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Vesta's Corner
 Why not allow the NetLetter to be your platform and opportunity to relive your history while working for either TCA, AC, CPAir, CAIL, PWA, AirBC etal?
Share your experiences with us! |
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Air Canada - our first 70 years
1997
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TCA/AC People Gallery
Over the past months we have been publishing various photographs from earlier "Horizons", should any photos prompt a memory in seeing one of them, feel free to send us your comments and thoughts. Musings from "Horizons"-Issue dated April 1997  This photo is of the interior of a North Star in 1945. Shipping tulips from Victoria, BC in 1945.Issue dated May 1997 Formed in 1980, the Canadian Maple Wings Association, is an association of current and former flight attendants of TCA/Air Canada. In early 1997, two new chapters were added. The "High Fliers of the 60's" of Toronto, and the "Okanagan Chardonnays" of Kelowna, bringing the total of chapters to a round dozen.  Here we have a photo of Joan Ryan, CMWA National President presenting the certificate to Coleen Pulley of the "High Fliers of the 60's".Note: the CMWA has a small presence on the Pionair's Web site at: www.pionairs.ca/acp-cmw.htm Issue dated June 1997  Air Canada consolidated all their scheduled operations at Dorval on Sept 15th after a Quebec Superior Court ruling. We have this photo of Dorval in 1950.  These five Halifax based flight attendants claim to have close to 150 years of combined service with the airline - surely not!  As part of the special edition of "Horizons" marking the 60th anniversary of the airline, Fraser Muir, then President of the Pionairs, wrote - in part - his bio - "Like many of my colleagues, my first taste of aviation was with the RCAF in WWII. As an ex-gunner in a Lancaster bomber, I'll take the comforts of today's Airbus fleet - and yes, even TCA's North Stars and Super Constellations. Since my first days as a TCA passenger agent in Halifax in 1953, I've witnessed a remarkable evolution to an all-jet fleet. And there's been significant progress off the tarmac too. I remember using slide rules to calculate market share, and cranking out performance data on cumbersome mechanical adding machines. A little later on, progress brought me to work a little early to grab some time on the newest electronic calculators (in huge demand but in short supply). Now, schedules and "Horizons" are on the internet, and even change itself is changing. What next? |
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Bytes and Pieces
 F-4 Phantom VS WallI had an interesting video sent to me the other day. It is of a F-4 Phantom jet hitting a concrete wall. I've seen it published quite a long time ago, but I'm sure many of you haven't. Evidently, the video documents a government experiment to see what would happen if an F-4 were to crash into a nuclear power plant in 1992 or earlier. It's bolted to a track to prevent takeoff and hits a 10 foot thick wall at 500 MPH. It literally vaporizes leaving no large pieces or debris...  Just click on the image to view the video or click on this link.You can also see another view from this video. Slow motion in this video Hint: click on the sizing symbol in the bottom right corner of the video to show it full size. |
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Canadi>n/CPAir/PWA, Wardair, etc. Events & People
Over the past months we have been publishing various photographs from earlier in-house magazines, should any photos prompt a memory in seeing one of them, feel free to send us your comments and thoughts.  A special commemorative issue dated March 30th., 1987 provided a schematic of the 34 different airlines which, since 1920, made up Canadian Pacific Air Lines and prior to the purchase by Pacific Western Airlines. 1963
1978 - Nov 29th - A new Tokyo-Vancouver record was established when CP Air's B747 C-FC fin 744 took 7 hours 3 minutes. In command was Capt. John Gour, F/O Rudy Hoffman, and S/O Al Thompson. The earlier record was 7 hours 5 minutes by a DC-8 in Oct 17th 1965. Schedules called for 8 hours seven minutes.
Copies of the "CP Air NEWS" magazine have been donated by David Welham. Musings from issue dated August 1977 On June 3rd 1977, the first landing by a CP Air B747 was made at Manchester UK. To mark the occasion, honorary membership to the "Wandering Willie Club" was made to Capt. Lynn Foslien and crew.  Here we have this photo. Issue dated March 1979 CP Air's entire West German team gathered for a technical seminar.  We have this photo of the attendees. On February 24th, a fire in Prince George's Mark V building gutted the CP Air's offices. This knocked out the entire Northern BC, Alberta and Yukon services.  Here is a photo of the reservations office in ruins and restored. .Issue dated April 1979 Under the heading "Book now for holiday in Britain", the article announces that seats were currently available for employee travel during the upcoming summer. Destinations were LHR, MAN, PIK from YVR and Birmingham, Newcastle and Cardiff available from YYZ. Cost for confirmed seat was ca$45.00 one way from YVR and ca$35.00 one way ex YYZ. These trips were not charged against employee flight allotments. (Ah! - those were the days - eds)  From the July 1963 issue of "Canadian Pacific Newsletter" we have this photo. It shows four CPA girls on the Mile Zero post overlooking Vancouver on Mt Seymour. The post has a CPA emblem on Top. (Does anyone know if this pole is still there? - eds)? |
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Readers Feedback
 Marcy Watt sends us this comment regarding the cartoon in NetLetter nr 1036 - This cartoon was the brainchild of YYC, GSE mechanic, Scott Fairbairn who drew many, many airline funnies in an editorial cartoon format. The cartoon was drawn in 1988 (see artist's signature at top left). I worked with Scott for eight years at the ground support equipment maintenance shop in YYC. He was and is a very talented guy and is still working as a Lead Mechanic, Cat 23, in YYC. Sigrun Cowan from Vancouver sends us her memories of the Silver Broom Curling - Does anybody still remember the good old days in the late 70 and early 80 when Air Canada was the official sponsor of the world curling championship? Those were the days.....curling was a strong sport in Canada and Scotland and was just started to get popular in some European countries. Air Canada under Claude Taylor (who was a great fan) made it into a big event. The CBC broadcasted the games and it was organized by the late Dough Maxwell. I had never heard of curling and one day in 1982 my supervisor in Vancouver asked me if I wanted to go to the world curling championship in Germany Garmish Patenkirchen since I spoke the language. She had to fill 2 spaces for the event from Vancouver. Well, I hesitated and asked what is curling? She was not quite sure herself but she knew that some men threw a stone on the ice and the others swept it with a broom.. It did not sound very interesting but hey it was a free all expenses paid trip to Germany so I went. Once in GarmishI realized what a privilege it was to have been chosen. Ten Flight Attendants from all 5 bases were chosen to represent the company with the different teams. I was assigned to the Swedish team since I also spoke Swedish. I had to go to what ever function the team was invited to, lunch in the city, press conferences special events, etc. At the beginning of the games I had to carry the Swedish flag and once the players were on the ice I sat next to the coach and learned about the game. At the end of the 10 days I was a total curling fan. My Swedish team did not win but they came in second and I have never been more proud of those boys nearly beating the all mighty Canadians. At the end I could only hope and pray that they would choose me for the next year. (We continue this memory in the next NetLetter - eds) Don Saunders sends us this information - In Netletter #1038 you mention Wardair's operation into Leeds Bradford, UK airport. Wardair operated the B747 from Toronto to Leeds Bradford, Newcastle, Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester, Prestwick as well as London Gatwick during the mid 1980's. The runway (14-32) at Leeds Bradford was only 7382 feet long after its extension with displaced thresholds at both ends thus shortening the landing distance further. As well, there was a steep cliff at the south east end and a cemetery at the northwest end along with a down sloping runway into the cemetery. British Airways had run a L1011 off the runway during that time period so there was considerable interest in watching the B747 come and go. The Wardair operation into this marginal airport was a complete success.  I send this photo of the B747-200 C-GXRA on takeoff from Leeds Bradford. Capt Don Saunders, retired and we have this information from Jim Griffiths - Re: Netletter #1039  This is a snap shot I took of fin 627 that I took while on an OW layover in about 1973 or 74 I think. I do remember it leaving Winnipeg although I can't remember the date, ferried by Captain Paul Jensen a very senior and highly respected Winnipeg Captain. I also can't remember if it was Paul's last flight or not. If I remember correctly I think one of Paul's hobbies was growing orchids and I believe there is a species of orchid which carries his name. Sadly Paul is no longer with us but I'd be interested if anyone else has the details of the ferry flight. In any case there the old girl stood abandoned in a snow bank between two hangars. I remember being angry at how the museum had neglected it. I know it looks good in the snap shot but closer examination would reveal that it fell into the category of: " It looked good from afar but it was far from good". I contrasted it with how beautiful it looked the day it left WAG in its shiny new paint job. I'm glad it has finally found a place in our aviation collection. Jim Griffith Jack Cooke sends us this observation regarding an item in NetLetter nr 1041 - Reference your item of the first operation into New Zealand. Canadian Pacific Air Lines did not operate DC6B aircraft until early in 1953. Jack Cooke (Jack is correct, CF-CUQ was not registered at CPAL until Feb 28th 1953. The information was from a brochure issued by CPAL to first class passengers. Perhaps someone could provide correct information regarding the inauguration flight to Auckland - eds) |
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This & That
At Sunwing Airlines, 200 new cabin crew are being trained and 30 experienced pilots have been added to operate the expanded fleet of Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which will number 15 this winter. This winter, Sunwing will operate from 29 Canadian gateways to 35 destinations in the USA, Caribbean, Mexico and Central America.(Source www.yyznews.com)  The prototype Series 400 Twin Otter aircraft produced by Viking Air Limited of Victoria BC, and brings the Twin Otter into the 21st century. The new DHC-6-400 Technology Demonstrator made its first flight in front of a proud and dedicated employee group at Victoria airport on October 2nd. |
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Terry's Travel Tips
 DRESS CODE REMINDERAir Canada's airport colleagues are seeing an increased number of employees and other travel eligible persons who seem unfamiliar with our dress code policy. To enjoy your travel experience and avoid inconveniences, familiarize yourself with the complete dress code list and guidelines, which you can find on the Employee Travel Site News & Policies < Rules & Regulations/Dress Code.  Air Canada customer Sales and Service Agents have the authority to deny boarding to any individual whose attire does not conform to the guidelines. Star Alliance member Air New Zealand recently launched another "Grabaseat Weekenders" which have been a hit with their customers. "Grabaseat" auctions provides a fantastic opportunity for people to grab a great deal to go somewhere new. International destinations including London, Los Angeles, and Beijing were going on the block at www.grabaseat.co.nz with a $1 reserve. Regional New Zealanders were winners too with the first auction including Palmerston North to San Francisco, Dunedin to Vancouver, Napier/Hastings to Tokyo and Invercargill to Shanghai.(Source. Air New Zealand) |
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Smilies
 This cartoon was spotted in an edition of the Nanaimo Daily News which we thought said it all!. |