 Astra Road, Comox, B. C. V9M 4B6, payable to Air Canada Pionairs. Deadline no later than Nov. 25, 2013.
Please join us for the 2013 FoFS
(Friends of Front Street) - C&SS Group + Friends Annual Reunion Lunch at Hooter's off the YYZ Airport Strip at 171 Carlingview Drive on Saturday, Nov. 30th, 2013, from 12:30 to ???? RSVP by Friday, Nov. 22nd, 2013, as I am reserving an area and need an idea of numbers. Thank you and looking forward to seeing you again, Shirlee. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
ACRA has these events planned:
- YHZ Christmas Party (November 22, 2013 19:00)
- System Photography Show 2013 (November 29, 2013)
- YYZ Children's Christmas Party (December 01, 2013 12:00)
- YYZ Adult Christmas Party (December 06, 2013 18:00)
- LHR Christmas Dinner and Dance (December 06, 2013 19:00)
- YEG Christmas Party (December 07, 2013 17:00)
- YWG Christmas Dinner and Dance (December 07, 2013 17:30)
- YVR Christmas Party (December 07, 2013 19:00)
- LHR Beck's Pantomime (December 19, 2013 19:00)
Check www.acra.ca for the latest information.
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| Star Alliance News |
 Lufthansa to fly from Frankfurt to Montreal in summer 2014: Five weekly flights will complement the existing Munich-Montreal route. The new flight will be offered between May 16th and October 12th using Airbus A340-300 and A330-300 aircraft. |
| Women in Aviation - Compiled by Terry Baker |
 To mark the international day of women on March 8, 2013, GOL of Brazil operated two flights with an all-female crew: G3 1600 from Sao Paulo (Congonhas) to Rio de Janeiro (Galeao) and G3 1745 from Galeao to Guarulhos. Comandante Fernanda Prieto and co-pilot Denise Cristiane were accompanied by Chefe de cabine Andrea Duderstadt and flight attendants Onalice Gama, Suellen Lisandra, and Patricia Ferreira. Of GOL's 1,500 pilots 24 - including six captains - are female (source Airways Nov 2013).
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| Reader Submitted Photos - Compiled by Terry Baker |
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 Reader Submitted Photos - The photos and information below have been submitted to us by our faithful readers.
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Hildegard Sachs has sent us these photos of her husband George Sachs when he worked in the Base instrument shop in 1960.
Here is George checking a vertical gyro.
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 And a general view of the instrument shop with, from the left Dick Fregault, Henry Gerar, Arnie Maxwell, George Sachs, Len Breault, Herby Hrynyck and Andre Chautems. All decked out in special clothing, caps and shoe coverings. |
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Also two photos of herself after her move from Winnipeg and she worked as a cashier in the base cafeteria starting in February 1960 when she took care of the coffee shop.
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And this one sitting outside the loading entrance.
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| TCA/Air Canada People Gallery - Compiled by Terry Baker |
 Below 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.
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 Here we have this photo of the Calgary Pionairs Board for 2013 - from left to right: Sandy Hopkins, Phone Committee Coordinator; Liz Baker, Courtesy Coordinator; Alexandra Slawek, Social Coordinator; Wendy Kraft, District Director; Gail Cochrane-Ross, Treasurer; Stella Leblanc, Secretary.
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Issue dated - May 1978
Some items gleaned from the "Horizons" magazines.
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 A lively exchange of ideas and information on the operation of Air Canada Recreation Associations was the order of the day when all fifteen ACRA Presidents, eleven of them newcomers to the presidential office, attended a meeting held in Personnel Headquarters, Montreal.
During their stay, the group was received and addressed briefly by President Claude Taylor. Harold Walker, Employee Services & Suggestions Manager, conducted the meeting. Shown from the left, seated, are: Dorothy Buss, Winnipeg; Claude Taylor; and Helen Donovan, Moncton. Standing: Gerald White, Past President representing Eve Riley, London, England; Denis Perrier, Sault Ste. Marie: Brian Murray, Halifax; Harold Walker: Larry Conway, Los Angeles; Tony Tremblay, Quebec City: George Agnew, Vancouver; Barry Bourassa, Ottawa; Dave Leslie, Edmonton; Frank Foley, Saint John; John Stuckless, St. John's Nfld: Gord Thompson, Dorval; George Saliba, Toronto; and Bob Lance, Thunder Bay.
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Issue dated - November 2013
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 The Air Canada Foundation hosted a party at the Maintenance Hanger on September 21st, 2013 as part of the Sick Kids Celebrity Rally. Here is a group of volunteers for that event, from the left: Marcel Benoit, Mark Bourdreau, Pascal Genois, Luc Rivard, Randy Foster, Joe De Carlo, Fouad Shunbo, Tony Cifuni, Jean Francois Bonneau, Silvain Juneau (retiree), Andre Lebebvre, Vahan Patoutian, Dominique Laperle, Adrea Duncan, Lawerance Blaney, Phillipe Mayette, Carlos Cunha, Luis Cutrim, Martin Laperle, Frank Perrone and Yvon Couvrette.
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| Alan's Space - by Alan Rust |
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Canadi>n/CP Air/PWA, Wardair, etc. People & Events
- Compiled by Terry Baker
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 News and articles from days gone by gleaned from various publications from C.A.I.L. and its "ancestry" of contributing airlines. |
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Issue dated - October 1982
Items from the "CPAir NEWS" magazine -
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Seventy-four employees from around the system were honoured at a dinner on September 10th, 1982 at the Delta River Inn, Richmond, in recognition of their completion of 25 years service with the company. This being CP Air's 40th anniversary year, another 20 employees with 40 years' service also participated as special guests. Flashbacks were the order of the day, as President lan Gray recalled that 1957 marked the beginning of the space age with the launching of Sputniks I and II. CP Air meantime was building its fleet of aircraft with the purchase of four new DC-8s. It was also the year in which the company completed its DEW line contract in the Canadian North, and in which it formally applied to operate transcontinental services for the first time. Transcon services were to become a reality two years later.
 In this group photograph, we have 40 years of service with CPAir. Chairman and President Ian Gray is surrounded by 20 employees who completed 40 years of service with the airline in 1982. All were guests of honour at the company's annual 25-year club dinner. Commented Gray, "I'm the new boy with only 39 years' service!"
Most of the 40 year vets began their aviation careers with frontier "bush" lines that amalgamated into CP Air in 1942. while a few others joined the company shortly after amalgamation. Back row, from left, Al Schuberg, formerly with Canadian Airways; Glen Fenby, formerly with Yukon Southern; Gordon Beck, Bob Fleming, Larry Sykes, Norman Newmark, Don O'Grady, George Dyer and Bill Clark, all formerly with Canadian Airways. Centre: Glen McKinnon, who became an employee shortly after amalgamation; Doug Fawcett and Charlie Colson, formerly with Canadian Airways; Capt. Neil McCulloch, with CP Air since 1942; Chairman and President Gray; Ed Preece, formerly with Canadian Airways; Bert McMillan, formerly with Mackenzie Air Services and Bill Given, formerly with Yukon Southern. Front: Grant Williams, formerly with Arrow Airways; Archie Stutt, formerly with Starratl Airways and Canadian Airways; Howard Cunningham, with CP Air since 1942; and Ed Young, formerly with Canadian Airways.
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| Reader's Feedback - Compiled by Terry Baker |
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.
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Fraser Muir sends this comment and correction regarding the article in Netletter #1280
I can't thank you enough for this absolute tremendous tribute to me, and other Veterans who are members of the Air Canada family...and to receive it on Remembrance Day makes it all that much more... my sincere thanks Alan....
However, one BIG Mistake you made... is... on my next birthday I'll be 90... now I wish I was only turning 88, but no matter how I do the math, being born in 1924... well, you do the math... maybe I made a mistake... anyway I'm feeling great... I woke at 05:30 this morning as usual, and I plan to travel to Barrie for the participate in the Ceremonies at the 11th Hour... again thanks Alan...
I also thank you for including a tribute to the late Robin Gibb, as I'm convinced none of it would have happened without his involvement.
Oh yes, Joan is doing fine and we're still dancing... we were in Florida, and we were out to dinner, that had a band playing, and there were a few couples dancing... well the band started playing one of our favourites, and we got up and danced...well we ended up being circled by the other dancers... quite a scene to say the least... they couldn't believe we've been dancing since we met in 1947 at St F.X.University.
Fraser
Nick Boare sends this comment - Shown in this issue #1278 is a picture of the CP Air 1982 team that ran in the Banff to Jasper corporate relay run. I also ran that year in the same run but for Air Canada. Duncan Rhokar organized the team and made it happen. I believe he worked in C&SS - YWG and Dorval and later in YYZ Res. Since it's 31 years ago, I don't remember the other members of the team except for one - Dan Murphy. I wonder if there is a photograph of the Air Canada team that could be published in a future issue? Regards, Nick Boere. (We checked in the "Horizons" from May thru October with no success - eds)
Ron Carradine tells us this reflection after reading NetLetter nr 1280
This particular NetLetter really brought back some old memories. The first was the article on the Super Connie, this was the aircraft that brought me to Canada on the same day I was demobbed (released) from the army. Little did I realize that 4 years later, I would be employed by Trans Canada Airlines. So many memories after that, especially the article on Fraser Muir and the Remembrance Day videos. I lived through that period as a youngster. I could go on and on but suffice to say that 25 years with the airline could fill a book. Ron Carradine
Here we have another "First flight" story, this time from Norman Hogwood, who resides in New Zealand:
I have very good reasons to remember my first flight because it was with TCA! It was in May 1960, a few months after I started working for TCA at Heathrow. At the time they were operating a fleet of Super Constellations over the Atlantic but they were getting on in years and, as with all airlines, TCA was looking at replacing them with a fleet of pure jets. They chose the DC-8 and, as soon as the first one was delivered they brought it over to the UK for a series of flight crew training operations. The aircraft and crews were kept busy doing some quick trips up and down the country from Heathrow during the day, and taking on some longer runs in the evening. Towards the end of the training sessions it was decided to give the local staff and some important people from other areas of the industry a chance to sample the new aircraft. The options were a daylight flight up to the north of England without landing anywhere or a trip over to Shannon in Ireland on an evening flight. I opted for the latter.
I was terribly excited and couldn't wait for the day to pass. We took off about 6pm and from memory landed in Shannon about 7.30. The flight was everything I had expected. The air was smooth; so smooth in fact that we could stand coins up on their edges on the tray tables. The approach to Shannon was a little unusual as the crew, whether for training purposes or for good reason, did a missed approach from a quite low level and we went around and landed off the second approach.
The staff and other passengers then spent a couple of hours in the transit lounge bar and the ride back to Heathrow reminded me of a few coach outings I had been on with the singing of songs and telling of jokes. If this was what flying was all about I decided I could take a lot of it!
And, by the way, I was in good company on my first flight as our esteemed editor Terry Baker was another passenger! At the time, his father was in charge of H M Customs at Heathrow, but none of us tried to buy over the allowable limit.
(As it happened, my father was also a passenger on the fam flight and was continually pestered by my co-workers about duty free allowances - his reply was "It is up to your conscience what you take back" - well, as Norman pointed out, no one bought over the limit and, upon landing at LHR, all the passengers were allowed through Customs without the usual preliminaries - I wasn't very popular next day, as many felt it was a lost opportunity - eds)
Jack Stephens forwarded us this story which was sent to the www.vickersviscount.net web site by Ron Macdonald.
Ron is over 90, and as can be noted, his mind is clear as well as his recall. Another story of the Viscount nose wheel. I was taxiing out at Stephenville, Nfld. (Harmon USAF base) and the nose wheel steering seemed a bit stiff, thinking I may have flat tire, I asked the tower to check my tires and their response was, tires look okay but your scissor is wide open and you look tail heavy. I noted our load was 21 passengers, so I called the Stewardess position and asked where are the passengers sitting, she said in the back rows, so I went back and in the last two rows were 6 heavyweight wrestlers, 240lbs., each. One of which I knew called himself Lord Atholl Leighton, so I said "my dear lord can you all move to over the wing" which they did. Without this reseating, the take off might have proven very interesting. Capt Ron Macdonald TCA Air Canada 4200hrs on Viscounts
Here we have another exploit from Jim Griffith:
Hob Knobbing With The PM
The night was black as pitch, the air was silky smooth and we were homeward bound. The flight from Lagos to Dakar had been uneventful. In Dakar we picked up a snootful of fuel for the long haul back to Ottawa thence home to Montreal. It had been an hour since the hot, heavy, runway limited take off from Dakar's Yoff airport. Now at top of climb with the adrenalin rush behind us we four, the Captain, First Officer, Navigator and me, the lowly, Second Officer were settling in for the long dreary eight hours of flight ahead of us. It was at the end of a grueling week-long British Commonwealth Prime Ministers' conference in Lagos, Nigeria, January 1966, that was meant to coordinate policies towards white ruled Rhodesia; a touchy subject even today.
I was the only member of the cockpit crew that wasn't senior management; even the flight attendants were supervisors. I had just checked out as a DC-8 S/O after a four year layoff and was happy to be back on the job. To say I was a bit intimidated surrounded by all this brass would be an understatement. I was however more apprehensive about the armed Nigerian soldiers on every street corner and burned out vehicles littering the route to our hotel in Lagos. No one had bothered to forewarn me that Nigeria was in a de facto state of revolution. At the time I never dreamed that a scant three years later I would see armed Canadian soldiers on Quebec street corners.
The cockpit lighting had been dimmed and now comfortably ensconced in my little side saddle cocoon heading home I was reflecting on my audacious Nigerian escapades, when suddenly my thoughts were interrupted by a message from the cabin. The Prime Minister would like to know the score in the hockey game. I shouldn't have been surprised knowing the PM's well documented love of hockey particularly the Toronto Maple Laughs, his favourite team, and this was after all Hockey Night in Canada.
(The conclusion will be in NetLetter nr 1282 - eds)
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Odds and Ends.
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 Sometimes we receive articles and information that just doesn't fit in our other areas. This is where it goes!
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Canada's Transportation Safety Board says Emirates Airlines recently elected to fly an A380 more than 5,000 miles across the Atlantic, southern Europe and the Mediterranean to Kuwait on three engines after the number four engine flamed out about an hour after takeoff from JFK.
Alan Evans sends us this information:
I used to fly out of there once (Miami). Hauling cargo, hot bedding it where ever I could get a nights rest, trained the VASP pilots onto the DC8 and flew out of Opa Laka. It was a tough old place for freelance pilots and there were some tough old freelance pilots.
Check out Miami's Corrosion Corner by clicking on the image below. (photos and story from 1986 - 1990).
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Terry's Trivia and Travel Tips - by Terry Baker
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Ken Pickford, refers to NetLetter nr 1279, and sends this information - Re the British passport renewals for those living outside the UK, the passport fees you quote, and reference to the Post Office Check and Send Service, are for UK residents. For those outside the UK the fees are much higher, as mentioned on this page of the link you included:
Unfortunately, the information we provided was taken from a newsletter issued for the British readers in Canada. So, here is the correct guff:
Overseas British passport applications
Your application will take at least 4 weeks from when it's received by Her Majesty's Passport Office in the UK. You'll have to pay a fee for your passport and a courier fee of £19.86. The courier fee pays for your passport and supporting documents to be sent back to you securely.
| Passport type |
Passport fee |
Total to pay (including courier fee) |
| Adult standard 32-page passport |
£128.00 |
£147.86 |
| Adult jumbo 48-page passport |
£154.50 |
£174.36 |
Travelodge Toronto Airport
Special Rate of $52.99/night. Includes free airport shuttle, wireless internet access & continental breakfast. Call/email and quote Booking Code LPWC. 1-888-483-6887
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Air Canada ID Card - Replacements are available.
If your Air Canada ID card has been lost or stolen, you can request a replacement from Air Canada. Form ACF1292 is available on AC Aeronet. Just print a copy of the form, fill in the required information, attach a photo as indicated and send it to the address on the form, along with your cheque for ca$15.00. Please note: ID cards are not available for spouses or survivors (source Okanagan Pionairs Summer 2013 newsletter)
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| Smileys - Compiled by Terry Baker |
As we surf the internet and back issues of airline magazines we regularly find airline related jokes and cartoons. Below is our latest discovery.
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Bob Barry sent us this story - DEDICATED TO ALL THOSE WHO FLEW BEHIND ROUND ENGINES
We gotta get rid of turbines, they're ruining aviation. A turbine is too simple minded, it has no mystery. The air travels through it in a straight line and doesn't pick up any of the pungent fragrance of engine oil or pilot sweat. Anybody can start a turbine. You just need to move a switch from "OFF" to "START". My PC is harder to start.
- Cranking a round engine requires skill, finesse and style. Turbines start by whining for a while, and then giving a small lady-like TOOT then start whining a little louder. Round engines give a satisfying rattle-rattle, click-click, BANG, more rattles, another BANG, a big macho FART or two, more clicks, a lot more smoke and finally a serious low pitched roar. We like that. It's a GUY thing...
- When you start a round engine, your mind is engaged and you can concentrate on the flight ahead. Starting a turbine is like flicking on a ceiling fan: Useful, but, hardly exciting.
- Turbines don't break or catch fire often enough, leading to aircrew boredom, complacency and inattention. A round engine at speed looks and sounds like it's going to blow any minute. This helps concentrate the mind! Turbines don't have enough control levers or gauges to keep a pilot's attention. There's nothing to fiddle with during long flights.
- Turbines smell like a Boy Scout camp full of Coleman Lanterns. Round engines smell like God intended airplanes to smell.
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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
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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.
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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 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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