Many a supply ship or coastguard vessel navigating Canada’s coastal waters had cause to thank Nordair and its Lockheed L-188 Electras for their essential work providing ice patrol sorties on behalf of the Canadian government — and, as one crew member recalls, it was a tough operating environment
It was April 1975 and the telephone in the farmhouse was ringing. I was flying for a small commuter airline and the call was from flight operations at Nordair, an airline based in Montreal, Quebec. They were inviting me to an interview in the city for a job as second officer on the Lockheed L-188C Electra. I was more interested in a pilot position, but it was still a step up and away from the repeated lay-offs I had just experienced.
