The NetLetter
For Air Canada Retirees
(Part of the ACFamily Network)
February 2, 2013 - Issue 1240
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First Issue published in October 1995!
(over 5,400 subscribers)
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NetLetter Past Issues
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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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Sponsors
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Greetings!
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Welcome to the NetLetter!
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!
Terry Baker and the NetLetter Team
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| Reader Submitted Photos - Compiled by Terry Baker |
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 Reader Submitted Photos - The photos and information below have been submitted to us by our faithful readers.
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 Brian Dunn, editor of YYZNEWS has sent some photos of ex Air Canada DC-9's passed to him from the collection of Tom Kim. Altair photo of N901AK returned to AC, and then entered service wearing the Altair hybrid scheme. At least two of AC DC-9s (CF-TLI and CF-TLK), were leased to Altair (US up start) until that airline went T/U, and the two DC-9s were returned to AC. Originally CF-TLI fin 708 c/n 45846 DC-9-32 was delivered to Air Canada May 13/67. Sold to Altair as N901AK on July 16th 1982. Reposed by Air Canada November 1982 and sold to Pacific Southwest Airlines as N705PS named "The smile of Eugene" on April 27th 1983. Re-registered as N913VJ on March 1988, merged with USair on April 9th 1988. |
 And then there's the "silver bullet" C-FBKT fin 754 c/n 47186, which was leased from Eastern Airlines for one year from May 31st 1988 to August 14th 1989, to cover some AC DC-9s that were under going D checks. |
Another 2 AC DC-9s were painted up for another US upstart Columbia Airways during 1982, but that carrier never got off the ground! One of them was C-FTLP fin 715 c/n 47068 delivered to Air Canada August 31st 1967. The other was C-FTLK pictured here at YUL in 1983.
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 This is a photo of yet another DC-9 sold to Altair which was originally CF-TLP fin 715 c/n 47068 DC-9-32 and delivered to Air Canada August 31st 1967. Sold to Altair as N904AK on July 16th 1982. Reposed by Air Canada December 1982 and sold to Pacific Southwest Airlines as N708PS named "The smile of Jose del Cabo" on December 1983. Re-registered as N914VJ on March 1988, merged with USair on April 9th 1988. Broken up at Evergreen MZJ July 28th 1998. |
 This photo of CF-TLO in 1976 - a DC-9 that had the "white nose" (experimental trial of 4 DC-8s and 4 DC-9s). |
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| TCA/Air Canada People Gallery - Compiled by Terry Baker |
 Below we have musings from the "Between Ourselves" and "Horizons" magazine, Air Canada publications from years gone by, as well as various in-house publications. The NetLetter has been fortunate enough to have our readers donate vintage Trans-Canada Air Lines and Air Canada publications from as far back as 1941 to share with you. These have been scanned and are being prepared for presenting in a special area of the ACFamily Network for archival and genealogy research.
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1986 - Nov 26th - Fire ravaged offices in Montreal's Alexis Nihon Plaza reservations offices.
 In St. John's, John Stuckless, a Sales Representative, is pictured here. An extract from the "1986 Annual Report".
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 From the "Annual report to employees - 1987". Customer service agents Theresa Lathan and Dupre Smith on duty in Bermuda.
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 Here in London, England we have, from the left: Passenger Sales Representative Barry Stride, Advertising Assistant Joanne Saunders and John Burghardt, Director, International Marketing Communications. |
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Issue dated - November 1986
From the "Horizons" magazines -
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 On Sunday October 26, a fire ravaged Alexis Nihon Plaza in Montreal, the work location of some 450 Air Canada employees since 1970. The District of Quebec and Ottawa Reservations offices and part of Passenger - International offices were damaged beyond repair. When the fire broke out some 40 employees were there, mainly in Reservations.
Bob Pasquale was the supervisor on duty that day and he evacuated the offices in under five minutes. Bob and Alec Brown, C&SS Area Supervisor - Montreal, had the foresight to disconnect the power to the communication concentrators and reservations terminals, thus avoiding short-circuit. In doing so, the company was able to save 80% of the new iCOT terminals. In this photo, on the left is Bob Pasquale Reservations Sales Supervisor and Alec Brown, Supervisor, Telecommunications, C&SS on the right receiving the Air Canada Merit Award from President Pierre Jeaniot for their efforts in saving equipment during the fire.
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Issue dated - January 1976
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 San Francisco beauties help celebrate the company's first on-line birthday at the Air Canada sponsored Interline Club party.
Shown from the left are San Francisco passenger agents Betty Hirschfeld, Liz Napetschnig, Ellen Graziano, Susan Ross and Ann Pulford. The company began service to San Francisco on December 1, 1974.
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| Alan's Space - by Alan Rust |
Alan's is still on vacation!
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Canadi>n/CP Air/PWA, Wardair, etc. People & Events
- Compiled by Terry Baker
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 News and articles from days gone by gleaned from various publications from C.A.I.L. and its "ancestry" of contributing airlines. |
 In December 1987, a booklet titled "Meet the Canadians" was issued containing photos of the North American Sales Group. Here we have the twelfth and final page.
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Issue dated - April 1981
Items from the "CPAir NEWS" magazine -
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Due to low volumes of passengers and cargo, scheduled service between eastern Canada and Mexico was suspended April 26th, but Mexican sun destinations were served by charters.
 February 27th saw the official opening of CPAir's new Quebec City ticket office.
Participating were, from left: Lionel Jomphe, Al Haziza, Jean-Paul Charland, Pierre Tremblay, Dal O'Toole and Mario Albert.
In its formative years, CP Air linked Quebec City with Montreal, Chicoutiml, Rimouski, Sept Illes and the lower St. Lawrence River communities of Natashquan and Blanc Sablon. These along with Ontario routes were relinquished to Air Canada on Oct. 31, 1955 under a major restructuring of Canada's air transport system. In exchange, CP Air received the Toronto - Mexico City route which was extended to Lima and later to Santiago and Buenos Aires .
ONTARIO HOUSE In London, England displayed a new face to passers-by following the window-dressing efforts of local CP Air staff early in 1981. The window fronts onto Charles" St. and is opposite London's historic Royal Opera House arcade. From left, CP Air London sales agents Maggie Coombe and Verna Champion, U.K. Agent General for Ontario Ross De Geer, recently-appointed CP Air U.K. sales manager Al Tremblay, and CP Air agents Margery Wood and Carol Flisher.
SKI! SKI! SKI! That was the rallying call for 150 employees who took one-week ski tours to Innsbruck, Austria In March 1981, organized by Mike Dixon, Vancouver airport agent. Similar tours were planned for the next year to Austria and France.
Here's one of the groups (all Vancouver unless noted), back row, from left, Roy Mercer, Jay Barrie, Garry Gregory, Jack Crawford, Richard Alexander, Bas Ottens, Rick Lang, Ron Torgenson of Edmonton, Cathy Parks, Reena Schipinsky of Calgary, Jeannie Gregory, Bob Griswold, Bud Smith, Richard Webb of Rome, Grant Phillips and Eileen Phillips. Front row, Terri Barschell of Calgary, Doreen Hazel, Barry Exton of Fort St. John, Carol Stennes of Vancouver from Air Canada (hey, what is this?), Todd Joseph of Fort St. John, David Hazel, Terri Emanuel, Toronto; Barb Prystanski, Edmonton; Ingrid Lang, Eileen Stanton, Jeannie Bakermans, Lolita Sadeh, Cathy Ross, Alison Crawford, Michelle Federici, Jacques Chartrand, Linda Lehn, Shirley Hawkins and Dave Williams.
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Issue dated - November 1981
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 COPENHAGEN STAFFERS in October participated in a Canada West tourist promotion in cooperation with the tourist associations of Western Canada. Here they are in their cowboy hats, from left: Hanne Hardman, CP Air passenger agent/steno; Vic Lundsgaard, entertainer; John Campbell, commercial counselor, Canadian Embassy; John Lindblad, director marketing, Travel Alberta, London; Lillian Orvad, CP Air res supervisor; Flemming Timmermann, manager, CP Air, Scandinavia and Finland; Thor Lindqvlst, CP Air sales rep; Jim Willis, director marketing, Tourism B.C., London; and Turid Blom, sales supervisor, CP Air, Scandinavia and Finland. The promotion was held at Vindinge Naturpark.
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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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Jim Griffith has sent us this story called "Goosed" -
Flight through a flock of Canada Geese, Branta canadensis, just after takeoff, flamed out both engines of an Airbus A-320 and caused a near tragic ditching on the Hudson River of US Air, flight1549, in 2009. Thanks to the skill of the entire crew, all lives onboard were saved.
In the autumn of 1970 on an Air Canada Turbo-Prop Viscount, it happened so fast that neither pilot realized what had happened. One minute they are routinely descending into London Ontario on a calm routine flight night when...BANG! They are splattered with what is obviously entrails, disgusting and smelly... perhaps even their own!
A quick body check of each other reveals that neither of them is injured so what the...? No change in engine noise, no change in speed, rate of climb or in any other parameter except just a flicker, if they had the time to notice it, on the pressurization instruments. Heck, even the auto pilot stayed engaged and there they are descending smoothly for a visual approach on runway 23; everything exactly as it was moments before.
They look like they'd been in a pillow fight; there are feathers and guts everywhere. It could only have been a bird and judging by the amount of offal, at the very least, a medium sized one. Thoughts now collected, they check the cockpit for damage. First, a check of the windshields and neither of the front or side panels are broken, cracked or even dirty. Except there is a large greasy smudge on the First Officer's sliding side window, the only evidence of what might have happened. Why was there no damage either inside or outside the aircraft?
The bird hit the sliding, clear-view, side window. The energy of its weight times the square of the aircraft's speed overcame both the locking, over-centering mechanism of the small window and the five pounds per square inch pressure differential of the cabin. It popped the triangular shaped window perpendicularly back onto its sliding rail, opening it for a split second. The opening was just wide enough, about an inch and a half around the circumference of the window, to admit the goose. The relatively small opening combined with the fierce energy of the collision completely sliced, diced and eviscerated the entire medium sized goose. A Nano second later the cabin pressure differential slammed the plug type window back into its proper slot. Viola! Nothing damaged except the dignified composure of the stunned pilots and their now soiled uniforms. The cockpit of the undamaged Viscount and the pilots were hosed down and sent merrily on their way at London... without even a minute's delay.
The chances of a pilot being killed or even seriously injured from a BASH, (Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard), are estimated to be one in a billion flying hours. Except for the First Officer's badly bruised chest, the pilots were not physically injured. It wasn't until 2003 when forensic DNA testing on SNARGE, (bird remains from a BASH), was introduced by an international agreement to study the $1.2 billion BASH damage caused annually to commercial aircraft globally to determine the species and gender of the birds involved, that a more sinister threat to pilots and ground crew made its presence known. Unknown to our Air Canada heroes, both pilots and ground clean-up crew could have contracted ZOONOSIS, (an infectious disease that is transmitted between human and animal species), with possible debilitating side effects or even death. In the words of the Academia more study is needed to determine the health threat of those handling SNARGE. Thankfully both pilots are retired, alive and well living in the lap of luxury. Jim Griffith
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 Ronald Lisney responds to the information in NetLetter nr 1237 -
This is the only Caravelle at the Pima Airspace Museum referred to by my old colleague Al Alves in Dispatch. I now reside in Tucson and took this photo in 2007.
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Odds and Ends.
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 Sometimes we receive articles and information that just doesn't fit in our other areas. This is where it goes!
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A Canadian subsidiary of U.S. defense giant Lockheed Martin Corp. says it plans to buy Aveos Fleet Performance's engine maintenance, repair and overhaul business in Montreal for an undisclosed price. The company plans to hire an undisclosed number of former Aveos employees.
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Terry's Trivia and Travel Tips - by Terry Baker
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| Smileys - Compiled by Terry Baker |
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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 Letters to the editor in "CPAir News" magazine issued April 1981 on the subject of employee dress code, prompted Fernando Moura, a flight attendant, Vancouver to submit this cartoon with the caption "No, you may not wear the Multimark in place of your fig leaf. Rule 9.7(a) Thou shalt not dress in corporate symbols except when used on T-shirts".
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 The obvious answer, Alan Evans sends us this cartoon.
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The NetLetter is an email newsletter published (usually) once a week 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 welcome your feedback 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!
We hope you have enjoyed this issue of the NetLetter, see you next week!
Sincerely,
Your NetLetter Team
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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.
E&OE - (errors and omissions excepted) - The historical information as well as any other information provided here is subject to correction and may have changed over time. We do publish corrections when they are brought to our attention.
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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
- Stewardess - Lisa Ruck, Brooklin, 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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