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NetLetter #1390 May 15, 2018

Boeing 757-200 - Registration C-FXOF

Dear Reader,

Welcome to the NetLetter, an Aviation based newsletter for Air Canada, TCA, CP Air, Canadian Airlines and all other Canadian based airlines that once graced the Canadian skies.

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Women in Aviation

Yvonne Peel, retired Air Canada flight attendant, has put together a collection of her memories and experiences during her 31 years adventure with the airline. Her story first started off in NetLetter #1381, continued in NetLetter #1382 and, now, here we have another episode.

I had not been flying long and was still very much in awe of passengers, especially when working in First Class. This was a rather daunting task for a new recruit at the best of times. People still dressed up to come on flights as flying was still a luxury for most people, especially in first class.

All the food had to be prepared in the rather small galley. The meat came on board partly cooked and we had to finish off the cooking, prepare the rest of the food, make sure everything was piping hot and arrange the serving trolleys to make the food look appetizing and the presentation elegant.

Beautifully printed menus were given to each passenger. They then decided which of the selection of food they would choose. The choices were varied so as to accommodate all tastes and the food was of extremely high quality.

We always began the service with drinks, nuts and canapes then prepared each individual chair table with a beautifully white starched tablecloth and matching napkin. All the necessary cutlery depending on the menu, glasses, cruets and side plates for the bread were all meticulously displayed. Often a small vase with fresh flowers would finish off the presentation.

However, you could almost bet that as everything was ready for the start the service, one passenger by the window would "need to go'' and both he or she and the passenger in the aisle had to have all their table settings removed and rearranged!

The roasts had to be carved from the trolley and each passenger was served individually. My worst nightmare was serving the meat and vegetable brochettes. The food had to be removed from the skewers, and invariably as you eased the fork down the skewer, the meat would suddenly fly off and either end up on the floor or all over the trolley!

The trolleys were extremely low to allow the seated passenger to view the food on offer, and this did nothing for the state of our backs by the end of the meal service. Finally, after what seemed like hours of backbreaking work, the meal service was over!

Pillows, blankets, gifts and travel bags full of goodies comprising the usual eye shades, ear plugs and all the creams and potions were handed to each individual passenger to make their flight comfortable and, hopefully, send them to sleep.

Finally, we could then eat the leftovers which were much better than our crew meals!!

Yvonne Peel

Air Canada News

Boeing’s 100th 737 MAX is ours.

On March 28th we took delivery of Fin # 510 (C-FSIQ), our ninth Boeing 737 MAX and Boeing’s 100th 737 MAX to come off the production line. We now have thirteen aircraft in our fleet, and they operate mostly on routes throughout our North American network. Our B-737's began operating the Halifax-London route on April 4, 2018.

(Source: The Daily March 29, 2018)

Air Canada is launching a handful of new non - stop services between Canada and the U.S. in May, 2018

Toronto - Omaha, Nebraska; May 1
Edmonton – San Francisco, California; May 1
Toronto - Providence, Rhode Island; May 17
Vancouver - Sacramento, California; May 17
Montréal - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; May 17
Montréal - Baltimore, Maryland; May 17

(Source: Daily April 27, 2018)

Air Canada has announced that it will be retiring the remainder of its B-767 ER fleet by the end of 2019. The company will also refurbish the eight aircraft currently comprising its Airbus A330-300 fleet and add another four aircraft.

Source: ch-aviation.com

Star Alliance News

All Nippon Airways (ANA) is configuring the cabins of its Airbus A380's with four classes and some all-new features that include a changing room, bar counters in all cabins and couch options in economy.

The second highest accommodation density is being deployed on this type; 520 seats, 391 economy on the main deck, the upper deck will have 56 business and 73 in premium economy.

(Source: ATW Daily News)

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Reader Submitted Photos

Here are some photos sent in by Shirlee Schacter taken at Pionairs Central Ontario District's 2017 Annual Christmas Lunch which was once again held at the Lionhead Golf & Conference Centre in Brampton (11th year), on the border of Mississauga, December 6, 2017. This year’s event was filled to capacity with 297 registered Pionairs members and guests.

Director David McNeilly made a special presentation to Valdy Priedits, Central Ontario Events Chairperson, whose unflagging attention to detail ensures this, and all District events, are always a big success.

A special award was also made to Ed Storrie, Treasurer, for his many continuous years of outstanding and unwavering service to Pionairs in a multitude of capacities.

The theme, coined by Kay Wollam at the 2016 event, was “IT’S THE PLACE TO BE “ .

We have, from the left: Evelyn Frake, Rita Carret, Fran Morgan, Beverley Cooper, Linda Mikus and Suzanne LaFerriere.

In this photo from the left is: Kay Woollam, Gale Pontenier, Pamela Sachs, and Cornelia Peto.

We have a photo of the crowded prize table.

And Valdy Prieditis shouts "and the winner is" after pulling a ticket from the barrel.

TCA/AC People Gallery

Extracted from "Horizons" magazine issue March 2002
Following the short article in "Wayne's Wings" NetLetter #1365 regarding the DC-9, here we have information regarding the retirement of the final DC-9 in Air Canada. After 35 years of service with Air Canada, the DC-9 was retired from the fleet on January 13, 2002. Our photo - 'Goodbye to an old friend' - shows retired Captain Carl W. Sandelin, giving the thumbs up while waiting in a seat he is very familiar with. Carl holds the world record for most hours flown in a DC-9. Air Canada’s last scheduled DC-9 passenger flight was operated with CF-TLL Fin #711 from La Guardia to Montreal on January 18, 2002.


Issue dated October 2009. (with permission) Air Canada Jetz flies U2 on its 360° tour (2009). The Irish rock band's current North American tour is now underway with Air Canada Jetz flying U2 on its 360° tour until the end of October. "This is the third time U2 has chosen Air Canada Jetz for its airline when on tour in North America and it clearly speaks volumes to the service the Jetz crews are renowned for said Caroline Cristofaro, Manager Charter Marketing & Sales. ''Thanks go to everyone involved in Jetz for your passion and drive in making the Jetz product one of the best out there!`"

Air Canada's Rapidair service launched in 1972 as a convenient new service between Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. Originally the service included special lounges with telephones at the gate area, a first which allowed customers to call and tell their wives they would be home early for dinner! Plus there was coffee and refreshments. There were dedicated airport gates, high frequency flights departing every half hour through morning and evening peak period, and hourly during the day. A bar was also operated in Montreal, but denied by the LCBO at our Ottawa and Toronto locations. In October 1974, our first B727-200's were introduced in a 144 seat all economy configuration. Some of the airlines which have competed on the Eastern triangle include Quebecair, Nordair, EPA, Nationair, Intair, Royal, Canjet, Canada 3000, Jetsgo, Greyhound, CP Air (including The Company Jet and Attaché), Canadian, City Express and Wardair. The Rapidair brand was expanded in Western Canada in the 1990s as a shuttle service called "Rapidair West" between Calgary - Vancouver and Calgary - Edmonton

Stylish walkway. (Source: moments.aircanada.com) It may look like a space-age tunnel or a scene from Apollo-13, but it's actually a sewer pipe. When Air Canada launched Rapidair in 1972, it looked for an innovative way to connect Montreal's Raidair lounge to departing aircraft. With a little help from designers, the pipe becomes a stylish, heated walkway painted with white stucco finish and outfitted with mauve carpet and chrome handrails.

Engine change in Halifax. On August 21, 2009, flight AC654, C-FKCO fin #221, had just taken off from Halifax when it experienced an engine in-flight shut down. The aircraft, A320-211, had to return to Halifax for an engine change. The crew was Captain John Baird and First Officer Geoffrey Hamblin. Flight service crew members were Lynn Leveille, Martin Cloutier, Trong-Qui Dao and Genevieve Page. Air Canada had an AOG (Aircraft on Ground) situation. Engine changes were not scheduled in Halifax and had not been for several years, therefore there was no spare serviceable engine immediately available nor a crew capable of performing an engine change. A crew was assembled from volunteer Licensed Aircraft Technicians from Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal. The replacement engine was transported by road in 16 hours from Montreal on a flatbed truck by DB Schenker. By August 24, the A320 was declared serviceable and flew passengers to Montreal on flight AC665. Here we have a photo of the engine change crew. The multi-city engine change team. From left to right: Troy Carkner (YOW), Roland Vroye (YUL), Jesus Concepcion (YYZ), Greg Milley (YOW), Byron Budden (YHZ), David Gatner (YYZ), Mark Vatta (YYZ), Brian Fissel (YHZ) and Nathaniel Doucette (YYZ).

From the "Parts & Pieces" magazine issue January 1992
YUL Stores lose 775 years’ experience. There were over two hundred in attendance at the Dorval Community Centre on January 24, 1992 to say farewell. In our photo we have the YUL retirees. From left to right: Tony Virqona, Mike Teesdale, Peter Thomson, Jerry St-Germain, Leo Beauchamp, Don Dryden, Robert Hibberd, Tony Leon, John Dratva, Sam Barclay, Ralph Stone, Mike Kukla, Bill Eaton, Hugo Guilbault, Ian Wilson, Frank Robertson, Joe Nagy, Robert Poth, Guy Turpin and Andy Roy. Missing from the YUL photo are: Andre Lauzon (YMX), Ernie Smith, Ron Johnstone and Lawson Garayt. Also retired Harry Moxan (YWG), Ernie Chudly (YVR) From YYZ: Bill Cantwell, Les Stevenson, Norm Brown and Tom Griffin.

From the Southern Alberta Pionairs Winter 2018 newsletter We have this photo of the Calgary Pionair Board, which was taken at their Christmas luncheon December 2017. Left to right: Mike Cush, Membership Coordinator; Liz Smith, Courtesy Coordinator; official Santa (Mrs. Claus was out with the elves and missed the picture); Stella Leblanc, Secretary; Alexandra Slawek, Social Coordinator; Rene Hale, Treasurer; and Wendy Kraft, District Director.

Alan's Space

Asiana A330 Slices Turkish A321 Tail in Istanbul

(Submitted by: Tony Walsh )

An Asiana Airbus A330 slammed its wing into the tail of a Turkish Airlines Airbus A321 at Istanbul Atatürk Airport this Sunday afternoon, (May 13, 2018) completely destroying the tail of the Turkish aircraft (registered TC-JMM). It is unclear as to what exactly happened, but FlightRadar24 data shows that the Asiana A330 bound for Seoul was beginning its taxi when it hit the A321 that was being parked at its gate.

The A321 appeared to be holding awaiting the ramp agents to marshal it to the gate (this is quite common) so was holding further back than normal. Thankfully, there were no injuries reported by either parties, but there was extensive damage to both aircraft.

CP Air, Canadi>n People Gallery

Here we have this Quebecair timetable issued during 1975.	This Nordair timetable is dated April 27, 1975.

(Source: airline-memorabilia.blogspot.ca)

Stuart Russell has sent us a couple of beautiful photos of C-GMWW tail #881 the first 747-400 Canadian Airlines put into service in 1990; it was named "Maxwell W. Ward". I represented Airports on the multi-disciplined team that evaluated the systems and equipment installed when it was being built. The team went to the Boeing factory for a 747/767 assembly line tour and then flew on aircraft 882 on her acceptance flight to YVR. I found it amazing how unique a USD $160 million airplane could smell when she was brand new!! Those 4 x 747-400s that were brought into the fleet changed the game for Canadian on the North Pacific routes. No more DC-10-30ER tech stops in TPE in the winter. I always marveled at the 744 capability - 427 pax and bags / 50,000 lbs cargo / full tanks and 875,000 lb takeoff weight for a 14-16 hour flight YVR-HKG. Pure magic!! Stuart Russell.
C-GMWW over YVR	On the ramp in YVR


These two photos from the “Canadian Airlines Photo History”.
CP Air B737 CF-CPV titled "The Company Jet".	CP Air DC-8 CF-CPP titled "Skybus".

Wayne's Wings

Boeing 757 – Finding a niche

The Boeing 757 has a unique story in aircraft model development. Basically, it was designed to be a narrow body version of the Boeing 767 and was planned to replace the extremely successful but (by the late 1970’s) inefficient B-727 on domestic routes.

Boeing developed this fleet with the anticipation that there would be a demand for increased capacity on board domestic flights. However, the B-737 became the aircraft of choice for emerging low-cost carriers during the 1980’s. Boeing ceased production of the aircraft in 2004 to focus on the popular B-737 family of aircraft.

The aircraft was a good idea that never really found much success on domestic routes outside of the United States. Although British Airways was one of the launch customers of the fleet in 1983 (56 delivered) and operated the fleet until 2010.

Only a relative handful of the fleet were delivered to Asian airlines with the last built aircraft of the fleet delivered to Shanghai Airlines in November 2005. My own personal experience with flying on a B-757 was a flight from Beijing to Kunming, China on China Southern Airlines in 2008.

The aircraft did find a niche, however, as the choice of several fledgling charter operators, cargo operators and a few very high-profile business executives.

I picked two of the aircraft that have had interesting careers. Registration C-FXOF originally entered service with Canada 3000 in April 1990 and remained in their fleet until the airline ceased operations in 2001.

It was then acquired by ILFC (International Lease Finance Corporation) and went through quite a few re-registrations and paint jobs for the next ten years. Below is a sample life-cycle of a charter service aircraft.

Delivered	Airline	Registration	Country
30-Apr-1990	Canada 3000	C-FXOF	Canada
1-May-2002	National Airlines	N544LF	USA
1-Sep-2003	North American Airlines	N753NA	USA
1-Mar-2005	Rubloff Jet Express	N753NA	USA
7-Aug-2006	Aerosur	N753NA	Bolivia
19-Mar-2008	Zoom Airlines	C-GTDX	Canada
13-Dec-2008	Air Slovakia/Albanian Airlines	OM-ASG	Slovakia
25-Jun-2010	Mint Airways	EC-LHL	Spain
31-Mar-2010	PAL Airlines (Lease)	EC-LHL	Canada
23-Sep-2011	Thomas Cook UK (Lease)	EC-LHL	UK
1-Nov-2011	Mint Airways (Return off Lease)	EC-LHL	Spain
1-May-2012	ILFC (Scrapped)	N101LF	USA

The next aircraft was originally delivered to Sterling Airways of Denmark in 1991 and would later be purchased by Vulcan Northwest Enterprises and become the corporate business jet for Microsoft Co-founder Paul Allen.

Since 2011 has been the property of DJT Operations (under registration N757AF) and is (perhaps sarcastically) referred to as Trump Force One.

tmb Trump Boeing 757 200 N757AF at McCarran

References:

Boeing 757 at Wikipedia
C-FXOF at Airfleets .net
N757AF at Airfleets.net

Reader's Feedback

Your comments and suggestions are most welcome. We appreciate the feedback… good bad or indifferent.

Larry Harris sends us this memory after reading about the Chipmunk in NetLetter #1388 - Greetings. Enjoyed the article about the de Havilland Chipmunk aircraft and would like to share a story about another Chipmunk. Back in the late 60's CP Air was operating a leased Boeing 707 and on landing in Vancouver the aircraft missed the runway and took a disastrous course across the airport and crashed into parked aircraft of which one was a Chipmunk belong to a mechanic by the name of Bill Foote. Needless to say the Chipmunk didn't survive the collision. Larry Harris, retired PWA/CAIL/AC customer services.

Terry Baker sends these additional photos regarding the article on the "Cabbage Patch" DC-8 incident at LHR in NetLetter #1388.

Larry Mak sends us his memory -re Netletter #1388 The article about Fin #813 and the "Cabbage Patch" reminds me about another aspect following 813's repair. As a member of then manager Pierre Jeanniot's Systems Group we had developed a computer program to monitor the fuel consumption-by-aircraft for the DC-8 Fleet. Flight readings were key-punched (remember that) from the aircraft log sheets and fuel consumption reports routinely produced. I recall that Fin # 813 consistently showed higher cruise fuel consumption than all the rest of the fleet. Coincidence ?

Howard Allmand shares this memory - In NetLetter #1388, George Brien told his tale of being a passenger on a Bristol Freighter and wondered whether many other people reading the NetLetter had travelled as a passenger on that aircraft. Well, I did 3 or 4 times in the early '60s from Southend to Calais courtesy of Channel Air Bridge with my parents going to Europe for our summer holidays. Their Bristol Freighters carried 3 cars in the front (of course) and 15 passengers in the back. My parents' justification for taking this mode of transport across the English Channel instead of the more commonly used ferry from Dover to Calais was that they could finish work in London on a Friday afternoon and drive to Southend and take Channel Air Bridge in the early evening and then drive halfway across Europe while everyone else was still on the ferry. I remember sitting on the aircraft at the end of the runway as the engines revved up with brakes on -- the noise was deafening! -- and then the anti-climax of the brakes being released and this lumbering brute taking forever to reach take-off speed. As we crossed the Channel, we flew so low that we saw the passengers on the ferries below quite clearly. In subsequent years, Channel Air Bridge replaced their Bristol Super Freighters with 'Carvairs' which were converted Douglas DC-6s, I think, (actually DC-4 and C-54 - eds) which carried 5 cars and 25 passengers. Wonderful memories! All the best, Howard Allmand, retired in 2005 In-Flight Service Director ( CP Air / Canadian / Air Canada ). (Note: Channel Air Bridge was a private British independent airline specializing in cross-Channel vehicle-cum-passenger ferry services. Freddie Laker started Channel Air Bridge as a sister airline of Air Charter on a provisional basis in 1954. Operations commenced in 1955. In 1958, Channel Air Bridge took over Air Charter's vehicle ferry services. In 1959, both Channel Air Bridge and its sister airline Air Charter became part of the Airwork group. In 1960, Airwork joined with Hunting-Clan to form British United Airways (BUA). In 1962, BUA reorganized its vehicle ferry operations by merging Channel Air Bridge with Silver City Airways. This resulted in the creation of British United Air Ferries in 1963. (Source: Wikipedia)

Nick Wolochatiuk sends this message - I was just forwarded a copy of your NetLetter. What a delightful pot-pourri of Air Canada's past, present and future. To date I've flown in TCA's/Air Canada's Viscount, Vanguard, DC-8, 747, 767 and Airbus 319/320. I missed the DC-3, North Star and Super Constellation, but have flown in several other operators' DC-3s/C-47s and North Star. One day I hope to add the 777 and 787 to the list of 356 different types of aircraft I have already flown in. Nick Wolochatiuk

Odds and Ends

Great things developed for Trans-Canada Air Lines early after WWII.

New aircraft like the DC-3 and North Star were the biggest change, allowing for a much expanded route structure.

So the well-worn fleet of Lockheeds was sold. This basic ·advert· tells the story. No doubt the planes went at give-away prices. Toronto-based buyers alone included Imperial Oil, which took CF-TDB.

BA Oil took CF-TCH and CF-TDE, Massey Harris farm equipment company in Toronto took CF-TDG and Noranda Mines bought CF-TCU. For their new role as corporate planes, the basic old TCA Lockheeds were gutted, then rebuilt with swish interiors.

(Source: Larry Milberry/CANAV Books)

The Candy Drop Mission – Berlin airlift.

With the 70th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift coming up in June, a small group of volunteers has been assembling a fleet of vintage aircraft to re-create the famed Candy Bomber Mission originated by Gail Halvorsen in 1948.

The "Berlin Candy Bomber" or "Uncle Wiggly Wings" gained fame for dropping candy to German children during the Berlin airlift. tmb 70 anniv candy drop

Although the airlift began in 1948, it carried on until 1949 so the commemoration will occur next year, in conjunction with the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy.

Thus far organizers Peter Braun, Thomas Keller and Jörg Siebert have commitments from 35 aircraft operators, with airplanes coming from all over the world.

(Source: avweb.com)

View video on YouTube.

Terry's Trivia and Travel Tips

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

Bearskin Airlines began as a humble operation founded in July 17, 1963 by Otto Heglund, a pilot and free trader.

With hard work and dedication, Heglund's original fleet (consisting of a single Tiger Moth biplane) expanded. 1983 bearskin timetable 1390

By 1999, it had a fleet of thirty aircraft operate a variety of scheduled, chartered and contract services to the major cities of Northern Ontario and many smaller communities. Here we have the timetable issue April 24, 1983.

(From the David Zekria collection) (Source: BearskinAirlines.com)

Doug Keller sends us a link for a unique tour involving short flights on various Russian aircraft in North Korea.

‘Back in the DPRK’: Grand Aviation Tour 2018

Juche Travel Services is proud to announce that it is ‘Back in the DPRK’ to take part in the Grand Aviation Tour from the 16th – 20th October 2018! Flying on Ilyushin Il-18, Il-62, Il-76, Tupolev Tu-134, Tu-154, Tu-204, Antonov An-24, An-148, Mil-17, and Microlites. Whilst also visiting Pyongyang / Kaesong & DMZ / Mount Myohyang.

It is possible to reach the DPRK from a variety of places in China and Russia. However, Beijing is generally the preferred option for tourists due to the larger number of departures, as well as being an international transport hub for those arriving from overseas.

Greg and Donna at KVI Travel, Kelowna, Canada have these interline offerings.

Roundtrip Seattle Sailings:

Roundtrip Vancouver Sailings:

Do you have any questions or need more info about these and the many other cruises?
Contact Greg and Donna CALL US TOLL FREE at 1-877-760-2583 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Smileys

Our cartoon, by Carlin - ORF, is from "Between Ourselves" magazine issue dated May 1955, with the caption "Well, what are you waiting for? Start playing!"

Terry Baker | Alan Rust | Wayne Albertson
Ken Pickford (missing from photo)
NetLetter Staff for 2018
(you can read our bios at www.thenetletter.net/history)

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E&OE - (errors and omissions excepted) - The historical information as well as any other information provided in the "NetLetter" is subject to correction and may have changed over time. We do publish corrections (and correct the original article) when this is brought to our attention.

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