A mouthwatering look at what in-flight meals used to be like
(Submitted by: Alan Rust)
It’s always fascinating to take a look at the past! For example, you’ll be surprised to discover how airplane meals have changed in the last half a century. As it turns out, air travellers had once enjoyed onboard services that were on a par with those offered by top-rated Michelin restaurants! Recently, Norwegian air carrier Scandinavian Airlines has released nostalgia-inducing photos from the 1950s to1980s, showing its passengers dining on crab, lobster, gammon, and caviar.
I've included a few photos from the web page that you can visit here.
Bombardier Dash 8 - Q Series
The Bombardier Dash 8 (or Q-Series) is the largest single fleet of aircraft within the Air Canada family of airlines. Currently Planespotters.net list 89 active and 17 retired aircraft in the Air Canada Express fleet.
Air Canada’s website differs slightly with 86 active but does not list retired aircraft for the connector airlines.
Developed and introduced by de Havilland Canada in 1983, the economical turboprop aircraft quickly became a favourite of airlines anxious to expand their short haul service. De Havilland was unable to keep up with demand and Boeing, realizing the market opportunity, purchased the company. Sales did not meet Boeing’s expectations and the company was in turn sold to Bombardier in 1992.
Orders continued to come in from the connector airlines affiliated with Air Canada and C.A.I.L. until the series of mergers that created the Jazz brand in 2001.
Orders for these reliable workhorses continue worldwide with the popularity of the current 70+ seat Q400 series. Wikipedia lists total sales of the Dash 8 at 1,218 since 1983 (as of March 31, 2017).
Most everyone must have a story to tell relating the Dash 8. No doubt that all airline employees have flown on them at least once. I have twice had the pleasure of riding in the jump seat on short flights. The first was from Victoria to Vancouver for all of fifteen minutes. It was interesting to notice that YVR is visible as soon as the aircraft clears the mountains out of YYJ.
My second jump seat ride was from Edmonton to Calgary during a mild snowfall. There was very little wind and the view of the snowflakes gently falling was a lot fun to watch.
One of my all time favourite rides is the flight from Vancouver, BC to Seattle, WA with the views of mountains to the East and islands to the West. A view that has not changed (except for some taller buildings) since the first Air Canada flight 80 years ago. There are at least a few YouTubers who agree with me. Click the video link below for a sample.
Click Here for a list of active and historical Dash 8's compiled from Planespotters.net
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In NetLetter nr 1364 "Readers Submitted Photos" we had two photos from Gerald McCarthy. This should have read Gerard McCarthy. We apologize for this error. Our archive copy of the NetLetter nr 1364 has been corrected. Gerard has a great web site at gmac99.blogspot.ca with EPA Memorabilia. |
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Peter Sutherland has sent us this information -
The photo depicts Jim Finlay’s farewell luncheon on his departure from the UK held at Thames Court Country Club, Shepperton, U.K. October 1st, 1974. In the photo they are simply listed ‘left to right’ (no “back row” or “front row”): Roy Ledgerwood, ‘Cec’ McDonald, John Buchanan, Barry Stride, Tony Coleman, John Searle, Helen Hutton, Jack Helsby, Ken Banks, Jim Finlay, Gary Evans, Dave Dougans, Derek Burell, Bill Ferguson, Doug Stewart, Gib Sale, Alan Horabin, Ken Fletcher, Bob Williamson, Peter Sutherland, David Broad and Brian Sygrove. Yours truly stands third from the right. Best wishes, Peter Sutherland. |
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Found in the "Horizons" magazine issue dated December 1979.
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A groaner! A vulture carrying two dead raccoons boards an airplane. The stewardess looks at him and says, I am sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger. |
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You may require an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA). For more information, consult www.canada.ca/eta to determine if this requirement applies to you. |
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Terry’s Trips Down Memory Lane During the 1980's my wife and I had many trips to England and, on one of the trips, we were accompanied by a couple, a co-worker who worked in the same office as me (in Dorval) and his wife. On one memorial trip, we decided to do a pub crawl, not for the drinking part necessarily, but because the accommodations and food were much cheaper than at hotels or motels. Unfortunately, I didn't keep a trip report, so this is from memory, and also not in the sequence of events. Visiting Shakespeare’s home in Stratford upon Avon, the other couple showed their "student cards" and joined a group of visitors already entering the house - no charge! Another time they hocked a camera and then made an insurance claim that it had been stolen when they returned to Canada, not a nice thing to do, but that was how this couple operated. In Cirencester, there was a fair being set up in a car park and, next morning there was not a sign of the fair having been there. The site was spotless - a message to the locals! To get to one of the pubs, we had to back down a one way street as we had missed a turning. We found that staying in pubs was not the best choice after all, the accommodations and food were OK, but each evening, when the pubs were "turned out" (in those days 10:30 pm) some imbibers would stand around under our bedroom windows and talk in rather high voices, and then, later, there was a drift of voices saying "goodnight Flo", "goodnight Joe" or whatever, as they proceeded to their homes. Next morning at breakfast we arrived to the aroma of stale beer and smoke – yuk! So we gave in after several pubs, and went into motels. We should have guessed that about my co-worker who, incidentally, looked the splitting image of a mafia “Don” - square on all sides. On one occasion, we were in Lisbon, Portugal for a weekend with a group from our office in Dorval, including the “Don” and his wife. Those were the days of the InterTAP interline 3 day deals with confirmed space. When we checked out, the “Don” dutifully checked the details of his bill and noticed a charge for an ashtray. He immediately took the said ashtray out of his suitcase and declared that he did not want it! The charge was removed. Future trips did not include this couple who later left Air Canada and joined the United Nations where he received a placement in Rwanda, Africa and then Vienna. On one occasion, we joined a group from the office for a three day weekend in London, England. During our transfer to the hotel, we took a London Transport double decker bus from the bus station to our hotel in Peckham. We all placed our suitcases under the staircase on the double decker bus, and sat down inside. As the bus went around a right-handed corner, a bag flew out from under the stairs - it belonged to one of our party. The owner and I immediately attempted to get off at the next bus stop, but the conductor insisted that we pay the fare and thus delayed our mission of retrieval. Despite asking several people on the street if they had seen this errant suitcase, speeding down the road, no one owned up. We never did find that suitcase which was one with wheels, and presumably was last seen careening down the main road. We made a lost luggage report to London Transport. The person in question who lost the bag went to a store and bought some necessities and, to rub the mishap in, the hotel assigned the person to a room which was no bigger than a converted cupboard, with no room to swing a cat. After returning to Canada, a letter was received from London Transport to inform the owner of the lost suitcase that some luggage had been found and would they present themselves to identify it - all the way from Canada - no way. |
