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Vesta's Corner
 Postcards This weeks postcard - Floors Castle, The Borders, Scotland.  Sept 14,2000 - Arrived Manchester Monday a.m. and picked up our rental car. We are now in Edinburgh. As there is no fuel available at thepetrol pumps and we only have enough left to make Glasgow airport we may have to cut our holiday short. Meanwhile we are enjoying seeing Edinburgh by foot. Bill and Margaret Hume YYC. Note: for our new readers, I have been collecting postcards from our travelling NetLetter "family" for many years. If you are away and have a minute, I'd be delighted to get one from you as well. You can obtain my address by sending an email to |
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Still available!
 Cabin Fever Calendar - 2008The 2008 issue of "Cabin Fever - In the Wings" calendar is still available. "In the Wings" depicts the many roles that flight attendants play both on and off the aircraft. All proceeds are to the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation. Cost: $20.00 and includes postage. See: www.cabinfevercalendar.com |
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Alan's Props and PCs
 As a new addition to the NetLetter, each week I will present an item related to either aircraft or PCs and publish it here.Steam Powered Aircraft  Did you ever hear of a "Steam" powered aircraft? Neither had I until recently. A Travel Air 2000 biplane made the world's first piloted flight under steam power over Oakland, California, on 12 April 1933.The strangest feature of the flight was its relative silence; spectators on the ground could hear the pilot when he called to them from mid-air. The aircraft, piloted by William Besler, had been fitted with a two-cylinder, 150 hp reciprocating engine. An important contribution to its design was made by Nathan C. Price, a former Doble Steam Motors engineer. Price was working on high pressure compact engines for rail and road transport; the purpose of the flight was to obtain publicity for this work. Following its unexpectedly favourable reception Price went to Boeing and worked on various aviation projects, but Boeing dropped the idea of a steam aero engine in 1936. See: http://webpages.charter.net/dusterpilot/bessler.htm for the full story. |
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Air Canada - the first 70 years
 Musings from "Horizons" magazine - From issue #607  October 1982 Remember the old North Star? The book mentioned "The Canadair North Star" by Larry Milberry is available at CANAV Books ISBN 0-9690703-1-4 Air Canada became the first airline outside the United States to take delivery of the B767 aircraft. Under the command of Capt. Dave Walker with Capt. Roger Miners. Cabin crew was I/C Flight Attendant Leonard Lafleur and Flight Attendants Marlene Godber, Helen Reagh, Cort McAdam and Jurgen Odefey.  Pictured is fin 601 on October 30th 1982 at YUL. and employees lucky enough to win the draw.  Fin 601 & 602 were flying the YUL-YYZ Rapidair route during January1983. Fin 601 began flying YYZ-YYC and YYC-YYZ-YUL on Feb 14th. March 1st fin 602 began flying YYZ-SFO-YYZ From issue #620 May 1983 - The highest utilization by our DC-8's was fin nr 812, which accumulated 55,859 hours and 25,352 landings.  The first All-cargo flight was YYZ-YUL-SNN on Mar 15th., 1983. We have this picture. l to r is F/O Phil Lewis, Capt. Doug Spencer S/O Rami Mani and Aidan Larkin Airport Manager at Shannon. The last scheduled DC-8 flight was YYC-YYZ by fin 869 on April 23rd 1983.  Pictured is the crew who operated that flight. |
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TCA/AC Events & People Gallery
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Canadi>n/CPAir/PWA, Wardair, etc. Events & People
Andrew Geider archivist YVR researched the following events (and gleaned from various "Contact" magazines loaned by Bill Wood) July 1957 - Pacific Western Airlines was awarded exclusive ferry work for the Dew Line from Cambridge Bay. Wheeler Airlines (later Nordair) and Forval Airlines , both operating our of Montreal, were awarded Dew Line work at Frobisher Bay and Foxe Basin. July 1985 - Nordair inaugurated B737 service Ottawa - Sunbury - Thunder Bay - Winnipeg route on the 14th., July 1986 - Pacific Western Airlines, Time Air and Calm Air established the Pacific Western Spirit program.  Bernie McCormack sends us an assortment from the mid 40s of Canadian Airways/Brandon Avenue aircraft.  CP Convair taken in the old CP/Boeing hangar. (The last Convair 240 made its final scheduled flight Sept 5th 1964 Prince George to Vancouver. The fleet of 5 accumulated 80,000 flying hours in 11 years. - eds) (source Andrew Geider archivist YVR )  May 31st / 73. Norm Vaux the CP machine shop foreman since Canadian Airways days on the day of his retirement. Bernie McCormack. Dennis Kennedy sends this message to set the record straight - Subject: January 5, 2008 Issue 1004 1992 - April - CPAir received B747-400 fin 884 delivered to YVR on April 22nd. This should read Canadian Airlines Intl not CPAir Regards, Dennis |
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Readers Feedback
I just wanted to comment on the Comet: (CP pictured in NetLetter nr 1003) Air Canada sent all the memorabilia and artifacts to the Canadian Aviation Museum in Ottawa. I got a call from the building manger Dan Boyle at the Vendome Building down town Montreal.( I had met him a few times before). He asked if I would come down to see what we could do about the model airplanes that they had. When Keith Kelly, Robert Levesseur and I were taken down to the basement storage room to see them we didn't realize how many there were. They were the huge models that were used to show visitors and employees at various events. There were aircraft from Pacific Western, Wardair, Canadian and Air Canada/TCA. Among them was a model of the Comet in Canadian Pacific colours. We were all surprised to see that even Robert who worked for Canadian for 25 yrs didn't know about it but he said he had a book at home on the history of CPA and remembered seeing something about it. When he arrived home and looked it up he said CP had bought two but they were never put in service. That left us all wondering why until the AGM in Edmonton 2004. Fraser Muir & Christian Aubert were doing interviews with some of our older members including Claude Taylor. Fraser said there was quite a story to it but he didn't know the details. We were all sitting around hearing stories from different people when the subject came up again and Don Willey (YYZ Maint Manager) said I know the whole dam story. Seems the first delivery to YVR was loaded with spare parts etc and on the way to YVR it crashed (I can't remember where but I think it was in North Africa some where) killing all on board. CP then sold the second one so they never flew for CP. The model of the Comet is now at the Canadian Heritage Museum, MacDonald Collage Campus in St Anne's QC. It needed repairs and I believe that has been done. All the other models are also there including a box full of the smaller models. If you want to edit this and put it out maybe one of your readers will have the full story. I could ask Christian if he has Don's interview. Regards John Rodger ( Note: The first CP Comet CF-CUN left the UK for Sydney via the Far East - the routing probably was for route proving from Australia to Canada that CP wanted the Comets for. During lift off at Karachi, Pakistan on March 1st., 1953 it crashed and all onboard perished. The angle of attack was too great and the engines lost their effectiveness. (This info from CP history by D.M.Bain). The second Comet, CF-CUM, was sold to the Farnborough Establishment, never flew for CP and was reregistered G-ANAV. eds) Subject: Re: The NetLetter #1004 Commenting on the story from Trev Trower and his picture, Trev sends this - just a quick word, those two little girls were suffering from cancer and their puffy appearance was a result of chemotherapy and cancer meds. We had an airplane cabin mock-up in the big hangar at YYZ, and all categories of employee would work together to promote the cause of cancer research. These children were so patient and brave and did great work with the meal we served to them. I recall how the mechanics would work on those mockups and promotions with no fanfare, just a matter of getting the job done. so many employees in those times did so much above and beyond the call----. ( there are so many untold stories) Trev  Under TCA events and Bygone days in NetLetter nr 1004, we had a picture of YVR in 1950. Tom Grant Subject: YVR photos In the collage below you can see that the two main structures are still there. The TCA hangar was built in 1931 and the DOT Admin/WX was not shown although' you can see the first terminal was already built. The DOT Admin/WX was probably built around 1933. Cheers, Tom (Tom is the Webmaster for the Pionairs web site (www.pionairs.ca) |
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Terry's Travel Tips
 Special Land Packages to Tokyo and Kyoto. Whether you are already a lover of everything Japanese or if you are just a little curious, JTB has a special package for you! A major tour operator for Japan, JTB is offering Air Canada employees and retirees as well as their families*and friends* (* can be unaccompanied) land packages for Tokyo and Kyoto. For details, go to JTB's website at www.jtbusa.com/special/ac or log onto the Employee Travel Site under "Hotels etc" > "personal AC"; then click on the link ("Special Land Packages to Tokyo and Kyoto"). All bookings must be done online. Canadian GST and HST taxes decreased. Effective immediately, the GST amount has decreased from six to five per cent and the HST amount has decreased from 14 to 13 per cent. Bookings made on the Employee Travel Site will continue to reflect the higher amounts until the beginning of February 2008. When the billings take place, they will be charged using the correct lower amount. UK Dept. for Transport lifted the restriction-limiting passengers to one piece of hand luggage effective Jan 5th at 22 of the domestic airports. Airports where passengers will be allowed to take two bags into the cabin include London Heathrow, Stansted, London City, Manchester, Cardiff, Birmingham and Aberdeen, Airports where the one-bag rule will stay in place include London Gatwick, Luton, Leeds Bradford, Nottingham East Midlands and Liverpool. The one-bag rule was put in place in August 2006 following a security scare involving liquid explosives. The restriction on liquids in hand luggage still applies and the dimensions of hand luggage still must not exceed 53x34x 22 cm. In-flight turbulence is the leading cause of injury to airline passengers and flight attendants. Each year, about 58 air passengers in the United States are injured by turbulence while not wearing their seat belts. Fasten that seat belt and pay attention to the seat belt signs. Few passengers have been seriously hurt during air turbulence when they were wearing their seat belts. SNOWFALL BRINGS WINDFALL FOR TRAVELERS Because a lot of snow fell, travel retailer www.itravel2000.com will be handing out nearly free trips (travelers must pay taxes) to all customers using Montreal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau International airport. The company's promotion gamble hinged on 12.7 centimeters or more of snow falling in Calgary, Halifax, Montreal or Toronto on Jan. 1. The other cities fell short, but a total of 14.8 centimeters fell on Montreal and some travelers will see as much as $7,000 refunded. The snowfall could prove expensive for itravel2000, but in the increasingly competitive travel industry, the promotion was designed to lure travelers to book travel through the post-holiday doldrums. If the promotion proves profitable the company may choose to move it to summer - with a high temperature instead of high snow levels as a target. |