A4 - Friday, July 13, 1984 - North Shore News

strictly personal

by Bob Hunter

N THE way back from Europe, I got to fly
in an Air Canada 747. Haven’t been in one

of those for years.

Having just
number of castles and
cathedrais, 1 joked about
whether the venerable 747
should be described as
gothic, neo-classical, rococo
or baroque.

Which led to an interesting
conversation. Air Canada
has been using the 747 for 14
years. And when an airline
talks about ‘‘using’’ a plane,
they mean USE it!

it is a logistical sin to leave
a $66.5 million piece of
machinery gathering moss on
a runway. The proper place
to park such an aircraft is at
37,000 feet. Fully loaded,
please.

Of course, when the vessel
does actually touch down, as
many as 50. technicians
swarm over her, a queen bee
being richly serviced. Cabins
have to be cleaned and
restocked, oi! and hydraulic
reservoirs topped up, oxygen
tanks checked and electronic
systems tested.

Then it’s up, up and away
again!

Of all the man-made
phenomena I have observed
in this lifetime, there = is
nothing that quite stirs me in
the way that the 747 does. If
I’m in my backyard and I see
and hear one passing over, |
always pause to watch it.

Sometimes | catch a glimp-
se of one climbing toward the
polar route just after sunset.
The trees around me are all in
silhouette, but there 1s. still
light far above. The craft’s
shining metal skin blazes.

Actually, it gives me faith.
There 1s, 'f not a religion, an
intuition that these incredible
machines we butld are the
things that really) give us

visited a

WE KEEP Ol
GIC RATES H

freedom. Someday they'll
take us all over the universe.

The 747 represents a
political as well as
technological triumph. The
idea that ordinary people
might step aboard a Magic
Carpet and be zapped (for all
intents and purposes nearly
instantaneously) to anywhere
they want in the world is the
stuff af hallucination or
mythology, isn't it?

The beauty of this vast bird
that has flown, resting only
long enough to be combed
and given royal jelly, for
more than five thousand
days, is the miracle of
Organization that it
represents.

Some four and a_ half
milhon parts, manufactured
in 15,000 factories all over
Canada and the United
States, have to be assembled.
Something like 75,000
blueprints are involved in its
construction.

When put together, its
tailfin rises five storeys high.
It can carry 462 human be-
ings at 625 mph non-stop for
a total of 5,000 nautical
miles. It has a floor surface
inside equal to four 6-room
bungalows. Fully loaded, it
weighs 400 tons.

Nearly 600 of these flying
monuments to. technical
capability, administration,
efficiency and downright jam
are in use around the globe

is ee OO CO

Be Water Wise. Play it Safe.

When boating, follow the rules and learn
about local hazards such as tides ane Cuerents

Looking good

today. | find that staggering,
when I think about it.

It is so easy to be
mesmerized by the bad news
— the Mid-East, Central
America, the IMF, etc. —
that the obvious good news
that is right in front of our
face gets missed.

We can’t be a total loser as
a species if we can hump an
armada of 747s aloft every
day and keep them going for
14 years. Maybe they’ll turn
out to be like good old cedar-
hulled boats, which are still
considered ‘‘pups’’ when
they reach 80 years of age.

No? Well, we'll see.

1 was afraid for a while
that rising fuel costs might
make the 747 extinct. As it is,
fuel costs account for 30 per
cent of the expense of putting
a steel and aluminum village
into near-orbit.

And while there has been a
shift toward aircraft like the
smaller, more fuel-efficient
L-1011-SO00s, the mighty 747
still makes money for Air
Canada, so it lives.

Come to think about it, the
craft is roughly the size of
such fabulous gothic
cathedrals as the ones in Col-
ogne and Bern.

Seriously, why not a
rococo design on the ceiling?
You know, cherubim and
unicorns and _ bare-breasted
godesses. Maybe some mir-
rors with ornate frames. I’m
sure the public is ready for it.
1 know I am.

Hang in, 747!

NORTH VANCOUVER
District’s controversial
amended Shops Closing
Bylaw was given final ap-
proval by district council
Monday, annd commments
by Ald. Mary Segal thar the
document is a ““compromise
bylaw ."’

The bylaw will allow
shopping 2! business days
before €hristmas, and per-

PAYSLEY HOWARD of North Vancouver (second from
left) was one of 49 young drivers from across Canada who
recently attended Transport Canada’s first Automobile
Safety and Youth Conference af its test centre in Bisiv-
ville, Quebec. Pictured with ber are John Simpson, Torce-
to, Ontario; Howard; Melodie Goodwin of New Glasgow,
N.S.; and Lioyd Axworthy, Minister of Transport.

District, to bring the
municipality in line with
neighboring communitics
such as Burnaby and Co

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