Tracey Curtis-Taylor took off from Farnborough in the U.K. on October 1st 2015 in her open-cockpit 1942 Boeing Stearman biplane on route to Sydney, Australia.

Curtis-Taylor says her 12 - 14 week trip has been inspired by Amy Johnson's 1930 solo flight from Britain to Australia and her route will follow Johnson's as closely as possible. You can follow her travels on www.birdinabiplane.com as well as at @biplanebird on Twitter and on Facebook.

(source Flight International issue Oct 19/15)

Premier Traveler announced their celebration of inspiring women by naming the "Most Compelling Women in the Travel Industry" for 2015. Captain Judy Cameron who just retired, was honoured for her trail blazing career from her start in aviation to her final position as an Air Canada Boeing 777 Captain!

(source: The Daily - Nov 12, 2015)

Betty Driver dug this article up for us -

(Winnipeg Free Press issue September 4th., 1939)
TCA Plane Damaged When Tire Bursts On Muddy Field.
Swerving about 200 yards across a corner of the landing field at Stevenson airport when one of its tire blew out, a westbound Trans-Canada Air Lines plane carrying 10 passengers and a crew of three dug into the mud off the airports north-south runway. No one was injured.

The crew comprised of Captain H.Seagrim, First Officer E.Allen and Miss G. Leslie, stewardess. According to officials at the airport the right wing, three propeller blades and right hand gear were damaged but not serious and could be repaired at the TCA shop in Winnipeg.

Located in the "Horizons" magazine

Issue dated December 2008/January 2009 -

The Quality Assurance team audits all airport processes including arrivals, departures, baggage, customer waits, gate holds and aircraft appearance.

Here is the team:

Row one (bottom): Line Robinson, Donna Volk, Robert Gonsolves, Joseph Biondic.

Row two: Alberto Rodriguez, Julie-anne Cadieux, Robyn Sirussi, Grace Mancz, Jenny Tsandilas, Youssef Salid.

Row three: Jack Geerts, Michael McArthur, Brigit Steiner, Sam Massara. Absent was Joey Sardar.

Air Canada Cargo (ACC) officially opened its newest terminal at YUL on November 29th., 2008. In this photo we have these people:
L-R. Talia Rochman,  Barb Johnston, Ezra Coltymore,  Stephanie Kirkham, Trevor Howard,  Vinod Shettigar, Will Tyler,  John Hodder, Tracey Lum Sang,  Gary Randle, Sandra Boyle.

Missing from photo: Betty Kipling, Antonio Sammartino, Carole Gobeille,  Steven Warr, Tarek Daouk.

Air Canada's "coolest" employee!

Andy Farnham, Danny Mayes and Sean Nameth had a little fun with the first bit of snow Regina received during November, and made this snowman between flights at their gates.

Found in the “Between Ourselves” magazine Issue dated June 1960.

The winning entry in a contest to choose a new letterhead for the TCARA Winnipeg Recreation Association is pictured here. Roy Soarinen of the Aircraft Inspection Department submitted the winning entry and was awarded a $75.00 gift certificate.

More gleanings from the "FYI ..." magazine -

A newsletter by and for US Air Canada people dated December 1971

Minneapolis - The new Radisson South Hotel recently dedicated their futuristic roof-top Lounge, Mr.C's, to the airline industry and Air Canada presented Bill Brose, the Hotel Manager, with a plaque in commemoration of the occasion.

Shown is Lorne Timbers, Air Canada Sales Manager and his assistant, Pat Garvey making the presentation.

Gleaned from the "Contact” magazine issue 1990-1991 annual report edition.

Last of the predecessors.

Aircraft 723 arrives in Vancouver July 15, 1990  on its last day of service in CP Air colours, and  entered the hangar the next day for its full conversion to "Canadi>n".

The old era ended in February 1991 when the last 737 in PWA colours, Aircraft 783, was stripped in the Calgary hangar and repainted during its 8C Check.

Issue 1991-1992 annual report edition

A representative group of M&E employees reaching the 25-year mark with the airline in 1992, honoured at a dinner in April, standing, from left, Eric Falkenberg, shop technician, Power Plant Overhaul; Keith Zlnger, lead stockkeeper; Gordon Bell, lead stockkeeper; lvan Slatten, station attendant, Cargo; Gary Simpson, supervisor, Quality Assurance; Bob Zeiler, shop technician, aircraft maintenance; Rex Nightingale, lead stockkeeper; Ron Hutchison, lead avionics technician; Tony Dunn, foreman, Structures Shop, all of Vancouver; and Sidney Gough, supervisor, Quality Assurance, Calgary.

Seated, from left, Bill Hadfield, supervisor, Line Maintenance, Toronto; and Al Bostjancic, foreman, Structures Stop; Pete Evans, crew chief, Line Maintenance,  both from Vancouver.

From the Leader-Post September 2nd 1943 sent in by Betty Draper -

When Capt. P.D.Iverson taxied the southbound Barkley Grow Airlines to a stop at the Regina ramp and switched off the engines shortly before 8:10 on Tuesday his actions signaled the completion of a record by the Saskatchewan division of Canadian Pacific Airlines.

With this trip the pilots and planes of the prairie airline had accomplished 100 percent operating efficiency for the month of August. They had flown 31,636 miles or, roughly, the equivalent of one and a quarter times around the world at the equator. Not one scheduled mile had been lost. Six hundred and ninety-one passengers had been carried; 5,629 pounds of mail delivered. This latter, in airline parlance, amounted to 961,142 pound miles of mail.

During its five years of history the airline has operated with a very high percentage of efficiency, but August was the first 100 percent month. No flights were cancelled because of weather, despite the fact that August brought a large number of thunderstorms along the route between Regina and North Battleford. Since the formation of the airline five years ago, personnel has grown from 23 to 39. This includes three Captains and three First Officers.

In NetLetter nr 1328, Wayne Albertson introduced the subject of the Boeing B-767 under his corner "Wayne's Wings".

From the "Horizons" magazine issued July 1979 we have extracted this information -

The purchase of 12 wide-body Boeing B-767-200 aircraft approved at the July meeting of the Board of Directors, will bring the Company's commitment to approximately 3.5 billion dollars in aircraft purchases over the next 10 years.

The decision to buy the B-767 with options for 18 additional aircraft, was made after an exhaustive eight month study of the various aircraft types available. The aircraft was designed specifically for North American routes and conditions.

From the “Horizons” November 1982 issue

Fin 601 C-GAUB c/n 22517 arrived on Oct 30th, 1982 and started its revenue career on the Rapidair service in November, and then trans-continental January 1983.

The cabin crew members who worked the delivery flight of the B-767, posed with President Claude Taylor. From the left, back row: Flight Attendants Jurgen Odefey and Marlene Godber, Claude Taylor, and Flight Attendant Cory McAdam. In the foreground are Leonard Lafleur, In-Charge Flight Attendant and Flight Attendant Helen Reagh.

A number of employees representing a cross section of occupations were invited to participate on the delivery flight. Shown with President Claude Taylor are, from the left: Shirley Campbell, YHZ; Larry Murch, YYZ; Claude Taylor; Pierrette Venturini, YUL; Marc Lefebvre, YUL; Marlene Godber, YYC.

In NetLetter nr 1328 under "Wayne's Wings" was an article about the B-767.

Wayne invited comments and/or personal insights. Norman Hogwood in New Zealand took him up on that and here are his memories -

My first flight in a B767 was on AC from LAX to YYZ in 1985 and my first impression was rather spoiled by the cabin crew. This was just about the time when safety briefings began to be conducted by videos and, to my horror, the flight attendants left the video to do the briefing while they roamed about the cabin taking meal requirements from the passengers as well as carrying out other tasks. As a safety man I was not impressed. Thankfully, that practise was quickly sorted out on all airlines.

Later that same year Air NZ received its first B767 and I became the first ticketed passenger to fly on it. Soon after the aircraft arrived it carried out a few crew "fam" fights during which they did some low fly-pasts over a number of cities and towns in the North Island. It so happened that at the weekend the Auckland Rugby team were playing a very important game against Canterbury at Christchurch and the Auckland club had chartered an aircraft to go to Christchurch to uplift the team, their fans and, hopefully, the trophy for which the game was being played.

Air NZ decided to use the B767 for the charter and it was to position to Christchurch on the Sunday. Having to attend a meeting in Christchurch on the Monday I thought it would be good to request if I could travel on the positioning flight and received the OK. So the first time ever, I boarded a flight at the wide-body hangar and off we went.

There were several Air NZ pilots on board, including the operating crew, plus a couple of pilots from Boeing. One of the passenger pilots gave us the safety briefing! We did four low-level (1500ft) flypasts on the way south over New Plymouth, Blenheim, Nelson, and Hokitika on the South Island west coast before climbing over the Southern Alps and down into Christchurch. The whole flight took 2 hours against the standard 1hr 15mins. At times the flight deck got a bit crowded but I got some time there.

The NetLetter item mentions concerns about operating the B767 over the Atlantic. In 1991 I was made aware of my wife having those same concerns. We had been in Europe and were making our way to Charlotte NC to meet up with friends with whom we would be travelling to New Orleans. To get to Charlotte we had been given passes on US Airways who operated a Gatwick – Charlotte service. Our transit through Gatwick from Holland was very rushed due to a bomb scare at Gatwick so it was just a case of getting boarding passes and running to the US aircraft which had already boarded. Fortunately we had been upgraded but as we took our seats my wife looked around and asked what type of aircraft we were on. 

When I said it was a B767, she exclaimed, “What! Two engines over the Atlantic?”. I think the first glass of bubbles soothed her a little!

Cheers. Norm

Stuart Hyde sends this comment referring to "Terry's Trivia" in NetLetter nr 1329

Hello Netletter Editorial team,

Please advise West Jet that the national flag of the UK known as The Union Jack colours have not changed in any way. Whilst the Gatwick link is understandable, HM The Queen would be very upset to discover that West Jet has copied it incorrectly. The correct colours could be found in Google. Suggest the UK Ambassador in Ottawa be asked what is allowed.

Regards, Stuart Hyde
ex AC London Heathrow

We received this story from Brian Dunn way back on August 30th and now pass it to our readers after reading "Wayne's Wings" segment in NetLetter nr 1331 -

After taking pictures on July 31st of the arrival of Air Canada's first 787-9 I was preparing to ride the first revenue flight planned for August 4th out to YVR and back. However, as I was driving home Saturday afternoon I got a phone call from a former colleague I used to work with to tell me that AC were using the new airplane to fly to YUL as flight AC424 and back as AC429.

I was about 10mins from home, rushed in to change, and my wife dropped me at T1 about 1815hrs. I boarded the flight at 1830hrs only to be told by the Captain at 1900hrs we would have to wait for 30mins due to a ground stop in place at YUL for thunder storms.

We finally pushed back at 1933hrs and were airborne from RW24R at 1951hrs. We touched down at YUL at 2045 on their RW24R and then waited for about 25mins to be parked at a gate. This was due to ramp crews being called off for a recent lightning alert and playing catch up with other flights that had to be dealt with. Finally on the gate at 2112hrs. Our return flight was airborne off RW24L at 2241hrs and we landed back in YYZ on RW24R at 2332hrs.

See "Alan's Space" (above) for a Slide Show containing photos taken of the initial delivery arrival on July 31st, 2015 in YYZ, the departure of flight AC424 on Aug 1st by Tom Podolec, some interior shots taken at YUL by Eric Fortin and then both arrival and departure shots at YUL by Patrick Cardinal. My thanks to all for their contributions.

Some personal observations of the 787-9 -

• Sat in economy on the way to YUL (flight was 98% full)  - seat was comfortable and the seat back entertainment system is far superior to that on the rest of the AC fleet. The map display especially is greatly improved and you have the ability to change it from metric to imperial measurements if you wish. It pages through several views but the one that caught my eye in particular was a "heads up" display showing compass heading, altitude, and speed in knots...when climbing or descending it also shows rate of descent.
• For return flight was seated in 14K - last row of the "Premium Economy" seating area. More recline, a little wider seat and very comfortable.

Overall, quite impressed with the aircraft and really enjoyed the seat back entertainment. I must also mention too that there is a greater selection of movies and TV shows to choose from.

Brian Dunn - Editor CanadianAviationNews

No fewer than 17 Spitfires in the air together - at Duxford's Battle of Britain anniversary show in the U.K. held in September 2015. This sight is unlikely ever to be repeated, and there's not a single Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Spitfire among them. Its four examples were displayed separately.

Click on image for video

(source Flight International October 12/15)

Larry Milberry, publisher, invites you to visit CANAV’s blog with all the info about our new blockbuster “Aviation in Canada: The CAE Story”, CANAV’s premier title since 1981.

Visit www.canavbooks.wordpress.com for the initial CAE Story book reviews, many informative history items, etc.

Ted Beaudoin has sent us an update regarding the Royal Air Force Ferry Command / Transport Command operation of World War II.

Welcome to our website, www.RAFFerryCommand.com a new way to easily and readily access vast amounts of information of almost anything to do with the Royal Air Force Ferry Command / Transport Command operation of World War II.

It is dedicated to every man and woman from any allied nation who served this unit in any capacity, either as a recruit, a volunteer, or as one seconded to the RAF FC/TC from an allied military air force, or as one attached from an allied commercial airline operation. It is also dedicated to the men and women of the Air Transport Auxiliary squadrons set up in allied nations to ferry aircraft in their respective countries and forward to theatres of war when and where they were needed.