~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |\^/| _| TCA |_ _|\| AIR |/|_ N E T L E T T E R > CANADA < B E T W E E N O U R S E L V E S >_./|\._< for P I O N A I R S | Your crew is: Chief Pilot - Vesta Stevenson Chief Navigator - Terry Baker tm number 96 date November 7th 1996 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . LOTTO A319 Your running out of time! For those of us who are retirees and could not get to an Air Canada or Connector office to send off your 'boarding card', Ken Clark suggests mailing to: LOTTOA319 Air Canada Centre 261 PO Box 14000 Saint Laurent P.Que H4Y 1H4 ~-=o0o=-~ . Found on the Internet Self-Service Boarding Pass Machines United currently is testing Self-Service Boarding Pass Machines at San Francisco and Los Angeles International Airports. The new machines are aimed at enhancing customer convenience by eliminating the need to wait in ticket counter lines at airports. Travelers who have already purchased an E-Ticket can use the machines to select their seats and obtain a boarding pass for their flight -- all within about 30 seconds. Additional self-service machines will be installed at United airport terminals across the country later in 1996. United customers also will be testing another high-tech option at the airport, roving check-in. CANADA TAKES ATC PRIVATE, AS U.S. WATCHES CLOSELY NavCanada, a not-for-profit corporation, became the first fully-private air traffic authority in the world Friday, opening the way for aviators, aircraft owners and airline operators to learn together whether a private ATC system has merit. And it's an experiment that will be closely watched in the U.S. The new company's revenue will come from fees charged aircraft that use the air traffic control system. The costs are now met by an airline ticket tax that is to be phased out over the next two years. Advocates of a privatized ATC system in the U.S. believe the Canadian initiative will help their cause as the U.S. aviation community becomes more comfortable with the idea as they see it in practice north of the border. But the U.S. general aviation community is dead set against the whole idea. Talks between Air Canada and its agents union stalled last week... Boeing's 2 new model B747 will cost US$7 billion to develop. Pratt & Whitney completed assembly of the first PW4098 engine, the most powerful ever built for commercial aviation at 98,000 pounds of take-off thrust. Cost of the investigation into the TW800 crash was risen to US$23.9 million, 4 times the amount that Congress set aside. The strike at Phillipine Airlines has ended. ~-=o0o=-~ . Ray Valois relates an experience on a recent business trip - 'I just can't go through this again! On my annual trip to Europe to visit key Air Canada stations (PAR/FRA/LHR) last December, I flew into the Paris civil servants strike. On the taxi ride back to CDG - after visiting the PAR Res Ofc - the driver actually drove through a pedestrian underground walkway to get to a main thoroughfare to ultimately get me to a meeting I had setup with CDG airport staff!!!' An earlier experience - 'I was with Claude Barrette and his wife and five year old daughter ... an absolute delight. Claude only found the first gear on the Volvo we had rented when we drove into a garage and the person pumping gas said that he smelled smoke. He looked around the car and could not find anything. Claude had to put the car in reverse since another car had pulled in cutting off our forward exit from the garage. After backing up, he pushed the gear shift forward and stepped on the gas (as he had been doing since ZURICH - we were now in LUZERNE), "Wow" - he said, "this car can really move"! He had been starting off from 3rd gear all the way from ZURICH everytime we stopped! What a clutch! What a guy! And finally - 'We had a postcard of where we were going from Guy Langevin and Jacques De Cotret, both had been to this particular inn in Lugano - our ultimate destination. After three - yes, three unsuccessful attempts taking different directions from the same garage attendant, we finally saw the inn. We stopped and saw a sign that said "STAZIONE" (the "Z" is correct). We immediately thought this to mean PARKING or "STATIONNEMENT" in French. After a six-hour flight and three hours of driving - considering the time change - some of the letters "fuzzied out". We made a right turn beside the inn where the sign was and went up. As we drove up this road, the road gradually gave way to steps; I will try to explain - there were no steps where the street intersected with the uphill road ... as we moved up this road, the road gradually gave way to steps - the steps started taking up more and more of the road - gradually - and when we got to the top, there was no more road, only steps!!!! When we arrived at the top, we saw many, many people looking at this car that had just driven up to a railway station platform - OUCH! You see, we found out later that STAZIONE is short (and Swedish) for a railway station. We looked at each other and we laughed till we cried. I wonder to this day what the people who were waiting for the train were thinking.' Ray tells us that he is due to visit the Eurpoean stations during this month - we suggest anyone contemplating a trip to Europe defer it until Ray is safely back home! ~-=o0o=-~ . More smilies from Vesta - IF OPERATING SYSTEMS WERE AIRLINES: MAC AIRWAYS The cashiers, flight attendants, and pilots all look the same, feels the same and act the same. When asked questions about the flight they reply that you don't want to know, don't need to know and would you please return to your seat and watch the movie. OS/2 SKYWAYS The terminal is almost empty, with only a few prospective passengers milling about. Airline personnel walk around, apologizing profusely to customers in hushed voices, pointing from time to time to the sleek, powerful jets outside the terminal on the field. They tell each passenger how good the real flight will be on these new jets and how much safer it will be than Windows Airlines, but that they will have to wait a little longer for the technicians to finish the flight systems. ~-=o0o=-~ . 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. -!- Landing on an Island in the Pacific. _____(~)_____ ! ! ! This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. <<<>>> This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ................................................... . GREETINGS FROM . . Vancouver Island . . BEAUTIFUL B.C. CANADA . ...................................................
