We have welcomed 146 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.

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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!

Shirlee Schacter, Secretary of the Central Ontario Pionairs shares this information -

Central Ontario Pionairs held their Fall Member Appreciation Luncheon on October 4, 2023 at the Mandarin headquarters location in Brampton, Ontario. Once again, this was a sell-out event with well over 100 members attending.

Besides the, wonderful food and the opportunity to reunite with former friends and colleagues, ‘Dreams Take Flight’ representatives Guy Hould and Laurie St. Jean were present along with Linda Hutson (below right) who gave a brief presentation on the history of this wonderful charitable organization made possible by the efforts of countless volunteers and Air Canada’s ongoing donation of planes to whisk deserving children to their dream destination since 1989.

The luncheon culminated with Central Ontario Director, Lesley Huether, presenting gift-card draw prizes to many happy recipients (below left). 

Editors' Note: The Central Ontario Pionairs Christmas Luncheon will be on Tuesday, December 5, 2023 at the Lionhead Golf & Country Club, Brampton. 

Contributed by NetLetter team member Bob Sheppard. Here is the first in a series chronicling his family visit to the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada in Winnipeg this past summer. 

Bob shares his photos and comments on touring the Vickers Viscount on display. Look for more in upcoming issues. 

A minor bucket list experience was fulfilled this past summer, partly due to a suggestion by our oldest grandson. Looking for a unique activity for our yearly holiday time with our two grandsons, aged 14 and 11, he suggested we spend a week in Winnipeg. After picking them up in Calgary, it was another two days of driving to arrive in the "Peg".

I spent 7 years working C and D checks on the B-727 from 1980 until 1987. My commute to work, a mere 7 minutes, took me past a Vickers Viscount parked alongside Inkster Boulevard. I was especially impressed with the large cabin windows. My career as a Cat 13 mechanic, responsible for maintaining cabin interiors, equipment and furnishings, safety equipment, windows and more, had me naturally wondering what the Viscount interior looked like.

I had seen some Viscounts parked at the Winnipeg airport and many coworkers had worked on the aircraft. I knew that the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada had one on display and I was keen to have a look.

On August 9th I got my first glimpse of Fin 637 CF-THS

The tail of the Vickers Viscount was too tall to fit through the Winnipeg TCA hangar door, so TCA maintenance engineers built this custom jack to raise the aircraft's nose to lower its tail.

I was immediately surprised by the rather large circular cabin entrance. A good match for the cabin windows.

Looking into the cockpit I immediately noticed the armrest covers needed to be replaced, LOL.

Part of my daily routine, on a walk through, to spot those things that were a deviation from the norm. The seat covers looked to be in good condition. The cockpit was closed off so I couldn't get a closer look at how things functioned.

You know I wanted to.

Found in 'Horizons' magazine

Issue dated November 1993

Cows, clowns and watches.

..... were the winning costumes at the Toronto Halloween day festivities. 

Gayla Mitchell, left, and Mara Sanchioni, right, were 'udderly' delighted when they wound up being chosen.

Pauline Hodge, centre, was all ears upon hearing she had won top honours.

All are Customer Sales and Service Agents.

LaGuardia staff celebrates 110 years of combined service.

Anniversary celebrations were in order for several Customer Service Agents at New York's LaGuardia airport.

Lead Agents Rich Kowel and Kathy Price marked 30 years of service, while Customer Service Agents Maria McIntosh and Valery Golowaty celebrated 25 years of service.

Back row, left to right: Tom Parker, Ramp Coordinator; John Ring, Airport Manager and Renée Heiser, Customer Service Agent (front row, far left) offer congratulatory wishes to McIntosh, Price, Golowaty and Kowel.

German hospitality makes for a "guten" trip.

ACRA (Air Canada Recreation Association) Frankfurt hosted an autumn tour of Germany and France for Air Canada employees, spouses and friends. The trip included a visit to Strasbourg and Colmar.

Ursula Severin, ACRA Frankfurt President and Tony Kervin, Senior Sales Representative – Berlin helped organize the memorable trip.

A side trip to a winery in Dambach-La-Ville was enjoyed by Marilyn Reynolds, North Bay, Ontario; Gord and Marion Hykle, Montreal; Bill and Lorraine Biggins, Winnipeg; Georgia and Ziggy Buchburger, Toronto; Clara and Alf Berting, Winnipeg; Tony McLeod, London, Ontario; Jurgen Severin, Frankfurt; Georgina Farrell, Toronto; Tom and Andrée McChesney, Toronto; Julie Legaré, Montreal; Carole Turgeon, Montreal; Art Reynolds, North Bay, Ontario; Ursula Severin, Frankfurt; Linda Dwyer and Dan McPhee, Saint John, New Brunswick; Jeanne Turgeon, Montreal; Tony Kervin, Berlin; Dolly Koning, Düsseldorf; John Boubalos, Athens; Margie and Melody Masters, Montreal.

London gets cooking.

New flight kitchens open at Heathrow.

After a harrowing eight months during which employees endured appalling working conditions, Air Canada's new flight kitchens at London Heathrow airport (LHR) were officially opened.

"To completely redesign a catering kitchen while keeping it operational and producing the meal service each day is quite an achievement," said Derek Buckell, Commissary & Catering Manager, at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

"The fact that we managed to do this with little visible interruption is due in no small way to the attitude of all those who work in this department." Commissary Agent Nigel Carroll likened the facility and morale prior to the investment to an ailing football team in need of a complete overhaul.

Signing off on the new digs: A group from London's new commissary met Hollis Harris after he arrived to preside over the official opening.

From the left: P.K. Bhal, Commissary Attendant; Nigel Carroll, Commissary Agent; Ali Alarakhia, Assistant Commissary Attendant; Peter Jones, Commissary Agent; Paul Duffy, Lead Commissary Attendant; Sue McNeill, Commissary Agent; Patrick Prince, Flight Kitchen Chef and Commissary Attendants Colin Wadsorth and Steve Bignell.

From the "CP Air News" magazine.

Issue dated September 1977

Aloha greetings were conveyed to Winnipeg in August 1977 in Hawaii promotion highlighting winter season Boeing 747 service.

Kanani C' Pua trio from Maui performed in shopping centres and Eaton's department store and in media appearances. The trio visited the CTO.

In our photo, from the left: Anna Dizon, who seems to have airport agent Leo Roy already dreaming of Hawaii; Susanna Machnik, sales office; Betsy Hinau and Elizabeth Crockett chatting with Don Thompson and Barry McNish.

Direct transfer between aircraft and buses was routine when CP Air maintained international and limited transcon service from Vancouver and Toronto during the air traffic controllers' strike in Canada in August 1977.

Passengers were transported by bus between Vancouver and Seattle and between Toronto and Niagara Falls, Buffalo and Detroit. Maintenance personnel also were sent to Bangor, Maine, a refueling point.

At Niagara Falls (photo below), more than 4.000 passengers were handled. Station attendants, passenger agents, maintenance and other personnel put in long hours under often trying conditions. 

Editors' Note: Anyone have any memories to share of this event?

20 Years Canada-Chile.

The 20th anniversary of CP Air's service to Chile was observed this month by Santiago employees but they seem to be just a little superstitious.

Asked to provide a photo, Manager Raul Hudson wrote: "As our staff is composed of 13 people we decided to add a 14th. We chose to include the founder of democracy and free enterprise in Chile. Diego Portales, whose monument is opposite our city ticket office facing the government palace. The monument is too long but please cut our feet if necessary, so as to include it all.

Shown, feet and all, in the front row are, left to right:

Jaime Latorre, Senior Reservations Agent; Monica Dussaillant, Veronica Gomez, Charlene Braun, Maria Elena Zenteno, Ticket Agents; Marcelo Parreil, Airport and Cargo Agent.

Second row: Jorge Cifuentes, Accounting Clerk: Francisco Briones, Sales Rep., Gerald M. Smith, Accountant; Raul Hudson, Manager, Sales and Service; Felix Rio, Airport Services Manager; Raul Cifuentes, CTO Supervisor and Patricio Perez, Office Assistant.

It was on September 23. 1957 that a CP Air DC-6B inaugurated service to Chile. On the flight deck were Captain  R. A. "Bob" McInnes, First Officer Gordon Richardson and Second Officer Larry Reeves.

None of the original employees who opened the office in September 1957 were available.

From the Rewind Canada YouTube channel comes this video of 5 decades of Air Canada television commercials.

First Air / Canadian North historical trivia -

Excerpts from the Canadian North website.

• 1946 - Russell (Russ) Bradley forms Bradley Air Services Ltd based in Ottawa.
• 1954 - Charter and aerial survey work for then DEW line was undertaken. During 1958, on contract for the Geological Survey of Canada, Russ Bradley & partner Weldy Phipps mount tundra tires on Piper Super Cubs, revolutionizing Arctic explorations capability in the process.

• 1968 - Bradley Air Services is awarded air support contract for the Polar Continental Shelf Project.

• 1973 - Bradley Air Services Ltd creates First Air and opens a major base in Resolute Bay in the High Arctic.

• 1990 - Makivik Corporation, the organization representing the Inuit of Northern Quebec, purchases First Air.
• 1995 - Ptarmigan Airways purchased expanding the scope in the Western Arctic.

• 1997 - NWT Air is purchased, solidifying passenger, cargo and charter services throughout the entire North.
• 2005 - First Air introduces all-passenger Boeing 737 jet service on the Ottawa-Iqaluit route.

Photo by Alasdair McLellan @ en.wikipedia.org

• 2010 - First Air mobilizes the Boeing 767 Super Freighter to aid in Haiti disaster relief.
• 2019 Canadian North and First Air are united to form a strong sustainable airline.

Photo by Jpr89 @ en.wikipedia.org

Fifty-six year-old DC-9-15RC 

My first piece on the DC-9 fleet was in NetLetter #1342 (May 2016) and then a follow up in NetLetter # 1450 (November 2020). Of particular fascination to me has been the DC-9-15 'Rapid Change' aircraft was part of the Air Canada fleet in the 1970's. 

Ken Pickford recently came across the video, linked below, of Ameristar DC-9, registration N785TW (formerly AC CF-TOT - Fin #767), departing Paine Field (PAE) in Everett, Washington for Phoenix, Arizona (PHX) on October 27, 2023 and sent it along to me.

Remarkably, when I checked into the status of the four DC-9's in the Ameristar fleet, all four are still active at 56 years-old! 

See www.planespotters.net/airline/Ameristar 

Editor's Note by Ken:

This aircraft was Fin #767, CF-TOT (C-FTOT from 1974 when the hyphen was moved). It was originally delivered to Continental Airlines in April 1967, the 156th DC-9 built, so now in its 57th year of service with at least 10 operators. Douglas built them to last. With small U.S. cargo carrier Ameristar since 2002.

It's one of the 4 oldest DC-9's still flying and, interestingly, all 4 are from that batch of 8 aircraft acquired by AC from CO in 1972/73. The other 3, also now with Ameristar, were CF-TON/TOO/TOS at AC, the 79th, 97th and 141st DC-9's built. AC sold all 8 of those aircraft to Air Florida between 1977 and 1981 (4 in 1977 and one each in 1978/79/80/81).

Posted on YouTube by jaypainespotter

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

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From CP Air News - November 1978

By D. Fallwell