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_| TCA |_ B E T W E E N O U R S E L V E S
_|\| AIR |/|_ N E T L E T T E R
> CANADA <
>_./|\._< for Air Canada retirees
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Our crew is: Chief Pilot - Vesta Stevenson
Co-pilot - Terry Baker
number 190 date Aug 17th 1997
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. Welcome to Ron Miles who retired in 1983 after 38 years service
and lives in Sun City, California along with
three other retired types. All are ex
Canadian individuals moved by TCA to the
U.S.A. during the early days of our
careers.
Email Ron at
~-=o0o=-~
. We welcomed Dennis Brackman in NetLetter nr 187, and he sends us
his autobiography -
I was born in London, England in the district of Whitechapel
within the sound of Bow bells - this makes me a Cockney, but
people have no problem understanding me. (grin :-))). I remember
living in the East End and Hackney and after the war we moved to
Eastcote and Edgware, both in the County of Middlesex (doesn't
exist anymore). I came to Canada November 1963 and worked for a
large retail chain's service centre for home entertainment
products until I joined Air Canada.
My Air Canada career started in 1968 as a Mech-1 and ended with
my retirement in 1997 as an Avionics Specialist-2. I started in
the Avionics shop at the Dorval Base testing and repairing various
Black Boxes. Through the years, I moved around to do other
interesting work within the Avionics shop. Areas such as the
Calibration and Test Equipment section and the Fabrication section,
where our group designed and built test panels for the Avionics
shop to test the L-1011 and B-747 Black Boxes. The most exciting
challenge was joining the A.T.E. (Automatic Test Equipment) section
in 1979. Testing Black Boxes using real time computer controlled
test equipment was necessary for the new technology digital
avionics. In 1982 the A.T.E. section prepared for the future.
The Aerospatiale Airbus A320 was coming and with it the ATEC-5000
A.T.E. The ATEC-5000 was the most interesting to work with because
it made use of my experiences in the electronics and software
fields. I was with the ATEC-5000 up to the time of my retirement.
I have many good memories of the people I worked with and also of
those that I met from other departments in the course of my work.
I had a great time at Air Canada mainly due to the co-operation of
all those people.
My interest in electronics started when I was about 10 years old.
I used to listen to a detective program called *Dick Barton,
special agent* which I think was broadcast on the BBC Light program
around 07:00 PM. Anyone out there familiar with this program?
Anyway, my mother didn't want me to stay up late to listen to it
because I had to get up early for school. We never had the luxury
of more than one wireless so I wasn't happy missing this program.
After the war, we moved to Eastcote and I went to a school in
Ruislip Manor also in Middlesex. In this area, there was a shop
that was selling scrap military radio equipment, I think it was
called Bulls Radio. They sold plans and parts to build a crystal
(cats whisker) set radio. I saved my birthday and pocket money and
bought the plans, parts, headphones and 100 feet of aerial wire.
I built it in a cigar box and took it to school to show the science
teacher. He explained that you have to find the sensitive spot on
the crystal otherwise it won't work. That problem solved, I strung
out the aerial from my bedroom window to the backyard fence and
fiddled with the *whisker*. It worked! I was anxious to get to
bed early that night to try it out on Dick Barton. The beauty of
this radio was that my parents were unaware I listened to my
program because I snuggled under the blankets with the headphones
on. The only precaution was to disconnect everything from the
aerial during a thunderstorm. As I got older and saved more money
I built my first one *valve* (tube) battery radio. That's how I
started learning about electronics. When I did my National
Service, I was lucky to be in the R.A.F. to continue my studies in
the radio field at the Air Wireless School in Yatesbury, Wiltshire.
After my 2 years were up, I left the services with the rank of
S.A.C.
I'm married to a Winnipegger for 26 years and she is a CFL Blue
Bomber fan.
I root for the Ti-Cats just to bug her! We have one son and live
in Chomedey, Laval, Quebec.
My hobbies are a little bit of gardening (ouch my back!),
computers, cycling, collecting stamps, action and sci-fi movies
and X-Files - my son got me hooked on that.
My computer is the equivalent of the crystal radio. It is a
Commodore C-128 connected to all Commodore stuff. A model 1670
1200 baud modem, 1571 disk drive, 1902 RGB monitor and am MPS-1000
printer. My ISP has the Lynx browser so I can use the WWW and
e-mail but no piccies. It is slow but it works - for now.
Anyone out there use the same or similar slow gear?
Regards, Denis Brackman
~-=o0o=-~
. News from the Districts -
Vancouver Island Summer newsletter -
Victoria Fall Luncheon planned for Oct 23rd and will be held at
McMorran's restaurant 5109 Cordova Bay Rd, for a sit down roast
beef dinner. Start 11:30 for chitchat - drinks then 12:30 for
lunch. All this for CA$16.00 per person.
Cheques by Oct 16th. Guest speaker will be Olie Moore, National
President of the Pionairs.
Call Bill Fisher for more information (250)656-7936.
Visiting retirees and Pionairs most welcome.
Victoria Christmas Luncheon this year will be at Dunsmuir Lodge
December 10th start at 11:30. Price CA$25.00 per person. Seating
is limited to 80 persons. Don't wait until it is too late,
cheques by Dec 3rd is a must, but call Bill and reserve as soo
as possibe.
Comox Valley group hold their monthly meetings on the last
Thursday of each month, and the June meeting attended by
29 Pionairs held at the Salmon Point Resort.
During July, the group went on a boat trip around Denman Island
which lasted 4 hours.
~-=o0o=-~
. The British Columbia Aviation Museum is located on the east side
of Victoria International Airport on Vancouver Island. The annual
open house is planned for Aug 23/24th. Admission is by donation.
The evening of the 23rd is the 2nd annual Hanger Dance with music
by the Swiftsure Big Band and admission is CA$10.00 per person.
The band is a 16 piece band plus vocalist, and all the music is
from the WWII years 1939-1946. All Pionairs and friends are
welcome. All tickets will be pre-sold.
The museum has some very interesting exhibits, and several local
Pionairs donate their time and efforts.
Call Bill Fisher at (250) 656-7936 for more info.
~-=O0O=-~
. Interline stuff.
Canadian Interline Travel Hot Deals!
====================================
COSTA CRUISES - Italian Style
=============================
The Best of Europe at Special Interline Rates
- From Europe's #1 Cruise Line
*********************************************
- Greek Isles/Turkey - 7 Nights
Ship: CostaVictoria Dates: September 14 & 28, 1997
Sailing for seven nights from Venice, Italy to Bari, Katakolon,
Kusadasl, Volos & Piraeus (Athena)
Inside Cabin: US$799 pp* Oceanview Cabin: US$899 pp*
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
- Eastern Mediterranean - 7 Nights
Ship: CostaClassica Date: September 1/1997
Sailing for seven nights from Venice, Italy to Bari, Katakolon,
Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes, & Kithera
Inside Cabin: US$799 pp* Oceanview Cabin: US$899 pp*
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
- Special Voyage - 9 Nights
Ship: CostaAllegra Date: September 6/1997
Sailing for nine nights from Amsterdam, Netherlands
to Dover (London), St. Malo, Oporto, Lisbon, Cadiz, Malaga
and Genoa (disembarkation port)
Inside Cabin: US$999 pp* Oceanview Cabin: US$1,149 pp*
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
- Baltic & Russia - 7 Nights
Ship: CostaMarina Dates: August 31, September 7 & 14/1997
Sailing for seven nights from Copenhagen, Denmark to Stockholm,
Helsinki St. Petersburg, & Tallinn
Inside Cabin: $899us pp* Oceanview Cabin: $999us pp*
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
All prices are pp dbl.
Call Toll Free at: 1-800-665-3100 and mention Pionairs.
~-=o0o=-~
. Smilie -
Vesta found this in Readers Digest.
A Passenger Agent's tale.
At Sudbury airport in northern Ontario where she was a passenger
agent, a flight arrived from Elliot Lake enroute to Earlton
during a terrific thunderstorm.
A young lady marched up to her and asked for a refund on the
Sudbury-Earlton portion of her flight. When she asked her why
she was deplaning in Sudbury, she exclaimed: "That aircraft was
bouncing all over the sky! I prayed to get it on the ground.
" As it happened, the captain of her flight was standing behind
her. "I wish they wouldn't do that," he said, shaking his head.
"I'm up front praying I can keep it in the air!"
~-=o0o=-~
. That's it for this time, please we need your input, send
comments and email addresses of any others who may be
interested to Vesta with a copy to Terry.
/------------------------\ |~~\_____/~~\__ |
| Between Ourselves |______________ \______====== )-+
| NetLetter | ~~~|/~~ |
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. GREETINGS FROM .
. Vancouver Island .
. BEAUTIFUL B.C. CANADA .
...................................................