Solar plane makes history after completing round-the-world trip
(This is a few months old but was not promoted too much in the news at the time)
July 26, 2016 - Solar Impulse 2 has completed the first round-the-world flight by a solar-powered aeroplane, after touching down in Abu Dhabi early on Tuesday.
The final leg of the feat, aimed at showcasing the potential of renewable energy, was a bumpy one, with turbulence driven by hot desert air leaving the solo pilot, Bertrand Piccard, fighting with the controls.
The plane, which has a wingspan wider than a Boeing 747 and carries more than 17,000 solar cells on its wings, began the circumnavigation in March 2015 in Abu Dhabi. It has since crossed both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans using no fossil fuel and has spent more than 23 days in the air.
Click here for full story and click on image below (or here) for more photos.
Nordair’s First Boeing 737 – A Jet for All Seasons
The importance of Nordair’s place in Canadian aviation history is certainly worth noting. The Quebec based airline operated from 1947 until 1987 when it was acquired by Canadian Pacific Air Lines. Nordair pioneered and developed many routes and services during its fourty year history that expanded air service to remote areas in Canada. I also think that it must have been the first airline in Canada with a bilingual name.
My own first airplane ride was on a Nordair B737 from Montreal to Freeport, Bahamas in 1975. Alan began his career as an aircraft technician with Nordair before joining Air Canada. When I mentioned my topic for this issue, Alan sent me the following comment and link to a very informative YouTube video.
“The B737's operated by Nordair were heavily utilized sometimes traveling from the Arctic to a southern charter destination on the same day being converted from Cargo/PAX to all PAX using quick conversion kits.” Click Here to watch the fifteen-minute video which demonstrates the conversion Alan refers to.
The aircraft in the video is registration CF-NAB (Boeing line number 84) was the first B737 delivered to Nordair on October 28, 1968. It was absorbed into the CP Air and later C.A.I.L. fleets (as C-FNAB) in 1987. It was acquired by TAT (Transport Aérien Transrégional) of France in 1989 and remained in service (as F-GGPA) until TAT ceased operating in 1995. After a brief lease to Air Asia it was acquired by Air Méditerranée (as F-GOAF) in 1997 where it seems to have still been in service until 2005. Airfleets.net shows the aircraft currently stored in Romania. Click Here for another YouTube video of the same aircraft taking off in Air Méditerranée livery (I have not been able to confirm the airport or date).
While researching this article I came across Nordair timetable and route maps at Airtimes.com.
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Kelly Smith has sent us this information -
As promised a while back, attached are a few photos of the TCA hangars in Winnipeg, Manitoba my Dad had from circa 1939 and a couple of the R-100 at St. Hubert , Quebec circa 1930. Kelly M. Smith (Son of Captain Roger L. Smith) |
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We found this cartoon in the August edition of the LAX Pionairs newsletter.
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We are still in the process of creating a special "archive" related website in a dedicated area of the ACFamily Network for those who would like to view the past issues of Between Ourselves, Horizons and other archives that have been scanned by Terry over the past few years. I will update you regarding this subject in our next NetLetter (in two weeks) as I should have more in place by then. Thanks for your patience, Alan |