Talk:Air Canada Flight 797

Contested fact
An anonymous contributor asserts that this cannot be true, because the person in question was already dead:
 * Curtis Mathes was the president of the company that bore his name. His company was established in 1899 as a furniture maker and later entered the hi-fidelity audio and television field. Its slogan was: The most expensive television in America, and darn well worth it!

Anyone have any insight into this? —Cleared as filed. 01:43, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

The University of Texas-Austin has an online "who's-who" at www.tsha.utexas.edu. It lists Curtis Mathes as dying on February 22, 1977 in Escarzu, Costa Rica. The obituary was submitted by W. Michael Mathes, his son.
 * The person that died in 1977 must be another Curtis Mathes. I checked the news archives and found
 * Philadelphia Daily News (PA) - Friday, June 3, 1983 FIREBALL KILLS 23 ABOARD JETLINER "Among the fatalities last night on Dallas-to-Toronto Flight 797 with 41 passengers and a crew of five was television magnate George Curtis Mathes Jr., 54." ... "Mathes and his wife, Melinda, moved to Toronto in 1980, but he frequently made business trips to Dallas and the headquarters for Curtis Mathes Corp. in Irving, Texas."
 * Philadelphia Daily News (PA) - Friday, June 3, 1983 23 KILLED ABOARD BURNING JETLINER by United Press International "Among the dead was George Curtis Mathes Jr., the television magnate who advertised his color sets as the most expensive on the market "and worth it," the Dallas Times-Herald reported today. Mathes, 54, president of the Irving, Texas, based Curtis Mathes Corp., was a resident of Toronto since 1980."  This new article also has some data that we use on Wikipedia "At 7:06 p.m. EDT the pilot radioed the regional air control center in Indianapolis, saying the plane was on fire, FAA officials said. The pilot was told to make an emergency landing at Cincinnati and touched down at 7:19 p.m. EDT. The blaze was extinguished about 45 minutes after the landing, officials said. A 10-foot-wide hole was burned into the top of the plane about 40 feet from the tail."
 * Miami Herald, The (FL) - Saturday, June 4, 1983 LIST OF PASSENGERS WHO DIED
 * J. Burgess, Agincourt, Ontario
 * P. Doyle, Burlington, Ontario
 * A. Drdul, Toronto
 * S. Esdaile, Ottawa
 * J. Hull, Toronto
 * C. Korycki, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
 * C. Mathes, Toronto
 * L. Nguyen, Ottawa
 * Dieter Pohl, Pickering, Ontario
 * S. Rahal, Montreal
 * G. Rohler, Toronto
 * Stan Rogers, Dundas, Ontario
 * T. Spruston, Ottawa
 * Elsie Vokey, Gander, Newfoundland
 * Marion Lambert, Gander, Newfoundland
 * C. Drake, Peterborough, Ontario
 * R. Helston, Toronto
 * R. Nicol, Toronto
 * G. Thompson, Peterborough, Ontario
 * C.H. Cox, Longview, Tex.
 * Mrs. C.H. Cox, Longview, Tex.
 * H. Epprechc, Montreal
 * J. Gussman, Montreal
 * Miami Herald, The (FL) - Saturday, June 4, 1983 TV-SET MANUFACTURER DIED ON HIS WAY HOME FROM BUSINESS SESSION "Curtis Mathes Jr., chairman of a Texas-based television manufacturer, was among the 23 victims who died aboard the Air Canada flight that caught fire en route from Dallas-Fort Worth to Toronto, relatives said. Mathes, 54, son of the founder of Curtis Mathes Co., was killed in the blaze that filled the DC9 with smoke before it made an emergency landing in Cincinnati Thursday." This article has quite a bit of biographical data on Mathes including that he had moved to Canada which is why he's listed as being from Toronto in the list of passengers killed.
 * Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) - Saturday, June 4, 1983 AIR CANADA FIRE BEGAN IN LAVATORY, POSSIBLY FROM SMOKING, OFFICIAL SAYS "Among those killed was television manufacturer Curtis Mathes Jr., 54, a Canadian resident returning home after a business trip. Also killed was folksinger Stan Rogers, 33, of Dundas, Ontario."
 * Miami Herald, The (FL) - Saturday, August 6, 1983 $6-MILLION SUIT FILED IN DEATH OF MATHES "Television manufacturer Curtis Mathes ' son has filed a $6- million lawsuit against Air Canada and McDonnell-Douglas Corp. in connection with his father's death June 2 in a plane fire that killed 23 people."
 * I was unable to find any articles about the 1977 death. --Marc Kupper&#124;talk 03:50, 18 April 2012 (UTC)
 * The 1977 death was his father George Curtis Mathes Senior.--74.129.130.154 (talk) 00:41, 26 December 2015 (UTC)

The above research clearly showed that the George Curtis Mathes who perished on ACA797 was the popular Chairman, and advertising spokesperson for the Curtis Mathes Television Company. He was featured prominently both in commercials and interviews selling his brand of high end televisions. I have added his name to the Notable Persons section to reflect that he was a well known public individual at the time of his death. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kyle kursk (talk • contribs) 01:42, 30 October 2020 (UTC)

Montreal airport
The article and infobox contradict each other on what Montreal airport this flight was ultimately headed to -- either Mirabel or Dorval (Trudeau). The date of the incident, and the transborder nature of the flight, would suggest Dorval... but I have nothing to confirm this. Anyone have a source on this? Cactus165 21:12, 14 July 2007 (UTC)

Seeing how the leg of this flight was Toronto-Montreal, I believe it safe to assume it was YUL and not YMX. Fixing infobox to reflect YUL, as mentioned in the main article. Cactus165 23:09, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

WikiProject class rating
This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 17:01, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

Captain misquoted
'Cameron noted in an interview for the "Fire Flight" episode of Mayday that the Air Canada maintenance crew "did a heck of a job getting everything put back together" after the decompression incident.[2]'

Just watched this episode, the captain didn't say that, and wasn't referring to the maintenance crew. In fact, he said of the captain flying during the previous incident "He did a hell of a job to get the plane back".

Substantially different in meaning. I'd update it, but either the article is locked or my browser is playing up. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.6.88.249 (talk) 19:25, 29 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Actually, the exact quote should read "...the guy did a hell of a job bringing it back to Boston." 84.215.19.207 (talk) 19:55, 30 August 2012 (UTC)


 * Seconded. The complete sentence uttered by the captain on the show is "It knocked out a lot of electrical cable and hydraulics and stuff like that and the guy did a hell of a job bringing it back to boston". Avl (talk) 20:20, 17 March 2013 (UTC)

"the common aftermath of passengers completing their in-flight meals"
What is this "common aftermath" that would cause breakers to trip?--Richardson mcphillips (talk) 00:35, 2 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Heavy bathroom usage. Scarletsmith (talk) 06:50, 2 June 2013 (UTC)

Citation for commonness of lavatory fires
I found this reference. In the summary, airlines are directed to post placards restricting smoking in the lavatories, "...prompted by fires occurring in lavatories, which were caused by, among other things, the improper disposal of smoking materials in lavatory waste receptacles." The directive does not say it is a "common issue" but it is at least acknowledged. Does this count as a citation where one is requested in the article? (Regulation. Look at summary). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:5C0:4201:565D:8550:A008:BDCC:277E (talk) 20:29, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

my edits 2019 Sept. 07
I neglected to use the edit summary for changes I just made. Here it is: SlowJog (talk) 03:10, 8 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Linked to "primary radar" article.
 * Changed "vertical stabilizer" to "horizontal stabilizer", which better matches the cited report
 * "Infinite oxygen" seems strange. I changed it to unlimited oxygen supply from the atmosphere

Recent edits...
This edit removed the listed names of the flight attendants. Perhaps the consensus is their list should be deleted...or retained. Let's discuss. Shearonink (talk) 21:05, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

This has been discussed multiple times within the last year
 * Here- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Northwest_Airlines_Flight_255#Should_Cecelia_Cichan_be_mentioned_by_name?
 * No consensus.


 * Here- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:1943_Gibraltar_B-24_crash#Question
 * Local consensus reached on inclusion/non-inclusion at that article only.


 * And how about a little over a month ago- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Galaxy_Airlines_Flight_203
 * Discussion at that article says things like "While Project Aviation seems to have a general consensus not to include names of non-notable people other than flight crew on aviation accident/incident articles" so this particular link is not definitive.


 * And how less than four weeks ago- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Aviation/Aviation_accident_task_force#Here_we_go_again-_Munich_air_disaster
 * No consensus.

Please read....William, is the complaint department really on the roof? 21:13, 17 March 2020 (UTC)
 * I read through the links you posted above, thanks for being so helpful but, so far as I can tell, including or not including the flight attendants' names in this article has not been discussed here. So. Let's discuss it. Here. Thanks, Shearonink (talk) 22:42, 17 March 2020 (UTC)
 * There has been a long standing consensus that only persons with a WP article about them should be named in air accident articles. The only exception being the cockpit crew. This has been discussed many times. - Samf4u (talk) 00:33, 18 March 2020 (UTC)
 * It has not been discussed here, for this article. Was there an RfC at the WikiProject Aviation? Is this matter a WP policy or guideline? It's been discussed many times...I am personally unaware of these many times... I don't understand why the names of the people who hold the jobs that are mentioned multiple times in this article don't warrant being included in the article. I'm up for a polite/civil/reasonable discussion about this issue. Thanks, Shearonink (talk) 01:43, 18 March 2020 (UTC)