 The NetLetter
For Air Canada Retirees
(part of the ACFamily Network)
September 3, 2011 - Issue 1178
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First Issue published in October 1995!
(over 5,400 subscribers)
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Donation Information
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Send cheques payable to "ACFamily Network" to:
ACFamily Network
#800 - 15355 24th Ave, Suite 523
Surrey, BC V4A 2H9
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| Greetings! |
We welcome you to allow the NetLetter to be your platform, and opportunity, to relive your history while working for either TCA, AC, CPAir, CAIL, PWA, AirBC, Wardair. etal. and share your experiences with us!
The NetLetter is an email newsletter published every weekend and contains a mixture of nostalgia, current news and travel tips. We encourage our readers to submit their stories, photos and/or comments from either days gone by or from present day experiences and trips. If we think that the rest of our readers will enjoy it, we will publish it here
We also This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. in regard to anything we post here. Many readers have commented with additional information, names and personal memories from the photos and articles presented here.
The NetLetter, which is free, is open to anyone that wishes to subscribe but is targeted to retired employees from Air Canada, Canadian Airlines and all the other companies that were part of what Air Canada is today. Thanks for joining us!
Terry & your NetLetter Team
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| CAHS Upcoming Events - Compiled by Alan Rust |
 We have a listing below of all the CAHS (Canadian Aviation Historical Society) upcoming events that we are aware of. If you are at all interested in Canadian aviation history, then we encourage you to attend a meeting or visit their web site at: www.cahs.ca |
Pionair Meetings and Events - Compiled by Alan Rust
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 The Air Canada Pionairs have ongoing Coffee Club Meetings in the following Districts; Vancouver Island, Vancouver, Okanagan, Edmonton, Calgary, Man-Sask, SW Ontario, Central Ontario, Ottawa, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia - P.E.I., Newfoundland, UK - E.C. and the USA - Caribbean. For full information, click here.
Meetings provide an opportunity to meet old friends, learn the latest news regarding Air Canada and your pensions or hear a variety of guest speakers speaking on topics of interest to retirees.
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ACRA Upcoming Events- Compiled by Alan Rust
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 Retirees Welcome!
The following events are available for retirees through ACRA, the Air Canada Recreation Association. |
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LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER
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Where: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
When: Thursday, September 29 to Saturday, October 1, 2011
For more inforation visit: www.acrabadminton.org.uk
Retirees Welcome!
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 Are you aware of an ACRA Event that is open to retirees? Please use the online form by following this link to submit your ACRA Event. (ACRA Events only please)
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| Our first 70 years - Compiled by Terry Baker |
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1946 - August 1st - Inaugural service Toronto - Cleveland.
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Star Alliance News - Compiled by Terry Baker
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 Lufthansa will begin levying a credit card surcharge on tickets issued on or after Nov. 2 for flights departing from airports in Germany, Belgium, Finland, the U.K., the Netherlands and Switzerland.
The "Optional Payment Charge" will apply to all channels.
The charge per ticket will be €5 on domestic routes; €8 on intra-European routes, and €18 on long-haul routes.
Five Lufthansa Group carriers-Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, BMI, Brussels Airlines and Swiss-also will roll out surcharges of varying levels, in some cases on Sept. 5. Credit card surcharges are common among low-cost carriers, but they have been making their way into the policies of network carriers, such as British Airways, in recent years. |
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| Reader Submitted Photos - Compiled by Terry Baker |
 Reader Submitted Photos - The photos and information below was sent to us by our faithful readers. If you would like to send us some old photos you have lying around. we will consider them for publication in a future NetLetter. We prefer good quality airline related photos, with descriptive text included with the submission. |
 Ken Bjorg has sent us this photo of a PWA B-727 outside the Vancouver hangar, but no date. |
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 Jean from Mississauga.
Hi all you hard working people,
I came across this cartoon in my files from when I flew with TCA 1959-1961. As you can see the cartoon was published in August 1961. Please zoom in to see the antics of the employees when they were expecting a strike to occur.
I am sending this mainly for your enjoyment and fun. Thanks for all you do to keep the NetLetter going.
Jean from Mississauga.
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| TCA/Air Canada People Gallery - Compiled by Terry Baker |
 Musings from the "Between Ourselves" and "Horizons" magazine, an Air Canada publication from years gone by, and various in-house magazines.
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Issue dated - September 1956
Found in the "Between Ourselves" magazine -
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 THE MULTI-VEARED STAFF of The Windsor District is shown at a recent get-together to welcome Sales Representative Ron Lofthouse, seated, into the select circle. The others are, from the left: W. A. Kicksee, Sales Representative, and a 15-year veteran, D. S. McLeod, Sales Representative, with 18 years' service and H. C. Paillefer, District Sales Manager, who has been with our Company 11 years. |
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Issue dated - October 1st 1956
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 THE FRONT PAGE of the August 1, 1946 edition of the Toronto Telegram, "doctored" to include a spread on our Cleveland inaugural, was reproduced and copies were presented to Cleveland-hound passengers on August 1, marking the 10th anniversary of the service. Stewardess Shelagh O'Connor displays one of the reproductions, |
 August 30th was the date of the annual TCARA System Golf Tournament.
OUTSIDE THE PRO SHOP at the Regina Golf Club, the entire party posed for a pre-game picture. In the back row, left to right, are: Pat O'Flynn, Regina: Wally Rowan, Calgary; Jack MacLean, Regina: Gord Sanders, Yorkton; Len Morrison, Sydney: Roy Aldridge, Regina; Ken Suffron, Winnipeg; Ken Ryan, Calgary; Mac McGregor, Edmonton; Bill Austin, Lakehead; Cliff Lowery, Sydney; Art Suffron, New York. Front row, left to right: Cam White, Brandon; Art Howard, Vancouver; Bert Laing, Brandon; Bob Ross, Lakehead; Jack Louden, Lethbridge: Jack Weller, Winnipeg: Bill Chorney, Montreal; Hal Forrester, Montreal, and Ian Rennie, Edmonton. |
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Issue dated - January 17th 1974
Extracted from the "Horizons" magazine
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 Memento for retiring employees
A new policy of paying tribute to retiring employees on pension becomes effective January, 1974.
A standard official Company memento, individually inscribed with name and length of service, will be presented to each retiring employee in recognition of a long service career.
In addition, the supervisor may take the honored employee out to lunch at Company expense, charging it to the local formation.
The handsome memento, designed by Len Van Mack, Mechanic in the Aircraft Machine and Fitting Shop, Dorval, is approximately four inches high and sits on a 5 x 21/2 inch base.
All employees retiring January 1st this year and later will receive a memento although the first supply is not expected before March 1 due to manufacturing delays. The new program ensures that upon retirement every employee receives official Company recognition regardless of job level.
(Although retirees are still recognized, I remember being presented with a plaque in 1984 - eds)
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Issue dated - February 15th 1974
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 Practically the whole of the Maintenance Publications staff at Dorval was on hand recently for a farewell party honoring Art Warrener, Maintenance Publications Development Manager, on his retirement after more than 25 years service.
Shown at the gathering are, from the left, front row:
Diane Caverhill, Jeanne McGilp, Art, Grace Bibby, and Jasmine Eames.
Second row: Sophie Johnston, John McLoughlin, Tom James, Jack Johns, Bill Ramage, Gordon McAulay, Bill Kuchiran, Art Wood, Graham Reynolds, Bill McNab, and Shirley Cole.
Third row: Paul Gardiner, Syd Bond, George Koristka, Howie Vardon, Hugh McDevitt, Ed Myer, and Joe Hugill.
Back row: Ross Smith, Hal Forrester, Charlie Folkes, Dave Downie, Tony Lemieux, Joe Kelly, and Bert Smith. Missing were Lee Eaves, George Haacke, and Vince Bigattini.
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| Alan's Space - by Alan Rust |
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| Alan Rust |
Flying RC Bird - from Terry Baker
Fascinating technology! By all means watch this, it's amazing. As children we all looked at birds and wished we could fly and were in amazement at those flying swallows.
Plenty of robots can fly -- but none can fly like a real bird. That is, until Markus Fischer and his team at Festo built SmartBird, a large, lightweight robot, modeled on a seagull, that flies by flapping its wings. A soaring demo fresh from TEDGlobal 2011.
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| A robot that flies like a bird |
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Canadi>n/CP Air/PWA, Wardair, etc. People & Events
- Compiled by Terry Baker |
 News and articles from days gone by gleaned from various publications from C.A.I.L. and it's "ancestry" of contributing airlines. |
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Issue dated - March 1983
Extracted from "PWA Flightlines" magazine -
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 Pacific Western 's new Boeing 767 flies over Washington State in a series flights prior to delivery. C-GPWA, in early January, was used for demonstration flights for Boeing customers including Egyptian Air and JAL. On February 12th the aircraft received final inspection by the Boeing Company, on the 16th FAA and the customer flight (PWA.) was scheduled for March 4th. |
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 PACIFIC WESTERN TAKES DELIVERY OF B767 C-GPWA
Pacific Western Airlines took delivery of its first Boeing 767 new-generation wide-body aircraft on March 4, 1983. The first B767 was rolled out of the Boeing plant in Everett, Washington, August 4th, 1981. The initial B767 flight was on September 26th, 1981.
Here we have this photo of Capt's Bob Moul, Earl Benson, Terry Lambourne and Transport Canada's Glen Feagan.
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 The aircraft pictured at Cambridge Bay's airport on March 1955 was one of many on a massive airlift hauling construction materials and supplies for the DEW Line.
Cambridge Bay's communications, weather information, navigational beacon and ice-strip made it a major staging point for the western half of the DEW Line. At first, facilities were very limited for servicing and repair of aircraft. When a pilot, by misfortune or neglect, ran up an engine with insufficient oil pressure, the result was a seized engine. This presented a problem of changing the engine on the ice with temperatures to -40°F and winds up to 40 MPH.
The answer was to do it like the locals would - build an igloo. Although it was necessary to have a removable roof, formed from a tarpaulin, the remainder of the shelter was built from snow blocks. This permitted the maintenance crew to work in relative comfort and out of the bitter wind. As a side benefit, the shelter was easily disposed of by Mother Nature.
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 REMEMBER WHEN?
For our history buffs . . . on reviewing our flight schedules from the years ending in three . . we come up with the following for '53, '63, '73 and '83.
Did you know that in '53, P.W.A. or Central B.C. Airways (as it was then called) had scheduled routes from Vancouver Airport to the Gulf Islands. The fare, for example, to Mayne Island was $5.75 . . . about the same price as it is to go from the Vancouver Terminal over to our hangars.
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 Ten years later saw the start of our Chieftain Airbus service between Edmonton and Calgary. In those days we had three round-trip flights using, 66 passenger DC 4 equipment Our customer service agents sold tickets in flight. |
 By 73 our airline had really expanded as we introduced our customers to B707 A.B.C. charters between Canadian points and the United Kingdom. |
 In '83, we're making history as we take delivery of the new generation aircraft, the B767. |
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Issue dated - November/December 1970
From "PWA Keeping Posted" magazine -
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 COUNT ON US
First crew of Pacific Western Airlines to arrive at the official opening of Grand Forks Airport.
Left to right: Captain Wally Russell, Captain Al Eden, Stewardess Miss Rennie Hayn with Constable Wayne Pipe of the RCMP in attendance.
Approximately 20 visiting dignitaries were aboard and before the aircraft left for Vancouver 24 members of council and executives of Fall Fair Committee were taken for a courtesy ride over the city.
It is worthy of note that the Grand Forks Airport was first granted a license in 1929 when commercial aviation was barely out of its infancy and now 40 years later a first regularly scheduled flight became a reality when the PWA Nord Vistaliner touched down at 10:25 a.m.
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| Reader's Feedback - Compiled by Terry Baker |
Every week we ask our readers for their stories or feedback on what they have read here in previous issues. Below is the feedback we have received recently.
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 Les Ashton has provided the name for one of the gentlemen in this photo published in NetLetter nr 1175
Re the photo of the cargo team attending Ron Law's management meeting the gentleman sitting in front of Jean Guy Roberge is Jerry Murray. I do not know the name of the other individual.
Best regards, Les Ashton.
Lucien Baril sends us this photo from 1975, a cargo management meeting held under Ron Law's directorship, in Montréal.
The names of the people are: Dermot Morin, Lucien Baril, Jean-Guy Roberge, Jerry Murray, Stu Christie, Ron Law, Suzanne Bucan, Robert Viau, Raymond Dicaire, Michel Saucier and Guy Bélanger and John Mansey comes up with both people names -
In the Netletter 1175 you showed a photo of a cargo management meeting in 1975. Possible the two missing names are Jerry Murray (in front of Jean-Guy Roberge) and Bob Viau ( in front of Ray Dicaire).
Hope this is of assistance
Regards John Mansey,
LHR Cargo retired
For the Viscount affectionado -
http://home.golden.net/~ronsig/ronnie2.htm
This web site has some Viscount information which was mentioned to Jack Stephens the Canadian researcher, in Calgary, for the www.vickersviscount.net
Here is Jack's response, which conjured up these memories -
The two interior photos drew my attention, particularly the colored one. The interior shown is the first refurbishing of the TCA Viscounts. The large medallion type maple leaves on the rear and forward walls, and the mixture of blue and gold seat covers were quite a change from the rather plain original design.
In 1961 I worked in the Finishing Shop at Winnipeg when the refurbishing was well underway. The seat covers claimed to be treated with a fire retardant. Some of the guys did a little test of their own and with a cigarette lighter set a scrap of the material on fire without any trouble at all. I have no idea what ever become of the unofficial test. The seat covers were sewn in the shop. The white with a gold fleck interior walls were covered with Arborite. The original walls were stripped and I remember they were made of plywood. One of the 'high tec' jobs I worked on was the assembly of the air outlet cones.
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Odds & Ends - Compiled by Terry Baker
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 Sometimes we receive articles and information that just doesn't fit in our other areas. This is where it goes! |
 This Douglas DC-6B on top of a shop (Pike's Aviator Greenhouse and Sweets on Airport Road) in Fairbanks,AK (photo is from 2004) is former N999SQ (c/n 43274) which used to have employment with Everts Air Fuel. But it also flew with Swissair (as HB-IBA) in the 1950s.
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Terry's Trivia and Travel Tips - by Terry Baker
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| Terry Baker |
From the "Horizons" magazine issued February 1st 1974, we note these one-way air fares being introduced.
Calgary - Toronto $110, Vancouver - Edmonton $46, Victoria - Vancouver $15, Ottawa - Winnipeg $77, Toronto - Montreal $34, Montreal - Vancouver $142, Halifax - Montreal $46, Fredericton - Saint John $15, St John's - Toronto $91, Moncton - Halifax $20.
Here is a list of deals from Airline Employee Discounts
www.airlineemployeetravel.com 1-800-250-5229
Mexico - Mayan Riviera - Book 4 nights of more at the following Maya Riviera resorts and get FREE airport transfers from the Cancun Airport to and from your resort hotel!
- Sandos Caracol - A 4 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $85pp!
- Riu Yucatan - A 3 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $87pp!
- Gran Bahia Principe Akumal - A 5 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $89pp!
- Riu Lupita - A 4 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $91pp!
- Occidental Grand Xcaret - A 5 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $93pp!
- Sandos Playacar Beach Resort & Spa - A 4 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $100pp!
- Riu Palace Mexico - A 4 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $101pp!
- Riu Palace Riviera Maya - A 4 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $111pp!
- Barcelo Maya Beach & Caribe - A 4 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $112pp!
- Sandos Playacar Rivera Hotel & Spa - A 5 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $112pp!
- Xpu-Ha Palace Resort - A 4 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $115pp!
- Ocean Maya Royale - A 3 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $117pp!
Barcelo Maya Colonial & Tropical - A 4 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $124pp!
- Gran Porto Real - A 4 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $131pp!
- Ocean Coral and Turquesa - A 4 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $132pp!
- Playacar Palace - A 5 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $149pp!
- Barcelo Maya Palace Deluxe - A 4 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $156pp!
- El Dorado Seaside Suites - A 4 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $157pp!
- El Dorado Royale Resort - A 5 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $161pp!
- Moon Palace Golf & Spa Resort - A 5 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $175pp!
- Aventura Spa and Aventura Cove Palace - 5 star all-inclusive resorts with rates from $175pp!
- Moon Palace Golf & Spa Resort - A 5 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $175pp!
- Azul Beach Hotel - A 5 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $192pp!
- Desire Resort & Spa Riviera Maya - A 5 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $202pp!
- El Dorado Maroma - A 5 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $203pp!
- Royal Hideaway Playacar - A 5 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $251pp!
- Hidden Beach Resort - A 5 star all-inclusive resort with rates from $278pp
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Smileys - Compiled by Terry Baker
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As we surf the internet and back issues of airline magazines we regularly find airline related jokes and cartoons. Below is our latest discovery.
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 Here we have another cartoon by Dave Mathias from "Between Ourselves" issued August 1956. |
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Disclaimer: Please note, that neither the NetLetter or the ACFamily Network necessarily endorse any of the airline related or other "deals" that we provide for our readers. We would be interested in any feedback (good or bad) when using these companies though and will report the results here. We do not (normally) receive any compensation from any companies that we post in our newsletters. If we do receive a donation or other compensation, it will be indicated as a sponsored article or link.
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We hope you have enjoyed this issue of the NetLetter, see you next week!
Sincerely,
Your NetLetter Team
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First published in October, 1995
- Chief Pilot - Terry Baker, Nanaimo, B.C.
- Co-pilot - Alan Rust, Surrey, B.C.
- Flight Engineer - Bill Rowsell, Londesboro, Ontario
To contact us, send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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