Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

Found in 'Horizons' magazine

Issue dated September 1999

West and east wins.

Held in Vancouver from June 15 to 17, 1999, the ACRA System Softball Tournament was a roaring success. The weather was perfect as 17 teams battled for the winning cup.

In the mixed event, the Vancouver #1 team stole the glory from Winnipeg's #2 team. In the Men's, Montreal was victorious over Los Angeles. Keep on swinging and see you next June in Calgary!

Nikolai the bull elephant goes to Frankfurt.

In July 1999, a very special seven-year old pachyderm boarded AC872 from Toronto to Frankfurt in the main deck of our B-747-400 combi.

Weighing in at almost 3,300 lbs., Nikolai was in a crate weighing nearly 3,000 lbs. He was accompanied by three attendants—two from his new home at the Hanover Zoo and one from his African Lion Safari home in Cambridge, Ontario.

The empty crate was hoisted by forklift onto a 16 ft. airline pallet, Nikolai walked into the crate to be weighed, and then was immediately loaded in the main deck.

Wonder if he's ordered a special meal?

Taming the Trans-Atlantic.

In 1946, for $375 CDN eastbound and GBP85 westbound, you could fly the North Atlantic on one of the most unique aircraft ever manufactured; the Canadian-built Lancaster.

The four-engine airplane that flew over the Atlantic three times a week in each direction was a passenger version of the Avro Lancaster, a military bomber converted to a cargo airplane with limited seating, sometimes referred to as the Lancastrian.

Following the end of the war in 1945, TCA added four more Lancasters to the fleet that now numbered seven. Emerging from the Victory Aircraft Factory in Toronto, these 'Lancs' differed from their predecessors.

The early Lancasters - anything but passenger aircraft - were a product of an elaborate conversion process designed to carry light loads.

With the trans-Atlantic carriage of military mail declining after the war and the passenger traffic building ever larger in importance, there was a need for passenger aircraft.

Click the image to view a short video about the Lancaster posted by British Pathé on YouTube.

The passenger 'Lancs'.

Through the elimination of a portion of the bomb bay, accommodation was provided for 10 passengers in a roomy cabin that was heated with a gasoline-operated combustion heater. The earlier method had extracted heat from the engine's liquid coolant. The entire aircraft was insulated and soundproofed with fibreglass.

Individual reading lights, call buttons, ash trays, oxygen outlets, and other incidentals familiar to the airline passenger were also provided.

Designed by the TCA interior decorator, ceilings and walls were yellow with the lower sidewall panels rust. A mahogany-coloured carpet covered the cabin floor, while the standard TCA seat at that time was a light green.

The flight crew compartment was enlarged to provide additional room for navigating and radio officers. Beside a galley equipped for serving hot meals was a desk and chair for the cabin attendant.

Though cargo space was reduced to some extent to permit increased passenger accommodation, ample space remained for trans-Atlantic mail and baggage.

A tribute to Canadian workmanship and to the excellence of Canadian aircraft manufacture, the 'Lancs' remained in service until the four-engine North Star aircraft flew the trans-Atlantic in 1948.

Issue dated October 1999.

On duty every time in Seoul.

Ever since service started up, Station Manager Don Hur hasn't missed greeting a single flight.

For the last five years, he's been there two to three times a week. Over the past few months, his team, which moved into new Terminal 2 offices, has been handling full passenger and cargo loads with excellent on-time performance.

In this photograph by Isabelle Arthur are, from left to right: Jong-Sik Baek, Ramp & Cargo Customer Service Manager; Myeong-Sook Choi, Customer Service Agent; Don Hur and Hyun-Seog Koh, Customer Service Supervisor. 

Celebrating 15 years.

During 1999, Direct Marketing Sales and Service Agents at the Winnipeg Aeroplan Centre celebrated Aeroplan's fifteenth milestone in style, an aircraft shaped cake.

Seated, left to right: Ginette Comeau, Melissa Phaneuf, Joanne Dupuis, Denise Gallant and Nicolette Layne.

Standing, left to right: Dahlia Kurtz, Pamela Klippenstein, Murielle Warbis, Josée Bélanger, Jennifer Paterson and Dave Burns, General Manager, Aeroplan Call Centre Operations.

Here we have a pictorial of the Transair fleet.

Source: Air Canada 75th anniversary book.

From the "InfoCanadi>n" magazine.

Issue dated March 1988

Service fit for a queen!

In the photo below, Olie Damsgaard, purser, and Iris Kennedy, charter sales representative, present Queen Silvia of Sweden with flowers in Victoria, British Columbia.

The Queen and King Carl Gustav XVI, who toured Canada last week with the aim of strengthening ties between Sweden and Canada, flew on Canadian Airlines from Victoria to Vancouver on  Friday, March 18, 1988.

The crew included Olie Damsgaard, flight attendants Robin Leeder and Marilia Neto, Captain Doug Hill and First Officer Andy Bodenbender.

The charter, organized by Iris Kennedy, flew 60 passengers, among them Swedish and Canadian dignitaries, protocol, and members of the Swedish press.

Issue dated December 1990. 

It's finally here!

Ordered on July 28, 1988, delivered on December 13, 1990. Canada's and Canadian's first B747-400 could not have arrived at a more opportune time. 

Aircraft Fin #881 on the flight line at Boeing prior to its first test flight, November 7, 1990. Canadian's first B-747-400 was the 100th off the production line!

See NetLetter #1392 for our previous article on the delivery of C-GMWW - named 'Maxwell W. Ward'

In 1990, PWA Corporation consolidated its regional airline holdings into a new subsidiary management company called Canadian Regional Airlines Ltd. which comprised Time Air, Calm Air, Ontario Express and Air Atlantic.

Extracted from Air Canada 'Horizons' magazine.

Issue dated June 2000.

Hong Kong Sales gets into integration.

On April 6, 2000 Air Canada and Canadian Airlines hosted a breakfast seminar for local travel agents.

The event was well received, and we capitalized on the opportunity to announce Air Canada's Toronto-Hong Kong service and Canadian Airlines' Summer Tour packages to Canada. Schedules, brochures, and product information briefs were distributed.

The breakfast seminar team, left to right: Samson Sum, Sales Executive; Raymond Ho, Senior Sales Representative; Erica Lee, Secretary; Arron Ching, Station Manager; Ralfy Tsang, Secretary; Ivan Tsang, Sales Manager; Anita Leung, Manager-Hong Kong, China, and South East Asia; Bernard Lu, Sales and Reservation Manager; Beatrix Chan, Marketing Coordinator; Derek Ng and Catherine Chu, Customer Service Agents-Tour Desk; Terry Yen and Quincy Cheng, Sales Executives.

Found posted on pwareunion.com, the Pacific Western Airlines Employee Alumni web site.

Posted by C. Beck in December 2009.

• Airspeed - Speed of an airplane. (Deduct 25% when listening to a retired fighter pilot).
• Bank - The folks who hold the lien on most pilots' cars.
• Carburetor icing - A phenomenon reported to the FAA by pilots immediately after they run out of gas.
• Cone of confusion - An area about the size of New Jersey located near the final approach beacon at an airport.
• Crab - A VFR Instructor's attitude on an IFR day.
• Dead reckoning - You reckon correctly, or you are.
• Destination - Geographical location 30 minutes beyond the pilot's bladder saturation point.
• Engine failure - A condition that occurs when all fuel tanks mysteriously become filled with low-octane air.
• Firewall - Section of the aircraft specifically designed to funnel heat and smoke into the cockpit.
• Flight following - USAF Formation flying.
• Glide distance - Half the distance from an airplane to the nearest emergency landing field.
• Hobbs - An instrument which creates an emergency situation should it fail during dual instruction.
• Hydroplane - An airplane designed to land long on a short and wet runway.
• IFR - A method of flying by needle and horoscope.
• Lean mixture - Nonalcoholic beer.
• Mini mag lite - Device designed to support the AA battery industry.
• Nanosecond - Time delay between the Low Fuel Warning light and the onset of carburetor icing.
• Parachutes - The two chutes in a Stearman.
• Parasitic drag - A pilot who bums a ride and complains about the service.
• Range - Usually about 3 miles short of the destination.
• Rich mixture - What you order at another pilot's promotion party.
• Roger - Used when you're not sure what else to say.
• Sectional chart - Any chart that ends 25 nm short of your destination.
• Service ceiling - Altitude at which cabin crew can serve drinks.
• Spoilers - FAA Inspectors.
• Stall - Technique used to explain to the bank why your car payment is late.
• Steep banks - Banks that charge pilots more than 10% interest.
• Turn & bank indicator - An instrument largely ignored by pilots.
• Useful load - Volumetric capacity of the aircraft, disregarding weight.
• VOR - Radio navigation aid, named after the vortex effect on pilots trying to home in on it.
• WAC chart - Directions to the Army female barracks.
• Yankee - Any pilot who has to ask New Orleans tower to "Say again".

Terry Baker, co-founder of the NetLetter scours the internet for aviation related Trivia and Travel Tips for you, our readers, to peruse.

Oceanside Air Ltd. is a locally owned and operated air carrier and charter company based in Qualicum Beach, British Columbia.

Operating charter destinations ranging from Qualicum Beach, Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo, Tofino, and more locations across the province.

Source: Oceansideair.com

Low cost start ups.

In the United States three low-cost start up airlines were introduced in 2021, including Avelo Airlines, Breeze Airways, and Aha!, ExpressJet Airlines' new leisure brand.

When COVID hit, both Avelo and Breeze were able to take advantage of a glut of airline employees like pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, airport agents, and other airline professionals who found themselves in need of a new job.

Meanwhile, Avelo capitalized on the low lease rates for the Boeing 737-700 planes it acquired from Southwest Airlines. More budget carriers are hoping to start in 2022, including Airbahn and Northern Pacific Airways.

Source: MSN.com