Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

Our cartoon, by D. Fallwell, who was stationed in Terrace, British Columbia (YXT), is from the CP Air News issue dated March 1978.

Scoot (Singapore low-cost airline) first officer Nicole Chee’s winding path to a B-787 cockpit

Scoot first officer Nicole Chee always had a passion for aviation, but it was only the disappearance of a single word from a job advertisement that opened the path to the right-hand seat of a Boeing 787.

Chee fondly recalls childhood outings to Singapore’s Changi beach, which lies squarely on the approach for the airport’s two parallel runways. She soon discovered that she was an avid plane spotter.

After five years working as cabin crew, Chee took up an office job at SIA, amid a general hiring freeze for new cadets. Then, in 2015, the freeze was lifted, and Chee spotted something unusual about a job advertisement for pilots from Scoot, SIA’s low-cost unit.

“I saw that they had removed the one very key word in their hiring, and they were no longer looking [only] for male candidates. Before that, [airlines] always said ‘we’re looking for male candidates’, but in 2015, when they started hiring after the freeze, they removed that one small, teeny-weeny word ‘male’. I applied and never looked back.”

Not only was Chee the only woman in her cohort of 25 cadets, but also Scoot’s first female cadet pilot. Her training involved considerable time studying in Singapore, as well as flight training in Western Australia.

Finally, after two challenging years, Chee realized her ambition of becoming an airline pilot aboard the B-787.

Source: flightglobal.com

Bearskin Airlines. 

This Canadian airline was established in 1963 by bush pilot Otto John Hegland and started operations in July 1963 from its base at Big Trout Lake, Ontario (but was named after Bearskin Lake where Hegland had a general store).

It started out by providing only charter services to the remote First Nations reserves in northern Ontario, using bush planes equipped with floats in the summer and skis in the winter. In 1977, it began its first regular scheduled flights between Big Trout Lake and Sioux Lookout.

Following the collapse of NorOntair in 1996, Bearskin picked up over two thirds of that carrier's routes, thereby adding scheduled service to all the major northern Ontario cities. Three years later, it expanded operations to destinations in northern Manitoba. In 2003, it sold its routes and assets servicing northern First Nations communities to Wasaya Airways. This marked as a break with its bush flying background to focus on becoming a regional carrier.

It was owned by Harvey Friesen (President), Cliff Friesen (Executive Vice-President), Karl Friesen (Vice President of Operations), Rick Baratta (Vice President of Finance) and Brad Martin (Director of Operations), but in 2010 it was sold to Exchange Income Corporation (EIC) for $32 million. EIC also owns Calm Air, Perimeter Aviation, and Keewatin Air.

As of April 1, 2014, all service at Region of Waterloo Airport (YKF) and Ottawa Airport (YOW) was cancelled, affecting seven routes and significantly decreased the flight operations. The company indicated that a softening mining sector and high tech sectors (such as BlackBerry) were to blame for cutting the routes. Additional factors included the introduction of new competitors (such as Porter Airlines).

The company indicated it's refocusing on northwestern and northeastern routes in Northern Ontario. Bearskin is a major provider of flights for Hope Air, a charity that organizes free non-emergency medical flights for people in financial need, particularly from remote communities. The fleet consists of 19 Fairchild Swearingen Metroliners. 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bearskin_Airlines

Skytrax revealed its 2021 World Airline Awards, naming Qatar Airways as the number one airline for the sixth time.

Awards were based on over 13 million surveys collected over 23 months, combing normal travel and pandemic travel. No North American airline ranked in the top 20, though Delta Air Lines held the highest position at number 30.

Qatar Airways took home the gold for the sixth time since 2001, following by Singapore Airlines in second and Japan-based All Nippon Airways in third.

Qatar also secured five other awards, including Best Business Class, Best Business Class Seat, Best Airline in the Middle East, World's Best Business Class Airline Lounge, and Best Business Class Onboard Catering.

Here's a list of the world's top 20 airlines for 2021.

1 - Qatar Airways, 2 - Singapore Airlines, 3 -  All Nippon Airways, 4 - Emirates, 5 - Japan Airlines, 6 - Cathay Pacific Airways, 7 - EVA Air, 8 - Qantas Airways, 9 - Hainan Airlines, 10 - Air France, 11 - British Airways, 12 -China Southern Airlines, 13 - Lufthansa, 14 - Aeroflot Russian Airlines, 15 - Garuda Indonesia, 16 - KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, 17 - Turkish Airlines, 18 - Swiss International Air Lines, 19 - Bangkok Airways, 20 - Air New Zealand.

Ranking of airlines of Canada.

33 - Air Canada, 53 - WestJet, 59  - Air Transat, 83  - Air Canada Rouge, 94 - Porter Airlines.

Source:
www.businessinsider.com/skytrax-reveals-top-airlines-the-world-2021-9

A team of National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators is on its way to Hawaii to supervise the recovery of TransAir Flight 810, a Boeing 737-200 that ditched in the ocean on July 2. Both pilots were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard and Honolulu Airport Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting personnel.

The recovery operation is scheduled to begin Oct. 9 and is expected to take 10 to 14 days. Plans include raising the aft fuselage section (with the wings still attached), loading it onto a barge, and then removing the recorders.

With permission, an extract from a blog by Larry Milberry posted February 19, 2016.

Wardair had Canada’s first B-727 – the world-famous CF-FUN. “FUN” was the first of many B-727's to be flown by such other Canadian operators as Air Canada, CP Air, Air Transat, Cargojet, FirstAir, Kelowna Flightcraft, PWA, Quebecair and Royalair. Cargojet of Hamilton operated a fleet of 12 of these gorgeous, reliable, profit-making 'Three Holers', but now their fleet consists of 9 B-757's and 19 B-767's all in a cargo configuration.

Christened 'Cy Becker', in honour of one of Max Ward’s pioneer bush flying heroes, “FUN” was delivered to Edmonton on March 25, 1966.

'FUN' signaled the end in the Wardair fleet of the classic Douglas prop liners. Soon, Wardair was known for its ever-growing jetliner fleet of the one B-727, B-747's, DC-10's and A310's. Although Wardair eventually faded from the airline scene, one often hears laments for this great company. No one who ever flew on Wardair ever forgets the company’s impeccably turned-out airplanes and the world-class cabin service – chinaware and silverware included. 

Source: canavbooks.wordpress.com/category/boeing-727 

Editors' Note: For information on the history of 'FUN' after leaving Wardair, see Wayne's Wings article from NetLetter #1336. 

Craig Austin Shipman posted this on September 8, 2021.

Just for fun I designed a shirt for myself as if CP had operated Concorde. (Not for sale, just for fun!)

From the "InfoCanadi>n" magazine.

About half of the company's sales reps and managers have now taken a professional selling skills course, in progress since last October. It teaches innovative ways to capture new business.

Participants in this recent session held in Toronto were, from left, Steve Lemesurier and Ed James, Toronto; Diane Foresto, Thunder Bay; Elena Atalmi, Montreal; Joao B. Leal DaCosta, Sao Paulo; Eileen Dillard, New York; Milton Triska, Toronto; Tanyce Westgard, Vancouver; Steven Dodge, Halifax; Bjarne Timm, Copenhagen; Barry Davis, London; Patricio Murphy, Buenos Aires.

Alan Palmer, captain B-737 (right) and brother Bob, first officer B-737, recently crewed the same flight to Kamloops, their home town.

Though the brothers have flown together before, this was the first time to Kamloops. Their mother greeted them at the airport.