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Chief Pilot - Vesta Stevenson
Co-pilot - Terry Baker
number 254 date Mar 29th,1998 1st Published in October 1995
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Please E-mail all correspondence to both of us, as
Vesta lives in Victoria BC, and Terry lives in Ladysmith, BC.
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. Here's another story from Bill Norberg -
In these days of the tremendous growth in the availability and use of
personal computers we tend to forget what it was like in the "Early Days".
Trans-Canada Airlines got its first real computer with the arrival of the
IBM 650 intended to be used for Inventory control purposes. It was the thin
edge of the wedge as many branches in the airline saw its potential.
I was in charge of a Systems group in Maintenance at the time we moved into
the new Dorval Maintenance Base in 1960. I reported to Jim McLean and had a
small group consisting of Pierre Jeanniot, Anne Bodnarchuk, John McMurtry
and Ernie Olsen. Our task was to develop the management systems needed to
manage the new jet fleet of DC-8's and the Vanguards in a completely new
facility.
The area that was of prime importance was the Power Plant shop. It was
taking on the overhaul and maintenance of two new engines, the Conway on
the DC-8 and the Tyne on the Vanguard, in a new shop with many new personnel.
There were many problems to overcome to get the shop production capability
up to speed to address the many problems of introducing untried power
plants.
The task of forecasting long range requirements so production could be
matched to airline needs in terms of spare powerplants was a challenge to
say the least. Doing the job manually was endless and the results were out
of date by the time it was completed. We decided that the new computer could
help us out and we developed a computer based simulation model that we
called EROS (Engine Repair and Overhaul Simulation). It could do this job
for us in a few hours of computer time and could make a 12 month forecast
that was quite reliable.
We faced one problem. The computer memory available to us was only 8K.
It was limiting what we could accomplish and we had a meeting with Bill
Sadler to present the case for doubling that capacity to 16K. No way was he
going to go along with such an unreasonable request until we indicated we
would have to do it on our own. A few days later he agreed to purchase the
additional memory.
The point I want to make here is the comparison with what most of us have
readily available. My first computer had 640 K RAM and my current one has
32Megs...almost twice as much as my first hard drive and 4000 times as much
as that first 8K we had to work with. It still did the job because Anne
Bodnarchuk was such a skilled programmer.
Regrettably this availability of virtually unlimited memory has made it
possible to produce very complex software which eats up the memory so fast
it is mind boggling.
We used this simulation to forecast the effect of the introduction of the
Tyne engine on shop production capabilities as soon as we had reliable
input data. We were shocked at what we learned. The reliability of the Tyne
was such that it would so overload the shop that we would have to ground
aircraft during the first summer due to lack of spares. As a result of this
forecast outlook we had to make plans to delay yet again the retirement of
the Super Constellation aircraft fleet to give us the backup protection.
There is an old saying..."Forecasting is fraught with pitfalls....
especially when it concerns the future" I would also say lack of forecasting
is much worse.
From: "Bill Norberg" <
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. Found on the Internet.
ONE GIANT LEAP? DC-10 EVACUATION LACKING:
The recent evacuation of a Continental Airlines DC-10 at Manchester,
England, will probably be closely scrutinized. Flight 21, taxiing for
takeoff, stopped on a taxiway after the cabin crew informed the cockpit that
the plane was leaking fuel and a fire had ignited in the rear engine.
The evacuation did not go smoothly, with mid-cabin passengers leaving through
the overwing exits, only to return to the cabin when faced with a precipitous
drop from the wing to the tarmac.
I am a bit of an amateur historian in regards to the airline I work for
(Air Canada nee Trans-Canada Air Lines). In particular I am interested
in the final disposition of our original fleet of Lockheed 10A Electras.
By chance and a lot of perseverance by both active and retired employees
we have located CF-TCA and CF-TCC. However the whereabouts of the second
sister to the "three sisters" remains a mystery. Details are somewhat
sketchy but here is what I have. CF-TCB, a Lockheed 10A, serial number 1113,
was delivered to Trans-Canada Air Lines on the 9th of October 1937, where it
remained in service until the 12th of October 1939. It was sold to the
Canadian Dept of National Defense for the war effort.
Only 101 were built in total. If anyone out there knows of any Lockheed
10A's in existence or perhaps the wreckage (sigh) of any, please contact me
by e-mail. Thanks in advance and good hunting.
James (Jim) S. Smith, Marketing & Sales Manager, Air Canada I.T.
Marketing & Sales, E-Mail:
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. Terrys Travel Tips.
The Air Canada timetable available from their web site was loaded
Mar 26th and valid until Oct 24/98.
Dargal Interline Cruises & Tours Deals -
Star Clipper - Southern Caribbean - 7 nights - Apr 11
- Antigua, Dominica, St. Vincent, Tobago Cays, Iles des Saintes, Antigua.
- Cost: from us$895 pp dbl.
Sky Princess - Tahiti/Hawaii - 12 nights - Apr 22
- Papeete, Moorea, Bora Bora, Christmas Island, Kauai, Maui, Big Island,
- Honolulu.
- Cost: from us$670 pp dbl.
Call 1-800-690-3223 for details and mention Pionairs.
Canadian Interline Travel Hot Tour Deals!
Interline Historic China
- Departing April 27, May 18, June 15/98 - 15 Days
- ca$1560 (no air) or ca$2360 (with Air)
- Airfares: Beijing - Manila - Nagoya - Tokyo - Bangkok from us$399, pp
- Hotels: from us$100 per night.
Australian TOURS & MORE
- Independent Touring - 3 to 12 Days
- Choose from Sydney, Cairns, Melbourne, Alice Springs, Ayers Rock
- from US$365, ppd (Day Tours & Tour Pass available from US$46-174,pp)
- ****Positive Space airfare from us$599****
Looking for a resort get away? All Inclusive...?
Allegro Resort All Inclusive Properties
- St Kitts, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Cancun, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen,
Huatulco, Margarita Island, Costa Rica
- Rates vary depending on high or low season, and shoulder periods
- from us$64, per person, per night - based on double occupancy
- Included in your stay: all meals, local alcoholic beverages,
non motorized water sports, entertainment, and more....
Premier All Inclusive in Barbados
- Almond Beach Club & Almond Beach Village - from $99us, pp dbl, per nigh.
Call Toll Free at: 1-800-665-3100 for details and mention Pionairs.
Cedarland Tour hosted by the Interline Club Lebanon.
5 days May 6 thru May 10th. Package includes - 4 nights accommodation,
4 breakfast, 3 lunches, 3 dinners, welcome cocktail,
3 full day tours, tranfer to/from airport & hotel,
entrance & guide fees.
Cost: us$450.00 pp dbl + WACA fee us$10.00
Note: Transit or entry visa to Lebanon can be issued upon arrival
at Beirut provided passenger holding return tickets, passport
valid for 3 more months, does not contain any Israeli stamps.
Middle East Airlines will grant all participants ID90 passes.
DEADLINE: Apr 15th 1998.
Kenya Safari 'Karibuni' hosted by the Nairobi Interline Club.
7 days May 16th thru 23rd. Package includes - accommodations and meals,
transfer to/from airport & hotel, entrance fees, transport in
minibus.
Cost: us$760.00 pp + WACA fee us$10.00
DEADLINE: Apr 15th 1998.
Contact your local Interline club or WACA (
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. Smilie.
Found by your Co-pilot -
THE PRESIDENT'S PLANE IS MISSING -- AIR FORCE ONE GOES STEALTHY
Maybe one of the interns switched the transponder to "standby."
(Gotta watch 'em like a hawk, you know!)
One of the FAA's newest radar systems dropped Air Force One from controllers'
screens for several seconds recently. Radio contact with the President's
flight was never lost and it was not near any other aircraft at the time.
ZNY's new radar -- with a history of failing to properly display targets --
has been taken off-line for "unrelated repairs" and the FAA is investigating.
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. 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.
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