Following up on the article in NetLetter # 1326 in “Readers Feedback” by Ken Pickford, regarding the DC-8 fire at YYZ.

Richard Fister sends this information and a couple of photos from the six he sent us - Sure did burn!
Rumour that I heard was that the crew were testing/tuning the HF radios and caused a spark that set the fire off. Don't know if this was the case but there was a prohibition to test/tune the HF radios when the a/c was being fuelled. in the AOM when I flew the DC-8s.

I had a look at the current Flight Operations Manual (8.2.14.1): "High frequency (HF) radios and weather radar shall not be operated while fuelling is in progress." I'm sure this came to be a result of 822.

 Regards, Rick

Happenings in 1942, from the Annual Report. 

1942 - May 1st - One daily service between Moncton N.B., Sydney N.S. and St. John's Newfoundland inaugurated. A second daily service added from November 1st.
Service to the Yukon Territory and Alaska as deferred due to Alaska being declared as a military zone.

The fleet equipment as of years end was: 11 Lockheed 14-08, 1 Lockheed 14H and 12 Lockheed Lodestar

Located in the "Altitude" magazine issued November 1989.

In August and September we had our first ever Cabin Crew Exchange Program with Singapore Airlines. Our two airlines had just formed a marketing alliance and four of us took to the skies on-board some of Singapore Airlines flights, to Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Perth and Sydney and they handed out brochures and giveaways while answering questions about routes and destinations to publicize the agreement.

We were true ambassadors for Air Canada and our country. The assignment was a tremendous success. It was an exciting adventure for six weeks, a first-time experience for all four., and were fortunate enough to experience layovers in Sydney and Perth, Australia.

In the photo from the left: Jocelyn Barrable, Louise Mallette-Trepanier; Jocelyn St Maurice and Ardyth Cleveland shopping In the Middle East section of Singapore, on Arab street. (shopping-in-singapore.jpg)

YVR Retirements (L-R) Rudy Saretsky, FSD. Carol Ann Shilli .F/A, Tom Pender, I/C, Eileen Hegstrom, I/C, Lloyd Penner, FSD, Susie Law, F/A,and Dick Willoughby, I/C, were honoured on the occasion of their retirement at a special function attended by over 100 people in Vancouver last June. Other retirees included Dick Wilson, FSD, Isabel Rose, I/C, and Peggy Gillis, F/A

Some of the new Flight Attendants graduating during the summer of 1989 (Seated L-R): Chantal Bonneau, instructor, Chantal Desjardins, Nathalie Raymond, Carol van Heuketon, Caroline Cortopassi, Anne-Lise Ram, Kerry Wray, Pamela Capes-Williams.

(Standing L-R: Curtis Betts, Stephane Asselin, Christine Bredt, Simone Kroege,Claire Renaud, Anu Bhardwaj, Michelle Pelchat, Wayne Lambert, Bruno Ciaramicoli, instructor, Serge DeMarco.

Alan is on vacation

1972 - April 30th - TimeAir timetable cover. (Pictured)

1987 - April 26th – Start up of Canadian International Airlines.
Pass interchangeability between Pacific Western and Air Canada was discontinued.

1990 – April 29th – Service between Quebec City and Toronto discontinued.

Found in the "Info Canadia>n" magazine

Issue dated March 1987.
All PWA and CPAL flights were integrated into the Pegasus reservation system on April 26th to complete the PW switch over from Reservec. In conjunction with this exercise, 800 MDAHL 5860 and IBM 3090 computers were purchased

Issue dated September 1988

Passengers boarding the inaugural third weekly service between Sydney and Vancouver on Aug. 9th got a royal send off from staffers who went to the airport for the occasion. Among them, from left, Donna McKenzie, sales secretary and receptionist; Michael Schey,sales representative; Terry Lee, senior sales rep, commercial development; Margaret Hill, secretary to the general manager; and Antonia Stephenson, passenger agent, city ticket office. 

Issue dated February 1990 - Mel Crothers penned this article

The northern runway is barely visible through the ice fog and blowing snow as Flight 414, Aircraft 752 with Captain Andre Grenier at the controls descends through 800 feet on final approach.
At the tiny airport terminal, a Canadian North ramp crew unloads the cargo; working in the minus 44C weather might bean exceptional hardship in other parts of the world, but for this crew in this northern community its just another day on the job.

Early explorers called this settlement "Great Whale'' after the river on whose banks it nestles on the shore of Hudsons Bay, but it is known by two other names. The Cree call it Whapmagoostui and the lnuit call it Kuujjarapik, which is the formal name now adopted by the community. Located 700 miles north of Montreal with no road access, Kuujjarapik depends on Canadian North as its vital link to the outside world.
Dressed for another day in the North is, from left, Elijah Shem, Dillon Salt and Mike Shields.

Caz Caswell sends these comments -
in reply to Terry on the Vulcan in the September 5th ‘NetLetter’ #1326.

Bristol Freighter CF-TFX piloted by Don Braun at the North Pole May 5th 1967 also mentioned by Neil Burton.

Re Beryl Osborne's memories of the CP 747 from YVR to HNL, referring to it as the "Empress of Honolulu".

To the best of my recollection, and after checking several fleet lists, none of CP Air's 4 747-200s were ever named Empress of Honolulu. They all had more than one name over the years. Names were sometimes changed to permit an appropriately-named aircraft operate an inaugural flight etc., but I'm fairly sure (but stand to be corrected) that Honolulu was not among the 747 names.

The names I can find for the 4 CP Air 747s were as follows:
C-FCRA (FIN 741) - Empress of Asia/Japan/Italy. C-FCRB (FIN 742) - Empress of Canada/Japan C-FCRD (FIN 743) - Empress of Australia/Japan/Canada. C-FCRE (FIN 744) - Empress of Italy/Australia.
(Note: CF-CPP fin 802 c/n 45927 DC-8-63 was named "Empress of Honolulu". At one time – eds).

 I only looked at the 747s re the earlier item but recall the DC-8 now. Many aircraft had several names. In their latter couple of years service, the DC-8-63s were named for Canadian provinces since they'd been relegated to mainly domestic service by then. The 6 original DC-8-43s were named for the major transcon cities but were later renamed for slightly more exotic international destinations.

Re Wayne Albertson's memories of the AC L-1011 fleet, and reference to FIN 555.

As far as I can tell, Delta Air Lines retired it to the California desert (Victorville) in late 2000 and it's still parked derelict there, unless it's been scrapped since the following photos taken in May 2013, still with remnants of Delta's livery. 
(Click thumbnail for link to Airliners.net)

Finally, just a minor spelling correction re the comments from Jack Miles on the ex-Wardair/Canadian A310s.
You have his name spelled "Mills" at the beginning. (Sorry Jack – eds) It's correct at the end.

Regards, Ken

Vern Swerdfeger sent us a list of the Craziest Airport Runways.

As these two referred to New Zealand, we sent them along to Norm Hogwood, one of our readers in New Zealand and received these comments -
Some interesting places but the two NZ airports some have old or incorrect info in captions.

Wellington. Short runway so only small aircraft? Not quite correct. Air NZ used to operate DC-8s and Qantas bought a couple of B747SP’s specifically for the SYD-WLG service and both Companies operated on a daily basis. Gradually these were replaced by B767’s by both airlines who operated services to SYD. BNE, and MEL.
Those routes are now flown by A320’s and B737-800’s at max take off weights. Fiji Airways also have a direct B738 operation to NAN.

Norm Hogwood NZ

Concorde to fly again!

A group of ex-Concorde pilots and other supporters says it has the financial backing to return one of the retired supersonic airliners to flight. In a separate arrangement, a single U.K. investor has committed about $60 million U.S. to buy a second aircraft for a permanent display on a stand in the Thames River in central London.
The Concorde last flew in 2003, three years after an accident killed 113 people in Paris.
British Airways, which operated the aircraft along with Air France, is determined to keep its Concordes on the ground but Club Concorde says there are two available in France and negotiations are underway to acquire them. The hope is to have the restored aircraft back in the air for 2019, the 50th anniversary of its first flight. Tentative plans call for the aircraft to be put on a stand in the river at the foot of the London Eye. The group hopes to have the exhibit open in 2017.