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_| TCA |_ B E T W E E N Y 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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Chief Pilot - Vesta Stevenson
http://www.acfamily.net/between/vesta/
Co-pilot - Terry Baker
http://www.acfamily.net/between/terry/
Mailing of this "NetLetter" is courtesy of Alan Rust
administrator of the "AC Family Network" at:
http://www.acfamily.net
Number 414 Date Oct 11th, 1999 BYN 1st Published in October 1995
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. DID YOU KNOW?
You can read or retrieve back issues of the BYN?
Just visit our web site at:
http://www.acfamily.net/between
and click on the "Archives" button.
This area is only open to "BETWEEN YOURSELVES - NetLetter" subscribers
and you will need the following password to enter -
User Name: byn Password: vesta
Why not check out the Air Canada Retired Employees Web Site
http://www.acfamily.net/acrew/
webmaster is Tom Grant.
Don't forget the new web site forum on THE MERGER!
http://www.acemployee.com
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" ' "
. UPRIGHT CITIZEN:
We have it on good authority that pilots in command of Bill Clinton's
B747 Air Force One have not amended their pre-landing announcement ro:
'Mr President: This is your captain speaking. We are about to land in
Washington, please will you return your seatback and the stewardess
to the upright position."
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" ' "
. News from the districts.
From the Manitoba & Saskatchean Pionairs newsletter Sept 99 -
Fall luncheon Oct 21st 1999 at Viscount Gort Hotel
1670 Portage Ave
Merrie Monarch Room.
Cash bar 11:45 followed by hot smorgasborg lunch at 13:00
Cost ca$11.00 per person includes taxes and gratuities.
Dealine October 15th.
Call Stephanie Mandzie 489-3060 for details & tickets.
Guest speaker is Saville & Barbara Hambleton.
Pionair Curling.
Winnipeg will again host the Bonspiel on February 23/24th.
Accommodations being made at Holiday Inn South and curling will be
at Pembina Curling Club. Contact:
Peter Paley (204)667-2088 at home 941-2540 at work or fax 941-2508
Wayne Oliver (204)488-6142 at home 957-1885 at work or fax 942-3003.
Christmas Party is planned for December 3rd, details will follow.
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" ' "
. TCA Alumni.
Unfortunately there will NOT be a reunion held next month due to
declining attendance. The hotel has advised it can not extend the
favourable rate the alumni used to enjoy. Mary Emerson in Halifax
advised that further information should be published in Horizons.
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" ' "
. Trip!
Your Co-pilot has returned from his vacation - what an event that was. We
picked up our friends from the UK at Vancouver Airport.
Our friends were going to share the costs with us, so we used our van. we
planned to do the North Cascade circuit in Washington State.
At the border, our UK friends had to fill in forms and pay us$6.00 each
as an entry fee.
Route 20 is the road through the mountains. On our first day, we had a
very close encounter with a deer. Just as we got onto the road after
visiting a
lookout. Fortunately we were only travelling about 45 mph, neither of us
saw the animal until we heard the bump and saw two black eyes surrounded
by antlers staring at us as it bounced off the van. The animal scuttled
off into the bush after picking itself up off the roadway.
Fortunately, no one in the van was hurt or even shookup - it happened so
quickly, and we were able to control the van and drive to the shoulder
before all the fluid ran out of the radiator.
The time was 18:00, so plenty of daylight left. I was able to stop
a passing car, and the couple kindly drove me 25 miles to Winthrop the
nearest town. I left the other three of my party at the 4,500 foot mark
with the van which had suffered a smashed front end and in no condition to
drive.
3 hours later, my van, wife and friends were collected. I made arrangements
to have the van towed back to Vancouver for repair, and we rented a car
locally which only had 100 free miles, so we drove back to Seattle for a
rental car from a major company. We got the usual airline deal, and were
able to drop it off at Vancouver Airport. One word of warning here,
Canadians are not allowed to rent a car in the US and have it dropped off
in Canada, so the rental agreement had to be completed by my UK friends.
So we lost two days spent on the phone making arrangements, but then
continued our trip. We visited the Coulee Dam in the evening and watched
the laser show using the spill way for the screen. We saw some spectacular
scenery in the mountains, going from scrubland with tumbleweed, fields and
orchards and majestic towering mountains - just incredible.
We paid a visit to the Boeing plant and saw B747's being assembled, which
was very impressive. The a visit to the Science Centre in Seattle and the
Omni theatre which our friends had never seen.
We just breezed through the customs point with no trouble, although we were
expecting our UK friends to have to pay the US departure tax but, while
being interrogated by the officail, someone shouted loudly, which distracted
him, and he just waved us through while he was trying to see what the fuss
was.
Our friends were part of the group of UK retirees visiting for a couple of
days, and we met up with the group when we got back to Vancouver - and
that will be another report. The cost of repairing my van was ca$7800, then
there was the cost of towing as well - quite expensive for my insurance
company!
(BTW - I have asked Dawn, my wife, not to call me dear for a while!)
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" ' "
. Bottoms up!
The lengths to which airlines go to make sure passengers are sitting
comfortably rarely make the headlines. In the interests of research
British Airways made a plea to staff recently for the use of their ...
bottoms. It was not a piece of cheek, not a request for silly asses.
The airline simply needed volunteers to check out the best foam to be
incorporated in a new business class seat.
(and also to make sure the staff were comfortable when they were
upgraded! - eds)
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" ' "
. Found on the internet.
Airtours of the UK, is the first airline to offer a new concept in
passenger convenience ... underfloor toilets. The loos are housed below
the main deck on a new Airbus A330-200 jet. They allow the airline to make
more use of revenue generating cabin space without reducing cabin seat
size or pitch. The lower deck toilets are also much roomier than those
normal and offer travellers a more comfortable environment by eliminating
toilet queues in the main cabin aisles.
On Airbus A340's, Airbus offers operators a sleeping section in the
forward lower deck area which can accommodate up to 10 passengers.
YOU SNOOZE, YOU LOSE: Or so it appeared when a British pax overslept as
his EgyptAir flight landed during a stopover in Manila, Philippines.
The passenger planned to deplane in Manila, but found himself in Tokyo,
where EgyptAir refused to help him get back to Britain. The passed-out
pax had the last laugh: A British court awarded him 1,150 pounds for his
troubles.
KLM TO LAUNCH LOW FARE CARRIER
Dutch carrier KLM is to join the low-fare industry with the launch of
its own carrier called Buzz. Buzz will be based at London's
Stansted airport and will take over five routes currently operated by
KLM UK to Berlin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Milan and Paris and add
two new routes to Vienna (Austria) and Lyons (France).
Buzz will operate initially with eight 110-seat British Aerospace 146
regional jets pulled from the KLM UK fleet.
British low-fare carrier EasyJet has proclaimed itself Europe's first
Internet airline after ticket sales on its web site reached 40% of all
tickets issued. Mocking a long-used British Airways motto,
EasyJet owner Stelios Haji-Ioannou told a Geneva conference
"forget the world's favourite airline, take the web's favourite airline."
To encourage online bookings, EasyJet is offering a small discount
on all tickets sold through the web site, the only carrier to do so.
British low-cost carrier Debonair has cancelled all its flights while
receivers for the company try to find a solution to resume
operations.
Norwegian low-fare carrier Color Air was shut down by its owner
after he failed to find additional funds to finance the flagging carrier.
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" ' "
. This should be a good one for all those retirees .. Janet Grunwald
After a spring break, a teacher asked her young pupils how they spent the
holidays. One child wrote the following:
"We always used to spend the holidays with Grandma and Grandpa. they used
to live here in a big brick house, but Grandpa got retarded and they moved
to Arizona.
Now they live in a place with a lot of other retarded people. They live in
a tin box and have rocks painted green to look like grass. They ride around
on big tricycles and wear name tags because they don't know who they are
anymore.
They go to a building called a wrecked center, but they must have got it
fixed, because it is all right now. They play games and do exercises there,
but they don't do them very well. There is a swimming pool too, but they
all jump up and down in it with their hats on. I guess they don't know how
to swim. At their gate, there is a doll house with a little old man
sitting in it. He watches all day so nobody can escape.
Sometimes they sneak out. Then they go cruising in their golf carts.
My Grandma used to bake cookies and stuff, but I guess she forgot how.
Nobody there cooks, they just eat out. And they eat the same thing every
night - Early Birds. Some of the people can't get past the man in the doll
house to go out. So the ones who do get out bring food back to the wrecked
center and call it pot luck. My Grandma says Grandpa worked all his life
to earn his retardment and says I should work hard so I can be retarded
some day too.
When I earn my retardment I want to be the man in the doll house. Then I
will let people out so they can visit their grandchildren."
Janet Grunwald
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" ' "
MILLENNIUM WATCH
34 countries out of 185 members of the International Civil Aviation
Organisation (ICAO) have not responded to a survey by the
organisation to assess airport and aviation infrastructure
preparedness for the millennium bug.
KLM has announced it will be operating a reduced schedule on
New Year's Eve and New Year's Day due to weak consumer demand.
Northwest Airlines has also cancelled four flights between Amsterdam
(The Netherlands) and destinations in the US and India.
Australian carrier Ansett has cancelled all flights for a 13 hour
period over starting on December 31, 1999, and ending on January
1, 2000.
Finnair has cancelled all flights between Helsinki (Finland) and
Moscow (Russia) from December 31, 1999 to January 3, 2000.
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" ' "
. Terry's travel tips.
Over night at LHR?
B & B just 15 minutes from the airport at Windsor.
GBP20 pp pn. Constant tea/coffee. Optional evening meal.
Phone: 01753-748864
Visit Dublin while in the UK!
Valid until Dec 16th 1999 -
GBP64 from LHR, GBP59 from GLA or MAN. Spend 2 nights B&B at
Fitzpatrick Castle for GBP114 pp.
Visit Portugal from the UK.
Valid until Oct 20th.
Lisbon & Oporto GBP104 pp. Faro GBP94.00.
Call 0181-941-7200 in the UK.
Stuck in Vancouver?
Airport Travelodge airline rate is CA$59.00 plus tax pp which includes
a weeks free parking if your stay is for at least one night.
Comfort Inn will charge CA$3.00 per day parking.
Vancouver Airport long term parking is
CA$7.50 per day or CA$48.75 per week.
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" ' "
. Smilie.
Name change?
With the new double beds and the launch of a mile high club on Virgin
Airlines, will this now mean the airline might change its name to
Non-Virgin Airlines?
I'm a flight instructor, and was teaching a brand new student how to
taxi the airplane. On initial call-up, I said, "Ground, Nxxx with ATIS,
ready to taxi to active, will be doing taxi practice."
The controller suggested we taxi all the way down to the inactive area,
but that was more than we wanted, so I said, "No thanks, we're ready to
taxi to the active ... I just wanted to warn you that we may be slow and
crooked."
ATC's comeback: "Well, why don't you just let the student taxi?"
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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:
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