Our first 70 years.
1948 - May 1st - North Star aircraft began the carrying of immigrants from Prestwick and London the first of 230 charter flights between May and March 1949 as agreed with the government of Canada. Commenced scheduled service YUL to Bermuda with North Star CF-TFK. June 1st - North Star aircraft inaugurated scheduled service over the trans-continental system. DC-3 service inaugurated to Yorkton and Brandon. July 1st - Approval for the carriage of first class mail by air received from the government. Oct 1st - Special winter excursion fares introduced on trans-Atlantic until April 1949. Due to inadequate traffic, service between Deluth and Lakehead suspended. A new Universal Travel Plan (UTP) inaugurated. 1972 - May 22nd - Weekly service inaugurated to Berlin. |
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. Fred Coyle has sent us this information about the T.C.A. Super Constellation -- With its curvaceous fuselage and triple tail, the Lockheed Super-G Constellation is one of the most distinctive airliners in history. The Museum took delivery of its rare "Connie" in September 2009. The story of this aircraft will be told in a Jan. 9 program by Bob Bogash, Museum volunteer and retired Boeing engineer, who was instrumental in the plane's acquisition, restoration and transportation to the Museum. The presentation will be illustrated with previously unpublished photographs. Randomly-selected members of the audience will be chosen for an exclusive tour of the aircraft on Jan. 16. The program is at 2 p.m. in the William M. Allen Theater and is free with admission to the Museum. The Museum of Flight is located at 9404 E. Marginal Way S., Seattle, Exit 158 off Interstate 5 (on Boeing Field between downtown Seattle and SeaTac Airport.) The Museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is us$14 for adults, us$13 for seniors 65 and older, us$10 for active military, us$7.50 for youth 5 to 17, and free for children under 5. Group rates are available. Admission on the first Thursday of the month is free from 5 to 9 p.m. courtesy of Wells Fargo. For general Museum information, please call 206-764-5720 or visit www.museumofflight.org. Musings from the "Between Ourselves" magazine. Issue dated June 1948. Traffic personnel at Sydney Airport sport their"new look" Front row B.P.Beers, J. Stuewe Centre C.J.Connolly. Back row W.H.Holmes, R.Moffat. Issue dated October 1948 At Toronto Malton airport plans call for the rebuilding of the entire east/west runway in concrete to make it permanently suitable for North Stars. Finished the runway will be 6,000 foot long. Winnipeg's new runway was officially opened August 12th, probably the finest concrete runway in Canada, it is 6,000 foot long by 200 foot wide. Windsor airport has been made suitable for North Star by extending the runway by 1,000 foot. Repairs to Calgary's runway to make it suitable for North Star operations is due to open November 12th. Service to Ireland was inaugurated October 1st, 1947. Here was what Shannon International Airport looked like in 1948. While on temporary assignment Ardhur House in Limerick was the home-away-from-home for TCA'ers A group of TCA staff at Chicago celebrate the 11th anniversary of the Sept 1st service to that city. Foreground: Sophie Schuelke, Ed Deane Left to right: Ruth Balser, Bob Burns, Marji Anderson, Ted Moore, Sylvia Blake, Shirley Steinke, Dick Skidmore, Harry Cooper, Norma Seijna, Don McGregor. Gleanings from "Horizons" magazine Issue dated October 1973 The 'Mystery of the burned-out plane' is the way Montreal newspapers labeled it! But it was never a mystery to Air Canada. A partially-destroyed aircraft fuselage on the tarmac in front of a Quebec government-owned hangar. At Montreal Airport became a curiosity for the many commuters passing the area. What happened to it? Where did it come from? It is one of the last Company Vanguards sold to a firm specializing in supply aircraft parts. Workmen hired by the purchasing firm were dis mantling the aircraft when a cutting torch accidentally set fire to it. As of this writing it remains a hulk, but it is expected the remains will be broken up and towed away. (Does anyone have some information on this aircraft, such as registration or fin # - eds) Issue dated June 1992. The "Dreams Come True" from Toronto was with a B-727 loaned by Air Canada and crewed by Capt. Earl Cummings, F/O Bob Johnston, S/O Jim Sullivan, and in the cabin were Nancy Brownrigg, Jocelyn Boisvert, Graviella Ciarrocchi, Claire McKenna, Juergen Nikolai, Rosemary Millar all worked the flight on their day off. The "Dreams Come True" was started in 1989 by four Toronto employees - Bob Kent, Kathy Dutchak, Chris Dale and Kent Angus. Our colleagues in Bermuda were presented with an award. From left to right: Polly Peters; Rita Johnson, Felicia Pike, Ian Davis, Major Syd Helmkay, Canadian Armed Forces Liaison Officer, who presented the award; Lucy Fox, Marc Rosenberg, Janet De Silva, and Noel Rodriguez. On time: time and time again. Mirabel's aircraft maintenance employees breathed a sigh of relief after having not a single delay of aircraft during the entire month of April. This is a noteworthy achievement when you consider that the month included the start-up of Air Canada's three Boeing 747-400s, not to mention 171 consecutive on-time departures from all participating stations. Pictured in the back row, from left to right are Pierre Bayle, John Marshall, Jean-Yves Gagnon, Kasimir Kusek, Luc Ménard and Emilien Dufour. Shown in the front row are: Real Savard, Pierre Nadon, Pierre-Yves Grenier, Peter Content, Pierre Trudeau and Kenneth Batt. Issue dated August 1992 Colleagues at Fredricton say farewell to Dennis Graham upon his retirement. Here we have this photo l to r Mike Graham, Kit Blois, Harvey Muttart, Bertha Bergin, Dennis Graham and wife Nancy, Liane and Ron Groves. While on a layover in Glasgow, these three Toronto based flight attandants each celebrated 30 years service, and here they are. l to r Beryl Smith, Helen Burn and Louise Naigel. ds) |
Where are they now.
B727-200 C-GAAN fin 414 c/n 21102 sold to Federal Express September 28th 1984 registered FE219 has been finally retired and donated to the Technical School at TianJin. |
Alan's Space
30 Days on an Airplane
Mark Malkoff, a 32-year-old comedian, writer and filmmaker from Hershey, Pa., stepped onto the tarmac after spending 30 days on board a commercial airliner. That's about 266 hours in the air, hitting 38 cities across the country, traveling 111,211 miles. "It was jumping in head on with something that had never been done before," Malkoff said. "I never set out for it to be a world record, it just was." He once spent an entire week inside an IKEA store in New Jersey. He also garnered some internet cred when he traveled to all 177 Starbucks in Manhattan in under 24 hours. "That took me two weeks of training on a bicycle in New York risking my life," says Malkoff. "I like to put things on paper that look impossible and try to execute them." A fear of flying is what drove Malkoff into the skies. Hitting almost every major airport in the United States, Malkoff landed, yet never disembarked, in cities including Houston, Moline, Branson, and Chareston. With a video camera rolling, and mid-air wireless Internet available on board the plane, he chronicled this journey for all to see at www.markonairtran.com. "I don't know how I would have gotten through the month without wifi," explains Malkoff. "I had so much emotional support from people all over the world. What did Mark Malkoff do to amuse himself? He played Twister in the back of the plane and ran a bingo game over the onboard loud speaker. He got his butt kicked in an RC car race by Danika Patrick and even had a catered anniversary dinner with his wife on the wing of the airplane. AirTran, the accommodating airline, even put his face on a plane. Once all was said and done, Malkoff had unwittingly secured himself a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. "It made me feel good that I kicked the habit when Guinness presented me with the world record," says Malkoff. "Wow, 135 flights. That's more than most people will fly in their entire life." On how he handled the ordeal and came out in such good spirits: "The whole thing was definitely challenging," revealed Malkoff. "It was this emotional journey of self exploration." Sp what did he do? Here's a video of what happens when you roll toilet paper down the aisle of an airliner and then flush... Click on image above for video
(click on HD for full screen) You can find out more about Mark Malkoff by clicking here |
Terry's Trivia & Travel Tips
Here are some of the events arranged by members of World Airlines Clubs Association (WACA) -Feb 18-21st - Las Vegas Get away deadline Jan 15th 2010 host San Diego Interline club cost us$275 Apr 15-18th Get together and European Regional Meeting at Brighton UK deadline Feb 15th host Gatwick Interline club cost gbp265. May 16-21st - Vancouver Island Winery Tour deadline Mar 20th host Vancouver Interline Club cost ca$799 Full details at www.waca.org The results of a survey on the worst airports in the world have been released. Top of the list is London Heathrow Airport (LHR) - a repeat of last years position. Second was Paris Charles DeGaulle (GDG) Third was Los Angeles International (LAX) At the top of the best airports in the world was Singapore Changi Airport followed by Hong Kong Chek Lap kok Amsterdam Schipol Dubai World Central There was no mention of the criteria used for these findings. Here is the third installment of the Eastern Mediterranean Cruise October 22nd to Nov 3rd 2009. Our cruise was with Oceania Cruise Lines on the MS Insignia. started in NetLetter nr 1099 Saturday October 24th Today we dock at Kusadasi in Turkey.. After breakfast we joined the tour of the ruins of Ephesus. We had Tolsa an excellent guide who provided us with an informative history of Turkey and this area. The Roman ruins we saw were quite awesome, particularly when one could envisage how the area looked in real time - ages ago. After our tour of the ruins, we were taken to a store which produces hand made carpets. There was a girl demonstrating the art of carpet knotting, and the owner, after offering everyone a choice of drink from tea, coffee, beer or wine, his two assistants rolled out 30 carpets or various designs and quality while the structure and price were explained, either wool, cotton of silk. Needless to say, we did not purchase one. Back on board, we attended a seminar about the Adobe Photo Elements software, before attending the Captain's welcoming get together and a glass of champers. Sunday October 25th At Santorini we were tendered ashore. During the night there was a terrific storm with lashings of torrential rain and a spectacular lightening display plus thunder. Today we are at Santorini and the temperature is 21c and overcast. We are due to finish our tour with a ride down to dock side on the cable car, but the storm which knocked out most of the power supply to the island changed that. Our bus tour took us up the mountainside via a multifaceted switchback of a very narrow road, which gave us spectacular vistas of the port below us. Due to the heavy rains during the night, many places alongside the road had piles of lava which had washed down and, at one place, was completely across the road, fortunately not too deep and we were able to drive though it. Towards the top of the mountain we became shrouded in low cloud and were unable to complete our trip to the summit, we barely had room to turn, and the driver was anxious to get back down before other tour buses arrived. At the point of the road which had the lava across the road, we were unable to drive through without the danger of the bus sliding off the road, and the driver and guide got out and leveled off the pile.The trip up and down the mountain provided some great views of the island and beaches. The guide pointed out the unique way the grape vines grew, instead of the traditional way on a trellis, the vines were twisted into a ring at ground level giving the appearance of a wreath, this gave protection from the constant wind to the grapes which grew inside the ring. However, this method made harvesting very labour intensive. We were given an hour and half free time at a village called Oyo. Near the car park there was a store which sold pistachio nuts and offered each passenger a sample. The guide told us that we would not get lost as we could follow the trail of pistachio shells back to the coach. We visited a small art gallery which glass and metal combined art, very innovative. We window shopped before returning to the coach and talked with our fellow travelers before leaving. We noticed gas prices at €1.19 a liter. By the time we returned to the cable car, the hydro had been restored and we were able to travel down on it, which we were happy to do as the descent was via a very steep windy pathway. After supper on board, we spend several hours chatting with a couple from Pennsylvania and watched the electrical storm over Santorini. Monday October 26th. Today it was 71f and cloudy when we docked at Crete. As we did not have any optional tour booked for this island, we walked off as the town was just a 100 yards or so away from the dockside. We had planned to visit the museum, but it did not open until 10:00, so we window shopped for a while. We ended up in a store which sold nothing but agate items. Just wonderful creations and we bought a small item there. Then we visited the museum at €3.00 each. We thought that it was a poorly set up display with hardly any items identified very professionally. As the sky looked like it would open, we went back to the ship just before the rain started accompanied with lightening and thunder. At dockside there was a small train which ran on the roadway and offered three tours. One locally around the port, another into the town and the third up into the mountain area. The costs are €11, €12 and €20. We spent the afternoon in the library and on deck, under cover, reading and generally lazing about. Unlike other cruise lines, the library is on an honor scheme, you just borrow the books without having the "check" them out. It was very well stocked and appointed. After supper I went to the reception to claim a refund of my transfer money from ATH to the docks which we had not used. Happily the credit appeared on my account. (More next time - eds) |
Smilie
Here we have another smilie sent in by Vern Swerdfeger |