::: DESTINY DENIED, Flight 621 and Denise Goulet

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ON APRIL 10 1978, at the age of twenty-four Judy Cameron became the first female Air Canada pilot.

 

Gosh, it was a risky move. The only other “big player” airline to consider the similar venture of a female pilot, was American Airlines. Quietly, Air Canada had reviewed NASA’s conclusions with regard to “emotional stability” and female astronauts.

 

NASA had discovered and documented their results. Women were just as calm, just as logical, and just as disciplined as men at the helm. The ancient Canadian airline was sold—they would go with Judy.

 

But this IS the alternate universe we live in, the one, you know, where Air Canada Flight 621 crashed in Castlemore, ON on this day, July 5, 1970, killing all 109 passengers and crew.

 

One of those Air Canada stewardesses that perished that awful day was a Denise Goulet and had she NOT died, I believe Denise—not Judy—would have been Air Canada’s first female pilot.

 

Judy Cameron decidedly took to flying even after a joker-pilot took her up on her first flight, did some spins, stalled his airplane (a Cessna 150) and then pretended he had to do a forced landing…because well, the airplane was now in trouble (component failure or he faked an inability to restart his engine) and to save their lives—they must land immediately!

 

Judy was scared as hell during the whole flight!

 

However, when the traumatic flight was over and she was safely on the ground Judy immediately knew…she just had to get her pilot’s license.

 

Judy took five years to rack up the necessary flying hours and flight experience…on various aircraft (including multi-engine ones) to even be considered as a pilot for any airline. By 1978 she had accumulated the flying experience that Air Canada couldn’t overlook—so she was indeed hired, and history was made. Air Canada had its first female pilot.

 

In contrast, Air Canada stewardess, Denise Goulet, by age twenty-two already had many parachute jumps under her belt. Her first jump was at age seventeen. And while she had been a stewardess for just shy of three years, she had disclosed to family and friends that she too had committed to getting her pilot’s licence. And fam and friends knew once Denise set her sights on a goal—she would achieve it.

 

That said, Denise had one huge advantage over Judy.

 

Denise’s father, Henri-Paul Goulet, was already a commercial pilot! Qualified not just on airplanes, but helos (helicopters) as well. Not many pilots had this dual certification then, or now.

 

You can bet that once Denise had gotten her private pilot’s licence, her pilot dad would have pulled out all the stops. Commercial pilot's license next…then her multi-engine rating and experience on multiple aircraft. Certainly, on jets. Maybe even helicopters.

 

Assuming the same career timeline—Denise would have been qualified and been commercial pilot status ready—early, by 1975. Three years before Judy.

 

By 1978, Denice would have been twenty-nine with far greater flight experience, and the chronologically more mature pilot.

 

Also, again, it cannot be understated how much attention, flying experience, and extra help Denise would have received through her father. A huge advantage…over and above any advantage Judy actually got.

 

Think of Walter and Wayne Gretzky, and you’ll start to understand the Henri-Paul and Denise Goulet connection.

 

Alas, it was not to be.

 

On July 5th, 1970 that fateful day, a call from Air Canada came into the Goulet residence at around 10 am.

 

That call would be answered by Denise’s eleven-year-old sister, Louise Goulet who was there at home, alone with her mother, Pauline (nee Roux). And, moments after Louise handed the phone over to her mother…their world came crashing in.

 

Simultaneously, Denise’s brother Andre who had borrowed Luke Gruninger’s Mustang to pick up Denise at the Los Angeles airport (LAX) waited for her flight to arrive. The trio was going to spend time together visiting California, seeing the younger generation sites. In August, Pauline and Denise were going to tour California together.

 

As Andre waited at the airport, it was finally announced that Flight 621 had crashed in Canada—with no survivors.

 

What most folks don’t really get about Air Canada’s Flight 621 crash IS that it was the Canadian parallel or equivalent newsworthy event to the JFK assassination in America!

 

That’s right.

 

Ask anyone in the USA what they were doing when they got the news that their much-loved president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, had been assassinated.

 

They’ll tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing—and then they'll recall their immediate grief from that very news!

 

Well, I’ve talked with many, many, folks about the Air Canada DC-8 “stretch” crash in Woodbridge then (Brampton now).

 

The first recollections these people comment on is usually that it was a Sunday morning. Or, that it was such a beautiful day outside. Next, they'll recall exactly what they were doing at the moment they learned the shocking news of the Toronto area air disaster.

 

Usually, that news came over the radio, since everyone listened to the radio back then, at least in the background. And then there was a personal sorrow and a realization of their inability to help in any way. But their hearts and prayers were with the victim's families.

 

So many lives lost and no survivors! And so close to Toronto. And then the inevitable question—how did this crash happen?

 

That’s what this Air Canada plane crash meant to Canadians at the time. It was a sad and riveting moment for the entire nation.

 

From Patricia Harding,

 

“Denise and I trained together as Air Canada Flight Attendants in Montreal. She was a lovely person. I was in Vancouver on a stopover when we heard the news of the crash. We were grief-stricken and so traumatized that we were unable to work our flight back home. We had to stay in Vancouver and were flown home a couple of days later. The flight crew were all known to us and were like family. We were young and had so many dreams for the future. I have never forgotten and I will carry her memory with me always.”

 

From Nancy Holloway Gunson,

 

"I was working a C. P. Air flight that fateful day from Vancouver to Montreal. Before take off, we didn't receive any newspapers to hand out to passengers (these were the days when newspapers published 3 times a day and Vancouver was also 3 hours behind Toronto's time) and I remember asking a ground crew member why, and he told that there weren't any. I thought that that was very odd. Little did I realize that the crash was front page news.

 

It was later in the day as we descended into Toronto, and because my 'fifth position seat' was 'sold', that I sat behind the captain for landing. As we circled, the captain pointed out the smoking rubble on the ground. It was then I found out about the crash. I could just as easily have been on that flight because I was accepted to Air Canada's F.A. training course and a day later, I found out that I was also accepted to CP Air. Because CP Air's training was in Vancouver, I decided that CP Air was for me.

 

My heart aches for those who perished. Denise Goulet was a beautiful young woman."

 

Look at the picture above of Denise Goulet.

 

If ever there was someone full of hope and promise it was Denise.

 

Her Air Canada stewardess picture is courtesy of Denise’s younger sister, Louise who answered the fateful call from Air Canada on that day.

 

And sadly, but truly, Denise is standing in front of an Air Canada DC-8 just like the one she perished in.

 

 

From the Walsingham poem,

 

“But true love is a durable fire,

In the mind ever burning.

Never sick, never old, never dead,

From itself never turning.”

 

Sir Walter Ralegh

 

Check here, on July 5, 2020, after 7 pm:

www.flickr.com/photos/78215847@N00/albums/721576246894922...

 

ADD A CONDOLENCE to the FLIGHT 621 FAMILIES, or a LOVED ONE from FLIGHT 621, or a MEMORY of a PERSONAL EVENT related to the crash…at the City of Brampton's permanent Flight 621 site…SEE: www.brampton.ca/EN/City-Hall/Protocol-Office/Brampton-Rem...

 

 

REST IN PEACE passengers and crew of Flight 621:

 

Adams, Celine Fradette

Adams, Pierre J

Beaudin, Gaetan

Belanger, Mrs.

Belanger, Jacques

Belanger, Jean

Belanger, Roland

Belanger, Rosanne

Benson, Helen

Benson, Leonard

Benson, Mary

Benson, Richard

Bertrand, Ginette

Boosamra, Lynn

Boulanger, Guy

Bradshaw, Dollie

Cedilot, Robert J

Chapdeleine, Jeannine

Chapdeleine, Joanne

Chapdeleine, Mario

Charent, Jean Maurice

Clarke, Devona Olivia

Cote, Francine

Daoust, Yolande

Desmarais, Brigitte

Desmarais, G

Dicaire, Alice (Marie)

Dicaire, Gilles

Dicaire, Linda

Dicaire, Luke

Dicaire, Mark

Dion, Suzanne

Dore, Jacqueline

Earle, Lewella

Earle, Linda

Filippone, Francesco

Filippone, Linda

Filippone, Marie

Gee, Bernard

Goulet, Denise M

Grenier, Madeleine

Growse, Diana Cicely

Growse, Jane

Growse, Roger

Hamilton, Karen E

Hamilton, Peter Cameron

Herrmann, Ronald Alvin

Hill, Harry Gordon

Holiday, Claude

Houston, Irene Margaret

Houston, Wesley

Jakobsen, Vagn Aage

Labonte, Gilles

Leclaire, Marie Rose

Leclaire, Oscar

Leduc, Henri W

Lepage, Claudette

Mailhiot, Claire Gagnon

Mailhiot, Gerald Bernard

Maitz, Gustave

Maitz, Karoline

McKettrick, Winnifred

McTague, John

Medizza, Carla

Mohammed, Dolly

Molino, Antonio

Molino, Michael (Michel)

Moore, Frederick T

Partridge, Andrea

Partridge, Carnie (Carnis) Ann

Partridge, Cyril Wayne

Phillips, Kenneth William

Poirier, Rita

Raymond, Gilles

Raymond, Martial

Robert, Aline

Robert, Georges E

Robidoux, Lionel

Rowland, Donald

Silverberg, Marci

Silverberg, Merle

Silverberg, Steven

Simon, Istvan

Simon, Mark

Smith, Dwight Lee

St. Laurent, Blanche

Stepping, Glenn Thomas

Sultan, Celia

Sultan, Jerald. M

Sultan, Robert. L

Szpakowicz, Borys

Szpakowicz, Serge

Tielens, Carmen

Tielens, Frederick

Tournovits, George

Tournovits, Soula (Athanasia)

Weinberg, Carla

Weinberg, Rita

Weinberg, Wendy

Whittingham, Jennifer

Whittingham, John

Whittingham, Reginald

Whybro, Mary Baker

Wieczorek, Hildegund

Witmer, Edgar

Wong, Ngar-Quon

Wong, Suzie

Wong, Wong (Mansing)

Woodward, Dallas J

 

© 2019 Paul Cardin - Friends of Flight 621

 

 

(to be refined further at a later date)

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