We have welcomed 114 new subscribers so far in 2023.

We wish to thank everyone for the continuing 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, 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.

Please feel free to contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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

Thanks!

ACRA Badminton Tournament 2023 cancelled.

Unfortunately our plans to hold our annual tournament in Lanzarote in late September 2023 has not worked out.

But still get your racket out and keep practising, we will do everything possible to have a Tournament in 2024!

Source: www.acrabadminton.org.uk

Nordair Reunion

Saturday, September 30, 2023
Halton Naval Veterans Association
2444 Industrial Street 
Burlington, Ontario

Doors Open @ 6:00 p.m.
Buffet @ 7:00 p.m.
$35.00 per person with a cash bar.

Only 80 tickets available; tickets will not be sold at the door.

Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to make your reservation.

Join us for this overdue reunion.
Bring your favourite Nordair item for our memorabilia table.
Share a Nordair “tall tale” or two with your former colleagues!

Hope to see you on September 30.

Issue dated October 26, 1994

Janice Goss suggested this little piece of history about the 'Air Canada population' as of September 30, 1994.

Issue dated April 1990 

Peter Hodge submitted this report on the goings on at LHR Stores

Entitled 'From the Ancient Brits'

We here in London Heathrow (LHR) have been assisting with the movement of Airbus engines from Toulouse via LHR and on to Toronto (YYZ). One engine was shipped in February and another at the end of March.

In other regional news, Cargo Branch are operating a DC-8 freighter through Stansted Airport, London. The first flight was March 25th and continued a weekly service operating Canada / Stanstead / Frankfurt / Canada.

Air Canada operations to Geneva ceased effective end of March.

Just for your information, inflation in the U.K. was on the climb; it hit 8% with interest rates at the 14%-15% mark.

A member of LHR Stores staff, Mike Coon, attended the Dangerous Goods Instructor's Training Session in Dorval (YUL) on March 14-15.

Alexis McWhirter, Purchasing Assistant (Commissary Wet and Dry Goods Inventory Control/Ordering) completed 10 years company service in February 1990.

Finally, Zachary Clark, Vice President, Passenger Sales & Service Europe/Asia arrived in London in February to take up his duties/responsibilities in the Region.

Peter Hodge

1950's Photos Reveal How Babies Traveled On Airplanes In The Past

Source: www.boredpanda.com

Marion Alice Orr (nee Powell) was born in Toronto, Ontario on June 25, 1918 and learned to fly in 1939.

Marion was the youngest of five girls. Fascinated with planes and flying at a very early age, she read everything and anything on aviation. 

On Oct. 2, 1942, Marion was hired to be the manager and chief flight instructor at St. Catharines Flying Club.

She was the first woman in Canada to operate a flying club. This airport also had one of the Elementary Flying Training Schools for the RCAF.

She applied to be an instructor. The RCAF turned her down flat, they hadn’t even considered hiring women instructors! Then a call came out of the blue, to say that British Overseas Airways Corporation was hiring pilots for the Air Transport Auxiliary to ferry military aircraft for the RAF in England.

She ferried military single and twin-engine aircraft within the British Isles. After the war, she became a pioneer in women's aviation as she performed many 'firsts'. During her career as an aviator, she became the first woman to operate the St. Catharines Flying Club and Aero Activities Limited, both in Ontario.

Source: Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame

Air Canada Captain Chad Blewett Recounts Operating Special Flight To Help Evacuate His Hometown Of Yellowknife.

Chad Blewett is a Captain on the Boeing 737 Max for Air Canada, and one of the airline’s first Inuit Captains.

I had seen the news of the wildfires near Yellowknife and was receiving updates from my family members who were there.

With a mandatory evacuation being ordered as the fires approached the city, I knew Air Canada would be helping with those efforts. While normally we do not fly the Boeing 737 Max 8 to Yellowknife, our teams found a way to make it happen.

Full story at: media.aircanada.com

Found in 'Horizons' magazine

Issue dated March 1981

Alert action.

Joe Sawka, Cargo Service Supervisor, Los Angeles, left, was presented with a clock radio by Dave Young, Area Manager, Western U.S.A., in recognition of his alert actions which diverted a hit and run theft operation. The thieves were subsequently apprehended by Los Angeles police and the goods recovered.

Atlantic region veterans.

Long service employees in the Atlantic Region were honoured at a dinner in Halifax.

Receiving special tribute were two Halifax employees who achieved 35 years' service.

Shown below are 35-year veterans, Tony Antonowicz, Certificated Aircraft Technician,  Doris Timmons Passenger Agent  and Bill Rowe, Vice President, Atlantic Canada.

Maintenance Road Show.

For the first time, a series of road shows sponsored by Maintenance Headquarters, Dorval, ended when a group of senior management personnel visited the last of six cities included in the program.

The objective of such a project was to improve communications among headquarters and field maintenance personnel and to provide a better understanding of the branch's present and future plans.

The road shows were staged at each of the company's major maintenance centres of Winnipeg, Vancouver, Toronto, Halifax, London, England and Montreal.

The senior management team fields questions from the audience during the Halifax road show.

From the left, are: Gord MacLean, Acting Manager, Maintenance Central; Lyle Downes, Director, Ground Equipment & Facilities; Jim McClue, District Maintenance Manager, Halifax; Roger Morawski, Director, Aircraft Maintenance and leader of the Dorval senior management team; Bill Ramage, Director, Maintenance Quality and Leo Goulet, Director, Maintenance Economics.

Senior management personnel participating in the Toronto meetings are seen below.

From the left: Jim Riddoch, Superintendent, DC-9 Programs; Bud Clinch, Manager, Aircraft Maintenance Planning; Lyle Downes and Roger Morawski, all of the Dorval team; Don Wiley, District Maintenance Manager, Toronto; Ches Watson, Director, Power Plant & Unit Maintenance and Leo Goulet, of the Dorval team.

Vancouver was the second city on the road show circuit.

Shown, in the audience, in the foreground from the left are: Jack Furness, Lead Ground Equipment; Sam Gilmour, Lead, Cat 19; Dan Holloway, Supervisor, Maintenance Training; Bob Kingston, General Foreman, Aircraft Line Maintenance and Lea McIntyre, Foreman, Line Maintenance.

From the "INFO:CARGO" magazine.

Issue dated March / April 1994

Cargo Booth a winner.

The Canadian Air Cargo booth at the Canadian Industrial Transportation League 'TRANSPO '94' show held in March, 1994 was an award of excellence winner. Congratulations to those who made our booth one of the best!

Pictured left to right are: Doug Orvis, YYZ Sales; Debbie Iversen, YYC Marketing; Tony Herben, YYZ Training; Darlene Caine, YYZ - T.S.S.C; Doug Burek, YYZ Training and Norm Kearns, YYZ Training.

Not shown are Suzanne Weller, YYZ Sales; Russ Worgan, YYZ Sales; Bruce Shone YYZ - T.S.S.C. and Doug McQuaid YYZ Sales.

Issue dated January / February 1994

It was a natural choice for Lotus Cars in Vancouver to select Kuehne and Nagel to airfreight four new Lotus Esprits to their Canadian customers.

The vehicles are seen here being loaded aboard a Canadian Airlines B-747-400 at Cardiff Airport, UK.

This aircraft had previously flown into the UK with a full cargo load to have its livery painted before undergoing its 'D' checks at Cardiff Airport, and departing for Vancouver with another full cargo load.

Issue dated October 1969

Service to Orient marks 20th birthday

CP Air marked 20 years of service to the Orient September 19, 1969 when flight 401 departed for Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Aboard the anniversary flight, piloted by Captain Mel Lee, was Miss CP Air 20, Shesh Wallace, bearing letters of greeting from Vancouver's mayor to the Governor of Tokyo and other dignitaries.

Fluently bilingual in English and Japanese, Miss Wallace was chosen to symbolize two decades of accord between Canada and Japan.

Captain Lee, who piloted the DC-8-63 Spacemaster 'Empress of Honolulu' on the historic flight, is a CP Air veteran of 27 years. He was one of the original pilots trained for the Orient run and has logged some 22,000 air hours.

The first Canada-Orient flight, with a Canadair Four aircraft travelled the 6,670 miles to Tokyo and Hong Kong in 30 hours via Anchorage and Shemya. Today the same flight takes 14 hours with no stops between Vancouver and Tokyo. 

Below is a photograph of the CPA crew who flew aboard CF-TEP (Canadair Four) on the South Pacific survey flight which left Vancouver on April 19, 1949. 

Extracted from The Canadair North Star by Larry Milberry (via Archie Vanhee)

From the left are: Captain J.K. Potter, Captain C. North Sawle, Captain Louis C. Stevenson, Captain M.D. Lee, Captain George W. Knox, Captain Len Fraser, Navigator P.D. Roy, Captain Robert Goldie, Captain Archie Vanhee and Navigator Frederick Wicker. 

Our video is posted by Alex Praglowski showing an Air Canada dedicated cargo aircraft arriving and departing Calgary on September 3, bringing show jumping horses for the annual Spruce Meadows Masters event.

Registration C-GDUZ (Fin #646) was delivered to Canadian Airlines in December 1998 and has been in continuous service for over 31 years. It was re-configured for cargo operations as of February 2023. 

NorOntair's first foray into air services began October 18, 1971 when it subcontracted flying operations to various airlines including Bradley Air Service (First Air), Austin Airways, Air-Dale and OnAir (taken over by Bearskin Airlines).

Air-Dale based in Sault Ste. Marie, was the airline's main operations base. Two de Havilland Dash 8-102 aircraft and six DHC-6-300 Twin Otters were based in Sault Ste. Marie. Two additional Twin Otters were based in Thunder Bay and were operated by Bearskin Airlines crews but painted in full NorOntair colours.

In its final years, ONTC bought Air-Dale and operated all the remaining routes until the service was discontinued on March 29, 1996.

In 1996, the newly elected government of Premier Mike Harris moved to close down the airline by removing subsidies. However, this had a negative effect on the region's economy over the next several years.

NorOntair was the first airline in the world to order and take delivery of the de Havilland Canada Dash 8 Series 100, on October 23, 1984, operated by Air-Dale. The first Dash 8 in commercial service anywhere in the world wore NorOntair colours and was registered C-GJCB. It was number 6 from the assembly line and remained in active service until the closure of the company, flying up to 14 hours a day across Northern Ontario.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NorOntair

Virgin Plans 100 Percent SAF Trans-Atlantic Flight

Virgin Atlantic and Rolls-Royce, have announced a plan to fly a trans-Atlantic flight on 100 percent SAF (sustainable aviation fuel) in November 2023. Rolls-Royce said last month that it has successfully run a Trent 1000 engine on an SAF blend, clearing the way for the demonstration flight in a Boeing 787 for November 28, 2023.

Air BP and Virent will supply 60 tons of SAF to support the project. SAF can be produced through seven major chemical pathways and for this demonstration, the fuel will be produced through hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids, known as HEFA. This method typically uses waste vegetable oil, fats and oil residues as feedstocks. The project will also employ the SAK pathway, which yields synthetic kerosene through the Fischer-Tropsch process, using a variety of feedstocks.

SAF, according to Virgin, typically reduces carbon life-cycle emissions by up to 70 percent because credit is given for the carbon already absorbed in the feedstocks.

The airline industry is aiming for net-zero emissions in 2050. It has a long way to go. SAF currently represents less than 0.1 percent
of Jet A volume. SAF is two to four times more expensive that petroleum-derived Jet A.

Source: AVWeb.com

 Embraer ERJ-175

The introduction of a new fleet always brings out some degree of controversy and the surprising decision to purchase regional jets from Embraer in the early 2000's was no exception. Delivery of the original 15 commenced in July 2005 with the arrival of C-FEIQ (Fin #371) and continued in quick succession to January 2006 with arrival of C-FFYG (Fin #385).

The fuel efficient new model ERJ 175 series were acquired at a favourable price and were just the right size to open up new trans-border markets while the company was still going through a restructuring. 

Maintenance and the availability of parts were a cause for concern in the chatter I was over hearing. I specifically remember some issues about the aircraft's performance in cold weather (cabin doors freezing etc.).

My first flight on an E175 was in 2007 when I was travelling for IAM training at the Winpisinger Center in Placid Harbor, Maryland. I was excited to fly on this aircraft, even though I had to fly all night from Vancouver to Toronto first (continuing on to Washington D.C.).

Since I was travelling on a business pass, I knew that I had a seat up front and this was also my first opportunity to play with the newly installed Thales entertainment system. I was impressed with the aircraft as it was quite comfortable for a regional jet.

Despite the initial concerns, these 15 aircraft have continued to be workhorses approaching 20 years of service.

Air Canada leased the original aircraft to Sky Regional Airlines in 2013 under a service agreement (another 10 aircraft were then added to the fleet). In a controversial business move, all 25 aircraft were transferred to Jazz Air in 2021 and are currently operating under the Air Canada Express brand.  

Click the image below to view an E175 trip report by our favourite videographer, Alex Praglowski (don't forget to subscribe to his YouTube channel).

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

Wasaya Airways

Imagine the quantities of food, clothing, hardware, building materials, gasoline, heating fuel, boats, motors, snowmobiles, medical supplies, school and office supplies that are required to meet the needs of over 25 communities with populations of 500 to 4,000 people.

Now imagine having to air transport all of the supplies in to these communities which do not have road access to southern markets, suppliers and manufacturers.

The fleet consists of Beech 1900D, Cessna 208B, Hawker-Siddeley 748, Pilatus PC12 and Dash-8.

Wasaya Airways incorporated by Wasaya Corporation (now Wasaya Group Inc.) in 1989 for a requesting group of Northwestern Ontario First Nations, whose purpose was to acquire controlling interest in what was known as Kelner Airways.

In 1993, the Kelner Airways name changed to Wasaya Airways Limited. It holds 100% ownership of Wasaya Airways, thus making it 100% First Nation owned.

Source: www.Wasaya.com/

Iraqi Airways To Auction Old Boeing 747's

As reported first by FlightGlobal, Iraqi Airways is putting up for auction two Boeing 747's which were employed by the airline decades ago.

These planes were taken out of commercial activity in the aftermath of the Gulf War. One plane is a Boeing 747-200CM and the other is a B-747SP-70. Both were manufactured in 1982 and have Pratt & Whitney JT9D engines.

Source: SimpleFlying.com

Boeing 720 (modified).

Introduced by Boeing in 1959, the B-720 is a smaller capacity, lighter, medium range variant of the B-707, one of the most successful airliners of the 20th century. C-FETB is the B-720 flying test bed operated by Pratt & Whitney Canada until 2010.

One of 154 model B-720's manufactured by Boeing between 1959 and 1967, C-FETB was the single remaining operational Boeing 720 in the world. On May 9, 2012, the aircraft made its final flight, travelling from Montreal Saint-Hubert to CFB Trenton – the last flight ever of a B-720.

Source: airforcemuseum.ca

Joby Aviation says that it has successfully flown the production prototype of its in-development electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for the first time.

Joby Aviation intends for its air taxi to enter service in 2025. 

Source: JobyAviation.com

UK Large Model Association Shows and Events
Festival of Flight

Shuttleworth (Old Warden) Aerodrome,
Old Warden, United Kingdom

September 16 - 17, 2023.

Times: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Our cartoon is from the 'CP Air News' magazine issued March 1981 - submitted by Fernando Moure.

The caption reads all I asked was “What’s the ceiling today in the cigateria?”