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Stanstead/Weller Airport in southern Quebec will hold its annual fly-in Sept. 9. Also known as Weller Farm, the airport is privately owned and welcomes visitors to the farm all summer. Last year, the fly-in attracted more than 30 aircraft. Aircraft arrive starting about 10 a.m. there is an organic corn boil and burger picnic available for $15. At 1:30 there’s a group discussion on the concept of creating an open border between the U.S. and Canada like the European Shengen Area, in which 26 member countries allow free travel among themselves with no border or passport inspections.

Good VFR Position Reports Are Good Airmanship

31 August 2017

By JC Audet, Manager of Operations

Proper communications in flight are a critical element of flight safety. In the IFR environment, communications are very well defined, are compulsory, and tightly controlled. Communications in the VFR environment are much less rigid, but nonetheless very important. AIM RAC 5.1 states that when not communicating on an MF, or an ATF, or VFR on an airway, VFR pilots in uncontrolled airspace should continuously monitor 126.7 MHz. It also recommends that VFR pilots broadcast on 126.7 to alert other VFR or IFR traffic of their presence. These ‘’Position Reports’’ are very simple, easy, and quick to do. Their content addresses who you are talking to, identification, position, altitude, and intentions. A practical example would be: “Traffic information South-West of Winnipeg, CESSNA 172 GABC, OVER LaSalle at 4500FT, DIRECTION Carman”. Very quick, clear, easily understood.

There is absolutely no need to end the conversation with: “Any conflicting traffic please advise….” This sentence does not contribute anything useful to the situational environment, is unnecessary and simply adds to the duration of the transmission.

A properly broadcast position report achieves the intent. Those who heard it are now in the know of your whereabouts and intentions. They will, in turn, broadcast their intentions. And if they do not do so, or have not heard you, this additional sentence will not improve on that situation.

The recurring issue with VFR communications is that many pilots initiate their transmission by keying the PTT first, then trying to figure out what they want to say. We suggest it would be more efficient to first decide what you need to say, rehearse it once or twice in your mind, then key the PTT and talk.

In reduced air traffic, a lengthy, or chatty, position report may not be much of an issue. When arriving at a fly-in breakfast, the traffic density increases significantly and chatty transmissions may prevent pilots from doing a timely position report. This can very quickly become a real flight safety issue.

Do not report every five minutes, five miles, five lakes.

Do report when you change general region, when you have made a frequency change and then come back to 126.7

We should all endeavour to exercise disciplined communications at all times. We never know when it will prevent an accident.

JC Audet New COPA Manager of Operations

31 August 2017

We’re proud to announce that Jean-Claude (JC) Audet has joined the COPA team as Manager of Operations. He brings us a wealth of experience acquired through an extensive aviation career including:

20 years in the Canadian Air Force;
various senior posts in engineering and project management in the aerospace industry including Bombardier, Fairchild-Dornier in Germany and Israel, CAE and CMC Electronics;
well versed in aircraft design, testing, certification, and operations;
holds a current ATPL and has a Class 2 Instructor Rating;
owns and operates a Long-EZ.

JC can be reached at 613 236-4901 ext. 111 or jcaudet@copanational.org.

Nous sommes fiers d’annoncer que Jean-Claude (JC) Audet s’est joint à notre équipe en tant que Directeur des Opérations. Il partage avec nous une vaste expérience acquise au cours d’une intéressante carrière en aviation incluant :

20 ans avec l’Aviation militaire canadienne;
différents postes supérieurs en ingénierie et gestion de projets dans l’industrie aéronautique incluant Bombardier, Fairchild-Dornier en Allemagne et Israël, CAE et CMC Electronics;
forte expérience en design, évaluation, certification et opérations d’avions;
détient une licence ATPL et Instructeur Classe 2;
possède et opère un Long-EZ de construction amateure.

JC peut être joint à notre bureau au 6513-236-4901 poste 111 ou jcaudet@copanational.org..

Nav Canada Rate Cut, Refund

25 August 2017

Nav Canada is going ahead with rate reductions and a $60 million refund to customers after it made too much money in 2016. Customers will see an average 3.5 percent reduction in base fees along with a .4 percent temporary rate reduction. Such rate reductions have happened before but the refund is noteworthy. “Higher than expected traffic growth this year has put us in a position to be able to refund $60 million to our customers,” said Neil Wilson, president and CEO. “In the past, Nav Canada has spread the return of previous years’ surpluses, when applicable, by temporarily reducing rates for the coming year. With the unusually high traffic growth, we decided to implement a refund, which will enable our customers to fully benefit sooner.”

Commercial customers will see their rate reductions Sept. 1 but the billing cycle for GA customers begins in March and the rate cut will be on the 2018 bill. It would appear no one’s bill will actually change from last year. Nav Canada did a temporary 3.9 percent reduction in rates last year and the most recent action makes 3.5 percent of that permanent while .4 percent could expire in 2019.

COPA Collaborates On Safety

By Bernard Gervais

COPA President and CEO

Back in July while at Oshkosh, COPA had a chance to meet with FAA officials that have been working for more than 20 years on what they call General Aviation Joint Safety Committee (GAJSC). Formed in the mid-1990s, the GAJSC concentrates its efforts on combatting GA fatal accidents. The government and industry group uses a data-driven, consensus-based approach to analyze safety data to develop specific interventions that will mitigate the root causes of accidents. The industry players that sit on the GAJSC are all the big players and associations from the United States, as well as observers from other countries.

You may see here the similarity between the FAA’s work and the General Aviation Safety Campaign Transport Canada, COPA & sister associations have recently kicked off during the Kelowna Convention last June. The FAA counterparts have gladly offered TC and COPA the opportunity to look at what they have achieved over the years, and how they went about doing so. Meetings are planned in the next few weeks, in what we are certain will help to give our Canadian GASC a jump start.

Lycoming AD May Affect Canada

Canadian owners of Lycoming engines that have been recently overhauled should check to see if they’re affected by an emergency airworthiness directive issued by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration earlier this month. The AD requires the laborious inspection of connecting rod bushings that can work loose and cause engine failure. The connecting rods were supplied by a subcontractor and potentially installed on 778 engines in the U.S. It’s not clear if any or how many made their way into Canadian aircraft. If they have, Transport Canada will undoubtedly issue its own AD.

Lycoming’s handling of the AD has prompted concern among some U.S. owners. The company initially said it would cover the full cost of compliance for those whose engines were rebuilt at their factory but only the parts in field overhauls. The company has since relented somewhat on that position and appears to be assessing field overhaul repairs on a case-by-case basis.

Taxiway Mishap A Teaching Moment

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration says airlines can learn from the “severity” of errors made by an Air Canada crew landing at San Francisco in early July. The A320 crew mistook a parallel taxiway with the active runway on a VFR approach at midnight on July 7 and didn’t go around until ordered by the tower controller. The airplane, which was on a flight from Toronto, was at 81 feet AGL over the east end of the taxiway when the abort call came. It descended to 59 feet before climbing out. There were four aircraft on the taxiway at the time but it appears from surveillance photos that the aircraft was at its lowest in a large gap between the second and third aircraft. The U.S. media has made much of the fact that the 59-foot low point was just four feet higher than the height of the tail of a Boeing 787 on the taxiway.

Nevertheless, the mishap has caught the attention of the flying world, including the corner office at Air Canada, where training methods and standards are being reviewed for an airline that is considered by some to be among the best run in the world in terms of air operations. The aftermath of the mishap has also caused controversy. Because the incident was not considered reportable under FAA protocol, U.S. authorities didn’t even find out about it until three days later after someone sent a San Jose newspaper a copy of the tower tapes. By then, the cockpit voice recorder had been taped over several times and the crew and airplane were long gone from San Francisco. The pilots did return to SFO to be interviewed by investigators but the FAA report is likely the last word on the matter from the authorities.

Beaver Turns 70

Long a symbol of Canadian aviation, the deHavilland Beaver celebrated its 70th birthday last week by doing what it has done for decades: it went to work. The iconic bush plane first flew on Aug. 17, 1947 and it’s been in widespread use all over the world hauling everything from troops to fish and everything in between. “I don’t want to incriminate myself or anybody else, but I’ve seen things from oil tanks to four-wheelers [strapped to them],” Brad Greaves, the owner of Ignace Airways, a northwestern Ontario charter company told the CBC.”Yeah, there’s been some interesting things on the side of a Beaver.”

The aircraft was conceived based on demand from bush operators for a tough, high capacity short field aircraft that was easy to fly and maintain. The aircraft caught on immediately and was exported all over the world. The U.S. Army flew them and Beaver’s supported Sir Edmund Hilary’s crossing of Antarctica in 1958. Beavers live on thanks in large part to Viking Air, in Victoria, which bought the type certificate from Bombardier more than 10 years ago and continues to make parts and do overhauls of the bush planes.

Storm Damages Lachute Aircraft