Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

Norm Foster shares another of his memories -

Her name was Mary.

I have a special affinity for the name Mary. My dear Mother’s name was Mary and she gave me life. This girl’s name was Mary and she may have saved my life…..along with many others.

Mary was a Flight Attendant back when Air Canada was known as Trans-Canada Air Lines and Flight Attendants were known as Stewardesses. It was also a time when TCA was small enough that air crew knew each other by name as well as by personality. All TCA crews were well trained and performed their duties to a high standard. Some were exceptional. That described Mary.

The Jet Age was just beginning and the backbone of TCA’s domestic fleet were the Vickers Viscount and her larger sister, the Vickers Vanguard. Both were 4 engine turbo-props in this transitional era, and I was a Captain on the Viscount.

One morning, on perusing the Aircraft log book during our pre-flight preparations for our flight to Timmins, I noted previous Captains' complaints about pressurization fluctuations, going back for several flights. Various component had been changed in an attempt to rectify these “snags”. None having proved successful, a request for further information was requested……Mary was about to provide it for them!

We were nicely into our cruise at 15,000 ft., when Mary entered the Flight Deck. She calmly explained that there was an unusually loud noise of rushing air at the rear of the aircraft. She was visibly shaken.

Familiar with Mary’s professional approach to the job, I was very tactful in starting to suggest that the rubber seals around the rear door were notorious for leaking air, when she abruptly cut me off with “Norm, the air noise is coming from the cloakroom at the very rear of the aircraft, well beyond the rear door!!!”

Mary was the first and only one to note the abnormality of the location of the escaping air noise, and was insistent that we investigate. Resisting any temptation to point out the improbability of her assessment, I asked the First Officer to follow Mary back to the area in question. In all too short a time he returned, almost ashen, and insisted that I go back and see for myself. He repeated Mary’s conclusion that the escaping air noise was from beyond the rear door, and from an area that it should be impossible to come from. Wasting no time I made my way to the rear and following the noise with my flashlight, I was suddenly frozen in disbelief and horror. The rear pressure bulkhead, an integral part of the structure of the aircraft, and behind which the flight controls cables ran, was physically pushed back towards the tail.

With a crack starting down towards the floor, and gradually increasing, the bulkhead was displaced near the ceiling by 8 to 10 inches!!!!

My return to the flight deck was a sprint. A brief P.A. announcement to the passengers explained that we were making an unplanned descent and landing in North Bay located just ahead, and that it would be a rapid descent and they would feel it in their ears. With that, we performed a rapid depressurization and descent, landing safely in North Bay.

I was soon on a conference call which quickly expanded to include Maintenance Central, the Chief Pilot, the Flight Operations Manager and perhaps others when the local TCA mechanic joined the call and interrupted to say that he had inspected the area in question, and that I must be mistaken.

The rear pressure bulkhead was in its proper position,…..the only place it could be!……Silence!!!!!

In short order, ignoring the rapidly growing heated directives, I refused to fly the aircraft any further, requested a replacement aircraft for the passengers, and abandoned the phone call.

Borrowing the mechanic’s oversized 18” screwdriver, I proceeded to the aircraft. The wall of the rear cloakroom and beyond to the tail, was protected by a padded fabric. This acted as noise and heat insulation as well as for cosmetics purposes. Using the screwdriver with both hands, and with an angry desperation, I tore all the fabric and padding from the outer extremity of the bulkhead. Laid bare, it revealed a crack in the bulkhead, starting from somewhere below my waist, running from the left side of the fuselage completely around the perimeter of the bulkhead, to the right side of the fuselage.

The top portion of the rear pressure bulkhead had been cycling in and out…. “tin-canning,”……waiting to fail at any moment!

Epilogue:
Mary received praise and commendation in the Incident Report that followed. I was exonerated. It will never be known for sure if Mary’s actions saved our flight or that of a subsequent flight.

Norm Foster.