The first Airbus A330I was quite surprised to receive an email notification from Simple Flying advising that the world's first Airbus A330 (MSN012) has been retired more than 27 years after its first flight as the A330 prototype in 1992. Original registration, F-WWKA, with Airbus Industrie was built back in 1992 as a prototype and used for certification flights before being delivered to Cathay Pacific in October of 1996. B-HLJ served its entire almost 24 years of passenger service with Cathay Pacific and its subsidiary Cathay Dragon (aka Dragonair). It was withdrawn from service on July 6 and stored at Taipei July 17. Its fate is now uncertain but it would be appropriate for this landmark aircraft to be preserved somewhere. References: Simple Flying story |
Additional info by Ken Pickford: By the time that aircraft was refurbished and delivered to Cathay Pacific in October 1996, several dozen A330's were in service with other airlines. The first A330 operator in January 1994 was French domestic carrier Air Inter (which merged with Air France in 1997). Other early A330 operators included Thai Airways, Aer Lingus and Malaysia Airlines. The A330-300 was somewhat unusual in that the stretched -300 model came first, several years before the shorter but longer range A330-200 which went into service in April 1998, four years after the -300. Interestingly, the first operator of the A330-200 was Canadian charter (and briefly scheduled) carrier Canada 3000 which ceased operations in November 2001. |
Ishrion Aviation posted this excellent tribute to the aircraft. |
Here we have this Canadian Pacific Air Lines advertising for their flights to Australia in 1949. (Source: vintageadbrowser.com) |
Below are some postings we found on Facebook |
A group of lighters given to first class passengers posted by Peter Massey. |
Colleen Evans posted this photo. Photo below left, Canadian Trade Fair 1972 - on the ramp in Peking, now Beijing, PRC. Standard DC-8, Aircraft 601. At the time this picture was taken it had the greatest number of hours on the airframe of any DC-8 in the world. I am the female F/A on the far right, next to Purser Willie Gherig. This was a fabulous experience - note the portrait of Mao Tse Tung on the terminal. My son framed this picture and gave it to me for my birthday a few years ago: Left to right: Gary Grant, Colleen Campbell, ?, Suzanne ?, Colleen Evans and Willie Gherig. So many years ago! Trying to remember all the names. If only the Reunion were still on this year. Photo below right, identified by Ken Pickford, was taken at the CP Air (now AC) Operations Centre at YVR. The large CP Air logo, lighted at night, was on the east wall of the hangar. Click Here to view this wall today. |
Brian Simpson posted this photo on May 22, 2020. |
John Mikkelsen posted this photo of the graduation day May 1976. He is the second from the right bottom row. |
Here is the cover of the enRoute magazine issued March 2013. Source : issuu.com/spafax/docs |
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Grand piano visits Vancouver International Airport (YVR). An Air Canada Cargo agent polishes a Bechstein grand piano after it arrives at Vancouver International Airport on a DC-8 freighter. This was the piano's first stop in Canada before travelling to 32 communities in British Columbia to be played in concerts organized by Jeunesses Musicales du Canada, a non-profit organization founded in 1949 to give Canada's youth greater access to classical music. (Source: enRoute March 2013 edition - page 122 - used with permission) |
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Here are some adverts from the 1940's from www.vintageadbrowser.com - Left, TCA inaugurates North Star New York to Toronto. |
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Trans-Canada Air Lines Canadian Rockies - Canada’s great wide west – for a Vacation Above Everything. |
Fly TCA home to Canada for Christmas. |
Return to International travel Montreal - Geneva. Posted on Facebook by Luc Mayne on July 4, 2020. This morning at 8 a.m. we were looking forward to it To celebrate the resumption of long-haul flights, nothing less than a magnificent B-787 Dreamliner that arrived from Canada. Since this flight was never operated with this plane, Genève Aéroport's firefighters (SSLIA) took out two large fire trucks for the traditional "Water salute". There will be 3 flights per week to Montreal until July 20. Starting in August, it will be every day. |
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Fresh air. Oxygen is scarce above 10,000 feet, yet we take for granted that as the plane slices through the stratosphere at 35,000 feet, we’re on the inside, breathing easy. That’s all thanks to cabin pressurization, first introduced in 1939 with the Boeing Stratoliner. This invention revolutionized air travel, allowing aircraft to fly higher in low-friction atmosphere while maintaining cabin air pressure and oxygen levels equivalent to those at 8,000 feet. Modern aircraft are equipped with ventilation systems so efficient you hardly notice they are there. Air flows constantly into the cabin via ceiling ducts and back out through vents near the floor. It is refreshed every few minutes, more often than in your home or office. The cabins of Air Canada’s mainline fleet use a mix of outside air – drawn in and compressed to maintain cabin pressure – and purified cabin air that passes through high-efficiency particulate air (or HEPA) filters. This fresh-filtered combo makes it easier to regulate cabin temperature, maintain some humidity and ensure that the total air supply is sterile and particle-free. In fact, it is cleaner than in many other indoor spaces. So, that little nozzle above your head: It’s a breath of fresh air. The extremely close-knit fibres in HEPA filters remove at least 99.9 percent of particles, including microscopic viruses and bacteria. The filters on all Air Canada mainline aircraft are similar to those in operating rooms and high-tech factories. Multiple studies, including one by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency in 2017, found that air quality in aircraft cabins is similar or better than what is observed in normal indoor environments on the ground. Before the advent of pressurized cabins, flight attendants were registered nurses who could care for passengers made sick by turbulence or the effects of altitude. (Source: enroute.aircanada.com/en/article/airplane-ventilation) |
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From the "Horizons" magazine | |
Issue dated May 1992. A Viennese treat. An old Viennese pub was the scene for a party held in honour of Senior Customer Sales & Service Agent Ingeborg Stingl, who retired after 17 years of service. She is pictured here with her colleagues, back row. left to right: Hans Sittler, Personnel Manager, France and Central Europe; Klaus Jagschitz, Passenger Agent; Christian Lenz, Airport Services Manager; Monika Weissmann, Cargo Agent. Middle row, left to right: Henry Mazuruk, Sales Agent, Warsaw; Ingeborg Stingl; Angelika Hammer-Schloesser, Manager, Austria and Southeast Europe; (sitting) Nora Castrini, Passenger Reservations Agent. |
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In appreciation. Air Canada staff in Bermuda were presented with an award of appreciation for their support and assistance by the Canadian Armed Forces Base in Bermuda. This presentation signifies the strong relationship that continues to grow between the organizations. Our colleagues in Bermuda are, from left to right: Customer Service Agent Polly Peters; Rita Johnson, Senior Customer Service Agent; Felicia Pike, Customer Service Agent; Ian Davis, Manager, Bermuda; Major Syd Helmkay, Canadian Armed Forces Liaison Officer, who presented the award; Lucy Fox, Customer Service Agent; Marc Rosenberg, General Manager, Passenger Sales, U.S. and South; Janet De Silva, Customer Service Agent and Noel Rodriguez, Maintenance Representative - Canada. |
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Jumbo feat The Gladiator uses plane strength to pull B-747. A British professional strongman has rewritten the record books. Strongman Dave Gauder, better known as "the Gladiator" in England, achieved the unthinkable on May 19, 1992 - he pulled an Air Canada 747-400 jet 7.5 centimetres at London's Heathrow (LHR) Airport. The giant aircraft including fuel on board, weighed in at 200 tonnes. And it was all for a good cause. The event helped raise thousands of pounds (sterling) for the British Red Cross. The mega-muscle feat also landed the 235-pound Birmingham man a spot in the Guinness Book Of World Records. Earlier this year, Gauder, who holds 10 world records for pulling other modes of transportation such as a Concorde, a B-52 bomber and a Japanese bullet train, volunteered for the event and the London-based Aircraft Services Supervisor Malcolm Wadman and Load Agent Dave Gunderson read about the appeal in the local airport newspaper, and approached Air Canada. Wearing a harness attached to the front area, Gauder was given assistance by Air Canada Mechanics Alan Washington and Alan Quartermaine, who made a special bracket to ensure the harness was property secured. Red Cross staff manned a special donation telephone line to collect money pledged by Britons intrigued by this strenuous and unusual achievement, and the event was reported in the media throughout the world. |
EHang Holds AAV Sightseeing Flight Trial. Urban air mobility company EHang announced on Tuesday that it has successfully conducted several aerial sightseeing trial flights using its EHang 216 autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV). The trial flights took place in Yantai, China, as part of the company’s world flight tour campaign, which is aimed at demonstrating “the reliability and versatility of its passenger-grade AAV's through safe autonomous flights.” EHang’s AAVs have now completed demo flights in 21 cities and six countries including China, the U.S., Austria, Netherlands, Qatar and UAE. Source: www.avweb.com |
Videographer eyetrapper has posted this video of Canadian North's 21 year old B737-300 (Registration C-GCNO) sporting CFL (Canadian Football League) livery. |