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Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter Since 1995

Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

Since 1995

Vesta's Corner
Vesta StevensonFemale Pilots Still Face Obstacles - It wasn't that long ago that female pilots here in the U.S. were an uncommon sight - and unsettling, to some. Now in other parts of the world, women are just starting to find their way into the front seat, and not everyone is happy about it. In Qatar, the first Arab woman to fly a helicopter has been widely ridiculed and subjected to threatening phone calls after appearing in public wearing her pilot's uniform. "All phone calls had a similar
message to convey," Munira Al Dosri told The Peninsula. "People were
telling me they felt ashamed to see me without the abaya and veil
(Qatari women's traditional attire). They told me they were ashamed of me being a Qatari woman." Qatar, a small country bordered by Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf, is one of the richest countries in the world. Al Dosri works for Gulf Helicopter and plans to continue flying and earning more ratings.

Postcard #999This weeks postcard - YE OLD TRIP TO JERUSALEM INN ,
NOTTINGHAM Oct 2007 Hello Vesta Here I am visiting the city where I was born. Thought you might like a postcard of the oldest pub in England. It dates back to 1189 A.D. and originally was a bren house for the castle. Lots of history here.
Regards, G.J.WARD (Sudbury,Ont)

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 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (it's automated and will respond right away)
Christmas Gift Ideas
Cabin Fever CalendarCabin Fever Calendar - 2008
The 2008 issue of "Cabin Fever - In the Wings" calendar is now 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


CAHS Cover 2003Canadian Aviation Historical Society
Are you a Canadian Aviation History buff? Or do you know someone who is? This would make a great gift for someone interested in Aviation History. Joining the CAHS will bring 4 quarterly issues of the CAHS Journal right to your front door. You can subscribe at: www.cahs.ca (click on "Join Us".

Cost:
$40 per year (Canadian subscriptions)



Rapcan CDAIRLINE PILOTS OF CANADA - Editors Kip Powick and Duane Frerichs.  © 2006

Memorable Collectors Edition CD containing 2,245 pages of biographies, stories, and memoirs, plus over 1200 photos.

Cost: $29.95 + postage and handling
See: www.acfamily.com/CD/



AC Heritage PosterThe AC Heritage Poster is a perfect gift for  present, past and future Air Canada, Canadi>n employees and all the other airlines that had at one time been part of what is now Air Canada. There are over 300 aircraft on the poster that made up the fleets from Air Canada, Jazz, TangoCanadian Airlines, Wardair, Pacific Western, Canadian Pacific, CP Air, Nordair, Transair, Eastern Provincial Airways, etc.

Cost: 24.99 plus shipping and handling
See: www.acheritage.com
(A portion of the proceeds of every poster sold goes to Dreams Take Flight)
Air Canada News
Air CanadaAir Canada announced it has signed a 10-year lease for one new Boeing 777-300ER from International Lease Finance Corporation to continue its wide-body fleet renewal and modernization program.

Air Canada will take delivery of the leased aircraft in April 2009, bringing to 18 the total number of Boeing 777s entering the fleet. Air Canada has concluded agreements with Boeing for the acquisition of up to 34 Boeing 777s and up to 60 Boeing 787 Dreamliners. The agreements include firm orders for 16 Boeing 777s, plus purchase rights for 18 more. The agreements also include firm orders for 37 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, plus options for an additional 23 aircraft. In addition, Air Canada previously entered into a lease with International Lease Finance Corporation for the lease of one Boeing 777 aircraft. To date, Air Canada has taken delivery of five 777-300ER aircraft and two
777-200LR aircraft, and is the first North American carrier to operate
these aircraft types. Air Canada's first 787 is scheduled for delivery
in 2010.

Starting May 1, 2008 Air Canada will be launching daily year-round,
non-stop service between Charlottetown and Ottawa. All flights will be operated with a 50-seat Bombardier CRJ jet.
Air Canada - the first 70 years
Air Canada 70 years - 1937 - 2007





On May 10th., 1941 Lockheed Lodestar CF-TCW inaugurated the route from Toronto to New York LaGuardia. On board was Capt. Arthur Hollingsworth

April 1st 1955 - The first turbine powered scheduled flight in north
America when Capt.'s Walter Kent and Dave Tribe operated a Trans-Canada Air Lines Vickers Viscount from Montreal to Winnipeg.

1979

  • The company orders 12 B767 with options on 18, and 6 L1011 with options on a further 9.
  • First ever seat sale launched with discounts up to 65%.
  • Oct 1st, service to Shannon suspended. Charter flights operated to ferry Cambodian refugees to Canada.

1980

  • Phased introduction of computerized spare parts inventory system by P & S Dept.
  • Non smoking in seats on aircraft increased to 70%.
  • Employee Assistance program initiated to help employees with financial, health, legal etc problems.
  • December service to Copenhagen suspended.
  • CPAir allowed to compete freely on the trans-continental market due to deregulation.
  • 29% interest taken in Guiness Peat Aviation Ltd of Shannon.
  • Lease of 2 L1011 to Air Lanka with the company performing maintenance and training.
  • enRoute card is the largest airline credit card in the world.
TCA/AC Events & People Gallery

Help wanted - I am trying to locate Glenn Stevens. We were in AC at Malton as mechanics in 1968-9 and I heard he went to Halifax, where he was from. Nothing sinister, just wondering how our lives went. The sort of thing that we retirees ponder.

Thanks, Graham Horne.
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

TCA Business CardA piece of TCA memorabilia from John Buchanan This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - I recently came across the attached card, which belonged to me, when I worked in the City ticket Office in London, England. Its significance is as follows:

  • Top left hand corner - the TCA logo is embossed
  • Top right hand corner the area code Gerard in London has long been replaced by a numeric dialing system. To that extent this is historic
  • If my memory serves me correctly Trans-Canada airlines became Air Canada in 1965
  • 142-144 Regent Street is no longer an Air Canada City Ticket Office
From the following "Between Ourselves" donated by David Fairweather

November 1951 issue

River Cruise on the ThamesThe London UK staff on the Thames. (Can anyone identify the staffers taking a day off! - eds)

















May 1948 issue

Windsor ACRAWindsor/Detroit committee forming the T.C.A.R.A. (Trans-Canada Air Lines Recreation Association)











Mid Summer 1950 Edition

Relay CentreMembers of the relay centres at Moncton and Eastern Control.
Canadi>n/CPAir/PWA, Wardair, etc. Events & People

From the "Contact" magazine 1990-1 loaned to us by Bill Wood.

Paul Jakob Pat NevillePictured are Paul Jakob (left) avionics mechanic Vancouver and Pat Neville (right), manager, Strategic Planning








From the "Contact" magazine issued August 31st 1990.
Empress"An Empress dies in Miami" One of CPAir's last DC-8-43 being sliced into furnace sized pieces for recycling. CF-CPJ fin 605 c/n 45661 delivered to CPAL May 3rd 1963 and bore the names of "Empress of Toronto/Sydney/Mexico City" depending upon the route being operated. Sold to Aerovias Colombianas December 12th 1981, but never entered service, and resided at Opa Locka in Miami for 7 years before being acquired by Blue Side Corporation, a recycling company.

From the "Contact" magazine issued June 21st., 1991
Remember when! On May 21st 1991, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney flew on a Canadi>n B767 charter from Vancouver to Hong Kong. Captained by Terry Lambourne. This was the very first B767 North Pacific revenue flight for any airline in the world.


Where are they now! DC10-30ER C-FGPF fin 904 c/n 46543 with Biman Bangladesh Airlines. Check following url
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=VuHGwrmNJYE

Franz Metzger sends this information - Very interesting pictures
received from Capt. Bob Goldie's son. Received their permission to post these in your Netletter

New PilotsPicture from the Van Province Feb 5, 1949 TRANS-PACIFIC RUN MEN GET READY. Top CPA Pilots Back at School.










Picture of CP's first Pacific Crew 1948

Geoff Goldie wrote, "This is a scan of a photo my dad has. I've never seen any other copies so perhaps you haven't seen it before. My mom wrote the names on the photo, which I guess is both good and bad! Perhaps it would have been better on the back however ..."

CPA Crew 1948Names that I can ascertain from left to right are: Capt. Craig Stevenson, Capt. Medden, Navigator Pat Roy, Capt. North Sawle (Chief Pilot), Capt. Archie Van Hee, Capt. Bud Potter, Capt. Bob Goldie, Capt. Mel Lee, Capt. Len Fraser.


Thank you, Franz Metzger
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Readers Feedback
Continuation, from NetLetter nr 998 - of the Superconstellation story by Bill Norberg

Trans-Canada Air Lines got into the X-ray inspection process for
aircraft structure thanks to cracks in Superconnie horizontal
stabilizers and the need to inspect them easily.... and often. This was to become one of the best and most useful non-destructive aircraft structure inspection techniques in the industry and TCA was a leader in its development and application. We also progressed from X-ray to Radioactive isotopes that could inspect engine interiors without disassembly. All in all the Superconnie was a great learning experience. In was so noisy inside due to engine and propeller noise that the First Class section was placed at the rear of the aircraft

The Wright Turbo Compound engine had some distinct characteristics when compared to other radial engines we had operated previously. This engine had a fuel injection system instead of the usual carburetors and a low tension ignition system. The low-tension ignition system was designed to overcome the problems associated with the old magneto system that delivered hi tension voltage directly to the spark plugs via special insulated wires. This often led to insulation leakage problems due to the hi voltages in these lead which worsened at the higher altitudes. On the other hand the low tension system delivered low voltage pulses to a transformer unit located at each spark plug. The hi tension lead as a result was very short and eliminated the previous insulation leakage problems. The fuel injection pumps delivered fuel directly to each cylinder from a series of pistons in the pumps which were driven by the engine. These injection pumps had a problem in that at high altitudes where the outside air temperature was very low these pistons would tend to "hang up" and fail to deliver fuel to the cylinders.

I remember quite clearly one such event when this happened. A
Superconstellation was headed west across the Atlantic with Captain
Steve Albulet in command. We received an anxious radio message from Captain Albulet to the effect that he was losing power on at least two of his engines. We suspected that injection pump piston hang up was the cause and recommended that he reduce altitude to get the engines into a warmer environment. The situation worsened and he was now experiencing intermittent power losses on as many as three engines. Under these conditions Captain Albulet was in no mood to lose any altitude as he was still some way from Gander Airport, the first place where he could land.

He had no difficulty so indicating! Captain Albulet was a rather easily
excited individual and when he was excited his voice could become rather shrill to say the least. It was shrill that day! He struggled on with the intermittent power loss until he was within easy distance of Gander when he was willing to reduce altitude. When he did, of course the problem disappeared.

With the planned arrival of the Vanguard aircraft a retirement plan was developed for the fleet to use as much as possible of the remaining power plant and major unit hours to prevent having to overhaul any more engines than absolutely necessary. With the progressive delays in delivery schedule of the Vanguard fleet we were constantly having to prepare new retirement plans. I believe that in the end we had prepared at least 14 different ones. By the time the Vanguards arrived in early 1961 we had learned more about the reliability we could expect from its Rolls Royce Tyne engine. It was not great! By this time we also had a good idea of the production capabilities of the new power plant shop at Dorval which was to handle the new Conway jet engine for the DC-8's and the turbine powered Tyne engine for the Vanguard. When we did computer forecasts of what spares level we could expect under these operations and workloads we quickly determined that we would likely be grounding Vanguard aircraft by mid summer of 1961 due to a lack of spare Tyne engines. This of course was unacceptable. We had to extend the operating life of the Superconnies to back up Vanguard operations until we could improve Tyne reliability and produce the required number of spare engines to meet airline operating requirements. Regrettably our forecast turned out to be quite accurate, but we had arranged for the Superconnie back up. We eventually did manage to retire the fleet!

We had two interesting operational events with the Superconnie fleet. An aircraft approaching Toronto airport slowly descended into the ground at Brampton. As luck would have it no one was seriously injured or killed but the aircraft was a complete write-off. It burned completely. It was a sad case of crew inattention and failing to monitor the approach carefully. The Captain lost his job over this incident and went on to fly for a charter operator. He was later in charge of the flight that overflew Quebec City instead of refueling. It ran out of fuel and crashed in a swamp in Quebec. Another Superconnie landed in Toronto without benefit of the landing gear being extended and was seriously damaged. It was an interesting fleet from so many viewpoints, and always a challenge.

NetLetter Archive
Archive Alert! Note:
See Netletter #998 for the first part of this article.


Terry's Travel Tips

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Traveling to Japan? Effective November 20, the Japanese Ministry of Justice has implemented a biometric registration process for entry into Japan. All visitors (16 years of age and over) who are not in possession of a Japanese passport will be required to have their fingerprints scanned and facial photo taken before being interviewed by Japanese immigration inspectors upon arrival in Japan. Individuals refusing to follow this procedure will be denied entry into Japan.

Marriott Vancouver Pinnacle Hotel - The Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle offers special room rates to all Air Canada employees and friends and family members until March 2, 2008 upon presentation of a valid employee i.d. For details, log on to the Portal > My Life > Employee Discounts.

Due to the rapid escalation of fuel prices, the Cruises Lines listed
below will be implementing a fuel surcharge as shown.

1. Princess, Carnival, Holland America, Seabourn, Costa, and Cunard - These cruise lines all have announced a fuel supplement of $5 per passenger, per day, for all voyages departing on or after February 1, 2008. The supplement applies to the first and second passengers in a stateroom up to a maximum of $70 per person per voyage, for both new bookings and those that are currently under deposit or fully paid.

2. Cruise West Cruise West will be adding a fuel surcharge of $12 per guest per cruise night for each of their cruise itineraries. This is a
capped amount, applies for all of their vessels and is effective Monday, November 12, 2007.

3. MSC Cruises MSC Cruise Lines will implement a $6.00 per person per day fuel surcharge. They will protect all existing bookings on all
voyages that have names and are under deposit by November 30, 2007. The fuel surcharge will only apply to new bookings made December 1, 2007 and onwards and will be applicable only on cruise departures after February 1, 2008. In addition, the surcharge will only be applicable to the first two guests in a stateroom.

4. NCL Corporation - Effective on all new NCL and NCL America bookings made on or after December 1, 2007, the fuel supplement will be $7 per person per day for the first and second guests in a stateroom and $3 per person per day for any additional guests in the same stateroom.

5. Oceania Cruises Oceania Cruises will be implementing a cruise fuel surcharge of $7.00 per guest per day for all currently published
sailings unless the reservation is paid in full by December 1, 2007.

6. Regent Seven Seas Cruises Regent Seven Seas Cruises has instituted a fuel surcharge of $7.50 per person, per day for all 2008 bookings that are not paid in full by Dec. 1, 2007.

7. Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruise Lines - There is a fuel supplement of $5 per guest per day for sailings that depart on or after February 1, 2008. The supplement will apply only to the first and second guests in each stateroom and will not exceed $70 per person, per sailing for both new bookings and those that are currently under deposit or fully paid.

8. Silversea Cruises Silversea Cruises will assess a $10 fuel surcharge per person per day effective on all new cruise bookings for 2008 voyages made on or after November 14, 2007. The surcharge is applicable to all guests in the suite. Reservations made prior to November 14, 2007 will be exempt from the surcharge.

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