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Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter Since 1995

Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

Since 1995

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Subject: [The NetLetter] NetLetter nr 800 - Dec 6/03 - The NetLetter
Date: Sat, 06 Dec 2003 15:04:11 -0800
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T H E                    _| TCA |_
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N E T L E T T E R   >  CANADA   <
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Number  800 Dec 6th.,  date  2003. We first published in
October 1995.
Circulation: 2700+


Chief Pilot - Vesta Stevenson   -      Co-pilot  - Terry Baker


To get in touch with either editor/pilot our  email address is
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. Must know.
Important information to employees travelling to Chile. Effective
immediately, anyone travelling to Chile will be required to pay a
“Reciprocity Tax” upon arrival in Santiago, Chile. The tax is payable in US
currency and cash only, and applies to all adults, children and infants.
Exemptions apply to holders of student visas issued by the Chilean
government and transit passengers who have not cleared immigration. The tax
is valid for multiple entries for the validity period of the passport. For
full details, log on to the Employee Travel Site at
www.travel.aircanada.ca, click on “News and Policies” and “News

Bring paper flight coupons as back up - regardless of where you travel
to. It would appear that there is still some confusion as to when and where
paper coupons are required. To avoid any confusion, employees are
encouraged to always carry a paper coupon with them in the event of a
travel change to a non-DCS station - a station not handled by Air Canada -
such as Orlando, Florida. In some instances if you don’t have a paper
ticket when one is required, you may be refused travel. Furthermore, to
save costs under CCAA, the company continues to accept both old and new
flight coupons. It’s not worth the risk, especially during the busy holiday
season. As a friendly reminder, paper coupons need to be signed for anyone
travelling under the active or retired employee’s travel profile, whether
that person is accompanied or not, and dependents or a designated partner
travelling unaccompanied have to be registered on the flights prior to
travel to ensure proper handling.

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. Nice to know.
FedEx is there to help with your holiday shipments. Planning to ship gifts
to family and friends for the holiday season, and you need to get them
there on time? Good news, FedEx, Air Canada's preferred courier provider,
offers all active and retired Air Canada and Air Canada Jazz, Air Canada
Vacations, ZIP and Destina™ employees with a minimum of six months service
a discount on all shipments. To take advantage of this service, you or your
spouse must present a valid Air Canada picture ID or a photocopy at any of
the FedEx shipment locations. To avoid the peak holiday crunch or shipment
delays, you’re encouraged to drop off your packages anytime between 10 a.m.
- 2 p.m. before Dec. 17. Please note that specific FedEx locations may
limit interline shipping to 90 minutes prior to the station closing. For
more information on FedEx services, visit their website at www.fedex.ca
(for Canada) and www.fedex.com (for the U.S.), or call them at 1-800-GO-FEDEX.


Air Canada launches major expansion to Latin and South America and
inaugurates services to San Jose, Havana, Santiago and Buenos Aires. With
the departure Dec 1st flight AC1252 en route to San Jose, Costa Rica, Air
Canada launched a major expansion of new services to Latin and South
America. This morning, Air Canada inaugurates three times weekly flights to
Havana, Cuba, our fifth Cuban destination, and this evening, we will
inaugurate non-stop service to Santiago, Chile with convenient same plane
service continuing on to Buenos Aires, Argentina. As a result, Air Canada
becomes the first international carrier to return to Buenos Aires as
Argentina’s economy rebounds.

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. Help wanted.
Subject: Montego Bay.
Kathrine O'Neill of our Employee Communications sends this request -
I'm wondering if you'd be able to help me with an historical fact.
Montego Bay is about to celebrate 50 years of operation (Dec 17, 1953)
and is hoping to put together enough information for a press release so
that they can get some coverage in the local newspaper. Unfortuneatly,
we seem unable to put our hands on any information about this route and
its launch. I haven't been able to find any reference to it in the '53
or '54 issues of Between Ourselves or any other historical references we
have on hand. We're trying to find out what type of aircraft was flown,
how long it took, about how many passengers, routing, that sort of
thing.
Thanks for your help.
Kathrine O'Neill   Employee Communications  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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Vancouver Inland Chapter of The Canadian Aviation Historical Society has
arranged for a table at Mary's Bleue Moon Cafe, 11:30 am, Tuesday, December
9, 2003.
Meet and enjoy the company of other aviation history buffs over a holiday
lunch. Great atmosphere! Great Company!
No meeting in December. Next meeting January 13, 2004, at the British
Columbia Aviation Museum, in the Norseman Room, at 1:00 pm.
Confirm lunch on December 9, with Stoney Jackson, 250-478-7567,
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Jackie Frampton, 250-544-2183, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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. FOFS Group update from Shirlee Schacter -
The 2003 Reunion Luncheon of the Computer & Systems Services-Friends of
Front Street - "FOFS" Group,  (now an annual event), took place in Toronto
on November 29th, 2003, and was a roaring success with over 100 former C &
SS'rs in attendance.  If you are eligible to join in on the festivities
with the "FOFS" Group, please get in touch with Shirlee Schacter at:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to get on the list for future get-togethers.
(Just for your info, we have names of 350 former C & SS'rs but still need
contact information for roughly 20 percent of that number.)

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. More Help wanted!!!
Fraser Muir, a past president of the Pionairs sends us this appeal -
One thing that's on my mind...video taping as many of the original
employees as possible....can you help me line up some volunteers.....everyone
I speak to react in the same way....WOW!! what a great idea.....and then they
don't do anything about it....and I can't do it alone.
I have the ability to have the video tapes; copied, and will be compiled in a
"Living History" of Canadian aviation History, as I am asking to have
retirees from all airlines, from weekend pilots, bush, regional, and mainline
airlines; pilots, maintenance, ramp workers, agents...as long as
they worked in the business.
You can email him at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for further info...

Does anyone have any experiences to relate as regards travel to Orlando
and/or Tampa
and pros/cons of staying at a Disney resort or off site (budget wise and
convenience)?
I understand that the Disney Resorts give a 50% airline employee rate. Does
the employee
(retired employee) need to be travelling with the family members (spouse,
non-dependent
daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren) to have this rate?
Which Disney resort would be the best to stay at with children,
grandchildren (ages 8 &5)?
Any information that would help before we make our reservations would be
greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
You can e-mail us at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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Competitive News:
Quebec’s new regional airline getting ready to fly. Gilles Filiatreault, a
former Air Canada manager, launched his new Quebec regional airline on Nov.
30. As reported in The Gazette, the Quebec City-based carrier, called Val
Air, will serve Quebec, Montreal, Rouyn-Noranda and Val-d’Or three times
daily with Bombardier Dash-8 propeller planes. The carrier is negotiating
for the right to offer its clients frequent-flyer points through the
Aeroplan program.

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Henry Anderson This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. sends this interesting information -
From the Irish Times -
An Irishman's Diary by Arthur Quinlan.
Fifty-six years ago this month the United States Civil Aeronautics Board
began investigating the events behind the greatest ocean rescue operation in
aviation history. It involved the last flying-boat to leave the County of
Limerick port of Foynes after more than a decade of successful operations.
On the Monday afternoon of October 13th, 1947 a four - engined Boeing
charter plane with 69 people on board left Foynes. Its immediate
destination was Gander Lake, Newfoundland, the usual terminal on route to
the United States. But the Bermuda Sky Queen was forced to come down in
mid-Atlantic after running out of fuel. The mainly inexperienced crew of
the 42-ton flying boat had not taken into account the full force of the
Atlantic head-winds. In addition, the plane's load was 5,000 lbs over her
maximum weight - the equivalent of 25 people plus their baggage.
Experienced staff at Foynes had already expressed surprise at the length of
the passenger list. BOAC and PanAm, using similar aircraft, never carried
more than 35 passengers and sometimes fewer, depending on the weather and
the fuel load required. The 60 aboard the Bermuda Sky Queen were almost
double the greatest number of people ever carried on a flying boat across
the Atlantic. They included 20 men, 30 women and 12 children, including 2
babies, as well as the crew of 7.
In the early hours of darkness the following morning, they found themselves
stranded in mid Atlantic 960 miles from Foynes, without the slightest hope
of reaching the east or west coast. They had flown 960 miles from the Co
Limerick port.
The flying boat's skipper, Capt Charlie Martin, a wartime US Navy pilot,
realising that Gander was out of reach and there was no way of going back to
Foynes, had sent out a distress message. His supply of petrol was running
low and he decided to set down on the ocean close to the weather ship
'Charlie'. An Air Canada Skymaster heading for Prestwick picked up the
distress message and the pilot, Capt Steven Albulet relayed the message. It
was also picked up by another aircraft, by the Irish radio station at
Valencia and most important of all, by Capt Paul Cronk of the US coastguard
cutter 'George M Bibb'. When he was told that there were 69 persons on
board, he could not believe it. The ensuing rescue operation lasted for 48
hours with not a single life lost.
On that Sunday afternoon at Foynes I (author) had boarded the Bermuda Sky
Queen - formerly the PanAm 'Capetown Clipper' to interview Capt Martin, for
this was to be the last flying boat to leave Foynes after a decade of
aviation history. It was a charter flight owned by American international
airways and most of the passengers were British, including oil company
representatives returning to the Caribbean with their families. The
Americans included the crew of an oil tanker recently delivered to British
and four young UN secretaries returning to headquarters in New York. I
played cards in the beautifully furnished flight lounge with some of the
crew before taking my leave of them. The overcrowding of the 'Bermuda Sky
Queen' was partly attributable to the fact that shipping passages between
Europe and the United States were totally booked out with the great rush of
emigrants and GI brides. What few airline seats were available were booked
out for months because the 'Skymaster' aircraft, which had then begun to
trickle through Shannon, carried only 40 passengers. The US Civil Aviation
Board held an investigation into the 'Bermuda Sky Queen' affair. The
charter company was closed down and the owners charged with engaging in
foreign transport of passengers without authorisation. Investigators found
that the flight engineer had manuals which showed that on the power setting
which he recommended to the pilot, it would have been impossible to reach
Gander Lake. The pilot and navigator were found to have based their air
speed on the flight plan of a previous crossing. No blame was laid on the
Shannon meteorological department. Capt Martin has his pilot's license
restored because of his gallant work in the rescue operation. He then
continued to work as a full pilot for many years with a leading US carrier
but never flew into Shannon again. Capt Cronk and his crew were decorated
for their work and the passengers were given a heroes welcome when they
arrived in Boston on the 'George M. Bibb.'
Before leaving the scene, the cutter shelled the flying boat so that it
would not be a danger to navigation.
(The Air Canada Skymaster mentionmed was probably a Canadair North Star of
Trans-Canada Air Lines - eds)

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.  Found on the internet.
CANADA (WHERE ELSE?) HOSTS ICING STUDY
Well, every place has to be famous for something and Montreal's propensity
for freezing drizzle has earned it the starring role in a new aircraft icing
study. Researchers from North America and Europe, including NASA and
Canada's National Research Council, will be loading five airplanes full of
high-tech gear to see if they can better predict icing conditions. The $2.4
million Alliance Icing Research Study will run from now until February. The
decked-out airplanes will fly from Ottawa, Cleveland, Ohio, and Bangor,
Maine, to Montreal at different altitudes when icing conditions are likely,
and the data will be compared.

Ryanair, Europe's No.1 low fares airline, on 3rd December 2003 launched 4
new daily routes from London Stansted to AUSTRIA, ITALY, GERMANY and SPAIN,
with fares starting from an incredible GBP19.99.

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. Terry's travel tips.
Apartment Specials in us$
Now is a great time to try one of our apartment rentals as we can offer these
apartments at a greatly reduced price. For these specials, your dates need
to match exactly with the dates listed below.
Paris Penthouse Apartment
Dec 12-Dec 21 (9 nts) Any 6 or more nts of these 9 nts at $115/nt
up to 4 people.
Dec 21-Dec 26 (5 nts) at $120/nt up to 4 people.
Any other available nights for November and December are $120/nt
with a 5nt minimum stay required.
Paris Historic Apartment
Dec 23- Dec 28 (5 nts) at $700 total up to 4 people
December Interline Special- Any 5 nt stay for $600 w/extra nts at
$100/nt up to 4 people.
London #41 Apartment
Dec 15-Dec 21 (6 nts) $92/nt up to 4 people
Dec 21-Dec 27 (6 nts) $100/nt up to 4 people
London #43 Apartment
Dec 15-Dec 21 (6 nts) $92/nt up to 4 people
Dec 21-Dec 27 (6 nts) $100/nt up to 4 people
Here are the places you want to see without the worry of making all the
arrangements.  Whether you choose a guided Paris or Rome
program or a more  exotic location like South Africa or China the details are
taken care of for you.
The Wild Scenic Mpumalanga  Roundtrip from Johannesburg
Luxury Air conditioned  vehicles  6 day/5 nt     $769
Our World Through One  Country  Johannesburg to  Cape Town
Luxury Air conditioned vehicles, Airplane  13 day/12 nt $2029
Paris for the First Time  Paris local- metro, bus  5 nts   $619
Luxury Canal Barge  French Countryside  Luxury Hotel Barge
7 nts      $899
Best of Germany.  Austria, Switzerland  Motor Coach  13 days/12 nts
12 breakfast    2 dinners   $1839
Scenic Heart of  Europe  Germany, Austria, Switzerland
Motor Coach   7 days/6 nts   6 breakfast   2 dinners    $1019
Call Aero-Marine Interline Tours and Cruises
Telephone:  1-800-All Aero
(1-800- 255-2376)

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