Back in the winter of 1981, I had just turned 13 years old. I had been on airplanes before but this flight on a Swissair McDonnell Douglas DC-10 was my first leaving Canada. It was for a holiday season hockey tour with games in Switzerland, Czechoslovakia and Austria (we stayed a night in Germany but didn’t play any hockey there).
My parents both passed away over the past few years after both living incredibly great lives. Not willing to let go, I brought boxes and boxes of their memories home. Every once in a while, I go through some of their stuff. A few days ago, I found this booklet (Memories of a Swissair Flight) and a branded shot glass. The airline may be gone but the memories live on.
Memories Of A Swissair Flight Image Gallery
The gallery shows the best of the souvenir booklet that everyone received on Swissair flights. There are many more pages but these were the most interesting to me. For larger versions, click on the individual pictures.
The Trip A Little More In Depth
We weren’t travelling for a hockey tournament of any specific championship. It was simply a tour consisting of seven games against teams in Switzerland, Czechoslovakia and Austria. It was dubbed the ‘Byron-Innsbruck’ tour. Byron is a neighbourhood and former independent town at the west end of London, Ontario. Innsbruck, of course, is a major city in Austria.
However, the true highlight of the trip was the time spent in Czechoslovakia. It was a real eye-opener for a group of 13 and 14 year olds. At the border, guards toting machine guns boarded our bus to check each person’s passport. Opposing players were more obsessed with our modern equipment at times than actually playing the games. It was an introduction to doing ‘black market’ business when one of the fathers (a banking exec) was taken away in a car to exchange currency at a much better rate. At the time, we didn’t know if he’d return.
We may have won one game. It certainly wasn’t in Austria. Somewhere along the way, maybe lost in translation, we were put up against kids 3-4 years older than us that were national champions.
The Flight
It was not a direct flight. We had to stop at Montreal’s Mirabel Airport to stock up on fuel and take on a few more passengers. The landing was rough in Zurich, as apparently it often is at that airport. For me, it was the start of a lifelong obsession to not get any sleep on a long flight while staring out the window the whole time.
About Swissair
Swissair was founded on March 26, 1931. Bankruptcy forced the airline to cease operations on March 31, 2002. Pretty much immediately, the fleet and flights were taken over by Crossair. Crossair became Swiss International Air Lines. That airline exists today, under the ownership of the Lufthansa Group since 2005.
At the time of it’s demise, Swissair had a fleet of 76 aircraft. The fleet included 20 MD-11’s, 14 Airbus A330-200, eight Airbus A321, 24 Airbus A320 and five Airbus A319. They were the launch customer of the Airbus A319-100.
In fact, Swissair was the launch customer for three other aircraft models. On October 10, 1980 (my 12th birthday), they introduced the McDonnell Douglas MD-80. In April, 1983, they were they first to fly the Airbus A310-200. In 1986, they introduced the Airbus A310-300.
At the time, the airline flew to 157 destinations worldwide. Swissair was headquartered in Kloten, Switzerland, adjacent to Zurich. For Canadians, Kloten is to Zurich what Mississauga is to Toronto.
Flight 111 Crash
The struggling airline was already bleeding money in 1998. On September 2, 1998, things got much worse. Flight 111 was dubbed the UN Shuttle as it often took diplomats from their United Nations work in New York City to U.N. headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
On September 2, 1998, HB-IWF, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 was performing the flight. The aircraft went down in the Atlantic Ocean, eight kilometres off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. There is now a memorial at Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia. All 229 on board perished.
This, and the travel restrictions resulting from the 9/11 terrorist attacks are said to be the cause of the airline’s demise.