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_| TCA |_ B E T W E E N y O U R S E L V E S
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>_./|\._< for Air Canada retirees
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Chief Pilot - Vesta Stevenson
Co-pilot - Terry Baker
number 268 date Apr 29th, 1998 1st Published in October 1995
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. Welcome to George McKillop on email
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. Here is a repeat of a story we ran in NetLetter nr 61 May 1996 -
Charles Mackie at
some of his recollections of his experiences in the Lancastrian
aircraft in the early days of T.C.A. The information was supplied
to an author for planned publication. The following is one -
The Autopilot couldn't hold it - Oct 1945
There was a time we got as far as Three Rivers heading outwards
and, for some reason, we had to feather one of the engines. We
were heading back to Montreal to get the situation rectified.
The first officer was flying and had it on automatic pilot. The
autopilot could not hold the aircraft on three engines, and the
aircraft all of a sudden went into a steep spiral dive.
It was several thousand feet before we recovered and got things
back to normal.
And the follow up which was in NetLetter nr 62 -
. As a followup to the story from Charles Mackie in Nr 61,
Al Blackwood at
The experience Charlie had with the auto pilot brought back
memories of a similar amusing incident. All of the Lancasters had
British auto pilots except one which had one made by GE and had a
bad habit of putting the aircraft into a dive without warning.
This had been reported several times but always came back
"unable to duplicate". One day we were in Prestwick and the GE
rep happened to be there so it was arranged to take the aircraft
up for a test flight. We were all strapped in but the GE rep was
standing behind the pilots. We were cruising in level flight with
the auto pilot on for about twenty minutes with everything normal
when all of a sudden the nose pitched down and the rep went up to
the ceiling with a surprised look on his face!
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. Here is another gem from Bill Norberg -
Subject: A Lockheed 14 story
I would like to take airline people back to the early years of modern
commercial aviation in Canada and specifically with T.C.A. There have been
so many advances made in the capability and reliability of aircraft systems
that we often forget what it used to be like.
One of the most concerning aspects of flying in those early days was
weather icing of the aircraft during flight. The aircraft were not
pressurized of course and flew at altitudes where rough air and icing
conditions were very prevalent. I can still see the Lockheed 14 aircraft
coming into the hangar after arrival with many inches of ice still on
various parts of the aircraft.. The nose section,the fronts of the ADF loop
and the pitot head masts.
The windshields of the aircraft were not heated in those days and it was
not until a few years later that windshield wipers were available. If icing
conditions were encountered the winshields would often ice up making
vivibility difficult if not impossible at times.
The front windshield of the Lockheed had 4 panels,the 2 main ones and
2 smaller ones on the outboard sides of the center main panels.. These
smaller panels were trapezoidal in shape and could be removed in flight by
the crew if needed. There was a small deflector strip just ahead of these
panels that acted to deflect the airstream so that it did not enter the
opening if the panel was removed. This gave enough vision area so the pilot
could see when landing the aircraft.
As the aircraft was not pressurized there was another weather problem that
was very botherssome to the flight crew at times. When flying through rain
storms the rain would often be forced in along the window seals and drip
incessantly into the cockpit and usually all over the flight crew's pants.
They wore light grey uniforms in summer and you can imagine the sight of
them leaving the aircraft after such a flight.
I remember one day when checking the log book of an aircraft that had just
arrived to see the following comment:-
"Slight precipitation outside....raining like hell inside."
From: "Bill Norberg" <
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. Historical milestones in April for TCA/AC.
Apr 10th 1937 - Incorporation of Trans-Canada Air Lines.
Apr 1st 1939 - Introduction of trans-continental revenue passenger
service.
Apr 15th 1941 - Introduction of service
Moncton - Summerside - Charlottetown
Apr 16th 1941 - Above service extended to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Apr 30th 1941 - Toronto - New York mail service inaugurated.
Apr 1st 1947 - Halifax-Yarmouth-Saint John-Boston inaugurated.
Apr 15th 1947 - North Star introduced on Trans Atlantic flights.
Apr 30th 1947 - Change from Canadian Government Trans Atlantic Air Service
(CGTAS) to TCA(Atlantic) Ltd.
Apr 1st 1951 - Transatlantic service Montreal-Prestwick-London extended
to Paris.
Apr 27th 1952 - North Star introduced to Maritimes.
Apr 1st 1958 - Economy class introduced on Transatlantic routes.
Apr 2nd 1958 - Service to Brussels inaugurated.
Apr 1st 1960 - DC8 introduced transcontinental.
Apr 2nd 1960 - Halifax included on transatlantic route.
Apr 24th 1960 - Super Constellation service to Regina.
Apr 30th 1981 - Direct service to London, England from Winnipeg.
Apr 12th 1963 - DC3 aircraft retired making TCA and all turbine fleet.
Apr 25th 1965 - DC8 introduced to New York.
Apr 24th 1966 - DC9 introduced. Service to Frankfurt inaugurated.
'Western Arrow' service non-stop
London, Eng. - Vancouver.
Apr 30th 1966 - 'Eastern Arrow' service non stop
Vancouver - London, England.
Apr 30th 1972 - Rapidair started up.
Apr 29th 1973 - Terminal II opened in Toronto.
Apr 26th 1976 - Toronto - Boston inaugurated.
Apr 28th 1984 - Toronto - Manchester service introduced.
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. Terry's travel tips.
Ron Munson tell us that, if you are delayed in LHR, try the Heathrow Standby
Hotel, North Side, Bath Road who quote GBP40 double, subject to availability,
call 01753 686970.
The latest Air Canada schedule at their web site was uploaded Apr 27th
and is effective until April 1999.
Greek Tradewinds ' 98 - a 12 day Black Sea Cruise on the Marco Polo.
Cost: from us$1535 pp dbl plus us$195 port taxes departs Aug 26th.
Includes: 7 day cruise, all meals and entertainment. 2 nights hotel
Istanbul, half day tour of Istanbul, cocktail party,
2 nights hotel Athens plus half day tour. transfers and
porterage.
Itinerary: Istanbul, Yalta, Odessa, Varna, Bosphorus, Dardanelles,
Kusadasi, Delos, Mykonos, Athens.
Mysteries of the Rio Amazonas.
Cost: from us$855 pp dbl. Departs Every Sunday year round.
Includes: All meals buffet style, transfers to/from airport, daily
excursions, port taxes.
Itinerary: Iquitos, Pevas, Caballococha, Leticia/Tabatinga,
Cayaru River, Tarapoto Lakes, San Pablo, Bora, Huitoto,
depart Iquitos.
Call 1-800-665-3100 for details and mention Pionairs.
Spa Escapes - various dates.
Hotel Villa Bejar & Grand Spa, Lake Tequesquitengo, Mexico.
or
Hotel Spa Ixtapan, Ixtapen de la Sal, Mexico
4 nights/5 days from us$299 pp dbl, non-interliner us$420 pp dbl.
Includes: accommodations, 3 meals per day, cocktail party and more.
Call 1-800-690-3223 for details and mention Pionairs.
The Orient -
Bangkok from us$419 pp dbl. 10 days/7 nights.
includes: Round trip air space available on Northwest,
4 nights hotel accommodations.
Bali, Jakarta, and Yogyakarta from us$1089 pp dbl.
includes: round trip positive Garuda Indonesia from LAX,
4 nights hotel Bali, 1 night hotel Yogyakarta,
2 nights hotel Jakarta plus full days tours in those
cities. All transfers & tours.
Call 1-800-422-3727 for more details.
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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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| NetLetter | ---|/-- |
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Copyright 1998 by Vesta Stevenson & Terry Baker.