Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |\^/| _| TCA |_ B E T W E E N O U R S E L V E S _|\| AIR |/|_ N E T L E T T E R > CANADA < >_./|\._< for Air Canada retirees | Our crew is: Chief Pilot - Vesta Stevenson Chief Navigator - Terry Baker number 139 date Mar 30th 1997 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . News from the Districts - The Ottawa District Newsletter, Bob Robbins Spring Luncheon, April 19,97 at THE MILL, Western Parkway CA$15 p.p. incl taxes. Prime Rib or Chicken/Grand Marnier sauce. Cheques payable to "Pionairs-Ottawa" to Al Martel, Treasurer, 50 Sheahan Cresc Nepean, K2H 8M2, by Apr 11. Also from Ottawa District Newsletter about the AGM 97 Montreal. "Every retiree has a least some strong bonds with other retirees - bonds which were forged as you worked together to build your part of the airline. Attending the '96 AGM in Ottawa, some bonds with many fellow workers were found to be as strong as ever, as the shared fun of talking with persons not seen for as much as 40 yrs! If you have not attended a Pionair AGM, go to Montreal 97 for 4 days of heart- warming times together! Many pleasant surprises will await you! ~-=o0o=-~ . Art Adamson sends us this poem to reflect on - NEVERMORE Once upon a midnight dreary, fingers cramped and vision bleary, System manuals piled high and wasted paper on the floor, Longing for the warmth of bedsheets, Still I sat there, doing spreadsheets: Having reached the bottom line, I took a floppy from the drawer. Typing with a steady hand, I then invoked the SAVE command But got instead a reprimand: it read "Abort, Retry, Ignore." Was this some occult illusion? Some maniacal intrusion? These were choices Solomon himself had never faced before. Carefully, I weighed my options. These three seemed to be the top ones. Clearly, I must now adopt one: Choose Abort, Retry, Ignore. With my fingers pale and trembling, Slowly toward the keyboard bending, Longing for a happy ending, hoping all would be restored, Praying for some guarantee Finally I pressed a key -- But on the screen what did I see? Again: "Abort, Retry, Ignore."> I tried to catch the chips off-guard -- I pressed again, but twice as hard. Luck was just not in the cards. I saw what I had seen before. Now I typed in desperation Trying random combinations Still there came the incantation: Choose: Abort, Retry, Ignore. There I sat, distraught, exhausted, by my own machine accosted Getting up I turned away and paced across the office floor. And then I saw an awful sight: A bold and blinding flash of light -- A lightning bolt had cut the night and shook me to my very core. I saw the screen collapse and die "Oh no -- my database", I cried I thought I heard a voice reply, "You'll see your data Nevermore." To this day I do not know The place to which lost data goes I bet it goes to heaven where the angels have it stored. But as for productivity, well I fear that it goes straight to hell And that's the tale I have to tell Your choice: Abort, Retry, Ignore. ~-=o0o=-~ . If you follow the Blue Angels team, Vesta sends this schedule - APRIL 5-6 MacDill AFB, FL Airfest 97 12-13 MCAS Cherry Point, NC Airshow 19-20 NAS Fallon, NV Airshow 25-27 MCAS El Toro, CA Airshow ----------------------------------------------------------- MAY 3-4 NAS Key West, FL Open House 10-11 Brunswick, GA Military Appreciation Weekend 17-18 Montreal, Quebec, Airshow Canada 21-23 U.S. Naval Academy, MD Commissioning Week 24 NAS Patuxent River, MD Air Expo 97 ~-=o0o=-~ . Found on the Internet PAN AM RETURNS Pan American World Airways last week received approval to begin scheduled service, slightly more than five years after the carrier's domestic operations shut down in bankruptcy. The new Pan Am will inaugurate its service between JFK and Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) on April 6. Initial operations will use a Boeing 727. ALASKA AIR FINED FOR LANDING GEAR MOD An improper modification to the landing gear of one Alaska Airlines B-737-200 earned the carrier a $810,000 fine last week. According to the FAA, Alaska installed new wheels and brakes on the Boeing in 1992 without required replacement of a number of hydraulic components. The aircraft then carried passengers on more than 9,000 flights. NO BUTTS ABOUT IT: United and American Airlines last week both said they would eliminate smoking on all of their flights beginning July 1. Smoking on domestic U.S. flights has been illegal for several years. SOMETHING *IS* FISHY... Continental Airlines has a small problem on its hands with the passengers aboard a DC-9 from Houston to Denver recently. A shipment of fish packed into the cargo hold leaked, permeating passengers' luggage. SW CONVERTS COCKPIT PAPER TO ELECTRONS: Southwest Airlines last week received preliminary FAA approval to install tablet PCs with VGA displays in its entire fleet of 250 Boeing 737-series jets. The units will eventually replace the carrier's current performance computing system, based on paper charts. (No word on whether the devices have a joystick port or will run Microsoft Flight Simulator during those slow periods in airspace.) ~-=o0o=-~ . Interline stuff In Netletter nr 137 we advised you of the discontinuation of several AirBC flights which are being operated by Central Mountain Air. The question of pass privileges comes up, and Saville Hambleton - Director of Vancouver Island Pionairs sneds us this information - Your inquiry on the Air BC/Central Mountain Air situation is timely. This morning I talked to Linda Kwan in Employee Travel in Montreal and she advises that an Interline Pass Agreement with "full exchange of passes between CMA and Air Canada will be signed shortly"....so you heard it from the horses mouth. The only question is how shortly is "shortly"? ~-=o0o=-~ . Smilies - SHORT FINAL... During a cross country flight, a new private pilot began looking for an airport where he could refuel. As his fuel condition worsened, he added gas stations with suitable landing areas to his search list, and he finally spotted a gas station, right alongside a straight highway with remarkably few obstacles. As he taxied up to the pumps, old man in the rocking chair near the doorway seemed totally unaffected by the sight, and the young pilot finally had to ask: "I don't suppose you get many airplanes here at your station, do you?" "Naw," the old man said, gazing idly into the distance while he pumped. "I reckon most of 'em gas up over yonder," he continued, pointing, at th' airport across th' highway." ~-=o0o=-~ . 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. -!- Landing on an Island in the Pacific. _____(~)_____ ! ! ! <<<>>> Air Canada Pionairs ~Between Ourselves-Netletter~ http://www.mortimer.com/acra mailto:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. mailto:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ................................................... . GREETINGS FROM . . Vancouver Island . . BEAUTIFUL B.C. CANADA . ...................................................

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |\^/| _| TCA |_ _|\| AIR |/|_ N E T L E T T E R > CANADA < B E T W E E N O U R S E L V E S >_./|\._< for P I O N A I R S | Your crew is: Chief Pilot - Vesta Stevenson Chief Navigator - Terry Baker tm number 138 date March 28th 1997 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . Your crew wish you all a Happy Easter. . Welcome to Carol Lawrence who is in Toronto and can be emailed at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ~-=o0o=-~ . Dates to remember - April 1, 1997 PWK Lunch St Nicholas Hotel April 2, 1997 VAN.IS.Lunch Princess Mary YHZ Lunch Armdale Yacht Club April 3, 1997 YUL Lunch Chenoy's Pte Claire April 4, 1997 YOW KoffeeKlatsches Family Carlingwood Shopping YUL Italian Lunch Lachine Curling Club 11.30 CA$6 pp April 7, 1997 LHR coffee at 11am Harvester Pub Ashford Middlesex nl123 ~-=o0o=-~ . Here are the titles of some reading material to fill in your time between our Netletters! Sent in by Vesta - Here some recent best sellers about airplanes you might want to read someday. Sole Survivor by D.Koontz A crime reporter searches for a women who claims to know a secret about the plane crash that killed his wife and daughters. Airframe by M.Crichton A young women investigates a near disaster that befell a plane on its way from Hong Kong to Denver. Pandora's Clock by J.J.Nance A trans-Atlantic plane bears a passenger carrying a deadly virus. ~-=o0o=-~ . News from the Districts - From the Montreal District 'Sentinel' Winter edition - The Christmas dinner held last December 4th at the Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club was attended by over 200 people. Executive Officers for 1997/9 are - Director - Herb Guilfoyle, Asst. Dir. - Michel Beriau, Treasurer - Benoit Vezina, Secretary - Yvonne Mofford, Editors - Mary Guillaume and Jacques Gaucher. Planned events - Two day coach trip to Quebec City May 11 & 12,1997 (Sunday and Monday), bus fare and all meals, all tours and overnight stay at Le Gite Hotel. CA$115 p.p. Bus departs at 9:00 am May 11 from Fairview Shopping Center (between Eatons, and Reno Depot) and arrives in Quebec City in time for lunch at the restaurant Au Beeftheque. Unfortunately, the deadline was Mar 15th for reservations. Of Interest to all Pionairs. Parts of Editorial from Sentinel. by Real Henri. On November 21, the Executive Board of the Pionairs held its semi-annual meeting at the Pheasant Run Resort in St Charles Illinois. One of the objectives of this Fall meeting is to give our National Executive and our 14 District Directors a chance to evaluate the place selected for the next AGM. As each of us landed in Chicago coming from different provinces as well as the UK and the USA, many had difficulties commuting to the resort and checking-in upon arrival. The next day during our meeting we reviewed the hotel and tour arrangements for our AGM. During part of the morning, Margot L'Esperance and Benoit Vezina met with the management of the resort in order to iron out the problems we had experienced on arrival. Both Margot and Ben were satisfied with the reaction of the hotel administration. On the 3rd day, we departed in small groups at different times to board our flights in Chicago. Again more problems caused dissatisfaction among us, and during the following days, the National Executive had to accept that the Pheasant Run Resort was simply not capable of providing the fine service we are all looking for and therefore had no choice but to find another place more suitable for our needs and requirements. . The London England District Pionairs have finalized their trip to Alberta. This takes place on May 20/21st. Several other out of town Pionairs will be joining them - Don and Fern Wiley, Loretta Blencoe, Betty Oakley, June and Gord Dalziel all from Toronto. The group will be staying at the Highlander Hotel. 1-800-661-9564. ~-=o0o=-~ . Final part from Gord Hykle on the radar at Winnipeg - They were not flying very fast and didn't appear to have a definite direction. The tower had no information about VFR aircraft in that area so I called up a training flight and asked it to take a look. I guided the flight to one of the blips and when it was just about to merge with it on the screen, the pilot said he identified it as one flock of geese among many others in the area. Mystery solved and my concern about an air raid was put to rest. I took pictures of the screen and recorded the geese and other features we observed. Someone asked me for a copy of the geese formations which was published in 1946 in the Canadian Geographic magazine. Unfortunately someone was not satisfied with little blips representing each flock so they took the liberty of adding their own blips to the negative with a grease pencil, laying out the dots in about 3 letter V patterns. The person who did this had no idea of the scale so that the V shaped flocks of 20 or so geese are 30 to 40 miles long. The picture was printed with the negative reversed to make matters worse. I was so ashamed of the negative doctoring that I never claimed credit for the picture. To the best of my knowledge, a correction was never issued. A couple of years ago, while visiting a local library, I looked up the magazine article and made a copy for myself after some fifty years. The radar experiment is only one of many such stories. Perhaps readers will recall the test project for an automated seat reservation system long before Reservec I; or perhaps the advent of the first radio teletype on our aircraft We also experimented with automated flight planning using Reservec as well as estabishing automatic delivery of NOTAMs taking advantage of a little-known feature of the first teletype switching computer in the company. I hope these items will encourage those who participated in the projects to send in the stories. (Thank you for the series Gord, we hope we get some response - eds) Vesta tells us that she remembers working with Gord on some of these early projects when she worked in Radio-Teletype at Montreal International. ~-=o0o=-~ . Those of you with fond memories of our DC-9's may wish to know that fin 716 was recently repainted in the colours of Seeboo Pacific Air of the Phillipines who have bought this DC9 together with fin 717 and 718 which will be delivered by the end of April. . AIR CANADA UNVEILS TRILINGUAL MAGAZINE FOR ASIAN TRAVELLERS Air Canada unveiled today its new in-flight magazine, enRoute Asia, written and designed specifically with the Asian traveller in mind. ~-=o0o=-~ . Interline stuff. If you are transit through LHR Heathrow, your baggage must be cleared Customs and reticketed to your final destination. Sell-off Cruise - Galaxy - 18 nights departing Ft. Lauderdale Apr 20th via Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Panama Canal, Costa Rica, Acapulco, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Fransisco arrives Victoria May 9th. Inside at US$1498 pp dbl. Call 1-800-690-3223 for more details. ~-=o0o=-~ . Smilies Vesta sent in this chuckle - A man sits in the psychiatrist's office trying to get over his fear of flying. The Dr. explains to him the statistics, that more people die from car accidents than plane flights, but it is of no use. The man is still afraid. Finally, out of frustration, the Dr. says, "Ultimately, you have to accept the fact that when it's your time to go, it's your time to go." The man thought about this for a moment, looked up, and said, "Yeah, but what if it's the pilot's time to go?" ~-=o0o=-~ . 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. -!- Landing on an Island in the Pacific. _____(~)_____ ! ! ! <<<>>> Air Canada Pionairs ~Between Ourselves-Netletter~ http://www.mortimer.com/acra mailto:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. mailto:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ................................................... . GREETINGS FROM . . Vancouver Island . . BEAUTIFUL B.C. CANADA . ...................................................

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |\^/| _| TCA |_ _|\| AIR |/|_ N E T L E T T E R > CANADA < B E T W E E N O U R S E L V E S >_./|\._< for P I O N A I R S | Your crew is: Chief Pilot - Vesta Stevenson Chief Navigator - Terry Baker tm number 137 date March 23rd 1997 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . Welcome to Brian Burrows now living in Pickering, Ontario after working in Dorval as Radio Operator, then Toronto with Res III. Email Brian at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ~-=o0o=-~ . Contrary to the information in the March 'Horizons', the golf tournament being hosted by the Okanagan group is the Second Annual Pionairs System Golf Tournament NOT the local Pentiction District tournament and is open to ALL. One of the door prizes will be two space available system passes donated by Cathay Pacific Airways. Tournament gets underway June 17/18th at the Penticton Golf and Country Club. Entry fee CA$60 includes box lunch, prizes & trophies golf and banquet on the 17th. Carts available at CA$13 p.p. Accommodations at CA$51 per room + tax at Sandman Inn, 1-800-726-3626. When making reservations quote ref: G3343. More information from Don Graham (250)492-6045. Make cheques to Don payable to Air Canada Pionairs in trust, send to #109-801 Comox Street, Penticton, BC. V2A 8G5. ~-=o0o=-~ . Since 1983, Frank Pedder, working in the Stores division of the Purchasing & Supply Department at Dorval, has been producing a bi-monthly newsletter called 'Parts & Pieces' a newsletter for Stores people - by stores people. For the past 5 years, Frank has been the sole editor and producer of the newsletter. Unfortunately, due to a recent illness, Frank will have no time to continue producing this publication. As Frank has had no response to his repeated requests to recruit a new editor and reporters for 'Parts & Pieces', the newsletter will cease being produced. Frank is hopeful that the youth of the Stores branch will see forward enough to document the history so that they may reflect on their accomplishments and dreams in the future. Those of you who have 'connections' with the Stores division may be interested in obtaining a video which contains photographs from past editions of 'Parts & Pieces'. The video contains employees photos from the past 35 years, with 21 people who, sadly are no longer with us, 138 employees who have retired or transferred to other Air Canada areas and some 389 active employees. Cost of the video is CA$20. So take a walk down memory lane for all past and present Purchasing and Facilities people'. Email Frank at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ~-=o0o=-~ . Gord Hykle sends part 3 of his memories of radar at Winnipeg.- One of the features of the old radar was its ability to track aircraft. They would show up on the Circular screen. Later, after following the flights on radio--range let-down procedures we actually steered the flights in accordance with the range charts. We could see the range towers on the screen and would let them know when they had reached the cone of silence. We didn't have the means to determine their height so from that point on they were on their own. We always did these activities in cavu weather but it was still very impressive. More next time. ~-=o0o=-~ . Found on the internet - Recently, a passenger was boarding an Air Transat flight and, at door of the aircraft, she rudely refused to present her boarding pass saying she did not need done. The in-charge flight attendant reacted in a polite and stern manner and had her removed from the aircraft and she was refused carriage. The tears and bawling did her no good as she watch the aircraft depart. Canada's newest carrier expects to be in the air by the end of May. The company will be known as VistaJet and will commence operations with a B737-200 and will add 2 B737-200 by August. Operating out of Toronto (YYZ) the company has not devulged their planned routes. NWT Air has ceased flying from Vancouver to Whitehorse. CONCORDE, 21 years later - On Jan 21st 1976 the Concorde made its first commercial flight from London Heathrow to Bahrain. At an operational altitude of 50,000 feet, the fuselage stretches 10 inches and reaches a temperature of 127 degrees C, at which point the speed is 2,055 feet per second. There is no corrosion as the heat at 1,350 mph prevents any accummulation of moisture (surely something some car drivers attempt to achieve! eds) Captains of the British Airways Concorde fleet have pooled their resourses to buy a yacht which is moored off Long Island so they can pass time pleasantly during layovers. For all you golf addicts - the longest putt in golf history was on a Concorde. A 12 second putt will travelled 5 miles! In 1992, 50 passengers each paid the equivilent of CA$27,500 to fly around the world in 33 hours which included 6 stops for refuelling. The plane flew east to west and from Portugal was in permenant daylight. British Airways have grounded their Boeing B777 fleet for 10 days due to engine problems. KLM have ordered 4 Boeing 777-800. KLM and its pilots are in a labour dispute which could ground the airlines. TAP - Air Portugal could cancel some of its flights if its pilots decide to avoid working overtime. Kenya Airways acquired 4 Boeing B737-300 for a daily service between Amsterdam and Nairobi. Air Zambabwe are in the midst of a pilots strike. The pilot of an Airbus airliner which crashed, killing 3 people, during a 1988 airshow has been sentenced to 6 months jail for manslaughter with another 12 months suspended. ~-=o0o=-~ . Interline stuff. AirBC is dropping routes to Dawson Creek, Penticton, Castlegar, Cranbrook and Nanaimo. These filghts will be operated by Central Mountain Air with Air Canada flight numbers. At this time we have no information regarding contingent travel. Special Family Affaire sell-offs. Toronto - Dallas CA$99 plus tax. Valid non stops only. Travel must be completed by Jun 13th. Advance purcahse 14 days prior departure. Reservations MUST be through Employee Call Centre. 1-800-413-1113. Alberta Citylink ID50 travel min fare CA$50 ow, CA$100 rtn. Exchange of personal trip pass on an unlimited basis, separate trip pass must be imprinted. Same ticket may not be used for combined services AC/AC regionals and Alberta Citylink. Zonal employee discount fares applicable. Celebrity Cruises. Zenith - 7 night S.Caribbean Apr 5, 19 from US$399 Horizon - 7 night Deep Caribbean Apr 5,19 from US$399 Century - 7 night E.Caribbean Apr 12 from US$499 Meridan - 7 night Bermuda Apr 5,12,19 from US$499 Meridan - 8 night San Juan to FLL Mar 28 from 499 Horizon - 15 night Panama Canal Apr 26 from US$899 Galaxy - 10 night Alaska May 6 from US$799 Prices pp dbl. Call 1-800-345-7576 for more details. Panama Canal Sailings - Standby fares only, Inside from US$65 pp dbl per day. Outside from US$80 pp dbl per day. Royal Caribbean lines - Song of America - 7 nights San Juan - New York Apr 27 fr US$499. Viking Serenade - 3 night Baja Mexico - LAX return fr US$199. Song of America - 14 night Canal Los Angeles - San Juan fr US$499. Soverign of the Seas - 3 night Bahamas - Mia return fr US$249. Legend of the Seas - 11 night Honolulu - Vancouver fr US$1399. Spendour of the Seas - 13 night San Juan - Barcelona US$999. Monarch of the Seas - 7 night S.Caribbean fr US$649. Legend of the Seas - 7 night Alaska vacation YVR-YVR fr US$899. Prices pp dbl. Call Paula at 1-800-665-3100 for details. Land tours of Egypt - 11 day Cairo, Luxor & Nile cruise US$1438 pp dbl. 5 day Cairo & Luxor US$705 pp dbl. 8 day Cairo and Nile cruise from US$980 pp dbl. 9 day Cairo, Luxor and Lake Nasser cruise US$1595 pp dbl. 10 day Tour of Splendours from US$1885 pp dbl. ** ** includes positive air from U.S. gateways. Prices include - First class accommodations, all flights within Egypt, all transfers, most meals and sightseeing. Call 1-800-222-1467 for more details. ~-=o0o=-~ . Smilies found - On a small charter plane, immediately after liftoff, the pilot began to open his flight plan. A few seconds later, he turned to his passengers and inquired as to what time it was. After getting the correct time and opening his plan, he tapped his watch and remarked that he was surprised that it had stopped, because he usually changed the batteries in it the same time that he changed the batteries in his pacemaker ! This one went the rounds back when Reagan fired the ATC strikers. This resulted in a lot of inexperienced people taking over key jobs. Supposedly a new controller wound up running the tower at Hartsfield. "Atlanta tower, United 123 is with you." "United 123, you are cleared to land on 27 right." "Atlanta tower, Delta 765." "Delta 765, you are cleared to land on 9 left." After a pause to digest this, we hear.... "Uh... Atlanta, I think you have that United flight and us coming into the same runway in opposite directions?" Another pause.. "Y'all be careful, now, y' hear?" ~-=o0o=-~ . 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. -!- Landing on an Island in the Pacific. _____(~)_____ ! ! ! <<<>>> Air Canada Pionairs ~Between Ourselves-Netletter~ http://www.mortimer.com/acra mailto:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. mailto:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ................................................... . GREETINGS FROM . . Vancouver Island . . BEAUTIFUL B.C. CANADA . ...................................................

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |\^/| _| TCA |_ _|\| AIR |/|_ N E T L E T T E R > CANADA < B E T W E E N O U R S E L V E S >_./|\._< for P I O N A I R S | Your crew is: Chief Pilot - Vesta Stevenson Chief Navigator - Terry Baker tm number 136 date March 19th 1997 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . Welcome to Greg and Joyce Wedmark who used to work in Vancouver but now work for the company in Halifax. Their email is: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Your Chief Pilot - Vesta - sends us this information about the growth of the "Between Ourselves - Netletter" - In March/95 "Between Ourselves - NetLetter" was created and 20 months later by Oct/96, our total membership had reached to 50, and now, 5 months later our total membership is at the 100th mark. Thanks everyone for collecting and forwarding Internet address. Terry and I are sure that there are still 100's out there to be recruited. ~-=o0o=-~ . Tom Martin, member of the Vancouver Island Pionairs sends us this - Where Are They Now?? Among the retirees living on the Saanich Penninsula - north of Victoria on Vancouver Island - from P&S Kitch Olson; Edgar Farthing; Bill Singer; Cornel Gross; Bob Hay; Darby Thompson, Tom Martin. From Mtce. & Engineering Dick Leigh; Ken Chapman; Ernie Olson; Tom James; Leo Goulet. There may be more! (anybody want to add to our list - world-wide? - eds) ~=o0o=-~ Philip Helms sends us these "emoticons" to help you with email - :-) means happy :-( means sad 8-) a happy person wearing glasses %*} a drunk :-(o) means yelling and my favourite +<:-) is a nun !!! PS read them sideways. Vesta adds two of her favourites - *]:) a woman with hat,grinning. and you forgot wink ;-) ~-=o0o=-~ Gord Hykle sends more of his memories of radar at Winnipeg.- But the signal picked up surface details for a radius of 100 km or more. As a result, we could see the trees that outlined the banks of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, the southern outlines of Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipeg and elevations such as Stoney Mountain & Birds Hill. I even picked up the S.S.Selkirk abreast of the town of Gimli one day! These details are called "clutter" today on modern radar screens. Only moving objects are observed and clutter is eliminated. But we liked it, because the clutter was a great help in pin-pointing the location of aircraft and other items. One set of these other items was thunderstorms and squall lines. We could plot very accurately when a heavy rain shower would arrive and how long it would last. This was great for deciding what time to leave for the bus - ten minutes early or ten later than shift-end. This feature opened a whole new relationship with local flight dispatch and the weather forecasters. One day, at shift-end, we had sighted a squall line associated with a front approaching Winnipeg. Judging from its speed, we estimated it would arrive in an hour. We dropped into flight dispatch and found them discussing this front with the forecasters. Nobody in the office even knew about our project so they thought we were nuts when we told them our estimate. We were right and, although they needn't have, some people got a little apprehensive about the future of their jobs. More next time - ~-=o0o=-~ . Found on the internet - Air Transat have been designated as the second Canadian carrier to provide scheduled services between Canada and France. Northwest Airlines are ordering (40) Airbus A330 passenger jets. The line-up at the National Capital Air Show (Ottawa, Canada) US Army Golden Knights Parachute Demo Team USAF F-16 Demo B-2 flypast (confirmed at this time...) 2 USAF B-1B Lancers 1 Georgia Air Guard B-1B Lancer USAF C-17 Globemaster III static display USAF U-2 Beale AFB USAF F-117A static (possibly flying as well) civil acts Virgin Atlantic and Delta have cancelled their code sharing agreement, and Continental will has agreed to a code sharing agreement with Virgin Atlantic. American Airlines is interested in buying into Argentine carriers Aerolineas Argentinas and Austral. Here are some highlights from the 1942 Canadian Pacific Airlines 'stewardess' manual - Smile - particularly during bad weather - this reassures passengers. Sleeping, smoking or reading while on duty is sufficient cause for immediate dismissal. Stewardesses while on duty are not to carry on conversations with pilots or station personnel, except on matters pertaining to business. Stewardesses will be addressed as 'Miss'. Manicures should be faultless. UNITED REACHES ACCORD WITH PILOTS, MECHANICS United Airlines Monday reached tentative agreements with its pilots and mechanics unions, ending a heated salary dispute between the employee/owners and management. The union employees were buoyed in their efforts by UAL's 67% profit increase in the final quarter of last year. FEDEX GETTING DC-10 CONVERSIONS: McDonnell Douglas said that its Long Beach-based Douglas Aircraft Co. division signed a contract last fall with Fedex to manage passenger-to-freighter modifications on up to 60 DC-10s. The reworked transports will be designated MD-10s. ~-=o0o=-~ . Smilie found by Terry Recently, a flight attendant on a Reno Air flight announced that a gentlement on board was celebrating his 100th birthday. Naturally, everyone applauded, until the attendant added "Would you please join me in wishing our captain a happy birthday.". SHORT FINAL... Aircraft Wildlife Squawks (or, software isn't the only thing with bugs): Problem: F/A's complain of numerous roaches in the galleys. Solution: Roaches deplaned. Problem: Live cockroach seen disappearing in forward galley. Solution: Live cockroach transferred to HIL (Hold Item List). Problem: 3 roaches in galley. Solution: 1 roach killed, 1 wounded, 1 got away. Problem: Mouse in radio stack. Solution: Cat installed in radio stack. Problem: Weather radar went ape-%@#&! Solution: Opened radome, let out ape, cleaned up %@#&! ~-=o0o=-~ . 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. -!- Landing on an Island in the Pacific. _____(~)_____ ! ! ! <<<>>> Air Canada Pionairs ~Between Ourselves-Netletter~ http://www.mortimer.com/acra mailto:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. mailto:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ................................................... . GREETINGS FROM . . Vancouver Island . . BEAUTIFUL B.C. CANADA . ...................................................