The NetLetter
For Air Canada Retirees
(Part of the ACFamily Network)
April 13, 2013 - Issue 1250
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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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Air Canada mobile team proudly launches the AC Android App, the first Air Canada application to be created entirely in-house. On Monday, Air Canada released a beta version of its brand new Android app, compatible with Android devices v4.0+.
Consumers can download it for free from Google's Play Store using their Android smartphones, and are encouraged to test-drive it and provide feedback to the Air Canada team to correct any technical issues before we release our Android 1.0 version.
Our Android app enables users to:
- View upcoming flights and "My Messages" from a convenient "Dashboard" with easy access to flight status and other links.
- Check the status of all Air Canada, Air Canada rouge and Air Canada Express flights.
- Keep track of their own flights via "My flights," which provides information such as terminal, gate, scheduled arrival time up to three days in advance.
- Receive flight notifications and review their flight schedule.
- Check-in for a flight.
- Select a seat.
- Access an electronic boarding pass.
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| Women in Aviation - Compiled by Terry Baker |
WOMEN OF AVIATION WEEK FLIES 5,000 GIRLS
St. Andrews Airport in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada is the World's Most Female Pilot-Friendly Airport after the results from early March were tabulated. More than 150 volunteers, including dozens of pilots, gave introductory flights to 680 girls and women on March 9. Second place went to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, which did 634 flights and Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario was third at 517.
The top U.S. effort was in Frederick, Md., which managed 342 flights. "Engaged individuals at all levels is what has made the Women Of Aviation Worldwide Week initiative the largest female outreach aviation program ever created," said Mireille Goyer, founder of the initiative and president of the Institute for Women Of Aviation Worldwide.
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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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 Robert Arnold has sent us yet another photo for the Vickers Viscount aficionados.
CF-TIF c/n 386 was delivered new to Trans-Canada Air Lines March 28, 1959 as fleet number '650'. The above photo was taken at Hurn, Bournemouth, Dorset, England November 24, 1958 with the completed fuselage undergoing pressure testing. All the windows and other apertures have been blanked off ready for the air supply to be pumped in through the large hose at the front. The pressure was raised above the normal operating range to ensure that everything was safe when it went into service.
This photo was also taken during a visit by TCA representatives who were checking on the progress of a number of their Viscount aircraft under construction at the time. (TCA/Air Canada Viscount Blueprint Archives are now administered by Robert W. Arnold)
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 Ray Wattier sends us this message and photo -
In April 1994 I was asked to take some pictures of the retirement of the DC 8 Freighter and also the retirement of Air Canada Capt. Roger Hadfield.
When I arrived there I found that Capt. Hadfield's three sons were in attendance. Chris, the astronaut, Philip, an AC first officer on an A320 and David, an AC Captain on a DC 9. I was able to get all four into the DC 8 Cockpit for this photo. Flying seems to be in the family's blood.
Ray Wattier, retired passenger agent, Air Canada.
We did ask Ray to identify the people, other than Chris, and this was his response - Sorry, Terry, I never knew what names attached to the other two sons. All I knew was the Father, Roger, was in the left seat and of course Chris in his NASA suit. We had put the picture in our Sales newsletter (Vis a vis) and it must have been our editor, Janet Grunwald, who got the names from the Hadfield family. She didn't show them left to right, just listed the names. Ray
Alan Rust, our co-pilot, chips in with this - I would say the David is in the F/O seat on the far right. This leaves Philip (the youngest) in the center.
See: http://old.vintagewings.ca/page?a=295&lang=en-CA for David... Alan
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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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 This photo is of a group from C & SS Dorval retirees at their party held on March 13th, 1985 at the Glenmore Curling Club. From the left: Hans Parnigoni, Gilbert Gibson, Guy Langevin, Lois Morrison, Terry Baker, Karel Stuut, Claude Remillard, Andy McCready and Yvan Jutras.
(I nearly missed our Chief Pilot, Terry Baker in this photo! - Alan)
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Issue dated - March 1947
From "Between Ourselves" magazines.
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A history of TCA for its tenth year -
1946 - The biggest year yet, when many of 1945's plans became operative, and this was the year that TCA carried its millionth passenger and flew the Atlantic for the thousandth time.
Transcontinental services were increased to four daily flights and a fourth was added on the New York route. Over the Atlantic, the Lancaster's crossed daily, both east and west, between Montreal, Prestwick and now, London. Service between Vancouver and Victoria increased to eight flights daily and a Seattle - Victoria service was inaugurated.
New operations began between Toronto and Chicago, Toronto and
Cleveland, Fort William and Duluth. Passenger priorities ended on domestic services and the Company took over transatlantic passenger space allotment.
The fleet now consisted of 27 DC-3's, 14 Lockheed Lodestars and 9 Lockheed 14's. By the year's end, DC-3's were being used exclusively on all routes between Montreal and Lethbridge, both inter-city and transcontinental. The Lockheed's were put up for sale.
Plans were in the making for joining Toronto and Winnipeg across the Great Lakes, operating directly between Winnipeg and Edmonton, via Saskatoon and inaugurating a Halifax - Boston service, all for 1947. Preparations were made for regular flights to Bermuda. In its tenth year, TCA was well advanced on the way to becoming one of the world's great air-travel systems.
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 The opening of Sydney's new Traffic Office and the Company's anniversary took place on the same day, April 10th, 1947. Here, Sydney's Board of Trade President, R. W. Wright, presents the birthday cake at the celebration.
Left to right - front row: Hugh McElligott (City Traffic Manager); Molly Sullivan and Mary Topshee, City Traffic Office; Stewardess H. Gagnon, R.N.; R. W. Wright. Back row: Captain E. Jokinen; First Officer F. Bowser; Regional Traffic Manager J. G. Maxwell; Station Manager D. V. Dowlinq; Isobel Bezanson, City Traffic Office; D. V. Richardson, District Traffic Manager, Boston; Ruth Estabrooks and John Connolly, City Traffic Office; Passenger Agent L. K. Woodman. (Absent; Harper McNeill, District Traffic Manager and H. McKenzie, Station Manager, Moncton.)
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 At the TCARA Bowling banquet held at the Berkeley Hotel on April 17th, the Sheet Metal team, play-off champions in Dorval's winter bowling league and winners of the Trudhope Trophy, pose for the camera.
Seated left to right: A. Lablanc, Jean La Fleur, Jim Douglas (captain). Standing J. Pelletier and G. Peck.
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 The staff at Central Control in Toronto.
Top row: D. Basher, M. Hughton, C. Fisher, J. Austin, R. Uhrig, L. Coneybeare, R. Thompson. Third row: Q. Lee, P. Ford, E. Nolan, E. O'Neil, H. Young, M. Havenor, D. Bath. Second row: E. Sproat, R. Wall, J. Uskoski, M. McManus. Front row: J. Chamberlain, D. E. Paul, B. Gibson. |
| Alan's Space - by Alan Rust |
Gimli Glider (Air Canada Fin 604) up for auction, but no buyers. (from CBS News)
The highest bid wasn't high enough to nab a piece of Canadian aviation history. The Boeing 767, known as the Gimli Glider, was on the auction block on Sunday April 14, 2013 in Mississauga, Ont.
The Gimli Glider was being auctioned off by Collector Car Productions. Terry Lobzun, spokesperson for Collector Car Productions, said it was hoped the plane would sell for more than $2.5 million. The highest bid was $425,000, which Lobzun said was below the reserve price. Collector Car Productions will now follow up and try to find a buyer in the next few weeks.
Lobzun said he would love to see the Gimli Glider end up in the town of Gimli, but he's not optimistic that will happen. In 1983, the plane ran out of fuel on a flight from Montreal to Edmonton, but was able to glide to a safe landing at a decommissioned airstrip in Gimli. It continued as an Air Canada passenger plane until it was retired from its fleet in 2008. It has been sitting in a warehouse in California ever since.
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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. |
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Issue dated - November 1988
Items from the "Info Canadi>n" magazine -
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| October 26 was the last flight from Lisbon following a route swap agreement with Air Canada which awarded entry into Germany to Canadian Airlines. |
| In November 1988 a contract was signed with Airbus Industrie for 10 A320-200's with options and reserves on up to 34 additional aircraft. The A320 was due for service in 1991. |
 Participants in the official opening of the new Empress Lounge at Edmonton Municipal Airport were from left - Doug MacPherson, manager, airport services, Edmonton Municipal; Gary Rolfe, district sales manager, northern Alberta/N.W.T.; Judy Hawley, sales rep, Edmonton; Bryan Glass, passenger service agent, Edmonton Municipal; Knut Ohm, supervisor airport services, Edmonton Municipal; Marilyn McGowan, sales rep, Edmonton; and Ted Chow, manager airport services, Edmonton Municipal. |
 Countdown to U-Day
Flight attendant Suzanne Dore picks up her new uniform from purchasing clerk Joy Morishita in Vancouver in preparation for U-Day on Thursday, Dec. 1, when the airline's new uniforms will be unveiled publicly.
The countdown to U-Day has been a huge job. Approximately 50 individual items make up the dress and industrial uniforms utilized by the various departments. They range from male, female and maternity garments to luggage, badges and belt buckles.
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Issue dated - December 1988
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 Sporting some of the new uniforms are from the left: Maria Russell, passenger agent, Mike Smalley, passenger service director and passenger agent Nina Levy.
(Reminds me of the Yellow Brick Road - which ones Dorothy? - Alan)
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 November was a tall order for Calgary uniform clerks Sandy Sterling (right), Colleen Irvine and Jackie Potekal
(background). With just one short week left to complete basic uniform packages for 10,400 employees, Calgary team leader Sterling and counterparts Diane Grenier in Toronto, Michelle Trepanier in Montreal, Jan Knight in Winnipeg and Joy Morishita and Barb Donnelly in Vancouver, tackled the job with complete confidence.
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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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In NetLetter nr 1231 we had a story about the "honeybucket", and Ron Lingwood followed up with another story in NetLetter nr 1236, and now Ron Lingwood has come up with yet another such story -
A short while ago you published a letter I sent in relating to the problems relating to the servicing of onboard toilets. This story also occurred at the same location a year or so later, at Gatwick Airport where I worked for British United. By then we had a small fleet (3 to be exact) of BAC VC 10 Aircraft. This was a mechanics dream, after years of British design teams inability to understand aircraft from the perspective of the mechanic and making everything very nearly impossible to get at, they finally got it right.
This beautiful machine was fast and could overtake a B707 (so it was said) in mid Atlantic after leaving at the same time from England to NY.
For those who have never seen one, the BAC VC10 is a tail ender. The engines were four RR Conway's with 1700 lbs/st mounted at the rear fuselage area, beneath a massive T tail configuration. Jacking this a/c defied all previous concepts in that the main jacks were situated under the wings by the main landing gear and also one jack on the left side aft under the engines. When jacking was taking place a smaller nose jack was in place to act as a steady. The problem with this as we discovered was that to keep all four jacks together in the lift require quit a bit of juggling. The net result of asymmetric jacking was as we discovered one time was that the aircraft could lurch alarmingly during this process. One time the tail bullet assembly the struck the docking assembly and did considerable damage to the bullet.
The main accident occurred one night during jacking procedure as the aircraft was being de-jacked (lowered). The main wheels took the weight and lurching occurred whereby the nose jacks slipped, the net result as we discovered when we arrived for the day shift was the sight of the aft multi ton jack buried in the fuselage and hanging about 5 feet off the hangar floor. The damage was considerable especially so as the pressurized area was punctured. A team from BAC was dispatched to make a repair that took about three weeks, the worst part for the company was that this aircraft was scheduled to fly HRH Duke of Edinburgh to S. America that day. Needless to say the sparks flew and one of our senior supervisors was suspended and actually demoted.
What happened in his favour was that BAC finally revealed that this had happened to them during manufacture and they had modified the jacking procedure. Unfortunately they had omitted this from the manuals.
From then on we jacked this model without the use of nose jacks and with the jack operators in contact with one another buy headphones and using a gauge to correctly set the equal adjustment on the jacks. It's typical that there has to be an accident it seems to make corrections to procedures, it was fortunate that no one was hurt. There was an aftermath to this story, for when I emigrated to Canada and began working for CPAir we had then the B727 aircraft, also a tail ender. Low and behold I saw the same situation occurring when jacking this aircraft.
Relating my story at that time to the supervision did not garner a great deal of interest until on one occasion the jacking procedure got away from them and the aircraft this time struck the dock just above the cockpit area and punctured the pressurized area.
Deja-Vue!!! Ron Lingwood
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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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Noted in the UK/EC Pionairs monthly newsletter for March 2013 -
The membership list for our 455 UK/EC members, it is interesting to see that we have members in Cyprus, Emirates, Oz, Sweden, Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, Jersey, Italy, Denmark, Kazakhstan and Scotland. |
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Ken Bjorge has sent us an article regarding the DC-3 which he thought would be of interest. Due to its length, we will serialize it:
Now the DC-3 has been grounded by EU health and safety rules. It groaned, it protested, it rattled, it ran hot, it ran cold, it ran rough, it staggered along on hot days and scared you half to death. Its wings flexed and twisted in a horrifying manner, it sank back to earth with a great sigh of relief. But it flew and it flew and it flew. This is the memorable description by Captain Len Morgan, a former pilot with Braniff Airways, of the unique challenge of flying a Douglas DC-3 It's carried more passengers than any plane in history, but...
Now the DC-3 has been grounded by EU health and safety rules.
The DC-3 served in World War II , Korea and Vietnam, and was a favourite among pilots. For more than 70 years, the aircraft known through a variety of nicknames --- the Doug, the Dizzy, Old Methuselah, the Gooney Bird, the Grand Old Lady --- but which to most of us is simply the Dakota --- has been the workhorse of the skies. With its distinctive nose-up profile when on the ground and extraordinary capabilities in the air, it transformed passenger travel, and served in just about every military conflict from World War II onwards. Now the Douglas DC-3 --- the most successful plane ever made, which first took to the skies just over 30 years after the Wright Brothers' historic first flight --- is to carry passengers in Britain for the last time. Romeo Alpha and Papa Yankee, the last two passenger-carrying Dakotas in the UK, are being forced into retirement because of --- yes, you've guessed it --- health & safety rules.
Their owner, Coventry-based Air Atlantique, has reluctantly decided it would be too expensive to fit the required emergency- escape slides and weather-radar systems required by new European rules for their 65-year-old planes, which served with the RAF during the war. Mike Collett, the company's chairman, says: "We're very saddened."
The end of the passenger-carrying British Dakotas is a sad chapter in the story of the most remarkable aircraft ever built, surpassing all others in length of service, dependability and achievement. It has been a luxury airliner, transport plane, bomber, fighter and flying hospital, and introduced millions of people to the concept of air travel. It has flown more miles, broken more records, carried more passengers and cargo, accumulated more flying time and performed more 'impossible' feats than any other plane in history, even in these days of super-jumbos that can circle the world non-stop.
Indeed, at one point, 90 percent of the world's air traffic was operated by DC-3s. More than 10,500 DC-3s have been built since the prototype was rolled out to astonished onlookers at Douglas's Santa Monica factory in 1935. With its eagle beak, large square windows and sleek metal fuselage, it was luxurious beyond belief, in contrast to the wood-and-canvas bone shakers of the day, where passengers had to huddle under blankets against the cold. Even in the 1930s, the early Dakotas had many of the comforts we take for granted today, like on-board loos and a galley that could prepare hot food.
( Click on image above for more photos)
Early menus included wild-rice pancakes with blueberry syrup, served on bone china with silver service. For the first time, passengers were able to stand-up and walk around while the plane was airborne. But the design had one vital feature, ordered by pioneering aviator Charles Lindbergh, who was a director of TWA, which placed the first order for the plane. The DC-3 should always, Lindbergh directed, be able to fly on one- engine.
Pilots have always loved it, not just because of its rugged reliability but because, with no computers on board, it is the epitome of 'flying by the seat- of- the- pants'. One aviator memorably described the Dakota as a 'collection of parts flying in loose formation', and most reckon they can land it pretty well on a postage stamp. Captain Len Morgan says: 'The Dakota could lift virtually any load strapped to its back and carry it anywhere and in any weather safely.' (Continued in NetLetter nr 1251 - eds)
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Terry's Trivia and Travel Tips - by Terry Baker
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 Another revenue earner for airlines -
Samoa Air, a scheduled and charter airline connecting the Islands of Samoa, has begun charging passengers fares based on their weight. In online booking passengers enter their weight and the weight of their baggage to calculate airfare and pre-pay using the estimate. The carrier then weighs passengers again at the airport for the final fare.
For a passenger weighing 70 kg. (154.3 lb.) and traveling with 5 kg. of luggage, a one-way fare from Faleolo, Samoa to Pago Pago is WST$159 ($68.76). This fare calculates out to a charge of WST$2.27 per kg, though the charges differ depending on route. A one-way fare for the same passenger carrying the same luggage from Faleolo to Maota, Savai'i is WST$75.
No Employee Paper Ticketing at YQM and YYG
Moncton (YQM) and Charlottetown (YYG) no longer have the ability to issue paper employee tickets (paper ZEDs). Therefore employees in these locations must ensure they contact the Employee Call Centre (1-800-413-1113) and provide enough time to allow for mailing of paper ZEDS.
Vacations for Interliners & your Friends & Family! by DARGAL
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For a multitude of interline deals, and mention the NetLetter
Call Toll Free: 1-800-690-3223 International Toll Free: (country code)-800-2832-7425 Suite 200-1632 Dickson Ave Kelowna BC V1Y 7T2
Travel Tips (From the Southwest Ontario Pionairs Spring Newsletter)
When taking a flight out of Pearson International Airport and you have to leave your car at the Airport, after you Web check-in, show your boarding pass to Park-and-Fly http://www.parknfly.ca/toronto/en/toronto.aspx.
With Air Canada you will receive a 10% discount, with your Web check- in you should receive a 15% discount.
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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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 Another cartoon by Jake Visser, which appeared in the "Canadia>n Flyer" issued June 2000.
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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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