We have welcomed 33 new subscribers so far in 2024.

We wish to thank everyone for the continuing support of our efforts.

Back issues of The NetLetter are available in both the original newsletter format and downloadable PDF format.

We invite you to visit our website at www.thenetletter.net/netletters to view our archives.

Restoration and posting of archive issues is an ongoing project. We hope to post every issue back to the beginning in 1995.

We always welcome feedback about Air Canada (including Jazz and Rouge) from our subscribers who wish to share current events, memories and photographs.

Particularly if you have stories to share from one of the legacy airlines: Trans-Canada Air Lines, Canadian Airlines, CP Air, Pacific Western, Maritime Central Airways, Eastern Provincial, Wardair, Nordair, Transair, Air BC, Time Air, Quebecair, Calm Air, NWT Air, Air Alliance, Air Nova, Air Ontario, Air Georgian and all other Canadian based airlines that once graced the Canadian skies.

Please feel free to contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

We will try to post your comments in the next issue but, if not, we will publish it as soon as we can.

Thanks!

Pacific Airshow made history February 15, 2024 by landing two airplanes on Huntington Beach to celebrate the three-day spectacle’s return to Surf City, October 4-6, 2024.

Pilot Casey Pozdolsky delivered Pacific Airshow Executive Director Kevin Elliott and Bruce Graham brought in Huntington Beach Mayor, Gracey Van Der Mark to a press conference located near the Huntington Beach Pier.

Elliott announced Pacific Airshow will achieve a world-first by constructing a temporary runway on the beach to bring attendees and their families up close and personal with select aircraft at this year's Airshow.

 Source: pacificairshowusa.com

Submitted by Tim Johnston -

Hello Gentlemen,

I have a favourite picture of myself that goes back a really long way. On September 14, 1946, Trans-Canada Air Lines flew its new North Star on a demonstration flight across Canada, stopping in Toronto, Fort William, Winnipeg, Lethbridge, and Vancouver. From Vancouver, the flight continued to the Douglas factory in Santa Monica, California and then returned to Montreal via Vancouver.

The aircraft was crewed by Captain Al Lilly, Ron Baker, Jack Hood and Smokey Harris. Among the luminaries on board were the Honourable C.D. Howe, Minister of Reconstruction and Supply; H. J. Symington, President of TCA; Eric Warlow-Davie and J. Hall, representing Rolls-Royce, and Jim Bain, representing Canadair (thank you, Larry Milberry).

I was also on that historic aircraft. When it landed in Lethbridge, the hub of TCA's Alberta operations at the time, a photographer from The Lethbridge Herald, Lloyd Knight, asked my sister Dorothy if she would like to be in a newspaper picture commemorating the arrival of the aircraft. She agreed and took her little brother along as well and the attached picture was the result.

Yep, that's me on the North Star's nose wheel, carefully balanced by my favourite big sister. Kind of an unusual claim to fame, but the picture is a great memory for me. I cannot recall actually going out to Kenyon Field, seeing the aircraft or posing on it. Old photographs can be wonderful.

This is the third item I have submitted to NetLetter, the others being information on the Grumman Goose that I photographed in Edmonton in 1966 and the picture of Wardair's Boeing 727 in company with the DC-6 it would replace. You folk do a great job with NetLetter and I'm glad I could provide a bit of content.

Best wishes for now,

Tim Johnston

We found this in a very early RAPCAN eMailNews issued by Duane Frerichs.

'We were enroute from London to Toronto one fine summer day & the stew came up with a coffee for me.

For some unknown reason, as she was handing me my coffee, she jumped & dumped the coffee in my 'lap'. The first officer pleaded innocence of any reason for her sudden movement. At the time we were wearing our summer issue khaki uniforms so there was quite a large stain - mostly coffee.

The stew apologized & being efficient as most of our girls were she suggested I take off my pants & she would go back & wash the stains out. Real good idea.

She brought the pants back, wringing as much water out of them as possible. To further expedite the drying of the pants, I tied one leg to the bar on the window & the opened it a tad.

Everything was going along just fine until there was a "swoosh" or something like that, & my pants were gone. This was before VHF so a call was made to Toronto on HF to have my wife bring out a spare pair of pants - a message that was received & "rogered" by umpteen dozen stations with inappropriate remarks.

The pants were later retrieved by a farmer near Milton.

Good old DC-3 days - Ken Warner

Timeline of women in aviation and space history.

• 1784 – First woman to fly – Marie Élisabeth Thible, France
• 1798 – First woman to pilot an aircraft solo – Jeanne Labrosse, France
• 1799 – First woman to parachute jump – Jeanne Labrosse, France
• 1903 – First woman to pilot a motorized aircraft solo – Aida de Acosta, U.S.A.
• 1910 – First woman to earn a pilot license – Raymonde de Laroche, France
• 1911 – First woman to win an air race – Hélène Dutrieu, Belgium / France
• 1911 – First woman to teach her child to fly – Hilda Hewlett, England
• 1912 – First woman to patent an aircraft design – Amelie Hedwig Beese, Germany
• 1912 – First woman to pilot a seaplane – Hélène Dutrieu, Belgium / France
• 1912 – First woman to fly over the English Channel – Harriet Quimby, U.S.A.
• 1913 – First commissioned female airmail pilot – Katherine Stinson, U.S.A.
• 1914 – First woman to fly an aerobatic maneuver (loop) – Lidia Zvereva, Russia
• 1915 – First woman to fly in combat – Marie Marvingt, France
• 1921 – First black female to obtain a pilot license – Bessie Coleman, U.S.A.
• 1927 – First female airline pilot – Marga von Etzdorf, Germany
• 1929 – First female movie stunt pilot – Florence Lowe Barnes, U.S.A.
• 1930 – First female pilots to refuel a plane in flight – Elinor Smith & Evelyn Trout, U.S.A.
• 1934 – First woman to flight instruct at a military flight academy – Marina Mikhailovna Raskova, Russia
• 1935 – First certificated flight nurse – Marie Marvingt, France
• 1937 – First woman to fly a fighter aircraft in combat – Sabiha Gökçen, Turkey
• 1937 – First woman to pilot a helicopter – Hanna Reitsch, Germany
• 1943 – First and only women to receive the Ace Pilot designation – Lidya Litvyak & Katya Budanova, Russia
• 1944 – First woman to pilot a jet– Hanna Reitsch, Germany
• 1948 – First female agricultural pilot – Ada Rogato, Brazil
• 1953 – First woman to break the sound barrier – Jacqueline Cochran, U.S.A.
• 1955 – First woman to hold a test pilot license – Jacqueline Auriol, France
• 1963 – First woman to fly in space – Valentina Tereshkova, Russia
• 1964 – First woman to fly solo around the world – Geraldine (Jerrie) Mock, U.S.A.
• 1993 – First woman to fly a supersonic airline jet – Barbara Harmer, England
• 2009 – First woman to lead a national demonstration aerobatic team – Virginie Guyot, France.

Source: womenofaviationweek.iwoaw.org

If You’d Invested $1,000 in Air Canada Stock in 2014, This Is How Much You Would Have Today.

There are many looking at their Air Canada shares on the TSX today and feeling sick. After hitting all-time highs back in 2019, the company plunged and has yet to recover. But not everyone has shares like this.

In fact, if you had invested just $1,000 in 2014, your shares could be worth as much as $3,041 as of writing! So, what was going on to cause those shares to climb, and is it something Air Canada stock can do again?

Full article at: ca.finance.yahoo.com

Air Canada Cargo Named 2024 ATW Cargo Operator of the Year

Air Canada and Air Canada Cargo are honoured to have been named the 2024 Cargo Operator of the Year as part of the 50th annual ATW Airline Industry Achievement Awards, the first Canadian operator to be bestowed the award.

Air Canada Cargo was recognized for its digital transformation as a key pillar of its commercial strategy, including a customer-centric digital environment that provides valuable self-serve scheduling and booking tools. Air Canada Cargo has also moved customer accounts to a cloud-based system, reducing the need for paper air waybills.

Source: media.aircanada.com

Found in 'Regional News' magazine

Issue dated August 1983

'The ship' departs.

When 'the ship' flew out of Montego Bay (MBJ) for the last time, the crew cooperated by giving a farewell fly-past for onlookers. It was a nostalgic time for some staffers who had also witnessed the departure of the last Vanguard.

The DC-8-63 was dubbed 'the ship' by other airline staff in MBJ because of its freight capacity and, boy, MBJ really loaded it on!

Most of the cargo uplifted at the station consists of perishables and produce of sunny Jamaica and most times the station is also proud of its passenger load factors.

Marking the occasion are, from the bottom of the stairs: John Buchanan, Manager, MBJ; Jerome Miles, ACSS; cabin crew members Hilary Eastveld-Beresh, Penny Stuart, Margaret Redfern, Lynn Straker, Helga Noll, Linda Smith and In-Charge Al Klein; S/O Steve Steele; F/O Andy Robertson and Captain Reg Russell.

Campaign for funds kicks off in New York.

A kickoff meeting for the 'Employee Campaign for Funds' directors in the U.S. was held in New York. They were determined to top the 75.6 per cent participation achieved in 1982 when they ranked 12th among all branches and regions, up from 13th the previous year 1981.

Standing, from the left, are: Bob Sedlak, CS&SM, Chicago; Peter Pemberton, Campaign Coordinator, U.S.; Ron Moudy, Airport Manager, Houston; Brenda Bielanski, Secretary, Cleveland; Judy Stephens, CSA, Dallas-Fort Worth; Dee Cameron, CSA, Boston; Larry Edwards, Load Agent, Los Angeles and Jeff Hearns, CSA-Cargo, San Francisco.

Seated, from the left, are: Harry Cooper, CSA-Res., New York; Pat Labrie, Honorary Chairman and V.P., U.S. & Southern Region and Nancee Trentadue, Senior Secretary, Personnel, New York.

Unable to attend were Bob Munro, R&SOM, Miami and Bonnie Moody, CSA, Tampa Bay.

All looked forward to a successful 1983 campaign.

From 'Horizons' magazine

Issue dated June 1993 

Continental contract keeps Air Canada's maintenance crews busy.

Four Winnipeg Maintenance crews were hard at work on Continental Airlines' maintenance contract. The work carried out seven days a week, 21 hours a day at Air Canada's Maintenance facility - includes aircraft modifications and inspections as well as a complete cabin make-over and modernization.

At the same time, Dorval's Maintenance and Engineering team overhauled and modified a Continental (Air Micronesia) B-727. These Maintenance contracts represented more than 900 person-years of work over a five year period.

Winnipeg Crew 

Dorval morning crew

Dorval afternoon crew

Pacific Western Airlines had been formed as a bush-flying enterprise in 1946 named Central British Columbia Airlines. Between 1949 and 1952 it acquired seven other bush-flyers and became PWA in 1953. True operation as a scheduled regional airline (one of five) began in 1959 when Canadian Pacific transferred route authority for 18 services from Edmonton to Northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories. This was just the start and PWA would grow not only to become the most successful of the five regionals but also to eventually take over CP Air and join the big time.

PWA acquired a reputation for innovation and aggressiveness with their Airbus which began in May 1963. The 'Chieftain Airbus' operated on the same principle as Eastern's shuttle in the USA. Operating from Edmonton Industrial airport, close to the city centre, to Calgary. Every passenger was guaranteed a seat even if it meant putting on an entire plane for that passenger. The service began with a three times daily DC-4 but grew by 1973 to a thirteen times daily 737-200. This initiative had helped drive passenger growth of 20% per annum on the route.

Source: www.yesterdaysairlines.com

From 'CP Air News' magazine

Issue dated May 1971

Mel Knox Climaxes His Career Using New Navigation System.

When flight 324 nosed to the loading bridge at Vancouver on March 14 it signaled the end of a 42-year flying career for Chief Overseas Pilot Mel Knox.
 

This flight from Honolulu to Vancouver was the first Canadian commercial overseas flight to operate without a navigator, using the inertial navigation system (INS). Installation and M.O.T. approval had just been completed prior to this flight from Honolulu to Vancouver on a DC-8-63 in four hours and 48 minutes.

Shown left to right with Captain Knox are: Bill Roxborough, Director of Flight Operations; Ken Grott; Craig Stevenson; Dennis Harland; Tom McCloy; Ted Randall; Gordon Scott; Tom Gale; Lloyd Moffatt; Don MacLean; Jack Reed and Rick Wiley. 

From the "InfoCanadi>n" magazine.

Issue dated March / April 1996

The business delegation that accompanied the Prime Minister on the four-country, 14-day mission during 1996, traveled aboard a chartered Canadian Airlines B-767. The airline was awarded the charter through a sealed bid process conducted by Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs & International Trade. Canadian bid for the charter because of the opportunity it represented.

The trade mission met with business and government leaders in Bombay and New Delhi, India; Islamabad, Pakistan; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Making technical stops in Rome and Tokyo the charter flew more than 23,000 miles over eight flight legs. More than 2,000 meals were served by the three inflight crews and thousands of litres of bottled water were served.

The Trade Mission crew beginning at the top step. from left to right: Antonios Yiouvris, Maintenance Engineer, Rome; Dann Cantley, OSM, Montreal; Jim Green, Catering Supervisor, Vancouver; Mary Ann Gardencius, Flight Attendant Edmonton; Gail Voermans, Calgary; Micheline Shirriff, Toronto; Donna Kyliuk, Winnipeg; Maxine Elson, Halifax; Diane St. Jean, Montreal; Dave Ellerbeck, Captain, Vancouver; Madeleine Beaulieu, Flight Attendant, Vancouver; Bernie Duperron, Captain, Vancouver; Mike Sawyers, CSD, Vancouver; Fulvio Pasquale, Flight Attendant, Vancouver and Ross Currie, First Officer, Vancouver.

Canadian Aviation History YouTube Channel

We found this great source of short historic films that have been preserved and posted on YouTube.

Come join Canada History Channel on a trip through our nation's aviation past!

With a belief that a common past builds a common future, this channel aims to provide you regular updates!

Source: www.youtube.com/@CanadaHistory/videos

Trans-Canada Air Lines Douglas DC-8-42
taking off from Montreal's Dorval Airport in the early 1960's.

Canadair North Star in RCAF and TCA Service 1950's

Airbus A300-Based Belugas Can Now Carry Freight To The United States.

The Airbus extra large cargo division, Airbus Beluga Transport, has been authorized by the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) to commence operations between the United States and Europe.

Five of the original A300-based BelugaST's were delivered between 1995 and 2001 for use in transporting components between the various Airbus assembly plants. Six larger A330-based BelugaXL's have since been added, making some of the original aircraft available for commercial service.

Source: SimpleFlying.com

Robotics Firm Confident Amelia Earhart’s Plane Found.

A South Carolina marine robotics company seems pretty sure it’s found Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan’s Lockheed Electra in an area not previously searched west of their destination of Howland Island.

Earhart and Noonan vanished in 1937 while trying to fly across the Pacific. In late January, Deep Sea Vision released side scan sonar images of an object on the ocean floor about the same size and shape of the aircraft. The company had been searching a 5,200-square-mile area for almost three months when the sonar returns were spotted. “We’re thrilled to have made this discovery at the tail end of our expedition, and we plan to bring closure to a great American story,” said company founder Tony Romeo.

The searchers applied a theory put forward 14 years ago that an exhausted Noonan forgot to consider crossing the International Date Line in his celestial navigation calculation and directed Earhart to fly a course 60 miles west of where he intended.

Romeo and his team replicated the math, first worked out in 2010 by NASA employee and private pilot Liz Smith, and began their search late last year. It’s not clear what the next steps are, but the Smithsonian is hoping someone goes back for another look. “We are intrigued with DSV’s initial imagery and believe it merits another expedition in the continuing search for Amelia Earhart’s aircraft near Howland Island,” said National Air and Space Museum aeronautics curator Dorothy Cochrane.

Source: AVWeb.com

 Buffalo Airways

I have been a subscriber to Mikey McBryan's Buffalo Airways YouTube channel for some time now. In NetLetter #1516 our 'Featured Video' was about their new acquisition of a Boeing 737-301SF.

Simply Flying published a story about the airline a few months ago entitled:

'5 Cool Factors That Make Canada's Buffalo Airways A Unique Airline'.

Actually, I think that 'Unique Airline' may be a bit of an understatement. Here is a condensed history of Buffalo Airways.

Founded in 1970 by Bob Gauchie (see link to his story below) it was later sold to pilot Joe (Buffalo Joe) McBryan and is still owned by the McBryan family and Joe remains the president. 

Its primary business has always been flying, operating passenger service (ceased in 2020), courier/cargo service, firefighting and an aviation school.

Additionally, they seem to be quite competent at marketing themselves through a clothing line and other media outlets besides YouTube. They have been featured on the History channel's Ice Pilots NWT (link below) and were involved in a re-creation of the historic Dambusters raids of World War II, flying the mission with their own plane and pilots. 

On July 27, 2012, Bruce Dickinson, lead singer of Iron Maiden, flew up from Edmonton to Yellowknife with Buffalo Airways. On July 28, Dickinson, who holds an airline transport pilot license, flew a Douglas DC-3 to Yellowknife and spent a day as a guest star for a season five episode (link below).

The aircraft in the issue header (C-GWZS) flew on D-Day dropping paratroopers over Normandy as part of 512 Squadron. 

Check out the links below for more:

Buffalo Airways on YouTube

BuffaloAirways.com

SimpleFlying.com

Buffalo Airways at Wikipedia 

Iron Maiden front man, Bruce Dickinson flies their DC-3

Buffalo Airways' Electra is being put to the test after being hammered hard by harsh winds in the valley. With a big freeze hitting the airport, frozen engines and wings are raising the tension within the crew.

Video posted by the 'Wonder' channel. 

Terry Baker, co-founder of the NetLetter scours the internet for aviation related Trivia and Travel Tips for you, our readers, to peruse.

Remember when the UK passport was quite cumbersome - the one just below was issued in 1986...BUT at least the holder could smile!

The passport pictured below was 4 inches wide by 6 inches tall with 30 pages for visas. Earlier versions also had a sheet as the last page for noting the amount of currency being taken out of the country when currency controls were in place.

The passport was later reduced to pocket size (3 1/2 x 5 inches) with a new burgundy booklet circa 1988 and has continued to go through several changes over the years.

'European Community'
circa 1988

Short Final: Hold Your Horsepower

A female tower controller at a flight-school airport was known to have a sultry voice that the young male instructors found … appealing.

On one occasion, she advised one of the school aircraft that had been waiting for ground fog to dissipate:

Controller: “Cessna Five Mike Fox, weather is now clear with 2.5 miles visibility in fog. State your intentions.”

Instructor: “Cessna Five Mike Fox … Dishonorable.”

After a brief silence on the frequency, she replied: “Cessna Five Mike Fox, hold your present position — indefinitely.”

Source: www.AVWeb.com