We have welcomed 212 new subscribers so far in 2021.

We wish to thank everyone for your support of our efforts.

Back issues of The NetLetter are available in both the original newsletter format and downloadable PDF format.

We invite you to visit our website at www.thenetletter.net/netletters to view our archives.

Restoration and posting of archive issues is an ongoing project. We hope to post every issue back to the beginning in 1995.

We always welcome feedback about Air Canada (including Jazz and Rouge) from our subscribers who wish to share current events, memories and photographs.

Particularly if you have stories to share from one of the legacy airlines: Trans-Canada Air Lines, Canadian Airlines, CP Air, Pacific Western, Eastern Provincial, Wardair, Nordair, Transair, Air BC, Time Air, Quebecair, Calm Air, NWT Air, Air Alliance, Air Nova, Air Ontario, Air Georgian and all other Canadian based airlines that once graced the Canadian skies.

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We will try to post your comments in the next issue but, if not, we will publish it as soon as we can.

Thanks!

The Farnborough International Airshow will make its return on July 18 - 22, 2022.

Next year, its role will carry even greater significance with FIA2022 serving as the first major event to reconnect colleagues from around the world, enabling business growth and recovery. A huge amount will have changed in the three years since we last brought industry together; however, FIA2022 will be a strategic opportunity to witness the leaps in development that have taken place as well as showcasing innovation to a truly global audience, face-to-face.

Source: www.farnboroughairshow.com/fia2022

Referring to NetLetter #1473, Terry Rea wrote,

Hi Folks,

These photo's sure bring back memories for me! I worked for Nordair (CF-NAB and CF-NAQ) and PWA (CF-PWE and CF-PXB) @ YRB (Resolute Bay, NWT (now Nunavut)) in 1969 and 1970 with Roger Hill before I transferred to ATC (YVR Tower - Retired 2017).

YRB was a busy Arctic airport those days; we also had 4x PWA Hercs (CF-PWX, CF-PWO, CF- PWR and CF-PWN) based there in winter for Arctic resupply missions to the DOT Met Stations (YIC YMD + Mould Bay + Alert NWT).

I remember working the PWA Royal Tour charter aircraft in July 1970 and met Prince Charles coming off the B-737; we were born the same day November 16, 1948. We are both 73 years young!

If interested, click the YouTube link for a nice clip with my Lifetime Achievement Award from BC Aviation Council.

Before the COVID shut things down, I enjoyed get-togethers with the 'Quarter Century Club', with other lifers in aviation; lost contact and hoping we can resume our quarterly meetings. Do you have any contact info?

Editors' Note: The 'Quarter Century in Aviation Club' has ceased operations but, we believe, many members are NetLetter subscribers. We would certainly enjoy receiving more stories from former members.

Referring to NetLetter #1472, Mike Ronan wrote, 

I happened to spot a mention of a very long flight for a Boeing 767.

From the newsletter: ... "The longest scheduled nonstop flight by an Air Canada B-767 was Toronto to Tokyo, which lasted 13:45 hours and covered 10,324 kilometres.”

I quickly realized that I had the privilege of being the captain on that very flight, and I will be happy to provide a few details! It was not until today while reading The NetLetter that I had any knowledge that this flight was the longest scheduled flight for a B-767!

This caused me to crack the old logbook, and I see that this flight departed on November 13, 2004 arriving in Tokyo Narita on the 15th with a B-B time of 13:58.

The crew for the flight was made up of 4 pilots: Denis Potvin, Peter Thompson, Randy Scheffel and myself.

I do remember the flight planning stage. We sharpened our pencils as we entered into several discussions with the dispatcher who had to do a fair bit of “ballet” with the figures. We found that we could only depart YYZ by bumping all air cargo as well as much of the baggage due to our 'FULL TANKS' situation.

The route took us pretty far north over places like Deadhorse and Utqiagvik up on the Beaufort Sea along the north shore of Alaska.

I recall taking a very close look at weather conditions and runway-in-use at Narita prior to committing to overfly Sapporo on Hokkaido and, now satisfied that our fuel state was good, we continued to our planned destination.

We landed just inside the 'legal reserves' for fuel, but the “insufficient fuel” warnings were present on our panels on final approach! This was due to a runway change and the need to take a long vector to the south of NRT prior to our landing towards the north on arrival, and the unusual requirement to extend the landing gear very early, (there is a procedure at this airport that states that the landing gear must be extended prior to crossing the shoreline). By dropping the destination alternate of Haneda from the FMC this FMC "nag" was quickly put out.

Due to nice tailwinds, the return flight was quite easy at 12.3 hours.

Four years later I moved on to fly the B-777 and this route became quite easy as I have flown it many times and truly enjoyed the very long range of the newest Boeing.

Chuck Tolley, on October 6, 2021, posted this memory on the Nordair Facebook page.

In 1963, I accepted a teaching position in Kangirsuq (Payne Bay at the time) and traveled from Montreal to Kuujjuaq (Fort Chimo) with Nordair. This was my first flight on a larger aircraft.

The photo below is of Nordair's DC-4, CF-JIR, at the Kuujjuaq airport in late August, 1963. I believe this particular aircraft had been owned by Wheeler Airlines and was later sold to Nordair.

We had originally been scheduled to fly on a 'Super Connie' but it was mechanical and we had to resort to the old faithful DC-4. I had to wait in Kuujjuaq for 10 days until the weather was good and a plane was available to fly us in to Payne Bay.

I eventually traveled the last leg on a Wheeler Norseman. It was the beginning of a great adventure. 

Remember when the crew would pass a captain's bulletin to the passengers during the flight?

Here is a copy of one issued February 3, 1941 while flying over Alberta.

Women in Space: Sergeant Mandie MacKenzie. 

The theme of this year’s UN World Space Week, Women in Space, carries special meaning for at least one Canadian Space Specialist.

Sergeant Mandie MacKenzie, a Senior Space Watch Crew Chief at the Canadian Space Operations Centre (CANSpOC), sees UN World Space Week as an opportunity to inspire other women interested in the space domain.

“Women can understand space and women can contribute to space, and our contributions are vital,” said Sgt MacKenzie.

“There has been a glass ceiling for so long, so to be able to participate in and contribute to Canada’s future in the space domain has a lot of meaning.”

Sgt MacKenzie describes her job as manning a virtual space observation post, surrounded by 19 screens that display varying types and classifications of data. She reports on anything from missile warning detection to collision of objects in space to system outages. This all contributes to CANSpOC’s ability to provide 24/7 monitoring of the space domain to help ensure the safety of Canadian and allied space-based capabilities.

Source: www.rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca

Posted on the Northern Lights Aero Foundation Facebook page June 18, 2021.

Congratulations to Urooj Ali, one of four 2021 Recipients of the Captain Judy Cameron Scholarship on behalf of Air Canada and the Northern Lights Aero Foundation.

Urooj Ali is a 19 year old in her second year of Geography and Aviation at the University of Waterloo, who is completing her Commercial Pilot License at the Waterloo Wellington Flight Centre.

Source: facebook.com/NorthernLightsAero

Singapore Airlines to resume 5th freedom Manchester-Houston route.

Singapore Airlines announced it will restart this fifth-freedom route on December 1, 2021.

It had suspended this service since the start of the pandemic. Flights will operate three times a week (Wednesday, Friday and Sunday) with an Airbus A350-900 configured for 42 Business, 24 Premium Economy and 197 Economy class seats.

Source: Business Traveller

Larry Milberry has put together a blog which can be followed at canavbooks.wordpress.com. We have permission from Larry to publish some of his stories & photos.

Cold weather trials for the A220-300.

Yellowknife had a rare visitor and another chance to feature itself as a centre for cold weather trials. On January 12, 2020 an Airbus A220-300 (C-FFDO) landed there from Winnipeg to undergo some special testing. On taxiing in at Yellowknife. "FDO" parked beside the Buffalo Airways Lockheed Electra, whose captain, Tony Jervis took the great photo below. What a contrast in air transport history, right!

That afternoon Yellowknife had a temperature of -45C, so no one could complain about conditions. 'FDO' sat outside being 'cold soaked (sitting outside with all aircraft power turned off).

Apparently, this testing was about increasing the A220's certified cold weather operations limit from -35C to -40C. On January 14, 2020 "FDO" was, by then, thoroughly cold soaked and made a 49-minute local flight.

Ground testing continued until January 18, 2020 when it departed for the base at Wichita via Calgary and Kansas City.

'FDO' was manufactured in Montreal in March 2016 as a Bombardier CSeries CS300. Designated 'Flight Test Vehicle 8', until January 20, 2020 it had logged 77 flights / 207.46 flying hours.

Additional info: aibfamily.flights/A220/55002

Editors' Note: Air Canada received its first A220-300 on December 20, 2019 - C-GROV fin #101. See NetLetter #1428.

Found in 'Horizons' magazine

Issue dated December 1998

It's now easy to get to 'The Big Easy'.

Here we have the crew which operated the A319 inaugural service between Toronto and New Orleans.

Left to right: In-Charge George Mitterer, Flight Attendants Patty Vlachos and Diane Thibault, Captains Dave Glazier and John Bradshaw.

Here we have a photo of the ramp area at Vancouver Airport in 1959 with TCA's Super Constellation, North Star and DC-3's.

Issue dated November 1999

Stamping our mark.

By Georgia Johns, Corporate Communications Coordinator, Toronto.

Did you know two of Air Canada's aircraft are featured on commemorative postage stamps?

In 1996, the postal service of Barbados issued stamps with a "Links with Canada" theme. The $0.90 and $1.00 stamps, both currently out of circulation, portrayed an Air Canada B-767 and A320 respectively.

Fifty years ago, Trans-Canada Air Lines provided the first scheduled air link between this Caribbean island and Canada with a North Star aircraft.

Our 50th new route links North America's two capitals.

On August 3, 1999, flight AC354 touched down at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, marking the start-up of non-stop CRJ service between Ottawa and Washington every business day.

Posing with the Canadian flag are, left to right: First Officer Patrick Molotchnikoff and Captain Jean-Jacques Podrez.

Plane pull helps raise money for Special Olympics.

On September 12, 1999, 24 well-muscled teams gathered outside our Montreal wide-body hangar to compete in the first ever B-767 Challenge. Organized by Aéroports de Montréal and MUC Police Neighbourhood Station 5, the event raised funds for the Quebec Special Olympics. Each 20-member team of Arnold Schwarzenegger-types tested his/her mettle by pulling an Air Canada B-767, weighing 86,000 kg (190,000 lb.), over a distance of 4 m (12 ft.).

In the category of fastest pull, our team of Ramp Rats finished second with a time of 8.94 seconds; the Mohawks of Kahnawake came in first at 8.74 seconds. Two thousand people turned up to watch and $22,000 was raised for the athletes.

Who were our Dorval Ramp Rats?

Station Attendants Mike Leonarrdi, Patrick Le Formal, Alain Cloutier, Serge Legault, Jean-Pierre Bertrand, Thomas Dunn, Sebastien Marcoux, Jean-Sebastien Canuel, Frederic Poirier, Charles O'Donnel and Pierre Turcotte.

Station Leads: Jean Constantineau, Don Dupré, Frank Greco, Louis Frappier, Graeme Roussac.

Mechanics: Kenneth Goodfellow, Steven Cowie, Douglas Black and Marc Rouette. 

It took an international cast of characters to kick off our service to Taipei.

On July 6, 1999, our inaugural flight from Vancouver to Taipei was a success thanks to the contribution of many employees from across the system.

Pictured, left to right, is the start-up team:

Kneeling: Jannet Tricarico, Training Instructor, Customer Sales and Service, Vancouver and Regent Dussault, Manager, Operations Control, Weight and Balance, Toronto.

Standing: Stephen Sun, Station Attendant, Vancouver; John McManus, Training Instructor, Aircraft Services, Vancouver; Kerry Laverty, Cargo Agent, Vancouver; Raymond Chang, General Manager, Taipei; Gary Cheung, Manager, Commissary and Catering, NA West and Pacific Rim, Vancouver; Marc Rosenberg, Vice President, Sales and Product Distribution, Toronto; Robert Perreault, General Manager Asia and Pacific, Hong Kong; Gary Cameron, Manager, Customer Service, STOC, Vancouver; Vincent Tsai, Airport Manager, Taipei; Victor Liboiron, Technician, Advantis, Vancouver and Frank Shettlesworth, Manager, Training and Development, Europe and Asia, London, UK.

Missing: Joanna Goh, Customer Sales and Service Agent, Vancouver.

In NetLetter #1469 we had an article regarding Canadian Pacific Air Lines'  DC-6 aircraft, registration CF-CZV, and made mention of its long history.

Here we have a detailed history for movements for this aircraft.

Pacific Western fleet chart.

Source: Air Canada 75th anniversary book.

Pacific Western Airlines fleet #732, registration CF-PWE.

From contributor GEmptor to the pwareunion.com on September 27, 2021 -

Presidential Airways Boeing 737-275C EI-BJP in the hangar. 

Delivered to Pacific Western Airlines as CF-PWE, this aircraft was re-registered by Presidential Airways as N331XV and would serve with NWT Air. The plane was brought to Phoenix to get painted in a partial scheme - no stripes to save on paint costs and NWT Air was only leasing the aircraft. Aircraft currently stored since 2006!

Editors' Note: The aircraft also served WestJet as C-GJWK from March 1996 to March 2000.

Mike Garrett posted this on the CP Air Employees Facebook page on October 14, 2021

Seen here taking off from Boeing Field at Seattle, Washington on a test flight is CP Air's first Boeing 737-200, registration CF-CPB.

This was the first B-737 for CP Air, the first to be delivered in the new CP orange livery and CP Air was the first airline in Canada to use the Boeing 737.

Accepted by CP Air October 22, 1968, CF-CPB was with CP until November 9, 1982. 

Muffin Aviation posted 'The History of Air Canada Liveries' on YouTube

Alex Praglowski posted a video update on the (100% Inuit owned) Canadian North fleet since it merged with First Air earlier this year.

Larry Milberry sends this -

Welcome to CANAV’s Fall/Winter 2021-22 booklist check the web site www.canavbooks.wordpress.com.

Have a Look! CANAV’s Fall/Winter 2021-22 List — It’s a Blockbuster Season.

Also … Norseman Update, CAHS History, Bill Wheeler, Neil A. Macdougall, Austin Airways, Fox Moth Discoveries, Les Corness Treasures, James Bay Airlift, Canadair CL-260 Re-Discovered, John Ciesla’s fantastic Transportation Files, Ghost Canso/Bush Caddy Update

As usual it includes all the standard CANAV classics, with some excellent deals, especially for Air Transport in Canada at a give-away, all-in price. There are numerous new offerings, all enticing for the serious fan. It’s hard to say which is the real standout of the bunch, but I’m tending (for one) towards Chris Hadfield’s The Apollo Murders. I’ve just started to read it and I’m reminded right away (as far as writing style and enticing content go) of Ernie Gann’s Fate is the Hunter.

That’s about as grand a compliment as I could give any aviation/space author. I think you need this book, but so do you need a box load of others from this fall’s list. Take a look, you’ll see what I mean … stock up for winter.

Here we have the timetable from Air Laurentian issued September 6, 1993 from the collection of David Zekria. 

Source: timetableimages.com/ttimages/9v.htm

The history of the Laurentian Air Services can be found in the book:

For the Love of Flying: The Story of Laurentian Air Services

by Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail

Available at:
www.amazon.ca/Love-Flying-Story-Laurentian-Services

Further to our article on Cascadia Air in NetLetter #1438 -

Small Canadian commuter start up Cascadia Air has announced non-stop scheduled flights between Vancouver and Penticton as it expands into the British Columbia interior, with plans to introduce more service routes in the next year.

Flights to Vancouver were launched on August 30, 2021. The carrier will offer direct flights on the route throughout the week and weekends on a limited scheduled basis using Piper (twin piston) PA31-350's until such time as consumer demand warrants adding more schedules and larger aircraft, the company said in a statement. According to the Canadian aircraft register, the company owns four more Piper Aircraft; three PA 31-350s and one PA 32-260. To accommodate social distancing during the pandemic, its aircraft are currently spaced for a maximum of six passengers.

Source: ch-aviation.com/portal/news

New budget airline says planes will fly from Waterloo Region to Montreal, Ottawa next year.

Pivot Airlines says tickets are now on sale for travel from Waterloo Region to Montreal and Ottawa as the company will finally have planes in the air early next year.

It says service between Waterloo Region and Ottawa will begin on February 19, 2022 while planes will start travelling to Montreal from Waterloo Region on March 21, 2022.

Source: flypivot.com

N747PA - 'Clipper Juan T. Trippe'  2nd B-747 built

It is a common cliché that coming 2nd is destined to be forgotten, but being 2nd is still an important place in history.

As the Boeing 747 gradually passes into history as a passenger aircraft after just over a half century in service, and production scheduled to end in 2022 after delivery of the last few 747-8F freighters, it is disappointing to learn of the fate of the 2nd 747 ever built. 

MSN 19639, Line #2, registration N747PA was an original test aircraft for Boeing. It was christened 'Jet Clipper America' by Pat Nixon on January 14, 1970 before joining the Pan Am fleet where it became a flagship for a new era in aviation history.

It was involved in an incident in San Francisco on July 30, 1971 where it was severely damaged but it was repaired and returned to service. In November 1973 it was leased to Air Zaire (as N747QC) and renamed 'Mont Floyo'. Returned to Pan Am in March 1975, it was again renamed 'Clipper Sea Lark' and then again renamed (in 1980) as 'Clipper Juan T. Trippe' in honour of the Pan Am founder and driving force behind the development of the Boeing 747. 

When Pan Am ceased operation in 1991, General Electric Credit Corporation took ownership of N747PA. This is where its fate took a very sad twist. It would be the last B-747 Pan Am had left when it departed New York in 1992. 

Click the YouTube icon for a video detailing 'Clipper Juan T. Trippe' departing from JFK.

Video and Script/Audio John F. Clarke, additional video from Jerry Labrusciano.

It was leased to Aeroposta the same year and briefly to Kabo Air in 1995. The aircraft would be grounded in 1997 and used as a source of spare parts, due to her airframe approaching the need for a major D-Check and no longer conforming to new noise criteria.

Eventually it was broken up in 1999 at San Bernardino International Airport. 

The remains of the aircraft were purchased by a South Korean couple in 2000, converted into a restaurant called 'Jumbo747' and painted to look like a Boeing VC-25A (Air Force One).

After the restaurant shut down in 2005, the plane would lie abandoned for several years. There were petitions and campaigns from numerous aviation enthusiasts for museums or local governments to preserve the historic airplane. Eventually though in 2010, the remains of N747PA were finally scrapped. Seems like quite an unfitting end for 'Jet Clipper America'.

Click the image below to view an excellent video, posted by 'Talking To Myself Productions' on YouTube, chronicling the full lifecycle and fate of this important piece of aviation history.

Editors' Note: The screen capture shows the aircraft receiving a water cannon salute before the departure.

Sources:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N747PA

www.planespotters.net/airframe/boeing-747-100-n747pa

Terry Baker, co-founder of the NetLetter scours the internet for aviation related Trivia and Travel Tips for you, our readers, to peruse.

SWISS offers home baggage collection for Geneva airport.

Swiss International Airlines (SWISS) now offering passengers departing from Geneva airport the option of having their baggage collected at home through the AirPortr service.

By booking online, passengers can have their bags securely collected up to 23 hours prior to departure from their home or hotel and delivered on to the destination airport. The service is available across the Lemanic Region, including Geneva, Nyon, Montreux, and Lausanne, and once the initial test phase is complete it should be extended across the entire country.

SWISS is currently the first airline to offer this service in Switzerland, but it will soon be extended to other airlines of the Lufthansa Group. The AirPortr offering will give passengers the opportunity to travel hands-free to the airport and through its terminals.

Source: AC Daily October 20, 2021

Additional info @ www.futuretravelexperience.com

Ohio’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles did a quick 180 after failing its creative license test with a physics-defying image of the Wright Flyer.

The state’s motto is 'Birthplace of Aviation' in reference to the Wright brothers’ Dayton headquarters for development of what is generally accepted to be the first powered aircraft. The BMV’s new design for license plates incorporates a banner-towing version of the aircraft that first took flight in North Carolina in 1903.

Shortly after the unveiling of the new design, Ohioans flooded social media to point out that the rendering of the Wright’s ash, spruce and linen world-changing invention was depicted backward and was therefore pushing the banner.

The BMV wasted little time in flipping the image and announced a clean-sheet redesign the same day. 

Source: avweb.com 

Rolls-Royce Tests SAF on Trent 1000. 

Rolls-Royce has successfully completed a test flight of its Trent 1000 engine using 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

The flight, which used the company’s 747 flying test bed aircraft, lasted three hours and 54 minutes. According to Rolls-Royce, initial results from the test “confirm there were no engineering issues.”

Conducted out of Arizona’s Tucson airport, the test was undertaken in partnership with Boeing and World Energy. Rolls-Royce has also carried out ground and air testing of its Trent XWB and Pearl engines using 100 percent SAF. The company says that all of its Trent engines will be compatible with 100 percent SAF by 2023.

Source: avweb.com

Our cartoon by Dave Mathias appeared in the 'Between Ourselves' magazine issued March 1964, the caption reads "Before I review the headquarters plans for Trans Parent Air Lines I would appreciate if any field managers who have any hot rumours on the subject would raise their hands!".