Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

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|\^/|
_| TCA |_        B E T W E E N   y O U R S E L V E S
_|\| AIR |/|_              N E T L E T T E R
>  CANADA   <
>_./|\._<           for Air Canada retirees
|

Chief Pilot  - Vesta Stevenson   This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Co-pilot     - Terry Baker         This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

number 259   date Apr 10th, 1998  1st Published in October 1995

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. We welcome the following 'cons' -
Gus MacLean who left Air Canada in 1959 as Station Manager, Gander,
email Gus at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Norman and Marg Teal living in La Have, NS. Retired from Maintenance
in Halifax. Norman and Marg can be contacted via
their daughter Carol email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Bob Affleck retired District Manager Houston, living there as well,
try email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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. WHERE ARE THERY NOW?
Lorna Grosman hasa changed her email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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. Here's yet another story from Bill Norberg -

Not everyone may be familiar with the role TCA played in air services
across the North Atlantic during the war years and afterwards until the
arrival of the North Star M1 aircraft in late 1947/48. There were two
aspects of their involvement:-
1.The  Canadian Government Trans-Atlantic Air Services     utilizing
converted Lancaster Bombers.
2.Maintenance of Liberator B-24 Bombers used by  BOAC to operate the
Return Ferry Service which returned Canadian pilots to Canada after
delivering aircraft to the UK.
The experience gained during operation of the Canadian Government
Trans-Atlantic Air Service (CGTAAS) formed the groundwork for our trans
Atlantic air service to England after the war was over. This service used
Lancaster Bombers built by Victory Aircraft in Toronto and converted to
passenger operations. Their role was to carry mail and V.I.P. passengers
from Canada to the UK.

The nose and tail gun turrets were removed from the aircraft and replaced
by  streamlined nose and tail sections to reduce drag. They also gave the
rather clumsy looking aircraft a less threatening appearance.
Two rows of 5 seats were placed in the cabin and extra fuel tanks installed
in the bomb bay areas.

The aircraft were powered by 4 Rolls Royce Merlin liquid cooled engines
with all that implies. Aircraft # 102 had 4 TML power plants installed in
place of the regular military versions of the Merlin. These were the type
of power plants being planned for eventual use on the North Star aircraft
to be built at Canadair. This aircraft was used as a form of flying test
bed for these power plants in order to gain some experience. These power
plants differed from the normal Merlin by having circular nose cowls and
engine cowlings to house the circular radiator system.

This aircraft was to crash after takeoff one day in Dorval landing on a
field in Strathmore. George Lothian was flying it and the crew as well as
several mechanics on board were able to walk away through the cockpit area
which split upon landing. No one was injured which was a miracle.

The Lancs had an outstanding record as a heavy bomber with the RAF and RCAF
but it was no winner as a commercial transport. The military Lanc was lucky
to have an average life of 250 flying hours while a Lanc in commercial
service was expected to fly that much time in a month....and on time!
The Merlin engine was fraught with problems in those early days and keeping
it operating with any level of reliability was a great challenge.

I personally never liked the aircraft even though I recognized its military
accomplishments. There was never a quiet moment it seemed.I still thrill to
the unique drone of the Merlin engines in flight. I was privileged to see
and hear one when it visited the Western Canada Aviation Museum a few years
ago. I have a video I made of it's approach and landing at Winnipeg that
day.

The propellers on the aircraft were of British design and had long slender
blades known as the "Toothpick blade". The Merlin engine was known for its
surging problems. When this surging was combined with the toothpick blades
it had the effect of flexing the tip of the blades in flight as surging
occurred.

On one flight one of these blades suffered a fatigue failure of the metal
in the tip portion of one of these blades. The tip hit the front part of
the plexiglass astrodome on the top of the cockpit area and sheared off the
front portion.. This acted as a scoop and caused a rush of air into the
flight deck area. One of the flight crew I am told managed to stuff a great
coat into the gap to stop the flow of air. As a result of this problem the
propellers were changed to a Hamilton Standard propeller of a paddle
design which was shorter and wider. This solved the problem.

I remember one flight Ron Baker was taking overseas that experienced an
engine failure around Quebec City. He returned to Dorval and enroute a
second engine failed. A third engine was also giving some trouble by the
time he set down at Dorval. I believe engine fuel hoses were the cause.

I had an interesting test flight in lanc # 104 one day that I will never
forget. I was on the flight to do some testing on the G.E., electric
autopilot that was installed on the aircraft. I believe it was there to do
some research for the autopilots to be eventually selected for the North
Stars. Apart from the two pilots Ernie Hand and I were the only others on
board.
Ron Baker was flying the aircraft and after we reached the test altitude
Ron said we were losing hydraulic pressure. There was a large hydraulic
leak on # 3 engine and we could see the fluid streaming out the rear of the
engine.
Our concern was about being able to lower and lock the landing gear. After
a discussion with Ron we developed a plan. We had a case of 1 quart cans of
hydraulic fluid on board and the hydraulic tank was accessible in the
flight compartment.

As soon as Ron was on final approach Ernie and I would pour as much fluid
as we could into the tank, Ron would then give us a hand signal as soon as
he was beginning his landing flare. We then ran back and lay behind the
main spar which traversed the main cabin just behind the flight compartment.
This would protect us in the event the gear collapsed.
Ron landed the aircraft so smoothly we could hardly feel the touchdown.
He was unable to brake the aircraft due to the rearward retracting mode of
the landing gear. If the gear was not locked and he braked the gear could
have collapsed.

We coasted to a gentle stop and Ernie and I gingerly got out of the
aircraft with the Jury struts which we placed in position in the landing
gear to lock it in place. We were then able to taxi back to the hangar.
"Bill Norberg" <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>

. Doug Maclaren sent us this note -

I note that you keep putting excerpts from the "Ocean Bridge" in your
newsletter. My brother Bill Maclaren, who worked for Imperial Airways
/BOAC/British Airways, for 41 years, was the Paymaster for the pilots,
when he worked at Dorval, during the war. He had been given a copy by the
son of a pilot named Geo. Mullet who had been a friend from that era.
Cheers, Douglas Maclaren <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>

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.  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.


/------------------------\               |--\_____/--\__  |
|  BETWEEN yOURSELVES     |______________ \______====== )-+
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|\^/|
_| TCA |_        B E T W E E N   y O U R S E L V E S
_|\| AIR |/|_              N E T L E T T E R
>  CANADA   <
>_./|\._<           for Air Canada retirees
|

Chief Pilot  - Vesta Stevenson   This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Co-pilot     - Terry Baker         This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

number 254   date Mar 29th,1998  1st Published in October 1995

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Please E-mail  all correspondence to both of us, as
Vesta lives in Victoria BC, and Terry lives in Ladysmith, BC.
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. Here's another story from Bill Norberg -

In these days of the tremendous growth in the availability and use of
personal computers we tend to forget what it was like in the "Early Days".
Trans-Canada Airlines got its first real computer with the arrival of the
IBM 650 intended to be used for Inventory control purposes. It was the thin
edge of the wedge as many branches in the airline saw its potential.
I was in charge of a Systems group in Maintenance at the time we moved into
the new Dorval Maintenance Base in 1960. I reported to Jim McLean and had a
small group consisting of Pierre Jeanniot, Anne Bodnarchuk, John McMurtry
and Ernie Olsen. Our task was to develop the management systems needed to
manage the new jet fleet of DC-8's and the Vanguards in a completely new
facility.
The area that was of prime importance was the Power Plant shop. It was
taking on the overhaul and maintenance of two new engines, the Conway on
the DC-8 and the Tyne on the Vanguard, in a new shop with many new personnel.
There were many problems to overcome to get the shop production capability
up to speed to address the many problems of introducing untried power
plants.
The task of forecasting long range requirements so production could be
matched to airline needs in terms of spare powerplants was a challenge to
say the least. Doing the job manually was  endless and the results were out
of date by the time it was completed. We decided that the new computer could
help us out and we developed a computer based simulation model that we
called EROS (Engine Repair and Overhaul Simulation). It could do this job
for us in a few hours of computer time and could make a 12 month forecast
that was quite reliable.
We faced one problem. The computer memory available to us was only 8K.
It was limiting what we could accomplish and we had a meeting with Bill
Sadler to present the case for doubling that capacity to 16K. No way was he
going to go along with such an unreasonable request until we indicated we
would have to do it on our own. A few days later he agreed to purchase the
additional memory.
The point I want to make here is the comparison with what most of us have
readily available. My first computer had 640 K RAM and my current one has
32Megs...almost twice as much as my first hard drive and 4000 times as much
as that first 8K we had to work with. It still did the job because Anne
Bodnarchuk was such a skilled programmer.
Regrettably this availability of virtually unlimited memory has made it
possible to produce very complex software which eats up the memory so fast
it is mind boggling.
We used this simulation to forecast the effect of the introduction of the
Tyne engine on shop production capabilities as soon as we had reliable
input data. We were shocked at what we learned. The reliability of the Tyne
was such that it would so overload the shop that we would have to ground
aircraft during the first summer due to lack of spares. As a result of this
forecast outlook we had to make plans to delay yet again the retirement of
the Super Constellation aircraft fleet to give us the backup protection.
There is an old saying..."Forecasting is fraught with pitfalls....
especially when it concerns the future" I would also say lack of forecasting
is much worse.
From: "Bill Norberg" <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>

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. Found on the Internet.
ONE GIANT LEAP?  DC-10 EVACUATION LACKING:
The recent evacuation of a Continental Airlines DC-10 at Manchester,
England, will probably be closely scrutinized.  Flight 21, taxiing for
takeoff, stopped on a taxiway after the cabin crew informed the cockpit that
the plane was leaking fuel and a fire had ignited in the rear engine.
The evacuation did not go smoothly, with mid-cabin passengers leaving through
the overwing exits, only to return to the cabin when faced with a precipitous
drop from the wing to the tarmac.

I am a bit of an amateur historian in regards to the airline I work for
(Air Canada nee Trans-Canada Air Lines).  In particular I am interested
in the final disposition of our original fleet of Lockheed 10A Electras.
By chance and a lot of perseverance  by both active and  retired employees
we have located CF-TCA and CF-TCC.  However the whereabouts of the second
sister to the "three sisters" remains a  mystery.  Details are somewhat
sketchy but here is what I have. CF-TCB, a Lockheed 10A, serial number 1113,
was delivered to Trans-Canada Air Lines on the 9th of October 1937, where it
remained in service until  the 12th of October 1939.  It was sold to the
Canadian Dept of National  Defense for the war effort.
Only 101 were built in total. If anyone out there knows of any Lockheed
10A's in existence or perhaps the wreckage (sigh) of any, please contact me
by e-mail.  Thanks  in advance and good hunting.
James (Jim) S. Smith,  Marketing & Sales Manager,  Air Canada I.T.
Marketing & Sales,  E-Mail:    This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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. Terrys Travel Tips.

The Air Canada timetable available from their web site was loaded
Mar 26th and valid until Oct 24/98.

Dargal Interline Cruises & Tours Deals -
Star Clipper - Southern Caribbean - 7 nights - Apr 11
- Antigua, Dominica, St. Vincent, Tobago Cays, Iles des Saintes, Antigua.
- Cost: from us$895 pp dbl.

Sky Princess - Tahiti/Hawaii - 12 nights - Apr 22
- Papeete, Moorea, Bora Bora, Christmas Island, Kauai, Maui, Big Island,
- Honolulu.
- Cost: from us$670 pp dbl.

Call 1-800-690-3223 for details and mention Pionairs.

Canadian Interline Travel Hot Tour Deals!
Interline Historic China
- Departing  April 27, May 18, June 15/98 - 15 Days
- ca$1560 (no air) or ca$2360 (with Air)
- Airfares:  Beijing - Manila - Nagoya - Tokyo - Bangkok from us$399, pp
- Hotels: from us$100 per night.

Australian TOURS & MORE
- Independent Touring - 3 to 12 Days
- Choose from Sydney, Cairns, Melbourne, Alice Springs, Ayers Rock
- from US$365, ppd (Day Tours & Tour Pass available from US$46-174,pp)
- ****Positive Space airfare from us$599****

Looking for a resort get away?   All Inclusive...?
Allegro Resort All Inclusive Properties
- St Kitts, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Cancun, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen,
Huatulco, Margarita Island, Costa Rica
- Rates vary depending on high or low season, and shoulder periods
- from us$64, per person, per night - based on double occupancy
- Included in your stay:  all meals, local alcoholic beverages,
non motorized   water sports, entertainment, and more....

Premier All Inclusive in Barbados
- Almond Beach Club & Almond Beach Village - from $99us, pp dbl, per nigh.

Call Toll Free at: 1-800-665-3100 for details and mention Pionairs.

Cedarland Tour hosted by the Interline Club Lebanon.
5 days May 6 thru May 10th. Package includes - 4 nights accommodation,
4 breakfast, 3 lunches, 3 dinners, welcome cocktail,
3 full day tours, tranfer to/from airport & hotel,
entrance & guide fees.
Cost: us$450.00 pp dbl + WACA fee us$10.00
Note: Transit or entry visa to Lebanon can be issued upon arrival
at Beirut provided passenger holding return tickets, passport
valid for 3 more months, does not contain any Israeli stamps.
Middle East Airlines will grant all participants ID90 passes.
DEADLINE: Apr 15th 1998.

Kenya Safari 'Karibuni' hosted by the Nairobi Interline Club.
7 days May 16th thru 23rd. Package includes - accommodations and meals,
transfer to/from airport & hotel, entrance fees, transport in
minibus.
Cost: us$760.00 pp + WACA fee us$10.00
DEADLINE: Apr 15th 1998.

Contact your local Interline club or WACA (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) for details.

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. Smilie.
Found by your Co-pilot -
THE PRESIDENT'S PLANE IS MISSING -- AIR FORCE ONE GOES STEALTHY
Maybe one of the interns switched the transponder to "standby."
(Gotta watch 'em like a hawk, you know!)
One of the FAA's newest radar systems dropped Air Force One from controllers'
screens for several seconds recently. Radio contact with the President's
flight was never lost and it was not near any other aircraft at the time.
ZNY's new radar -- with a history of failing to properly display targets --
has been taken off-line for "unrelated repairs" and the FAA is investigating.

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.  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.


/------------------------\               |--\_____/--\__  |
|  Between Yourselves     |______________ \______====== )-+
|       NetLetter         |                      ---|/--  |
\------------------------/                         ()

~Between Yourselves-Netletter~
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.        

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|\^/|
_| TCA |_            B E T W E E N   y O U R S E L V E S
_|\| AIR |/|_                   N E T L E T T E R
>  CANADA   <
>_./|\._<                   for Air Canada retirees
|
Your crew is: Chief Pilot  - Vesta Stevenson
Co-pilot     - Terry Baker

number 253     date Mar 25th 1998

Published since October  1995.
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.    
Please E-mail  all correspondence to both of us, as Vesta lives in
Victoria BC, and Terry lives in Ladysmith, BC.
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. We welcome Mary Mosienko, living in Dorval Que, email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Fraser & Rosemary O'Shaughnessey, National Pionair 2nd V.P.,
living in Oakville, Ont. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Don Bridges in Edmonton Alb, email:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
John & Delores Gallagher who spent a total of 41 years with
TCA/AC, lives in Inglewood, Ont.
email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Patrica Mills with an email of: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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. Here is another "flash from the past" from George Brien -
GOING   REMOTE
The recent  incident in Fredericton (YFC) and other small airports
brought back some memories of the original "flight service specialists"
with TCA.
A picture on page 1 in  David Collins book "Wings across time", the
story of Air Canada, shows  a photo of  Wilf Sheffield, TCA Radio
Operator "on remote" at Oliver BC circa 1939.  A check of the latest
Atlas and  Aeronautical chart  shows no reference to  "Oliver ".
Perhaps someone out there remembers if this was an alternative airport
at one time.
About 16 years later, in 1955, I was transferred to YFC as an Operations
Agent with one year's service behind me. The duties consisted of doing
"everything" Radio/Load Agent/Ticket Agent etc.
At that time, as is happening again, these low traffic airports were
uncontrolled with no tower operator.  When we were assigned to the radio
position, we would monitor the TCA frequency, receiving and forwarding
position reports (px's) to ATC, passing along ATC clearances etc.  When
the inbound aircraft (DC3) was about 20-25miles out, the procedure was to
advise the Capt. that you were "going remote"
Remote at YFC meant that you went to the second story, out on the
walkway, plugged in your remote handset, looked in the general direction
of  the inbound aircraft in an effort to spot it.
By this time, ATC clearance  to decend and  proceed with an uncontrolled
approach  would have been passed on, along with the  ceiling, wind
direction, speed, condition of the field, altimeter setting, and most
important, a look to see if any other aircraft  were in the vicinity.
With this info. the Capt would make his decision what runway to land on
and would be advised to "land at his own  discretion"  The operator would
remain at the remote position until the aircraft had landed and arrived at
the gate. Winter operations was complicated with the additional job of
tracking snow removal crews  and obtaining  braking action  reports from
the MOT.
Most of the time  it was a pretty routine experience but  I do remember
one spring day when the "Spruce Budworm" fleet of sprayplanes  happened
to approach YFC at the same time as an inbound  DC3 from YUL.. I reported
light aircraft traffic  in the N /S/W/E quadrent when I realized  we were
surrounded by  about 40 of them, all VFR and heading  for various runways.
"land at your own decretion" had a nice ring to it  so  I left it up to
the Capt.
A transfer in 1957 took me to another  small airport in YQI, where again
"going remote" was part of the routine.  The only difference here, there
was no second story to climb, but we did have to  go to the corner of the
hanger with the best view of the runways and go thru the same routine.
Unfortunately, in Yarmouth (YQI),  the aircraft was usually heard before
it was seen, because  the persistance fog (surrounded on 3 sides by the
Ocean).  Approaches were made using the old Radio Range system and many
times you  would have to take a snack with you as two or three approaches
were attempted and 45 minutes would pass.
The sound of power being cut  usually indicated a  successful landing,
which was confirmed as a  plane appeared  on the ramp, thru the fog.
Yarmouth, as one of the smallest stations, was probably the last to use
the "remote" system, and around the late 60's, it became a part of history.
p.s.
one well known Capt. always swore that he used an  audio approach   on
runway 15 at YQI., He insisted that when the dog at the sawmill ran out
and barked, he knew he  was at the inner marker..
George Brien  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Vesta checked the Canadian Encyclopedia Plus and sends this -
Oliver, BC, Village, pop 3743 (1991c), 3298 (1986cA), inc 1945,
is located in the OKANAGAN VALLEY, 27 km S of Penticton. It was named after
Prem John OLIVER, whose Liberal government (1918-27) sponsored the Southern
Okanagan Lands Project, irrigating land to be settled by soldiers returning
from WWI. Some mining, cattle ranching and fruit growing had existed
previously in the area. Agriculture is the most important activity today,
followed by logging, tourism, specialized horticultural crops and mining,
with some manufacturing and grape growing. 

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. Terry's Travel Tips.

An update to the price grids for Family Affaire program listed in Horizons
Dec 1997 -

Effective Mar 28/98 Cincinatti is excluded from the Family Affaire.

******** 1998 TRANS-BORDER (excluding Florida) ******
-----------------------------------------------------------
ZONE            NW      SW     N MID   S MID   NE     SE
-----------------------------------------------------------
1-BC/AB         139  *  199  *  309  * 289  *  299 *  319
2-SK/MB         199  *  269  *  229  * 289  *  219 *  239
3-ON            289  *  319  *  149  * 169  *  139 *  159
4-QC            299  *  329  *  159  * 179  *  149 *  169
5-MARIT         369  *  349  *  199  * 199  *  199 *  199
EXCEPTIONS
BC/AB TO SW EXCLUDING LAS/PHX/DEN
SK/MB TO SW EXCLUDING LAS/PHX/DEN

FOR THE ABOVE EXCEPTIONS, PLS USE SUM OF SECTORS (END ON END
COMBINATION) TO CONSTRUCT FARE.

******* 1998 SUN DESTINATIONS FARE GRID ******
-----------------------------------------------------------
ZONE      1-BC/AB  2-SK/MB  3-ON   4-QC   5 -MARIT
-----------------------------------------------------------
FLORIDA       369  *  369  * 229  *  229 *  319   *
BAHAMAS       379  *  379  * 239  *  239 *  329   *
BERMUDA       379  *  379  * 239  *  239 *  329   *
YHZ-BDA DIRECT  -      -      -       -     219
CARIBBEAN     569  *  569  * 349  *  349  * 449   *
HAWAII        359  *  359  * 489  *  489  * 589   *
-----------------------------------------------------------
ZONE         NW      SW     N MID   S MID    NE   SE
-----------------------------------------------------------
FLORIDA     369  *  369  *  369  *  369  *  319 * 319
BAHAMAS     379  *  379  *  379  *  379  *  329 * 329
BERMUDA     379  *  379  *  379  *  379  *  329 * 329
CARIBBEAN   569  *  569  *  569  *  569  *  449 * 449
HAWAII      359  *  359  *  489  *  489  *  589 * 589
-----------------------------------------------------------

Canadian Interline Travel Hot Cruise Deals!

Windstar Cruises - Trans - Atlantic Cruise Choices

Wind Spirit - April 5/98 - 14 Days (St Thomas - Lisbon)
- Itinerary:  At sea, for those whom love the sea!

Wind Song - April 26/98 - 14 Days (Barbados - Lisbon)
- Itinerary:  At sea Yachtsman's Escape!
***From us$960, ppd (Includes all port charges and taxes)
(please refer to #329298 & 329300 when booking)

Panama Canal Cruise, Acapulco to Ft Lauderdale - April 6/98
- Holland America Line
- ms Maasdam 
- Panama Canal 10 Day cruise
- Acapulco, Huatulco, Guatemala, Puerto Caldera - Costa Rica, scenic
cruising Golfo Dulce, transit Panama Canal, Bahamas, Ft. Lauderdale.
- Fares from us$43.90 per person per day!
- Inside cabin from us$439, ppd  Outside cabin from us$559, ppd
- Port charges and taxes are additional us$250, pp
- PS  Please do remember Holland America has a no tipping policy!

Call 1-800-665-3100 for details and mention Pionairs.

Cruises from Dargal Interline Cruises -
Hawaii - Sky Princess - 9 day Honolulu to Vancouver departs May 4th
Oahu, Kauai, Maui, Big Island, Vancouver
Cost: from us$490 pp dbl.
Grand Mediterranean - Grand Princess - departures Jun7, Jul 26, Aug 18.
Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Florence/Pisa, Naples/Capri, Venice,
Athens, Ephesus, Instanbul.
Cost: from us$2200 pp dbl.

Call 1-800-690-3223 for details and mention Pionairs.

Visiting Edmonton? Shirley Jay contacted the Nisku Inn, who advise their
rate for a room (single or double) is $79.00.  If anyone planning to
join the Edmonton Pionairs at their spring lunch  and want to reserve a room,
just let me know.  Shirley Jay <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>

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" ' "

.  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.


/------------------------\               |--\_____/--\__  |
|  BETWEEN yOURSELVES     |______________ \______====== )-+
|       NetLetter         |                      ---|/--  |
\------------------------/                         ()

-BETWEEN yOURSELVES-Netletter-
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.        

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'---o-o-0-o-o---'
" ' "

=======================================================================
|\^/|
_| TCA |_            B E T W E E N   y O U R S E L V E S
_|\| AIR |/|_                   N E T L E T T E R
>  CANADA   <
>_./|\._<                   for Air Canada retirees
|
Your crew is: Chief Pilot  - Vesta Stevenson
Co-pilot     - Terry Baker

number 252     date Mar 24th 1998

Published since October  1995.
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.    
Please E-mail  all correspondence to both of us, as Vesta lives in
Victoria BC, and Terry lives in Ladysmith, BC.
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. Don Demeza sends us this update on the Travel Booklet -

The executive, directors and various volunteers within the Pionair
organization are actively trying to improve communications and the sharing
of information between retirees.  Various needs have been expressed from
time to time.
The common objective is simply to help retirees:
Understand and use their travel and other benefit programs
Share industry and travel information with each other
Maintain a contact with friends from our working years
A number of programs have evolved to meet the above objectives.
They are being manned entirely by volunteer Pionairs who have spontaneously
seen a need they are trying to meet.
The manual is coming along great - The airline is helping us with the
printing and I have now sent three chapters to them, namely:
Chapter 1 - The Personal Trip Pass Ticket
Chapter 2 - Family Affair Travel
Chapter 3 - Travel Partner Vacation Program
We have received input from Al Croome, Stephanie Mandzie and Ron Vigars
and am trying to get as much as possible written and checked before
I take off for Oregon for a couple of weeks next week.
Olie Moore and I spent all day Thursday, March 12th with Irene in
Industry Travel and the support is great - the block now is my time -
when did I ever find time to work.
Thanks to Olie our document now has a name,
"Air Canada Pionairs Travel Guide"  and whatever we have done in
time will receive its initial distribution at the AGM in May so not much
time.
This, the first edition of a Travel Document, has been produced by
volunteer Pionairs and checked for content by Air Canada's  Department of
Industry Affairs.  Additional chapters will be added as an on going project.
It will go out of date therefore should be amended by each manual holder
from the information published regularly for our benefit in Horizons.
Initial distribution of this Travel Document will be to those attending
the 1998 Annual General Meeting in Toronto.  Decisions will be made at that
meeting concerning distribution to all Pionair members and possibly to all
retirees.

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" ' "

. Found on the internet.
COLLINS NAMED FIRST WOMAN TO COMMAND SPACE SHUTTLE
Last Thursday, an airport kid's dreams and aspirations reached a new
pinnacle:  USAF Lt. Col. Eileen Collins, 41, was named the first woman
to command a space shuttle mission.  In 1995 Collins became the first
woman to pilot the shuttle.  She will command a mission scheduled for
December to deploy an X-ray astronomy telescope.  Collins has 4,700
hours total time in 30 different types of aircraft, plus more than 400
hours in space, having traveled more than 6.5 million miles and orbited
the earth 274 times.  Congrats, Colonel, you've earned it.
(Imagine all those Aeroplan points - eds)

CARRY-ON CLAMPDOWN -- COMPUTERS COUNT AT DAL, FOOD DOESN'T:
Better get a bigger briefcase.  Starting April 15, Delta will count a laptop
computer as one of the two carry-on bags it allows onboard.  Not counted
will be purses, coats and assistive devices, like crutches.  In an
eloquent comment on the state of airline food service, the carrier will
also not count food carried aboard for in-flight consumption.

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" ' "

. Vesta sends us this note -
ROCKWELL, 3COM COMPLETE JOINT TESTING OF NEW MODEM Rockwell
International and 3Com Corp., once bitter rivals over the next generation of
computer modems, surprised everyone by unexpectedly announcing that they've
finished joint testing of their once-incompatible 56Kbps equipment and
pronounced the products compliant with the electronic protocol approved
several weeks ago by the International Telecommunication Union.
"We feel that this has been a major move forward for the modem market after a
difficult 1997," says the president of Rockwell's Semiconductor Systems unit.

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" ' "

. Terrys Travel Tips.
WHY DO YOU THINK THEY PUT THOSE LITTLE BELTS ON THE SEAT?
A recent spate of turbulence encounters has served as a sometimes grim
reminder that human mailing tubes flying six miles high are not immune
to changes in the atmosphere.  Recently, as Alaska Airlines flight 684,
a 737, was nearing Reno, Nevada.  Eleven of the more than 100 passengers and
crew aboard were injured.  Then a Delta Air Lines flight 808, a 757,
suffered a similar fate over Louisiana, with six injuries to the 188 aboard.

Canadian Interline Travel Hot Cruise Deals!
Pacific Coastal Cruise - May 7/98 - Princess Cruises - Crown Princess
- 4 Nights - Los Angeles, At sea, At sea, Seattle, Vancouver
- Inside from US$199, ppd, Outside from US$299, ppd
- Balcony cabins from US$399, ppd (Excluding cats AA-A)
- Includes port charges. Gov't fees additional from US$15.71-US$26.71, pp
Pacific Mexican Cruise - May 13/98 - Princess Cruises - Dawn Princess
- 6 Day Cruise - Acapulco, Zihuatanejo, Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan,
Cabo San Lucas, Los Angeles
- Inside from US$499, ppd, Outside balcony from US$699, ppd
(category BA, BB, BC excluding AA-AC & BD-HH)
- Includes port charges. Gov't fees additional from US$7.45-US$18.45, pp
Baltic Republics Cruise - June 9, 1998. Princess Cruises - Pacific Princess
- 14 Days - Dover, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Sweden, Helsinki,
St   Petersburg, Tallinn - Estonia, Riga - Latvia, Gdansk -
Poland,   Transit Kiel Canal, Dover
- Inside from US$999, ppd
- Includes port charges. Gov't fees additional from US$23.76-$34.76  pp
Mediterranean - Atlantic Cruise - May 16/98 - Pacific Princess
- 12 Day - Rome, Florence, Pisa, Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Gibraltar,
Casablanca, Seville, Lisbon, Paris/Normandy, Dover
- Inside from US$899, ppd - Includes port charges.
Gov't fees additional from US$19.47-US$30.47, pp
Call 1-800-665-3100 for details and mention Pionairs.

Dargal Interline Cruises.
Royal Caribbean International
Europe - April 18th - Splendour of the Seas
- 13 night - Miami, St. John/St. Thomas, 5 days at sea, Funchal,
Madeira, Tangier, Morocco, Barcelona
- From US$1145 pp dbl.
or
- Reverse itinerary to above dparts Oct 28th cost from US$1259 pp dbl.
Mediterranean - May 1st, Sep 22 and Oct 4th departures - 12 nights
- Splendour of the Seas.
- Itinerary: Barcelona, Marseilles, Livorna, Naples, Venice ( 2 days),
Messina, Civitavecchia, Villa franche, Barcelona. 
- From US$2229 pp dbl.

Dargal Interline is the 'exclusive' interline agency for the
'Rocky Mountaineer Railtours' - worldwide'
Two of the Vancouver Island Pionairs Sly & Kay Napolitano recently
experienced this trip and say ' It was a very interesting trip where we
met travellers from all over the world.
The seats are very comfortable, large windows to view the scenery and
meal service throughout was excellent.
Truly it was the most spectacular train trip in the world".
Call 1-800-690-3223 for details and mention Pionairs.

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" ' "

. Smilie.
During the "rush hour" at Houston's Hobby Airport, a flight was delayed
due to a mechanical problem.  Since they needed the gate for another
flight, the aircraft was backed away from the gate while the maintenance
crew worked on it.
The passengers were then told the new gate number, which was some
distance away.  Everyone moved to the new gate, only to find that a
third gate had been designated.  After some further shuffling, everyone
got on board and as they were settling in the flight attendant made the
usual announcement:
"We apologize for the inconvenience of this last-minute gate change.
This flight is going to Washington, D.C.  If your destination is not
Washington, D.C., then you should de-plane at this time."
A very confused-looking and red-faced pilot emerged from the cockpit,
carrying his bags.  "Sorry," he said, "wrong plane."

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" ' "

.  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.


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