WE REMEMBER: RCAF 404 SQUADRON

THE FIRST RCAF SQUADRONS to serve under the British Coastal Command were formed in Great Britain in 1941. Three squadrons, No 404, No 407, and No 415 took part in attacks against German ships along the coasts of north-western Europe.

Equipped with Bristol Beaufighters in the spring of 1943, No 404 played a role in the development of a new weapon, the three-inch (7,6 cm) rocket with a 25-pound (11.3 kg) armour-piercing charge, as it hunted down Axis ships off the coasts of Norway.

SEE: www.404squadron.com/

(accidentally deleted my November 11, 2011 post , 404 was my dad's squadron after the war)

:::: Will AIR CANADA Keep Crashing? ..:::..

Apparently.

You know for any business, and certainly for an airline PR is usually a big part of the biz package considering it encompasses how you present yourself to the community, and the rest of the business world at large. Getting public relations right is usually a biggie.

But NOT always.

Certainly NOT with Air Canada.

Air Canada Flight 621 (DC-8-63 registered as CF-TIW) crashes in Castlemore, Ontario on July 5, 1970.

Everyone is killed, all 109 pax (passengers) and crew.

In the most horrendous way possible.

In a 150 tonne missile that went nose first into a Castlemore farmer's field at 400mph. All occupants onboard…absolutely terrified right up to the very end. And then crushed, or worse, atomized.

Three minutes previous these people were safely landing at Toronto International Airport…for the first leg of their long journey…and now they were high in the sky above Castlemore, until finally nosing down toward the ground…when the spent DC-8's structural integrity finally burned away the last secured section of that airliner's starboard wing.

The fatally crippled jet now lurched downward on its final descent. Yes, now these people who were almost safe at Toronto International moments before…had actually touched momentarily on Toronto's 33L runway…just 180 seconds previous…now all these people suddenly, unexpectedly, were going to die.

When I recalled aspects of this tragedy to a friend, I added an unusual question, and the response was venomous.

Harsh. Instant.

How could I even say such a thing…even suggest such a thing?

I had asked the seemingly disrespectful question, what if Air Canada's Flight 621 crashes again??

Seemingly being the operative word.

Because my question was a very real question, a very pertinent question…in the world of Air Canada.

It is not common knowledge, but… AIR CANADA, unlike JUST ABOUT EVERY OTHER airline in the world (as my friend assumed, incorrectly) does not, I repeat, DOES NOT, retire the affected flight number when one of their own flights crashes…with lives lost.

Say , what?

You heard me.

Well, why would they?

Why treat your customers with the ultimate dignity and respect…and as the irreplaceable human beings that they actually are by solemnly retiring flight numbers? So, silly~

As it turns out, Air Canada no longer uses Flight 621, though!

There is just too much on the internet NOW connected with that flight. None of it good. So I guess that flight number was set aside out of utility, not respect.

But what about other deadly Air Canada flights?

TCA (the precursor to Air Canada) Flight 831(118 lives lost), Air Canada Flight 797 (23 lives lost), and Air Canada Flight 189 (two lives lost) continue to fly again…as a DIRECT INSULT to surviving family members of all the victims, on all these ill-fated flights.

But Air Canada will AT LEAST change the flight route. The start point, and/or destination.

How thoughtful.

So Air Canada Flight 831, 797, and 189 keep flying today!

And yes, THEY COULD crash again or have loss of life!

Can you believe it?? Can you actually believe it??

It gets better, folks.

No, I won't tell you here about the Air Canada Flight 621, and the Alfred Hitchcock connection, since that will be saved for the book, but…

AIR CANADA, back in1970, had promised a memorial to the crash victim's families of Flight 621…ON SITE!

Yes, at the crash site in Castlemore!

AIR CANADA later changed the memorial location to adorn the Mount Pleasant FLIGHT 621 cemetery plot in the centre of Toronto. There, a little over 50 of the victim's bodies are buried to this day.

Yes, the promised memorial is there, in Toronto, some 30 kms away.

NOT where, or what, the Flight 621 families were promised at the time regarding said memorial.

But when you aren't even retiring flight numbers when tragic death is involved, can an airline like that really be expected to honour promises of on-site memorials that were to be a token and permanent sign of consolation, made in good faith, to the then-grieving family members?

C'mon, get real.

In fact, from July 5th to October 1970 over a hundred people a day were visiting the crash site. Many indeed were family members.

But there's more…

Eric Weiczorek, who lost his stewardess wife, Gundi, in the Flight 621 crash can be seen in the incomplete heart-wrenching film clip above. Taken at the 40th Anniversary ceremony last month, right at the crash site, Eric relays his grief at being so shabbily treated by Air Canada at the time of the crash.

He wasn't the only one.

A phone call, a limousine, a letter, and (hey!) Air Canada's duty to Eric was done!

Linda Fishman (author - Repairing Rainbows), who lost her mother and two sisters on that flight made a recent overture to Air Canada just before this summer's 40th Anniversary event. An olive branch extended, if you will, to AC a week or so, before the event.

When does the dawdling airline get back to her? Two days before the actual event. And they have conditions you, know. They want to meet with Linda and any other victim's family members only two hours before the start of the event! And whatever the outcome of that meeting…they are to be allowed to attend the 40th ceremony!

Habitually posturing, using pressure tactics with the still grieving, even after all these years, as if AC is still in the driver's seat… still trying to unsuccessfully manage the continuing fallout from Flight 621 without actually doing something new. Something uplifting, something positive.

Well, in short order, because of the disrespect, once again shown to the families…Linda told those AC execs to well…go fly a kite.

Because…we know they can't fly airplanes.

Well, actually they can…they've kept a pretty clean record since…its their public relations that won't fly!

I do want to be fair to Air Canada. They were named best North American airline for 2010.

AC was also capable of doing some good leading up to the Flight 621, 40th Anniversary Ceremony event.

Bruce Sultan, who lost his wife and two kids was given free tickets by Air Canada to fly up to Toronto to attend the 40th Anniversary. Lucie Raymond, who lost her father on the flight was also given tickets to fly to the ceremony. Both parties were thankful for the olive branch offering. There may have been others, as well.

These people, the victim's families, are being quite reasonable in their final demands.

If I was running Air Canada, I could solve this festering PR disaster in one day.

In a single day.


And here's how I'd do it.

1) Pay for the new monument at the crash site, plaque, benches etc.

2) Assess where the deficits are and issue formal apologies to all the victim's families acknowledging those especially wronged. Many wanted a genuine apology at the time. Eric saved the apology he received from the Navigator's Association at the time. It was handwritten, the writer expressed sorrow (likely by placing himself in Eric's shoes*hint*) and thoughtfully and earnestly attempted to reach out to Eric in his time of sorrow with offers of emotional support.

Air Canada sent him…an open, unsigned, letter of condolence!

How important is a current apology from AC, admitting as an airline that maybe we got some of the process wrong, back then? Is it important, even after forty years??

Well, one widower turned down over $200,000 in compensation from Air Canada for the loss of his whole family BECAUSE the financial recompense offer DID NOT COME with a written apology from the airline. He walked away from the table, never to return. Judas kept the money, and Mr. –––––––– kept his dignity.

So yes, a new apology would make a huge difference. Put your teams of lawyers away, no one is looking for money, people want acknowledgment that they were treated shabbily. If you doubt me, meet these people! Stop hiding behind your lawyers, and an unforgivable wall of silence.

3) Give all victim's family members free flights to the official opening of the Flight 621 memorial in 2012. The Castlemore on-site memorial process is going forward regardless. Air Canada has to decide if they want to be a part of the remaining healing process of 621 families, or not. As Air Canada CEO for a day, I would decide that we do want to be a part of that process.

And we, as an airline, don't need to lead the way. We can walk with these people in their sorrow. And not just for PR reasons. Because its the right thing to do. Now.

Remember the present "open" status of Flight 621 is most unusual. It won't be resolved until 2012.

There are still victim's bones being unearthed in the crash field to this day. And that is not Air Canada's fault. One has to look to the Office of the Coroner for that one. But AC could certainly commiserate with the families on this delicate issue. It wasn't only customers who were lost July 5, 1970. It was also some of the Air Canada family that was lost. AC employees.

4) Officially retire Flight 621, and all other Air Canada flights that crashed and/or resulted in loss of life.

That Flight 831, Flight 797, Flight 189 still fly to this day is a horrendous and UNBELIEVABLE lack of respect for the families who suffered untimely loss of their cherished loved ones. Did their untimely deaths not earn them this, at the very least? Is Air Canada run by communists, or Canadians?

Air Canada does a lot of good works in the community, helping aviation museums nationwide with notable donations, which I personally consider quite important.

More importantly though, Air Canada is "involved in a broad range of initiatives to improve the lives of children" through their KID'S HORIZON'S program.

So why leave these crash flight situations, unresolved…a recurrent black mark when it could so easily be resolved!

Air Canada can't bring those family members back…but they can ensure these people are properly acknowledged by additional positive action taken today.

Amen, brother.



Addendum: CF-TIW crashed and killed all 109 occupants. C-FTIW was reregistered and flown again.

In 2007 C-FTIW crashed killing the sole occupant.

SEE: www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-reports/aviation/2007/a07q0063...

And C-FTIW flies again today as a chopper. Sheer stupidity. Yup, those are call letters I would want!

::: AIR CANADA’S WORST CRASH: Flight 621, DC-8 Radome Artifact ..::..

IT'S STILL HARD to believe, what one can find…even now.

With Apple iPhone 3GS in hand I find a nosepiece of Air Canada's "Stretch" DC-8, CF-TIW that was lost on July 5, 1970. A part of the radome, specifically. I photo capture the GPS co-ordinates. At almost 9 pm at night. July 2, 2010, almost 40 years after the crash.

FLIGHT 621 has remained AIR CANADA'S WORST aviation accident with 109 lives lost in Castlemore, Ontario. Seven years previous, TCA lost 118 people, in St. Therese du Blainville, Quebec.

But that was Trans-Canada-Air-Lines…not Air Canada.

What's a RADOME??

The RADOME is usually found on the nosecone of any aircraft.

FLIGHT 621's Air Canada DC-8, numbered internally 878, it's radome housed the jet airliner's radar antenna and thus protected the aircraft's sensitive radar from the elements, both at 40 below and at 600 mph. The spherical covering also reduces drag so that DC-8 is more aerodynamically streamlined as she hopscotches across the continent.


By the numbers…

1) GPS co-ordinates of the actual radome find.

2) Thin, crushed, painted black metal of 878's radome. Remember, only a very small section of the Air Canada's DC-8 livery was painted semi-gloss black. The upper nose portion, as pictured. The fuselage aluminum just up from the nosecone, or radome area, is about double the thickness of the radome aluminum and is tempered to a harder standard.

3) ORIGIN AREA of the radome artifact, its actual area of location…as highlighted on an Air Canada DC-8.

FLIGHT 621 : Brampton (Toronto/GTA's) WORST Aviation Disaster - Denise Goulet

MY RESEARCH PARTNER out in Quebec, Pierre Tremblay, who has done extensive research on all Flight 621 victims from the province of Quebec, disclosed to me that he had actually known Denise Goulet (pictured above) back in the summer of 1967!

Pierre had spent a good part of his summer at EXPO 67 which was being held in Montreal. He went several times to the Bell Canada Telephone Pavilion, and there chatted with the ever cheerful hostess Denise, as he was then fascinated by telecommunication.

And maybe a little by her, as well.

The crash of Flight 621, of course, was front page news in the Montréal-Matin on July 6th, 1970, the day after the crash.

Pierre saw the Montréal-Matin crash headline, and was immediately riveted by the coverage of this unexpected Air Canada crash that had occurred the previous morning, on the clearest of days, somewhere in the Toronto region. Still in a state of shock and wonder about the horrific DC-8 crash that had claimed all 109 lives, he quickly read through the front page coverage and followed up on page three. There, his eyes fell on those ominous row pictures of the now deceased Air Canada flight crew, and its stewardesses.

One picture stood out.

Pierre was floored!

There was Denise!!

Oh, poor Denise—

While Pierre had met the exotically attractive Denise when she was then working at the EXPO 67 Bell Canada pavilion, she had already applied to, and been accepted to take the stewardess course. Immediate employment for Denise in the fall, at Air Canada, once EXPO 67 had wrapped up in October.

Aviation, not tele-communications, was Denise's first love.

At 17, Denise already had her first parachute jump under her belt.

And while Miss Denise Goulet had been working as a stewardess for Air Canada for almost three years, she had set her sights on being a pilot!

And guess what? Her father, Henri-Paul, was a pilot!

I guess the apple didn't fall too far from the tree, as they say…

When her father was reached for comment on his daughter's premature death, he told the media,

“Denise always dreamt of aviation. Aviation was in her blood.”

Mr. Goulet, himself a pilot for 25 years, was on duty the morning of the crash when he learned about the terrible tragedy. Henri-Paul was a pilot for the Yvon Fournier company from Trois-Rivières, and had to sprinkle insecticide on the transmission lines of Alcan in Lac St. Jean.

Denise, who was to be 23 on July 12, died seven days short of her birthday.

She had made special arrangements to be aboard the Air Canada "California Galaxy" (Montreal-Toronto-Los Angeles) flight, one of the airlines' new connoisseur flights, in order to meet with her brother, Andre. She was looking forward to journeying to Los Angeles to see her brother, who now resided there. She was going to take a few days off.

In August, Denise was quite excited to be travelling to Paris, with her mother, on an already arranged vacation for the pair.

It was not to be.

On July 10th, sadly just two days before she was to have turned 23, a funeral mass was held for Denise at 10.00 A.M. at St. Odilon Catholic Church, in Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec. There was a large turn out of family and friends to pay their final respects.

Had Denise not died that day, today she would be 62 years old.

And now she looks back at us from eternity, forever only twenty-two…

FLIGHT 621 | Brampton's LARGEST Air Disaster

FLIGHT 621 | Toronto's Largest Air Disaster *** REVISED ***


ONE OF A FEW book cover mock-ups I'm considering for my book about Flight 621.

This is the only one I'll be showing. For now. I like another mock-up I did… that I feel is much better, more sombre, reflective… but I'm always curious about feedback.

So have your say, below, if you wish.

I was reviewing an OPP police photographer's 40 year old Flight 621 crash photos recently, when I saw something in one of the photos.

So I called Mike and said, "Mike, tell me, tell me, THAT ISN'T what I think it is."

After, both his wife, Audrey and he looked over the photo in question, the sad response came back.

"I think you're right, Paul."

I thought to myself, God… always prepares the way. And you won't see that until you're right in the middle of it. If you see it at all. Whatever He has, later for you… to be right in the middle of.

Only six months ago I was watching the excellent series about World War II, entitled, "The World at War" which, of course, is the definitive documentary about that war. Had I not seen the plentiful war stills of the battleground deceased, I might never have spotted "the clue".

But half a year later, there I was… now "prepared" to make an unsettling discovery.

"Paul, you're right… it is a little girl. I don't know how I didn't see that before!"

Mike had taken the photos forty years ago, yet had somehow missed that sad detail.

Those World at War documentary stills had captured so many soldiers, then at rest, with deceased hands launched in so many distinctive angles and positions that I guess my mind was imprinted with these sad images.

When I chanced upon similar in Mike's photo… I was compelled to look closer.

So, in the Flight 621 photo, I saw her peaceful hand, emerging from a sleeve, and lifelessly draped over an inner tubular structural piece of smashed DC-8.

I followed the hand to its source.

Somebody's little girl was sitting there, right there… in her final resting spot.

Her thick black hair, untossled. A defiant, thick, white hair tie-back-clip could readily be seen, keeping her hair perfectly in place amidst the horror!

The clip, however, could actually be one of those funky 70s style pair of big glasses pulled back over her forehead.

We'll never know.

I sat, in silence, with that photo for quite a while.

The picture was taken in the first hour of the crash. There are police officers and first responders busily walking around in the background, obviously, oblivious, to her.

I bet that didn't last long.

She is right out in the open, but also concealed within a medium sized mangled piece of fuselage wreckage! And somehow, she remained INTACT!

INTACT!

How did that happen?

I imagine that within the second hour, maybe the third, after these first hour photos were taken, she was found.

Likely, someone just walking by who had to do a double-take.

What a horrible, horrible, discovery.

It certainly was, for me. And I was only looking at a photo.

I'll be interviewing an OPP first responder this weekend. John Cooper. He was there the first day of the crash and also the second.

I'll keep you posted.

Finally, THE COVER above…that's how 621 looked seconds before impact. She corkscrewed over onto her back. This remains the primary reason why there are no crash photos of the wrecked Air Canada DC-8-63 with her tail readily seen… as one can see in most airliner disasters these days. The tail is usually spared in every airline disaster.

Nothing was spared when Flight 621 crashed in Castlemore, Ontario on July 5, 1970.

Air Canada's Galaxy FLIGHT 621—Toronto’s LARGEST AIR DISASTER

EVER SINCE I WAS A BOY, my first memories of looking at a newspaper were of the July 5, 1970 Flight 621 crash in Toronto-Gore. We got the Toronto Telegram delivered to our door and, Johnny Lynch, my next door neighbour on Blackfriar Avenue in Etobicoke, delivered the Daily Star throughout the rest of the neighbourhood. He always had papers leftover. And when he did—we got one.

I remember all the grim crash photos from both competing papers.

Later, through the years the Toronto SUN, and the Toronto Star, would run articles revisiting the Flight 621 crash, usually when another significant air disaster had just happened.

I always wondered where the 621 crash location actually was. It bugged me that I didn't know.

Oh, well I thought. I guess I'll never know.

How wrong I was.

After a November, 2001 Mike Strobel article appeared in the Toronto SUN which revisited the Flight 621 crash by talking to eyewitnesses, I discovered that the crash site was somewhere less than three miles from where I had just purchased a new home!

Fancy that! I assured myself that now, I could indeed, even 33 years later, find the mysterious crash site.

I was right.

That's all I'll say for now. About that.

With the front page of Carol Parr's (Flight 621 crash eyewitness) Toronto Star in hand, Toronto Daily Star back then, I was able to stake out the crash arena quite accurately—just from that front page photo!

And with a little help from my friends.

Eventually, those friends would be known loosely as the Friends of Flight 621. Comprised of eyewitnesses and the concerned, we would discover a lot of things about the crash. I mean, things other than the human bones of the crash victims that kept popping up, through the years, in the poorly cleaned-up field. It was bad enough discovering someone's skull pieces, finger joints, kneecap, arm or leg bone shards mixed amongst abandoned Douglas Aircraft parts…but then I discovered the truly unexpected!

That the crash didn't have to happen!

That EVEN AS the Air Canada DC-8 was on fire quite spectacularly, and in the early stages of crash sequence…there was still ample time to turn it all around…and save everyone on board! No lives need have been lost!!

Not one!!

'nuff said, for now—

Wait—one more thing—in the lower part of the picture the reader sees the ominous caption, "Pilot faced terrible choice-and nothing could help him".

Well, that's not true.


(this article, as all my articles are in this format, are usually revised several times , even days after posting)

5 YEARS AGO: Air Canada RETIRES its last 747 in TO!

AIR CANADA 747 Service begins… with a pamphlet!

In 1971.

And the six page pamphlet proudly showcased Air Canada's new breed of luxurious aircraft that was more like an upper class hotel, than an airplano. My dad got me this AC pamphlet back in the day… but I somehow lost it through the years, and when I saw it again, one day on eBay, well…

BACK WHEN I WAS a kid, a coupla' years ago… the 747 was a brand new thing!

B I G and LOUD!!

And AC had bought three!

We lived 2.5 miles from Toronto International Airport, on one of its' glorious flightpaths.

The neighbours hated that reality!

I loved it.

Those early 747s had a very distinct sound.

There were STILL a lot of propliners back then, and the 747s sounded nothing like those harsh, struggling, turboprop engines.

As the JUMBO JET left the runway, you could hear the loud drone of the 747's massive four Pratt and Whitney's all the way from airport, out, into our little Etobicoke neighbourhood.

BACK THEN there wasn't the skyscraper, or housing density, to block that drone… not like the Toronto GTA has today, at an overpopulated 6 million inhabitants. And illegals.

Showcased are just two pages, of the battered six page ambassador, and why someone couldn't take a non-blurry image of an Air Canada 747 in flight, well, I'll never know!

So there's the past. Have a look ~

5 YEARS AGO on 31 October 2004, the last Air Canada Boeing 747 flight landed in Toronto from Frankfurt as AC873, ending 33 years of 747 service with the airline.

::: The Eerie, and Flight 621 .::.

You know that feelin'.

A chill down the spine.

You are alone BUT don't feel alone. A presence. Unsure what?

Strangely, it just happens sometimes when I'm doing 621 research. At home, or out in the field.

Anyways…

Rest assured… that every man-made idol humanity places his trust in, will be, thrown to the ground.

With Air Canada Flight 621, a Douglas DC-8, quite literally—

IMAGINE MY surprise, no shock! when I discovered this, last year.

A Douglas Aircraft Company (of California) ad, from the throwaway year of 1960. Proudly, and whimsically advertising their first jet airliner, the DC-8.

Raw power, folks! Fast, quiet, comfortable, dependable, and safe. Yes, safe. Rest assured, the moment you step aboard a DC-8 and enter the sky… you WILL have peace of mind.

Now, that was the hype.

The reality?

A little different with Flight 621, and many other DC-8 flights folks…

Back in the day there were "issues" with various mechanical aspects of the DC-8. A lot of incidents, accidents, and crashes were becoming the back-down-to-earth reality of this Douglas aircraft.

The Government of Canada even kept secret files on the DC-8 which can still be found in the national archives.

Through TCA and later Air Canada, which were both crown corporations, the Canadian federal government owned lots of DC-8s.

A whopping forty-four in total! Almost 10% of the entire McDonnell-Douglas production run, from 1958 through to 1972 was owned by Canadians, collectively.

And Big Brother, or the Government of Canada would later block the attempted purchase of McDonnell-Douglas DC-10s by Air Canada. The mounting evidence in the secret "8" files was a little too sobering. The "Feds" HAD had enough with Douglas, even though the DC-10's wings were made right in Toronto, right at the former Avro Canada plant!

Now, back to the ad.

Damn, it's eerie.

The ad shows an innocent blond-haired girl carrying a doll, and waving good-bye (to trusting parents).

The COLOURIZED INSET Jac Holland photo shows a similar doll found in the crash debris of Flight 621. Ironically, not even ten feet from the untouched doll was a lifeless, little, preteen blond-haired girl… amid tonnes, and tonnes, of burnt aircraft wreckage.

Age? About ten years old, I was told.

The former OPP police officer who returned with me to the crash site told me that he remembers her well. Too well.

She lay there in silence as he sadly looked down at her. Her blond hair, gently responding to a breeze, making its' way through the field.

Fifty-five minutes previous, she too, had waved good-bye.

Nobody knew it would be her last such wave.

And now, her family, would be left picking up the pieces of their personal tragedy for the rest of their lives.

SECRET TORONTO: Flight 621 in Toronto-Gore Township

Toronto-Gore Township, now Castlemore inclusive.

Really Brampton.

But back then, in 1970, this was known as Toronto-Gore.

AND THIS is where Air Canada Flight 621 crashed.

Archeological dig.

195 holes, just like this one, throughout the crash arena in 2006 yielded 90 human bone fragments.

So on one hand, we have developers that want to build right here. On the other hand we have a field that has crash victim's bones STILL in it.

What is Solomon, or anyone, to do?

Enter, into the fray, the illustrious City of Brampton.

"Guys if you want to build there…you gotta clean up the field, put a cemetery at the crash point and build a monument."

And that is exactly what they are going to do—

So what the Office of the Coroner could not do, what Air Canada could not do…the City of Brampton will make happen. The right thing will now be done!

Everyone connected with the this amazing reversal, those staff and those elected members from the City of Brampton…we, the Friends of Flight 621, salute your noble efforts to finally, finally, bring closure to this tragedy, and more recently the on-going travesty of the unburied flight victim's human remains.

Although 109 people died here on July 5, 1970…in an area that is home to almost 8 million Canadians…indeed, one quarter the population of our entire country, that beloved Canada…yet, so few actually know about the horrific crash and the location of the nearby, but mysterious, former crash site.

How is that?

Fast forward to 2010…everyone will know where it is, and all will be able to visit.

But why is the 621 crash site off our present radar, folks?

Air Canada…and…their corporate damage control team.

Remember, the Flight 621 relatives were promised a memorial on site by Air Canada. Back in 1970.

Air Canada later gave them one instead at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in midtown Toronto. Sure, a lot of famous Canadians have been laid to rest there. A prime minister or two. Notable musicians. War heroes. Why even the victims of the SS Noronic were buried there. But that's Toronto's other disaster. And yet this setting just wasn't right for the 621 families.

Too far from the actual site of the air disaster.

Much, too far.

However, there was something about the closeness of the crash site to Air Canada's Toronto hub that bothered the uppers (upper management of Air Canada). Remember the "uppers" made incredible decisions back then. Like in Cincinnati when that Air Canada DC-9 burned to the ground, right there on the runway. And additional Air Canada passengers died way back in the mid-80s.

The all-consuming fire had only just been contained by the Cincinnati Fire Department, on what was left of the DC-9, when the Fire Department regulars were suddenly bewildered by events that began unfolding right before their eyes. An unidentified vehicle, that obviously received airport clearance (the power of those AC uppers extends far) drove right up, alongside the just extinguished DC-9 tail. Now, before the firefighting team could voice disapproval, out poured mystery folk who immediately and with much fervor started painting white over the famous Air Canada logo, so prominent on the tail, in the airline's livery back then.

Damage control. Protect the brand. Mobilize the peons. Send the order down!

"Get that logo off the tail! At all costs." Sound of a phone slamming.

There may even be a "protect the brand" chant, that only the "uppers" know.

So the placement of the Flight 621 memorial in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery, where 55 passengers and crew were laid to rest, while generous back in 1970, was…remiss.

Not satisfactory.

Except to those AC uppers.

And through the years…the "621" families were ALWAYS ANGRY about that betrayal.

That failed Air Canada promise. The 621 families I met, inevitably, referred to it.

But in 2010…that will all change.

By the executive order of the City of Brampton.

Uppers vs. One-Uppers.

And those families will be able to go the 621 crash site themselves. And Air Canada can't stop the process, or the new memorial this time. Or the Flight 621 cemetery containing the remaining bone fragments that will also be ushered into existence.

The City of Brampton has decided.

So in 2010, at the 40th anniversary of the crash…there will be a new memorial right alongside a new cemetery. Since thousands of small bone fragments of their loved ones are still there and will be entombed in the new cemetery.

Then family members will be able to visit.

And so too, others moved by the disaster, now so long ago.

Family members then, won't need me to show them where the worst event in their lives happened. Although I was always ready to do that when asked.

Awkwardly.

And they will go there, next year. Some even for the first time.

In droves the families will go. Officially.

For closure. For solidarity.

To join prayerfully, and mystically with their departed ones. To say by their visit, by their presence, by the anguish in their souls…that we had to come here…because here…is where you left us ~

And we never got over it. Know this.

Never.

AIR CANADA Cuts 2,000 Jobs!!

AIR CANADA Cuts 2,000 Jobs!!…and for once I can’t blame Air Canada for something!

Or ANY AIRLINE.

They "be" the victims this time.

In a perfect world, this is how we would deal with the present gas cost crisis. I have often thought of creating my own political party just because I could deal with these real life issues so much better, AND FASTER than the existing parties have, either Stateside or here in Adanac (that’s Canada, spelt backwords folks).

This universal (worldwide) price action by the oil companies, whatever their country of origin, to highjack our cost of gasoline, by sending it through the stratosphere and already poised to go even beyond…is simply unforgivable.

If I was ”running” Canada, I would dispatch the RCMP to throw all oil company executives on Canadian soil into internment camps. Yesterday. Canada has several, not in use since WW II, so we might as well bring’em back into operation and put' em to good use.

Under my government…we would need'em.

And those cavalier dummies could stay there, and rot, until they ALL so decided to revert pricing back to… say, about 80 cents a litre. Even then, I'd leave them "on ice" for a couple months, time enough for them to work out a consumer refund strategy!

We should never, ever, ever, be paying more than 80 a litre.

Raising the PRICE PER LITRE by over 40%…in a little over 1 year…is simply an act of treason and consumer hostage taking.

It should be punishable by death.

9/11 threatened to shut down the economy, but the present GAS COST CRISIS will actually achieve just that!!!

And soon!

THERE IS no rationale for such an outrageous price increase over even a decade, let alone a single year…except corporate greed, market tampering, lack of government monitoring and the perception the public is too complacent to react and fight back.

40 % in a year, CAN ONLY BE “market fixing” and blatant consumer robbery!

This price fixing action by oil companies, working in global unison (as a racket) is a real test of individual governments and their ability to respond effectively to this horrendous and imposing economic threat.

GM of Canada cut 2,500 jobs two weeks ago. Now Air Canada, 2,000 today. Soon your company will have to balance the books.

When will YOUR GOVERNMENT rise to the challenge and take REAL action against these price fixing bastards?

Who knows?

I just know my uncertain and indecisive government hasn’t–

THERE THEY ARE…still lost, wavering…and without a clue–––

–: I sing in English ::..:.

Arrival at Gate 22… and soon on the worldwide music scene!

Pascale Picard

French-Canadien.

"That's her in them there clouds, Billy."

Fresh. Lively. An animated folk-rock singer.

But she only sings in English?

Enigma.


START WITH …Smilin’: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN9VlWpHe0U

Move to the funky… A While: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFlwzzDMnng

Wrap up with… Gate 22: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN0nJuXL9n8

(There's a Gate 22 at every airport.)


Album (me, myself & us) available NOW on iTunes… official release in stores sometime in June, 2008.

Hey, what’s with that hair?

The "band" promises to tour Ontario in the summer/fall of 2008. Maybe even TO.

a NEW PUPPY for…

…Air Canada.

Only 7 months old, this is the FIRST REAL photo I've taken of Air Canada's newest "puppy".

It's BIG.

AIR CANADA is the very FIRST OPERATOR of the next generation (300 series) 777s on the North American continent.

The TWO MASSIVE GE90-115B engines which power this Air Canada "beast" are the LARGEST AIRCRAFT ENGINES in the world.

And since we're talking about Air Canada…when the Boeing Dreamliner 787 comes out in 2010, Air Canada will be the largest operator of the Dreamliner in North America with 60 on order, and the second largest operator of the Dreamliner in the world next to Qantas.

With these significant Boeing purchases, Air Canada's "love affair" with Airbus is "officially" over.

AIR CANADA has gone through different aircraft purchase stages. The DOUGLAS and Vickers stage, followed by the Airbus and Canadair stage and now the Boeing and Embraer stage.

"You and I" were meant to fly, so sings CD.


HOW TO RECOGNIZE an Air Canada 777

1) Massive size with a thin sharklike tail

2) Only in UGLY "toothpaste" livery colours

3) Two HUGE engines

4) Rear bogies… 3 sets of two wheels

'nuff said ~

(partial source: Wikipedia)

(All Flickr "pieces" processed in Streetsville.)

…Jazz. –DOWN–

Yep…she's down.

WINGS…not normally "resting" on runway. Fire trucks, crane, not normally a part of airside ground services.

LATE DAY capture on Sunday May 20, 2007, of a Jazz CRJ-100, Flight AC8911, that experienced a main landing gear collapse while arriving at noontime from Moncton, N.B. Runway 06 is closed while TSB personnel are investigating the crash. Thirty-seven passengers and three crew members were not injured in the accident.

FUN with Photoshop!

PHOTOSHOP can do it all. Not so sure about Photoshop Elements…which has an easier user interface BUT doesn' t have the SUPERHERO power of its elder brother!

PLUS you can create a photo like this above MANUALLY and take forever…or you can employ PHOTOSHOP ACTIONS to do this "automatically".

This PHOTOSHOP ACTION is only a few "k" as a script, atn file, which is "dragged and dropped" into the Photoshop Actions folder and then loaded to be used…from the ACTIONS PALETTE.

Panos Efstathiadis created Pano's Actions …and this is BnBig Picture.

I HAVE AN Apple DUAL G5 and this "action" took about 15 minutes! IF YOU HAVE a PC…well……it may never finish!

BUILDING a Mystery

…except not so much of a mystery.

:::::::UPDATED::::::::

EXCEPT when I found this stray piece of "plastic"…I really did think I would never "put it all together".

It's funny how God reveals things through desires.

I thought I should keep the piece because "you never know". Then I was looking through eBay for Air Canada realted items, desiring to find DC-8 related trinkets, when I stumbled upon this ashtray amongst an assortment of Air Canada ashtrays.

And I thought WHERE, WHERE have I seen this "blue" and "pattern" before?

AFTER going through hundreds of collected pounds of 621 debris…I rediscovered the elusive piece.

And made the match!

THE CHIPPED PIECE of molded plastic came fom the same farmfield where AIR CANADA Flight 621 slammed into on July 5, 1970. Found it last year. Just didn't know what it was.

The ASHTRAY in the graphic is what you started with. The PIECE (left hand corner) is what you finish with when a doomed 155 tonne DC-8 "Stretch" slams into the ground nose first, wing high, at 400 mph, with 109 (mostly French-Canadien and American) souls onboard.

Of course, THEY ALL died on that ill-fated day!

And just like this piece of ashtray I found……so many pieces of HUMAN BONE, passengers and crew, from Flight 621 still remain in that field because the Ontario Office of the Coroner, normally empowered and authoritative, has repeatedly failed to rise to the occasion, and command removal of the REMAINING BONES from the field.

Fingers, kneecaps, mostly skull pieces and all kinds of unidentifible fragments~

Why?

$$$.

And because IT WAS THEIR DUTY then in 1970 to remove the victims' remains and it is their duty now.

Oh, Dr. Cotnam, where are when we need you?

It would cost a million to finish the job of removal today!

Not in the budget, I was told.

SO REMEMBER the next time you fly AIR CANADA or any OTHER AIRLINE and you have the misfortune of crashing…will all your remains be removed?

DON'T count on it.

YOUR REMAINS might get left behind. Or your daughters, your wife's, your mom's or dad's remains…whoever.

PHOTOGRAPHED above is the ACTUAL PIECE I found. Below THAT PIECE is THE PIECE produced again, and superimposed on the actual type of ashtray…which I found on eBay as an Air Canada momento!

The graphic to the right is marked with a YELLOW CIRCLE that contains the pattern I USED to line up the piece to the "spot" on the ashtray where the piece came from!!

FOR MORE on this INCREDIBLE STORY in our day, and age, SEE:
FLIGHT 621


"Cause you're working
Building a mystery
Holding on and holding it in
Yeah you're working
Building a mystery
And choosing so carefully"

Sarah McLachlan
(Building A Mystery)

FLIGHT 621: Then and Now

MORE about Flight 621.
ALSO: http://homepage.mac.com/friendsofflight621/Menu2.html