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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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> CANADA <
>_./|\._< for Air Canada retirees
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Chief Pilot - Vesta Stevenson
http://www.acra.ca/between/vesta/
Co-pilot - Terry Baker
http://www.acra.ca/between
number 313 date Sept 26th, 1998 1st Published in October 1995
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. Need to know -
Travel Guide.
Air Canada has reviewed the final version of the Travel Guide produced
by Pionair volunteers and we are pleased to report that they have
production underway to publish and distribute a guide to all retirees.
The format will no doubt be changed slightly but we have met our
objective and provided the asistance requested.
The Air Canada publication will be distributed sometime during October
or November.
Congratulations are due to our volunteers for a job well done.
Olie Moore, Pres. Pionairs Olie & Mary Moore <
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. Welcome to Jack Lussier retired Cargo Agent lives in Ingersoll, Ont
email:
Courtney Greene retired Baggage Agent resides in Dartmouth, N.S.
try email at
Bill Shinnan lives in Heffley Creek, BC, was Airport Svcs Mgr,
get him at
Jack MacGregor was in Flight Despatch
Now the McDougall's have joined us -
Jack did 43 years, retired V.P. Maintenance & Engineering
Elizabeth stayed for 38 years before retiring
they are both on
Claude Ranger retired Mechanic lives in the Eastern Townships
of Quebec in Orford. Email:
John Moore was General Foreman Maintenance now in Langley, BC
email:
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. Dave Cooper sends us this -
I have already given you the bare bones of my aviation career in
Canada, but it started before that. My first flight was in 1938 at
Croydon, five minutes in a DH Puss Moth. I was hooked! I joined the Air
Training Corps in the U.K. around 1943. I was lucky enough to go to an
ATC camp at the HQ of the the Air Transport Auxilary. I even got to fly
there with a WOMEN pilot in a Locheed Hudson. I sat in the upper gun
turret while she was checked out on type, doing circuits and bumps.
I went on to join the Royal Navy as an Air Mechanic in March 1945, and
was demobbed in 1947. Got to fly in such weird aircraft as Fairey
Barracudas, and Fireflys. The last station I was at was training pilots
for deck landings. The last batch to go through before I was demobbed
were all Canadians. The had the dubious honour of crashing every
aircraft when they tried their first landings on a carrier in the North
Sea! None came back to the base at Lossiemouth in Scotland. One guy ran
off into the catwalk along the side of the flight deck - killed a
midshipman watching the action. The pilot climbed out of the cockpit,
walked down the wing that was over the side of the carrier, and jumped
in the sea. No helicopters then - he got picked up by the escort
destroyer after a very cold bath. (No immersion suits then either.)
After I left the R.N. I worked for various charter outfits in the U.K.
On of them was Freddy Laker's first real commercial venture. I met him
first when he had an old Wlesley car and went round the various
abandoned USAF airfiels picking up spare parts for DC-3s. He would bring
the parts in to the hanger where I was working and some other guys I
worked with that he knew. We would clean the parts up, paint them up if
necessary, and Freddie would come back a week or so later and pick them
up and give us a couple of quid.
I later worked for him when he was leasing Halifax bombers as freighters
on the Berlin Airlift. I got to go over to Hamberg for a couple of weeks
before the Airlift finished. An experience I will never forget. The
aircaft took off in waves, every four hours. If the missed the approach
in Tegel, Berlin, they had to come back with their load. The crews did
not then get their trip bonus! If they were lucky and got unloaded in
Berlin quickly, they would be able to get back to Hamburg in time to
reload, refuel, put more oil on, and be in the tail end of the next
wave. The fastest time I saw was seven minutes from chocks in to chocks
out, to load seven tons of sugar, all manually, refuel and hand pump oil
into the oil tanks. The crew never got out of their seats.
I've always enjoyed flying but never flown an aircraft myself. I was
taught at a very early part of my career the "Only fools fly, and only
owls at night." Not that that has stopped me. I now have flown in
sixty-six different types of aircraft. This does not include the various
model number such as the 737 series. One of my latest types (two months
after a triple by-pass) was Don Chamberlain's Tiger Moth. It was also
the first time I had done a loop and a spin.
Well I've rambled on long enough, I'll write you another time if you
like. Regards, Dave Cooper.
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. Keith Rhodes sends us a bio -
A brief history of my TCA /Air Canada career -
It started on June 26th, 1964, which was a Friday, due to a clerical error
in the employment offer, which stated that I had to start by that date,
when it should have said accept by that date. Anyway, I got a months pay for
three days work, and a higher pass priority, so that was a good start.
I worked in the Mechanical Systems group of Engineering, for John
Carruthers and Baldy Torrell, and stayed for 30 years, under different
leaders,
different titles, with a sabbatical from 1975 to 1986 in the (then new)
Load Control group, where I became Chief, Load Control.
This was a very interesting period, which allowed me to visit every city
into which Air Canada operated , and meet colleagues from operating
branches, such as Customer Service, In Flight and Flight Operations, quite
an eye
opener for a lowly engineer from the Maintenance Branch. The biggest
achievment was the development of ALPAC, which was - and still is - a leader
in centralised computer weight and balance programs.
After returning to Engineering, I held several positions during the
frequent re-organistions, ending as Chief Engineer, New Product Development,
just in time for Project Image and Project Value which re-configured every
aircraft in the fleet, which new interiors and new interior and exterior
decor, electronic passenger entertainment, satellite telephones, all with a
timescale that would previously have been considered impossible.
We soon found out that this particular word was not in Hollis Harris'
dictionary, and the phrase "Hollis wants it" resulted in miracles being
performed.
After retiring, I started a consulting business, and last year moved from
Quebec to Ontario, setting up a new home near Manotick, on Carleton Golf and
Yacht Club development. And Barb and I dont play golf!!! We sail all Summer
in the 1000 Islands area, and don't have time. Maybe later..
Barb and I love it here, and would like to hear from other Air Canada
retirees in the neighborhood.
We are already in contact with several, including Jim Riddoch,
Fred Spriggs, Bob Austin and Don Edwards.
Cheers for now, Keith Rhodes can be reached by email:
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. Terry's travel tips.
Canadian Interline Specials -
Holland America line - ms Rotterdam September 27 - 12 Nights
Super Deal us$50.75 per person per day double occupancy.
Itinerary
1-Athens (Piraeus), Greece 2-Kusadasi, Turkey (Ephesus tour otpion)
3-At Sea 4-Alexandria, Egypt (Cairo tour option)
5-Ashdod (Tel Aviv), Israel (Jaffa & kibbutz tour options)
6-Haifa, Israel (Jerusalem & Nazareth tour options) 7-At Sea
8-Rhodes, Greece 9-Heraklion, Crete, Greece (Knossos tour option)
10-At Sea 11-Dubrivnik, Croatia (Korcula tour option)
12-Venice, Italy 13-Venice Disembark
For Reservations Call 1-800-665-3100 Today!! Mention Pionairs.
Dargal Specials -
Special --- South America
Royal Princess from $739 Nov 4 - 17 days
Ft. Lauderdale to Santiago, Chile
Royal Princess from $779 Nov 21 - 14 days
Santiago (Valparaiso) to Buenos Aires
Other Specials - Caribbean
Royal Princess from $269 Oct 31 - 4 days
Ft. Lauderdale, Key West, Cozumel, Ft. Lauderdale
- South Pacific
Crown Princess from $919 Oct 6 - 12 days
Papeete, Moorea, Bora Bora, Christmas Island, Kauai, Lahaina,
Hilo, Honolulu
- Mexico
Crown Princess from $734 Nov 6 - 10 days
Los Angeles, 2 days at sea, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta,
Zihuatanejo, Acapulco, Cabo San Lucas, Los Angeles
Southern Caribbean @ Christmas!
Royal Caribbean - Splendour of the Seas from $964 Dec 16 - 10 nights
Miami, Playa del Carmen/Mexico, Cozumel, Georgetown, Ocho Rios,
St. Thomas/USVI, San Juan/Puerto Rico, Miami
All rates US$ pp/dbl, subject to availability, new bookings only.
Port Charges/Gov't fees additional.
Call Dargal @ 1-800-690-3223 and mention Pionairs.
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. Smilie.
From Gordon Dalziel -
A Huey Cobra (helicopter) practicing autoroyations during a military night
training exercise had a problem and landed on the tail rotor, separating
the tail boom. Fortunately it wound up on its skids, sliding down the
runway doing 360's in a brilliant shower of sparks.
As the Cobra passed the tower, the following exchange was overheard:
Tower: "Sir, do you need any assistance?"
Cobra: " I don't know, tower. "We aint done crashin' yet!"!
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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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Copyright 1998 by Vesta Stevenson & Terry Baker.