The Royal Canadian Legion’s Remembrance Day Poppy Campaign has a digital option for an online fundraising at www.mypoppy.ca.
 
Canadians are able to personalize it, dedicate it and share it online – and add their own family stories and images – as their pledge to never forget those who served and sacrificed for our freedom.
 
We have once again created a Poppy in memory of our colleague of many years, Alan Rust.

Alan joined Vesta and Terry shortly before Vesta's passing and served as the NetLetter website administrator until his own passing in April 2019. He created the original website and newsletter format that we still use today. 

Alan joined the Forces in 1968 where he was first introduced to his career as an aircraft maintenance engineer.

We have welcomed 142 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!

The lunch takes place at the Best Western Ship Hotel, 70 High Street, Weybridge.

Drinks from 12.30 p.m. with the meal commencing at 1 p.m. sharp.

Deedee Lannon (Past President of the Pionairs) will be flying over especially to attend our lunch as our guest of honour.

Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to obtain tickets for the Xmas lunch and to arrange payment. 

Tickets are £35.00 per person and include a welcome drink, full festive 3 course menu, wine on the tables, mince pies, teas/coffees and of course wonderful raffle prizes!

Maggie Boto-White, District Director U.K & E.C. 

It's been a long haul.

One pilot pays tribute to the venerable DC-8.

Appeared in the 'Horizons' issue March 1994.
By Jeff Neely, Toronto Flight Operations.

The last DC-8 completed its final flight this month. And so ends a part of aviation history and almost 34 years of continuous service with Air Canada.

Many of you haven't seen these aircraft for some time. Some of you might not have even flown on one.

But the giant DC-8 jetliners helped bring Air Canada (Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA) back then) into the jet age. They were an integral part of our fleet. In fact, Air Canada operated the DC-8 longer than any airline in the world.

The giant jetliner joined TCA in 1960, cruising at 550 miles per hour, carrying over 120 passengers. They cut flying times on transcontinental and transatlantic routes by almost half. Giants they were.

And prior to the Boeing B-747, the DC-8-63 aircraft was the largest passenger aircraft in the world. A 'stretched eight' long, slim body carried up to 225 passengers in our all-economy configuration.

As newer and bigger aircraft — the B-747, Lockheed 1011, B-767 — joined the fleet, the once "queen of the fleet" became a full-time freighter.

In August 1980, the first "stretched eight" was converted to a dedicated freighter. Starting in 1983, six of the freighters were re-engined with state-of-the-art GE/Snecma CFM 56 engines, the same ones that power the Airbus A320 fleet.

With these new engines came a new lease on life and a truly great freighter, It could it haul 90,000 lbs. of cargo.

These workhorses roamed the globe for Air Canada, working while most of you slept. Midnight Express took on a whole new meaning for us on the DC-8, carrying freight and mail from coast-to-coast, to and from the United States and Europe, through bad weather and long, weary nights.

The DC-8 fleet and its crews proved their mettle last August 1993 with an impressive 99 per cent efficiency rating.

All good stories must come to an end, and so the DC-8 story with Air Canada. It is not just the end of service of a great plane. It is the end of an era. 

Editors' Note: The first TCA DC-8 delivered was CF-TJD, Fin #804, on February 7, 1960, followed by CF-TJC, Fin # 803 in March and CF-TJB, Fin # 802 in May.

The first DC-8 built for TCA, CF-TJA, Fin # 801, was part of the Douglas test fleet as it was the first Series 40 with Rolls-Royce Conway engines. It was delivered September 25, 1960.

Three more were delivered in late 1960 and the last four of the 11 TCA DC-8-40's in 1961. Over the years, Air Canada operated 42 factory-delivered DC-8's, plus 2 freighters briefly leased in 1993/94. The last delivered, on May 23, 1970, was DC-8-63 CF-TIX, Fin # 879. It was the 530th of the 556 DC-8's built before production ended in 1972. CP Air also operated 14 DC-8's.

The 2023 U.S. Navy Blue Angels Homecoming Air Show will celebrate “50 Years of Women in Naval Aviation.”

According to an announcement from Naval Air Station Pensacola, the airshow “is designed to honor and recognize the significant contributions women have made to naval aviation since the enactment of the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, which removed restrictions previously prohibiting women from serving in combat-related roles and ultimately opened the door for women to pursue careers as naval aviators.”

The two-day airshow, ran November 3 and 4, 2023 and is one of Pensacola’s biggest events, attracting more than 220,000 spectators.

While the Navy says hundreds of women have served with the Blue Angels over the years, the 2023 season was the first with a female pilot, Lieutenant Amanda Lee.

Other female performers at the show included Air Force Captain Aimee Fiedler, who leads the eight-member F-16 Viper Demonstration Team, and Melissa Burns, a professional aerobatic pilot and display skydiver.

Source: www.naspensacolaairshow.com

1994 - September 4 - Air Canada commenced weekly service between Toronto to Osaka, Japan via Vancouver, using B-767 equipment, making us the first carrier to provide non-stop service between Canada and the ultra modern Kansai airport.

Three L-1011 TriStars that had been cocooned in the Arizona desert since November 1990, were recalled to service in 1994 due to delivery delays of new A340's.

Fins 504, 507 and 512 were reconfigured and painted in the then current white livery. They were used on the Toronto-Los-Angeles and Toronto-Vancouver routes effective May 30, 1994. 

Photo by Sunil Gupta

Fin 512 - C-FTNL

Los Angeles - October 1994

Scan of a 4 x 5 Kodachrome slide of Trans-Canada Air Lines Douglas DC-3, registration CF-TEC.

Source: Québec Aerospace Museum newsletter dated December 2022

A Boeing 777-300ER approaching London Heathrow airport (LHR) on a regular flight path from the west over Colnbrook village, October 2023.

Found in 'Horizons' magazine

Issue dated October 1993

A history of the 'Dreams Take Flight' project.

Western spirits soar with dream flight.
By Owen Egan.

The dreams finally took flight at 7:15 a.m. on October 16, as an Air Canada Boeing 767 raced down the runway and into the sky. On board, a hundred wide-eyed kids gripped armrests tightly or craned their necks to peer out the plane's windows. 

For the kids, it was the start of an adventure most children can only imagine. For scores of Air Canada employees at Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Los Angeles, the moment was the culmination of countless hours volunteered for the first-ever Dreams Take Flight project. 

Air Canada celebrates 50 years in Scotland

Some 100 employees and retirees gathered in Glasgow for a party to celebrate 50 years of continuous service between Canada and Scotland.

Service began during the Second World War in July 1943 as the Canadian Government Transatlantic Air Service (CGTAS) carrying mail and cargo for the Canadian troops stationed in Europe using Lancaster aircraft.

And passengers on the 50th anniversary flight from Scotland received a traditional Scottish welcome as they were piped on board and were later treated to a special champagne service to mark the historic occasion. Captain Howie Malone and his crew are shown here at Glasgow, with the Scottish piper, prior to boarding the aircraft.

The crew comprised Captain Malone, First Officer Peter Boyd, Purser Alessandro Piattelli and Flight Attendants Terry Smith, Heather Tedford, Diane Manchee, Maxine Bauldry, Elaine Heaton and Dominique Boivin.

Reaching a service milestone.

Paris Senior Sales Agent Lysiane Prudhomme celebrated 30 years of service with the airline.

Claude Morin, Area Manager, Airport Services, France marked the occasion by presenting Lysiane with her service anniversary pin.

Issue dated February 1994

Air Canada's 40-Year Club was started back in 1981 for employees who had completed 40 years of service with the company. As of 1992, there were 232 members, and last year, the club welcomed eight more.

Hollis Harris, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer (far right) hosted a luncheon for the new members, who included (from left to right) Rick Schofield, Pooling and Allotment Manager - Dorval; Pat Galloway, Customer Sales and Service Agent - Toronto and Valerie Walker, Purser - Dorval.

Editors' Note: The other two persons, to the left of Mr. Harris, are not identified in the original.

Canadian scraps first class

Canadian Airlines eliminated the remaining first class on its DC-10 fleet.

The reason, the airline says, is that demand for first class has declined in recent years. At the same time, demand for economy class to Asia and on other DC-10 routes has grown.

Source: Air Canada 'Horizons' magazine issue March 1994

Found on Facebook.

Posted on the Nordair Facebook page by Brenda Rae on October 1, 2023. A group photo of a Nordair reunion held in September, 2023 at the Halton Naval Veterans Association in Burlington, Ontario.

On October 24, 2023 Susan Fonseca posted this photo of the flight attendant graduation class from October 1973 on the CP Air Employees page.

Members of the CPA In-flight family. Barbara Beale supplied the following names -

Back row left to right: Arlene Davey (Regeling), Hannah Kobblegard, Barbara Beale, Diana Johnson (Dougherty), David Johnson, Peter Demunck, Marjolaine Charpentier,
Rosanna Leman and Colleen O’Pray.

Front row left to right: Gabi O’Brien (Svedic), Sylvia Perolli, Susan Bilton (Fonseca), Shelley Warne.

Susan Fonseca also noted that Bonnie Brown (Bonita Ruttkay) wasn’t in the photo that day.

Retired Air Canada photographer, Brian Losito (on the left in the photo below) joined us for a Zoom call a few weeks ago and advised us of this great video of a commercial shoot of an Air Canada B-787 from a specially equipped Wolfe Air Aviation Learjet. 

Posted by the Everyday Reviews YouTube channel, the video shows the team photographing the B-787 over British Columbia's lower mainland and Vancouver Island.

Xtra Large Bizjet Debuts At NBAA-BACE

Airbus has introduced a new class of business aircraft. The company has dubbed the corporate version of its A220 airliner the ‘Xtra Large Bizjet and it’s displaying the aircraft at the event for the first time.

Airbus says the plane, which is an adaptation of its popular 100- to 150- seat single-aisle airliner, offers almost as much range but twice the space of ultra-long-range bizjets at the same price.

But it also offers a 728-square-foot cabin with a king size bed and bathroom with a shower. Airbus claims its jet has lower operating and maintenance costs than the competition despite its size.

Source: AVWeb.com

Canadian Province Grants $10 Million To Public Benefit Aviation Group

The British Columbia government has given a $10 million grant to Hope Air, a volunteer organization that has provided tens of thousands of free flights, both on airliners and through a network of volunteer GA pilots, for people who have to travel to get the health care they need.

“Dealing with cancer is very hard—traveling to care should not be. This medical travel funding grant will be transformational in the lives of people in need in rural and remote communities throughout British Columbia,” said Mark Rubinstein, Chief Executive Officer at Hope Air.

Source: AVWeb.com

See also: Hopeair.ca

Air Inuit celebrates 45 years of operation. 

The Quebec-based airline is wholly owned by Makivik Corporation. Both entities were created in 1978 to serve the interests of Quebec’s Inuit people. Air Inuit operates a fleet of 24 aircraft and flies to 21 destinations.

In a press release dated July 3, 2023 the airline said they will be acquiring three B-737-800's that will be modified through the installation of cargo doors to create combination passenger/cargo aircraft.

The B-737-800's will be replacing some of their old Boeing 737-200's which are capable of operation from gravel runways, which the B-737-800's are not.

Other than the Boeing 737's, the company also operates numerous Twin Otters and Dash 8's, which will be used to service destinations incapable of receiving the B-737-800's.

Additional Info: nunatsiaq.com

Photo by Caribb @ www.flickr.com

C-GMAI - 45 year-old B-737-200

To remember that we are coming up to winter, here is the De Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter C-FATM from Air Tindi.

It is seen on skis at the Yellowknife Seaplane base in the Northwest Territories on March 14, 2020. 

Source: Quebec Aerospace Museum newsletter

Photo by Pierre Gillard

The History of Air North. 

In 2017, Air North celebrated 40 years of operation.

Air North was founded in 1977 by Joe Sparling and Tom "Ace" Wood as Air North Charter and Training. The original intent was to offer charter flights to the mining industry and flight training services — but it didn't take long to grow beyond the original vision — and Joe can still be found in the cockpit more often than he is in the office.

Excerpt from:  www.flyairnorth.com

By the early 1980s, our fleet had grown from a single Cessna 206 to include a variety of aircraft on wheels, floats, and skis—until we acquired the famous and world-tested Douglas DC-3 and DC-4 aircraft.

Just over ten years later the Douglas aircraft were retired in favour of Hawker Siddeley 748 turboprops, and the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation of Old Crow expressed an interest in investing in Air North.

The investment from the Vuntut Gwitchin made it possible a few years later, in 2002, for us to enter a whole new era with the purchase of two Boeing 737 jets.

In June of 2002, we began flying between Whitehorse and Vancouver, and also connected the Yukon to Alberta with flights to Calgary and Edmonton. Our growth was mirrored in new branding, as we adopted our current operating name: Air North, Yukon's Airline.

Since then, we've purchased more aircraft and modernized our fleet with Boeing 737-400 and -500 jets and ATR 42 turboprops.

Between 2013 and 2019 we added Kelowna, Yellowknife, Ottawa, Mayo and Victoria to our network.

RCAF CC-130 - The Mighty Hercules - 

After choosing the topic for my articles, I usually do my research on the internet and ask the others on our little team for whatever info they may have to offer. The next step is to condense it all into an attempt to communicate with our readers.

However, in researching the CC-130 fleet, I read through a couple of articles on the Government of Canada site written by Lieutenant-Colonel Art Jordan who so eloquently describes the role this aircraft has played in humanitarian missions for over 60 years. 

I feel it would be very disrespectful to imply that his words are my own, so please see the excerpts below.

I urge you to click the 'Read more' links to view the full articles.

The Mighty Hercules celebrates 60 years in the RCAF - October 14, 2020

“The Hercules is an absolute work horse,’’ said Lieutenant-Colonel Art Jordan, Commanding Officer of 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron at 17 Wing Winnipeg, one of four squadrons that fly the H-model Hercules. “Built to function in regular and austere environments, this aircraft has been an amazing asset to the RCAF.’’

At 435 Squadron the planes are primarily used for search and rescue (SAR), and air-to-air refueling, but they can be called upon for a variety of transport roles. Its design, with a huge back door that opens up the full cargo compartment, allows for a wide array of cargo to be carried.

A little bit of Hercules history -  November 17, 2020

A little over sixty years ago, a very special aircraft joined the ranks of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). The Hercules first flew in 1954, and was subsequently acquired by the RCAF in 1960. The aircraft has served Canada and Canadians quite well throughout its long and diverse history. 

In its transport role, the Hercules has carried just about anything and everything that you can imagine. In its search and rescue role, the roaring Hercules has symbolized the sweet sound of survival for countless Canadians in need of rescue.

Our Hercules aircraft have literally been around the world, in every continent except for Antarctica. Often an integral part of United Nations missions, the Hercules was pressed into service in countless missions in places very far away from home bases, carrying everything from jets, helicopters, fuel, food and soldiers.

Click the image below to view a video posted by Nybotor1 of RCAF CC-130H serial # 130339 on a visit to YYJ (Victoria, B.C.)

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

This was the normal delivery route taken by the fleet of Vickers Viscounts ordered by Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA).

Take off from the Wisley factory, Surrey, UK.

After refuelling at Prestwick Airport, Ayrshire, Scotland it continued on to Keflavik Airport, Iceland (742 nautical miles) where it was refuelled and stopped for six hours.

Departed from Keflavik Airport, Iceland to Bluie West 8 Airfield, Sondre Stromfjord, Western Greenland (804 nautical miles), Goose Bay Airport, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada (872 nautical miles), Dorval International Airport, Montreal, Québec, Canada (810 nautical miles), which was built during WWII to assist the transfer of military aircraft from North America to Europe and was officially opened in October 1941.

The cabin seating was installed in Canada, as the seats used by TCA were of American manufacture. The cabin was fitted out with 44 seats which was a reduction from the original 48 seat specification and provided more leg room.

This was heavily marketed and resulted in a high load factor compared to the 21 to 28 seat Douglas DC-3 that it replaced on some routes. 

A complete fly-a-way kit of essential spares and fluids was provided by TCA. This kit was replenished, when necessary, and returned via London Airport (LHR), cleared customs and forwarded to Vickers for the next aircraft delivery to Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA).

Source: Memories by Terry Baker - The NetLetter

Our cartoon is by Fernando Moura which appeared in the "CP Air News" issued February 1982.

The caption reads "If this continues much longer the rumour mill will have us amalgamating with CP Ships".