The NetLetter
For Air Canada Retirees
(Part of the ACFamily Network)
June 1, 2013 - Issue 1257
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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 News |
 AIR CANADA, UNITED AIRLINES and LUFTHANSA agreed to make slots available at Frankfurt and New York airports as concession with EC for anti-trust approval in order to ease competition concerns about their transatlantic revenue-sharing pact. (Source Speed News, May 24/13.) European Commission antitrust regulators have accepted concessions from Air Canada, Lufthansa and United Continental Holdings to ease competition concerns about their A Plus-Plus transatlantic joint venture.
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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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 Nina Nolan has sent us this message together with the photo:
I am a retired flight attendant. I joined Air Canada in March 1972 and retired June 2005. I was going through some boxes the other day and found this in mint condition! The launch for this uniform was January 1996. Nina Nolan
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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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Company Highlights -
1962 - June 7th Queen Mother carried on
scheduled LHR-YUL flight.
1963 - Viscount Dart engines achieved "an
astonishing" 4,900 hour service life
between overhauls.
- April 15th, Prairie milk run transferred
to Transair.
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Issue dated - May 1977
Some items gleaned from the "Horizon" magazines.
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On April 16th, 1977, the first trans-Atlantic crossing using one of the company's modified or long range L1011-100 aircraft was made, carrying the Newfoundland Scottish/Masonic Organization charter from St. John's, to London, England. The need was for the first L1011-100 TriStar would be in London, to provide 12 hours on the ground in order to train our personnel from Prestwick, London and Zurich in the ground handling of the aircraft.
The alternative was to bring the personnel to either Montreal or Toronto for training. It was decided to use the new long range equipment on the April 16 Venturex charter from St. John's to London instead of the planned DC-8 227- seat aircraft and carry out the training in London before the aircraft would return to Montreal as an extra section. |
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| The first L1011-100 westbound extra section on Monday. April 18 was enjoyed by some 180 revenue passengers as well as 22 contingent employees/retirees. The cabin crew consisted of Flight Director B. Claudel and Flight Attendants L. Bolduc, B. Dimock, A. Dotan, N. B. Federici, C. Guay, M. Guertin-Gauthier, D. Lyness, R. Meunier, Y. Prevost and L. Swlnghammer. |
 A plaque commemorating the first trans-Atlantic flight of a company L1011 was presented by A. M. Scott of Rolls Royce, right, to Ian Macdonald, Director, Fleet Planning for President Taylor. The flight crew in the background are, from the left: Captains S. W. Bredt, R. M. Dubreuil W. O. Hoglund, G. W. Reid, and First Officer W. McKenna. Anyone know the contents on the plaque, or even where it is now? -eds) |
The article reads - The Pionairs Association is born -
Retirees now have a golden opportunity to keep in touch with one another with the recent formation of a Retired Air Canada Employees Association called the Air Canada Pionairs. The idea of forming such an association was spawned at a large social gathering of retired employees, and a seven member steering committee was elected by those present to assist in setting one up.
Early in 1977, a bulletin was sent out to all retired employees explaining the idea. The response was overwhelmingly favourable. More than 500 retiree had responded in a positive vein and the replies kept coming in. Because of the favourable responses, an interim executive was elected to act on behalf of the Pionairs until the first annual general meeting is held. Those elected were: President Martin Betts; Vice President Cliff Seddon and Emily Coxon; Secretary Treasurer position was left open: and Directors Dave Clarke, Walter Lawlor, Bill Spratt and Lindy Rood. Martin Betts, the associations new president felt that the Pionairs can make a valued contribution to the company. |
This Lockheed, CF-TDC, with defective brakes tangled with some ground equipment in Kapuskasing in early 1944 and the undercarriage collapsed. Trying to lift the tall are radio operator Gord Hykle, mechanics Gene Baudru and Ben Connor and operator Gord Hennigar.
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| Alan's Space - by Alan Rust |
 Spirit, MER-A (Mars Exploration Rover), is a robotic rover on Mars, active from 2004 to 2010. It was one of two rovers of NASA's ongoing Mars Exploration Rover Mission. It landed successfully on Mars at 04:35 Ground UTC on January 4, 2004, three weeks before its twin, Opportunity (MER-B), landed on the other side of the planet. Its name was chosen through a NASA- sponsored student essay competition. The rover became stuck in late 2009, and its last communication with Earth was sent on March 22, 2010. The rover completed its planned 90-sol mission. Aided by cleaning events that resulted in higher power from its solar panels, Spirit went on to function effectively over twenty times longer than NASA planners expected following mission completion. Spirit also logged 7.73 km (4.8 mi) of driving instead of the planned 600 m (0.4 mi), allowing more extensive geological analysis of Martian rocks and planetary surface features. Initial scientific results from the first phase of the mission (the 90-sol prime mission) were published in a special issue of the journal Science.
On May 1, 2009 (5 years, 3 months, 27 Earth days after landing; 21.6 times the planned mission duration), Spirit became stuck in soft soil. This was not the first of the mission's "embedding events" and for the following eight months NASA carefully analyzed the situation, running Earth-based theoretical and practical simulations, and finally programming the rover to make extrication drives in an attempt to free itself. These efforts continued until January 26, 2010 when NASA officials announced that the rover was likely irrecoverably obstructed by its location in soft soil, though it continued to perform scientific research from its current location.
The rover continued in a stationary science platform role until communication with Spirit stopped on March 22, 2010. JPL continued to attempt to regain contact until May 24, 2011, when NASA announced that efforts to communicate with the unresponsive rover had ended. A formal farewell was planned at NASA headquarters after the Memorial Day holiday and was televised on NASA TV.
The clip is taken from the IMAX movie "Roving Mars" from 2006. I was amazed at the precision and all the things that needed to happen for it to reach it's destination. Please note that although this looks "real", it is just an animation (except for the liftoff). Very well done. Don't forget to take it to FULL SCREEN for best viewing.
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| How to Get to Mars. Very Cool! HD |
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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 - April 1976
Items from the "CPAir NEWS" magazine -
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 HOISTED onto shoulders of fellow employees including his crew was Capt. Henry Gammon following touchdown at Vancouver International Airport of Flight 81 on April 20th, 1976. The flight from Toronto to Vancouver in Boeing 747 "Empress of Australia" was the final trip for the veteran captain who has logged some 23,815 hours in the air since he started his career with CP Air in 1942. Also on hand to welcome Henry into retirement was his wife Ann (fourth from left, front row) who married him in 1942 four months before he started with the company.
(As usual there are no identifications for group photos - eds)
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Issue dated - December 1976
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 TWO NEW MEMBERS of CP Air 15 -year service club were presented with their pins at a reception at Dorval Airport From left: Marc Bilodeau, station manager, Montreal airports: the two 15-year men - Luc Gerand, passenger agent, Dorval Airport and Roger Cuillerier, supervisor, reservations, Mario Rosa, reservations and CTO manager, Guy Cayer, manager, CP Hotels flight kitchen, Dorval Airport, Ralph Keller, area director Quebec and Atlantic Coast.
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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 1254, we asked readers to let us know details of their first flight - we have had some response, and here is another one from Graham Nettleton:
Here are my two cents worth. My first flight was with Arrow Airways in November, 1939 when I was eighteen. The aircraft was a single engine Fokker on skis. The flight was from Sherridon, Manitoba to McVeigh Lake, about a one hour hop to the north. I was flown in there to be radio operator and cook at a mining survey camp. However, the cooking took up most of my time and little radio experience was obtained. In fact, about the only radio traffic I recall were two grocery lists given to me to send by two trappers who overnighted with their dogs at our camp. Needless to say, I did not stay there too long and returned to Sherridon on an Arrow Airways Waco, also on skis. TCA hired me the next year, 1940. Graham Nettleton
 Heather Johannson gives us details of her first flight - April 1967 YVR to LGW via KEF (fuelstop) on Wardair Boeing 727 as a passenger. Here is a shot of the Wardair 727 I took my first flight on. That flight inspired me to become a Wardair flight attendant.
Heather
 Gerald Archambeau has sent us his bio about immigrating to Canada. We hope you will find this interesting:
I thought that you may find my story of some interest to our members in the Pionairs. Being a member of The Pionairs since my retirement in 1993, I was able to write my autobiography about my immigrant life since my arrival to Canada in 1947. I am also celebrating my 65th year in Canada, a country which I have grown to love, over my many years of overcoming obstacles to have a soft landing in my retirement. My book was successfully published in 2008, and is handled by one of Canada's biggest publishers; Dundurn Press titled : A "Struggle to Walk with Dignity - The True story of a Jamaican-born Canadian" 2008. My work over a ten year period to dig deep into my family history has opened many doors to my surprise, such as attracting the interest of York University's Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections 305 Scott Library in Toronto On. They wanted my immigrant experiences of the 1940's along with my family background from Jamaica, as my grandfather was a Jamaican Police Inspector for 47 years, he also authored three books on Jamaica long before I did, his name: Herbert Theodore Thomas. I told the Head Archivist Michael B. Moir at York U. that I was willing to donate my papers and family books to Canada, to show my thanks to a country that helped me to survive. My donation was accepted and is listed under; The Archambeau-Thomas family collection, at York U. for the public to see, and I am very proud to have received this kind recognition at this time in my life. With my sincere thanks to all the Pionairs who helped along the way. Gerald
(Gerald's book "Struggle to walk with Dignity" is available at Amazon Kindle as an eBook at us$9.99 or paperback at us$19.95. also as a KOBO eBook at ca$9.99. More details at the publisher. www.dundurn.com - eds)
Aubrey Winterbotham send us this information:
In the recent edition of the Netletter nr 1254, you guys asked about the chess club that operated out of the Power Plant Shop in Dorval and were wondering if it was still in existence 30 years later. Well, the Power Plant Shop isn't even in existence as it was swallowed up by Aveos which has subsequently gone bankrupt and the whole building is completely empty. So I don't think there is any hope that the chess club still exists, but I may be wrong.
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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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 An aerial view of Hounslow Aerodrome, U.K. on 25th August 1919 at the start of the world's first scheduled air service. The aeroplane was a De Havilland DH4a, flown by Captain W. Lawford for Aircraft Transport & Travel Ltd. The service operated between London and Paris, and took 2'12 hours. The aeroplane could carry the pilot, and four passengers who sat in armchairs bolted to the floor. In March 1920 Croydon Airport opened as the principal civil airport in this country, and flying ceased at Hounslow. Most of the airport buildings were destroyed by fire in 1929. Today the aerodrome is commemorated by a brass plate on the Staines Road by the entrance gates to Hounslow Heath.(Perhaps one of the U.K. readers could locate and photograph the plaque if it still exists - eds)
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 The first flight from England to Australia took off from Hounslow Heath, U.K. on November 12th 1919, and arrived at Port Darwin, Australia, on December 10th 1919, having completed the flight in 27 days, 20 hours, 20 minutes. The aeroplane, seen in the photograph prior to take-off, was a Vickers "Vimy". Part of Hounslow Heath was an airfield during the First World War, used by the Royal Flying Corps. In 1919 it was used for commercial purposes such as the first service between London and Paris, but in 1920 the airport was transferred to Croydon.
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Terry's Trivia and Travel Tips - by Terry Baker
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Ceasar Hotel interline deals to go - Italian Luxury with confirmed air from us$3089* 8 Nights in Rome, Florence and Venice with first class rail, 4 and 5 star hotels throughout, breakfast daily, roundtrip confirmed air fare JFK/Rome, return from Venice.
This selection of hotels puts this Italy getaway in a class by itself.
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 Located right in the heart of each city, close to everything and convenient to the train stations, you'll still want to linger in your room because they are that inviting.
Travel select dates August, September, October 2013.
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 Ireland 5 star Vacation
6 Nights with confirmed air and car rental from us$1199*. Travel Select dates September through November 2013.
Airfare JFK to Dublin, one night Heritage Gold & Spa Resort, 2 nights Gleno Abbey Galway, 2 nights Muckross Park Hotel Killarney, 1 night Four Season Hotel Dublin, manual shift economy car rental with unlimited mileage.
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 Mexico with confirmed air from us$377*
Travel June 17, 2013. Take 3 days in a beautiful beachfront resort, add round trip confirmed air from San Francisco and let's make a deal! More information and deals at www.airwayvacations.com 1-800-422-3727
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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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 This cartoon, by Jake Visser, first appeared in "Canadi>n Flyer" magazine issued July 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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