Over the past century, commercial aviation has shaped Canada into the country that it
is today, and oftentimes, pieces of that history can be found in what might seem like the most
unlikely of places.
On the northwest shore of Lake Superior, in Thunder Bay, Ontario, is exactly that.
This former Air Canada McDonnell Douglas DC-9, a little known gem of Canadian aviation history, has
been here at the Thunder Bay International Airport since 2003.
Charlie Foxtrot Tango Lima Tango, fin 719, is a 1968-built DC-9-32, and is one of over
60 DC-9s that Air Canada flew throughout its history.
They took delivery of their first one, a smaller DC-9-10, in 1966, and some of those are still
flying today as freighters with Ameristar.
These planes were introduced on the Montreal to New York route, as well as some transcontinental
ones like Montreal to Winnipeg and Vancouver.
DC-9s would soon serve most of Air Canada’s flights within North America, from the short
Rapidair flights between Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal, to longer international routes
down to the States.
What’s especially significant about these planes though, is that they were the very
first twin-engine jet aircraft in Canada, and given the regional nature of their flights,
they may very well have been the first jet aircraft flights for many Canadians.
The final commercial DC-9 flight took place on January 18th 2002 from La Guardia to Montreal,
making the DC-9 the longest-serving aircraft type in the Air Canada fleet, at just shy
of 36 continuous years of service.
The DC-9-32s, at least towards the end, had 91 seats in a two-class layout.
At the front were 16 seats in Executive Class, what would today be called AC’s North American
Business Class.
This had four rows of seats in a 2-2 configuration, plus some dedicated storage space and a lavatory
at the front.
Towards the back were 75 Hospitality Class seats, now called Economy, in the DC-9’s
trademark 2-3 configuration.
Now, obviously, the further back you go, the louder it gets on these types of planes which
no doubt made the DC-9s quite the experience for aviation enthusiasts years ago.
Also in the back is the DC-9’s… unique rear emergency exit in the tailcone which,
if needed, could be detached thus providing another evacuation route.
For Tango Lima Tango in particular, it served with Air Canada for the better part of 34
years, was retired in 2002, and flown to Arizona.
However, in 2003, it flew back to Canada as a donation to Thunder Bay’s Confederation
College Aviation Centre of Excellence.
Donations like these provide valuable hands-on experience for aspiring aircraft maintenance engineers,
since, for example, changing a brake on an airliner is very different than on a Cessna 172.
Air Canada donated at least three DC-9s in total - fin 711, fin 712, and this one, fin 719.
Fin 711, otherwise known as Tango Lima Lima, was donated to the Canada Aviation and Space
Museum in Ottawa, and is definitely the most well-preserved one today, though it’s not
part of their main collection.
Fin 712 (Tango Lima Mike) was donated in 2002 to the Red River College and Stevenson Aviation
in Winnipeg also as an instructional airframe, but was unfortunately scrapped in 2018.
At one point, Tango Lima Tango was repainted into this earlier Air Canada livery for a
movie, albeit with a lesser quality paint that didn’t exactly hold up over the years.
There were even talks about restoring the aircraft to the point where it could be taxied.
Unfortunately though, as is usually the case with such donations, technology moves on,
and the plane is now more of a home for birds.
In late July, Tango Lima Tango was in the process of having bits and pieces removed,
but for the most part, it was basically frozen in time!
Sadly though, that time is borrowed, and the plane is ultimately destined to be scrapped in the
coming weeks and months.
There will come a point in the near future when I’ll need to change the tense in the
title of this video, but until then, this Air Canada DC-9 in Thunder Bay is a poignant
reminder of an important era in Canadian aviation history.
Thank you all so much for watching, and especially to the folks at Confederation College for
letting me get a look around the plane.
See you next time!