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, Maritime Central Airways, 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!

Paul Dhillon sends this information regarding the tank sealers article published in NetLetter # 1475 -

The task required a person ‘diminutive’ in stature but big on bravery and calmness. They were always willing to ‘bend over backwards’ to get the task completed.

I do not have a credit for the photo.

David Varnes, Chair of the IAM LL 764 history committee, added this comment -

The more interesting item was the specifications for the mechanic who did this; there were height and weight restrictions, and often, a "smaller person" in the Maintenance Branch found themselves continuously assigned to tank inspection, notwithstanding their seniority standing. 

Paul responded -

Yes, in YVR there were a few guys from the Philippines in maintenance that were the preferred dimensions (HxW, where W referred to Weight and Waist). I think the work also attracted a premium on their hourly rate.

Doug Davidson shares this memory -

Mike Nash’s story, published in NetLetter # 1475, of the first automated ticket brought back memories (although I can’t remember the fun parties - I must have missed out on those). It was a revolution at the front end but also downstream for Winnipeg C & SS and Finance. With hand-written tickets, the audit coupon had to be keyed in great detail. When the flight coupons came in from the airports, all that was needed was the ticket number and coupon number and those could be captured by an optical scanner.

When RES printed the tickets, all the sale data was saved and transmitted to Winnipeg. That eliminated the manual keying and the inevitable errors that went along with that. There was just one problem - a major one. RES didn’t know the ticket number it had just printed.

Mike is quite correct. Tickets were accountable documents. Flight coupons had value, just like bank notes, and were therefore tightly controlled. When they were manufactured each ticket had a unique number which was only used once worldwide. So the sale records sent to Winnipeg were useless until we had attached the correct ticket number. The solution was to have RES generate a unique TCN (Transaction Control Number) which was printed on the ticket and included with the rest of the ticket record sent to Winnipeg. When the audit coupons came in, they still had to be keyed but only with the TCN and the ticket number. The required keypunching was a small fraction of what had been required previously.

My good friend Barry Schreder told me - speaking from memory - that Canadian took a different route. When a new roll of tickets was loaded in the printer, the agent would tell Res what the first ticket number was. So the ticket detail sent to revenue accounting by RES was complete and as each ticket was issued, RES just added 1 to the previous number and no keypunching was required. It wasn’t foolproof, of course. When a ticket was issued, agents were required to check that the ticket number in their hand was the same as the one on the screen. If, for example, a roll had broken, been rejoined and two tickets destroyed, the rest of the run would have ticket numbers that were all wrong. They would be out by two. If it wasn’t caught and corrected up front, this was a monumental snafu that had to be sorted out manually in revenue accounting. 

Colin Waters sends us this memory -

I refer to Mike Ronan's experience, published in NetLetter #1475, on the DC-9 from YVR to YYZ

I joined Air Canada in 1966 as a Second Officer on the DC-8.

Sometime around 1968, I was promoted to First Officer after being checked out by George Campbell. As I recall, George had initiated a YVR to YYZ trip on a 'short' DC-9. 

Do not remember flight details but do recall some ATC personnel remarking on the accomplishment of a nonstop flight and passenger surprise. George was suitably impressed.

There was much checking of the fuel situation and weather conditions en route.

Sincerely,

Colin M Waters, retired in 2000 off the A340.

Editor's Note by Ken Pickford: 'Short' refers to the shorter fuselage of the 6 original AC DC-9-14's operated for about 2 years from 1966 to 1968 as a stopgap while waiting for the -32 series which had a 15 foot longer fuselage and about 5 more rows of seats.

The "short" DC-9s were returned to McDonnell Douglas in mid to late 1968 after the first 20 or so DC-9-32's had been delivered.

Bob Sheppard's memories below refer to a later batch of 8 'short' DC-9's acquired from Continental Airlines in 1972/73 (all delivered to Continental in 1967). They were passenger/cargo convertible models with a main deck cargo door, known as DC-9-15RC ("rapid change").

At AC they were Fin #s 761 to 768, registered CF-TON through TOU. They were used in both passenger and cargo service at AC. They were all sold to Air Florida between 1977 and 1981. Two of those aircraft are still flying today as freighters, one in the U.S. and one in Mexico, almost 55 years since they were built.

Bob Sheppard's memories of  the DC-9-15RC's: 

I remember cleaning short DC-9 aircraft in 1977 or 1978 at YYZ. I appreciated it being about 5 rows shorter at the time.

I was originally hired as summer help wet washing aircraft. I later stayed on as a CAT 33 cleaner/groomer until I transferred to Cat 13 finishing / T&F.

Finally transferring to Winnipeg in 1980 to work on B-727 C&D checks.

Additional DC-9 references in past NetLetter issues.

NL #1342 - DC-9 Fleet

NL # 1450 - DC-9-15RC (Rapid Change) 

Click Here for our full list of Air Canada's DC-9 fleet.

ATP Flight School announced that Gretchen Leneski has become the 10,000th student to graduate from its Airline Transport Pilot Certification Training Program (ATP CTP).

Based at the school’s ATP JETS Part 142 airline training center in Dallas, Texas, the program was first offered in 2015. According to ATP, it currently provides ATP CTP training for 10 regional airlines.

ATP currently runs 70 flight schools across the country aimed at offering initial pilot certification for students looking to work at the airlines. It operates a fleet of 448 aircraft including Piper Archers, Cessna 172s and Piper Seminoles along with running 122 flight simulators.

According to the company, its Airline Career Pilot Program can be completed in seven months by students starting with no experience.

Source: AVweb.com

While researching our story about Lethbridge, Alberta's role in the early days of air mail delivery in NetLetter #1475, we happened upon the story a true female aviation pioneer, Katherine Stinson.

Ms. Stinson was an aviation pioneer who, in 1912, became the fourth woman in the United States to earn the FAI pilot certificate. She set flying records for aerobatic maneuvers, distance, and endurance. She was the first female pilot employed by the US Postal Service, and the first civilian pilot to fly the mail in Canada. She was also the first pilot to ever fly at night and the first female pilot to fly in Canada, China, and Japan.

During exhibition flights in Canada, she became the first civilian to fly the mail in Canada on a flight from Calgary to Edmonton, Alberta in 1918.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Stinson

Additional Info: Early Northern Air Mail @ www.canadashistory.ca

Katherine Stinson delivers Canada's first northern airmail to Postmaster George Armstrong of Edmonton, on July 9, 1918. She had flown it from Calgary.

Brussels Airlines confirms its position in the market with a new brand identity.

Belgium’s home carrier starts a new chapter.

Today, Brussels Airlines presents a new brand identity, confirming its position in the market as Belgium’s home carrier. Updated colours, a new logo and aircraft livery are the visual token of the airline’s new chapter, stating its readiness for future challenges and re-emphasizing on the importance of the Belgian brand. A chapter with a strong focus on customer experience, reliability and sustainability while keeping a competitive cost-structure.

Source: press.brusselsairlines.com

United Airlines officially welcomed the first class of students to its new United Aviate flight training academy on December 6, 2021. The 30 students in the academy’s first class were selected from more than 7,500 applicants.

Located at Arizona’s Phoenix Goodyear Airport (GYR), the United Aviate Academy offers a one-year training program after which graduates move to “partner universities, professional flight training organizations and United Express carriers on their way to becoming United pilots.”

Source: AVweb.com

Found in 'Horizons' magazine

Issue dated September 1999

West and east wins.

Held in Vancouver from June 15 to 17, 1999, the ACRA System Softball Tournament was a roaring success. The weather was perfect as 17 teams battled for the winning cup.

In the mixed event, the Vancouver #1 team stole the glory from Winnipeg's #2 team. In the Men's, Montreal was victorious over Los Angeles. Keep on swinging and see you next June in Calgary!

Nikolai the bull elephant goes to Frankfurt.

In July 1999, a very special seven-year old pachyderm boarded AC872 from Toronto to Frankfurt in the main deck of our B-747-400 combi.

Weighing in at almost 3,300 lbs., Nikolai was in a crate weighing nearly 3,000 lbs. He was accompanied by three attendants—two from his new home at the Hanover Zoo and one from his African Lion Safari home in Cambridge, Ontario.

The empty crate was hoisted by forklift onto a 16 ft. airline pallet, Nikolai walked into the crate to be weighed, and then was immediately loaded in the main deck.

Wonder if he's ordered a special meal?

Taming the Trans-Atlantic.

In 1946, for $375 CDN eastbound and GBP85 westbound, you could fly the North Atlantic on one of the most unique aircraft ever manufactured; the Canadian-built Lancaster.

The four-engine airplane that flew over the Atlantic three times a week in each direction was a passenger version of the Avro Lancaster, a military bomber converted to a cargo airplane with limited seating, sometimes referred to as the Lancastrian.

Following the end of the war in 1945, TCA added four more Lancasters to the fleet that now numbered seven. Emerging from the Victory Aircraft Factory in Toronto, these 'Lancs' differed from their predecessors.

The early Lancasters - anything but passenger aircraft - were a product of an elaborate conversion process designed to carry light loads.

With the trans-Atlantic carriage of military mail declining after the war and the passenger traffic building ever larger in importance, there was a need for passenger aircraft.

Click the image to view a short video about the Lancaster posted by British Pathé on YouTube.

The passenger 'Lancs'.

Through the elimination of a portion of the bomb bay, accommodation was provided for 10 passengers in a roomy cabin that was heated with a gasoline-operated combustion heater. The earlier method had extracted heat from the engine's liquid coolant. The entire aircraft was insulated and soundproofed with fibreglass.

Individual reading lights, call buttons, ash trays, oxygen outlets, and other incidentals familiar to the airline passenger were also provided.

Designed by the TCA interior decorator, ceilings and walls were yellow with the lower sidewall panels rust. A mahogany-coloured carpet covered the cabin floor, while the standard TCA seat at that time was a light green.

The flight crew compartment was enlarged to provide additional room for navigating and radio officers. Beside a galley equipped for serving hot meals was a desk and chair for the cabin attendant.

Though cargo space was reduced to some extent to permit increased passenger accommodation, ample space remained for trans-Atlantic mail and baggage.

A tribute to Canadian workmanship and to the excellence of Canadian aircraft manufacture, the 'Lancs' remained in service until the four-engine North Star aircraft flew the trans-Atlantic in 1948.

Issue dated October 1999.

On duty every time in Seoul.

Ever since service started up, Station Manager Don Hur hasn't missed greeting a single flight.

For the last five years, he's been there two to three times a week. Over the past few months, his team, which moved into new Terminal 2 offices, has been handling full passenger and cargo loads with excellent on-time performance.

In this photograph by Isabelle Arthur are, from left to right: Jong-Sik Baek, Ramp & Cargo Customer Service Manager; Myeong-Sook Choi, Customer Service Agent; Don Hur and Hyun-Seog Koh, Customer Service Supervisor. 

Celebrating 15 years.

During 1999, Direct Marketing Sales and Service Agents at the Winnipeg Aeroplan Centre celebrated Aeroplan's fifteenth milestone in style, an aircraft shaped cake.

Seated, left to right: Ginette Comeau, Melissa Phaneuf, Joanne Dupuis, Denise Gallant and Nicolette Layne.

Standing, left to right: Dahlia Kurtz, Pamela Klippenstein, Murielle Warbis, Josée Bélanger, Jennifer Paterson and Dave Burns, General Manager, Aeroplan Call Centre Operations.

Here we have a pictorial of the Transair fleet.

Source: Air Canada 75th anniversary book.

From the "InfoCanadi>n" magazine.

Issue dated March 1988

Service fit for a queen!

In the photo below, Olie Damsgaard, purser, and Iris Kennedy, charter sales representative, present Queen Silvia of Sweden with flowers in Victoria, British Columbia.

The Queen and King Carl Gustav XVI, who toured Canada last week with the aim of strengthening ties between Sweden and Canada, flew on Canadian Airlines from Victoria to Vancouver on  Friday, March 18, 1988.

The crew included Olie Damsgaard, flight attendants Robin Leeder and Marilia Neto, Captain Doug Hill and First Officer Andy Bodenbender.

The charter, organized by Iris Kennedy, flew 60 passengers, among them Swedish and Canadian dignitaries, protocol, and members of the Swedish press.

Issue dated December 1990. 

It's finally here!

Ordered on July 28, 1988, delivered on December 13, 1990. Canada's and Canadian's first B747-400 could not have arrived at a more opportune time. 

Aircraft Fin #881 on the flight line at Boeing prior to its first test flight, November 7, 1990. Canadian's first B-747-400 was the 100th off the production line!

See NetLetter #1392 for our previous article on the delivery of C-GMWW - named 'Maxwell W. Ward'

In 1990, PWA Corporation consolidated its regional airline holdings into a new subsidiary management company called Canadian Regional Airlines Ltd. which comprised Time Air, Calm Air, Ontario Express and Air Atlantic.

Extracted from Air Canada 'Horizons' magazine.

Issue dated June 2000.

Hong Kong Sales gets into integration.

On April 6, 2000 Air Canada and Canadian Airlines hosted a breakfast seminar for local travel agents.

The event was well received, and we capitalized on the opportunity to announce Air Canada's Toronto-Hong Kong service and Canadian Airlines' Summer Tour packages to Canada. Schedules, brochures, and product information briefs were distributed.

The breakfast seminar team, left to right: Samson Sum, Sales Executive; Raymond Ho, Senior Sales Representative; Erica Lee, Secretary; Arron Ching, Station Manager; Ralfy Tsang, Secretary; Ivan Tsang, Sales Manager; Anita Leung, Manager-Hong Kong, China, and South East Asia; Bernard Lu, Sales and Reservation Manager; Beatrix Chan, Marketing Coordinator; Derek Ng and Catherine Chu, Customer Service Agents-Tour Desk; Terry Yen and Quincy Cheng, Sales Executives.

Air Canada's 777-200LRs are back!

Posted by Alex Praglowski

Montreal based YouTube videographer, Mark Brandon, posted this video of the only active MD-81 still operating in North America.

Forty year old Olympia Aviation registration N682RW is currently charted by Detroit Red Wings. It is shown landing in Montreal.

Next year, flying from the U.S. to Vietnam will be easier than ever, thanks to two Vietnamese air carriers launching new nonstop flights from the West Coast.

Vietnam Airlines and Bamboo Airways, both based in Hanoi, have plans to operate routes into San Francisco in 2022.

In fact, Vietnam Airlines’ first U.S. route is already officially under way. In November, the carrier launched its inaugural flight from Ho Chi Minh City into San Francisco International Airport.

The flight, already notable for being a rare nonstop route, was historic in other ways, too: It was the first-ever regularly scheduled flight operated between the U.S. and Vietnam. The launch of the route marks “a new milestone for Vietnam Airlines and Vietnam’s aviation,” the airline’s CEO Le Hong Ha said in a statement on Monday.

Source: MSN Travel

Flair Airlines.

It's a first for Deer Lake Airport, and one of the first in Newfoundland and Labrador. An "ultra-low cost" airline service will have a twice-weekly, regular route from the community on Newfoundland's west coast to Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, late next spring.

The deal with Flair Airlines was announced at the unveiling of the airport's new brand Friday December 3, 2021.

Source: CBC News

Flying The Rolling Stones 

ZS-NEX landing at Zurich

Posted by VoarVideos on YouTube

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

Oceanside Air Ltd. is a locally owned and operated air carrier and charter company based in Qualicum Beach, British Columbia.

Operating charter destinations ranging from Qualicum Beach, Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo, Tofino, and more locations across the province.

Source: Oceansideair.com

Low cost start ups.

In the United States three low-cost start up airlines were introduced in 2021, including Avelo Airlines, Breeze Airways, and Aha!, ExpressJet Airlines' new leisure brand.

When COVID hit, both Avelo and Breeze were able to take advantage of a glut of airline employees like pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, airport agents, and other airline professionals who found themselves in need of a new job.

Meanwhile, Avelo capitalized on the low lease rates for the Boeing 737-700 planes it acquired from Southwest Airlines. More budget carriers are hoping to start in 2022, including Airbahn and Northern Pacific Airways.

Source: MSN.com 

Found posted on pwareunion.com, the Pacific Western Airlines Employee Alumni web site.

Posted by C. Beck in December 2009.

• Airspeed - Speed of an airplane. (Deduct 25% when listening to a retired fighter pilot).
• Bank - The folks who hold the lien on most pilots' cars.
• Carburetor icing - A phenomenon reported to the FAA by pilots immediately after they run out of gas.
• Cone of confusion - An area about the size of New Jersey located near the final approach beacon at an airport.
• Crab - A VFR Instructor's attitude on an IFR day.
• Dead reckoning - You reckon correctly, or you are.
• Destination - Geographical location 30 minutes beyond the pilot's bladder saturation point.
• Engine failure - A condition that occurs when all fuel tanks mysteriously become filled with low-octane air.
• Firewall - Section of the aircraft specifically designed to funnel heat and smoke into the cockpit.
• Flight following - USAF Formation flying.
• Glide distance - Half the distance from an airplane to the nearest emergency landing field.
• Hobbs - An instrument which creates an emergency situation should it fail during dual instruction.
• Hydroplane - An airplane designed to land long on a short and wet runway.
• IFR - A method of flying by needle and horoscope.
• Lean mixture - Nonalcoholic beer.
• Mini mag lite - Device designed to support the AA battery industry.
• Nanosecond - Time delay between the Low Fuel Warning light and the onset of carburetor icing.
• Parachutes - The two chutes in a Stearman.
• Parasitic drag - A pilot who bums a ride and complains about the service.
• Range - Usually about 3 miles short of the destination.
• Rich mixture - What you order at another pilot's promotion party.
• Roger - Used when you're not sure what else to say.
• Sectional chart - Any chart that ends 25 nm short of your destination.
• Service ceiling - Altitude at which cabin crew can serve drinks.
• Spoilers - FAA Inspectors.
• Stall - Technique used to explain to the bank why your car payment is late.
• Steep banks - Banks that charge pilots more than 10% interest.
• Turn & bank indicator - An instrument largely ignored by pilots.
• Useful load - Volumetric capacity of the aircraft, disregarding weight.
• VOR - Radio navigation aid, named after the vortex effect on pilots trying to home in on it.
• WAC chart - Directions to the Army female barracks.
• Yankee - Any pilot who has to ask New Orleans tower to "Say again".