There are plenty of good reasons to fly into Bancroft and being able to get your medical is just one more. Civil Aviation Medical Examiner Dr. Henry Christiansen has opened an office on the field and pilots can book appointments through Bancroft Flying Club.
New Online Aviation Bookstore
Canadian Aviator Publishing, which publishes COPA Flight and Canadian Aviator Magazine is taking a major step toward preserving the rich history of Canadian aviation through the establishment of an aviation book publishing company with a mail-order book store. Aviator’s Bookshelf is devoted entirely to publishing and selling books about Canadian Aviation by Canadian authors to ensure the thousands of important stories that bring us to today in our history remain alive. A page of selections of the books we carry appeared in COPA Flight for the first time in the December edition and will be there in every issue. We’ve also built a standalone Web site, aviatorsbookshelf.ca, where customers can view all the selections and order through our secure e-commerce system provided by Canadian company Shopify. It’s simple, secure and convenient. We will also accept email and phone orders and full details are on the magazine pages and at the Web site. We’ve set up a small distribution centre and the books will be sent by Canada Post within days of receiving the order. Only books that are in stock will appear on the Web site.
In addition to selling books, we are also publishing new titles because authors are having a hard time finding publishers willing to invest in what is admittedly a tiny niche literary market. Our first was Rick Found’s critically acclaimed history of his family’s company Found Aircraft. The Bush Hawk is considered one of the best bush planes ever built and the Expedition, which was certified about 10 years ago, will be built by the New Zealand company, Pacific Aerospace, that bought Found’s assets and intellectual property out of bankruptcy in 2016. A second title is in production and will be announced soon.
The Doctor is In At Bancroft
Pilots fly in for all kinds of reasons and now they can fly in to Bancroft Airport in southern Ontario for their medical. Dr. Henry Christiansen, a civil aviation medical examiner, has established an office on the field in the newly-renovated terminal. “Having a Transport Canada Civil Aviation Medical Examiner on site at the airport makes us unique,” said Bancroft Flying Club President Lynn Davis. “Pilots can fly into Bancroft for their medical, have lunch downtown, fuel up and fly back home.”
Christiansen has been the local CAME for decades in conjunction with his regular practice. On retiring from his practice, he decided to keep working with the many pilots he’s come to know over the years and welcome new ones into aviation. Pilots can book medicals through the Bancroft Flying Club Web site.
Penner Wins Abramson Award
Well-known instructor, aerobatic pilot and general aviation enthusiast Luke Penner is the 2017 David Charles Abramson Memorial (DCAM) Award Flight Instructor Safety Award for his spirited contribution to GA in Manitoba. Janet Keim, an instructor at Mitchinson Flight Centre in Saskatoon, is winner of the Legacy Award for her pioneering leadership as an instructor who started in 1971 when female instructors were rare. Both awards were presented at the Air Transport Association of Canada annual meeting in Montreal in early November.
Penner is the chief flight instructor for Harv’s Air in Steinbach and St. Andrews and he adds some extra knowledge and experience as a Class 1 Aerobatics instructor and top level aerobatics competitor. He encourages all pilots to get at least some aerobatics training to give them the skills to prevent getting into trouble, or, in the worst case, get themselves out of trouble. Keim has trained hundreds of students in her 46 years as an instructor. Penner and Keim received plaques and engraved watches from Hamilton Watches by Brand Manager Thomas Sandrin. The award is given in memory of a young instructor who was killed in a crash caused by an aircraft malfunction.
COPA Founder John Bogie To Hall of Fame
COPA Co-Founder John Bogie will be inducted into the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame in 2018.
He is one of four inductees and will be joined by Gen. Paul D. Manson, O.C., C.M.M., C.D., Dr. John Maris and Dr. Dwight Gregory Powell, O.C. at a ceremony June 7, 2018, in the Sunwest Aviation hangar at Calgary International Airport.
Bogie and Margaret Carson founded COPA in 1952 and has been active in the organization since its inception. Below is the Hall of Fame’s biography of Bogie.
Born into an aviation family in the United States, John Bogie has made his home in Canada since the early1950s, following service in the United States Navy, work as an airport operator, and as a very young charter pilot. In Canada, he quickly made a name for his charter and resource exploration work for Laurentian Air Services and Spartan Air Services, including the flight that identified the major iron deposit at Gagnon, Quebec.
Complementing his civilian flying, in 1952 Bogie became, with Margaret Carson, a co-founder of the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA), serving as its first President and Chairman. Since that time, he has been an unswerving supporter of COPA, seeing it grow from modest beginnings to some 17,000 members.
He served in most of COPA’s executive capacities and continues as an honorary director and life member. He still attends as many COPA events as he can, now into his 90s. His COPA accomplishments include simplified medicals for pilots and aviation liability group insurance now used by commercial carriers.
John helped to create the Experimental Aircraft Association Canada organization, as well as a civilian pilot group for Search and Rescue as an adjunct to the military. Another entity he helped bring into being was the Canadian Business Aircraft Association (CBAA), first as an arm of COPA and then as a distinct entity. His Laurentian Air Services career ultimately took him to the presidency, to many initiatives to diversify its operations and to embrace the bilingual nature of the environment in which his company operated.
A subsequent stroke of initiative allowed him to buy a large consignment of ex-US Army Beavers which were rebuilt and put onto the Canadian market. This constituted the largest single aircraft purchase of its kind in Canada and made Laurentian the Canadian centre for Beaver activity. John Bogie has continued to support Canadian aviation long after his retirement in 1992. He continues to enjoy the respect and affection of the aviation community to this day.
Manson is a former Chief of Defense Staff and was in charge of implementing the CF-18 into RCAF service. Maris is a test pilot and well known innovator in electronic and other aviation products and Powell is an expert in medical evacuation services and the founder of STARS.
COPA Drives IFR Testing Changes
By JC Audet
COPA has successfully lobbied Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA) to remove an arbitrary, bureaucratic hurdle that required aircraft used for IFR check rides (IPC) to be equipped with approved GNSS capability (IFR Flight Test Guide 02/2017). TCCA has revised this requirement to be applicable on the initial IFR test ride only – recognizing that numerous IFR-rated private pilots own aircraft not equipped with GNSS who would not be able to maintain their IFR ratings without undertaking significant avionics upgrades or renting aircraft from flight schools solely for the purpose of their IPC. With this announcement now formalized by Transport Canada, these pilots will continue to be able to renew their IFR rating on their own aircraft, in its current configuration.
Several important aspects have changed with respect to our IFR rating in the last year or so. The first major change is that the IFR rating does not expire anymore. Once it is on our license, it is there for life, like the license itself, and we will not have to rewrite the INRAT if our rating has lapsed beyond a certain date. We still have to do an Instrument Proficiency Check (IPC) every two years, on or before the anniversary of our rating. Does this sound like anything major or significant for the GA pilot in Canada? Probably not. On the other hand, we must recognize that these changes are legitimate in that they do address numerous issues in other areas of our licensing system.
Along with these changes, we also have the IFR currency requirement: 6 hours and 6 approaches to published minima in the last 6 months, or 6-6-6. This means that on the day we plan to fly IFR in IMC, we must have met this currency requirement. The onus is on us, as pilots, to keep track in our logbook of all our flights that qualify toward that currency requirement. When a flight addresses the 6-6-6, simply make a note to that effect with the logbook entry. It is also much wiser and safer to have this currency flying spread over time instead of cramming the day before the intended flight.
The recency requirement provides pilots flying in IMC (IFR of course) a means to ensure they are not rusty to the point of being unsafe. It does not invalidate your IFR rating if the 6-6-6 is not satisfied. The 6-6-6 is effective on the 1st day of the 13th month following your instrument rating flight test or your IPC. If your 6-6-6 has expired, you do not meet the recency requirement to fly IFR in IMC, but you still hold a valid IFR rating and you can file and fly IFR in VMC, similar to a typical training flight. In this case, you have two easy options to revive your IFR recency:
VMC – You get in your IFR equipped and approved aircraft and you go fly off the 6-6-6 requirement in VMC. The regulation does not mandate that a qualified person must be with you. It is however a wise and safe practice to have a knowledgeable and reliable person in the right hand seat to act as a security lookout. You will be flying with your head down in the cockpit, in VFR conditions. You are always responsible for your own traffic avoidance and aircraft separation; or
IMC – You get in your IFR equipped and approved aircraft and you go renew your 6-6-6 by flying IFR in IMC. In this case, you most definitely must have a qualified person in the right hand seat. That qualified person can be a Flight Instructor with valid IFR and 6-6-6, a CPL with valid IFR and 6-6-6, an ATPL with valid IFR and 6-6-6, or you can go all the way to a TCCA authorized and qualified examiner.
Places to Fly: Lakeland Linder Airport
We’re heading south for this feature this week but if you’re planning to fly to Sun ‘n Fun in April it’s not too early to start planning. The event always issues a NOTAM giving the special procedures involved in getting into the busy place at show time but hundreds of others do it every year and so can you. Chances are you’ll be landing on that taxiway to the left.
Sun ‘n Fun Discount For COPA Members
COPA members planning a trip to Sun ’n Fun in Lakeland, Florida in April are reminded they get a discount on the price of admission to the big show.
To qualify for the discount, which could save members as much as $30 USD on their tickets in, they have to show their membership card and use the code COPAK1P.
Sun ’n Fun is generally accepted to be the first show of the season and the weather in central Florida is generally warm and welcoming.
In addition to a major air show, the event features a massive trade show and educational forums and seminars.
Ticket sales are now open online and the discount code is in effect.
Fatigue Management Focus
The Transportation Safety Board is encouraging Transport Canada to continue efforts to address fatigue management in aviation.
In a statement released on Wednesday, TSB Chair Kathy Fox said fatigue was a factor in about 20 percent of the rail accidents it has investigated since 1994 and “we have made a number of findings about fatgue in our aviation investigations over the years.”
The comments came two weeks after an address by sleep and fatigue expert Daniel Mollicone at the Air Transport Association of Canada annual meeting in Montreal.
Mollicone said the impact of fatigue is both predictable and therefore preventable and said there are proven scheduling and human resources strategies that sharply curtail fatigue-related mistakes and accidents.
Transport Canada is now sorting through comments received on its proposed fatigue management rule changes and many smaller operators say they are aimed at big airlines and will unduly hamper smaller companies.
In general, the proposed rules reduce the number of hours pilots can fly to 1,000 a year and reduce the duty day from 14 hours to between nine and 13 hours, depending on when they occur. The greatest restriction occurs between midnight and four a.m., the so-called circadian low period when humans are most likely to make fatigue-related errors.
Air North President Joe Sparling told the ATAC meeting the “one-size-fits-all” approach of the new rules will increase costs, and therefore air fares in the North.
Transport Minister Marc Garneau, speaking to delegates via Skype, disputed Sparling’s claim and said there is flexibility in the new regs, including the ability to extend hours under special circumstances. Operators can also create their own fatigue risk management system that incorporates their own operational requirements but achieves a matching level of operational safety as the written regs. He also noted they will be phased in over four years for smaller operators.
The regs were issued in the Canada Gazette on July 1 and the comment period has closed. The final regs will be released in coming months.
Turn Back Proved Fatal
An attempt to make the so-called “impossible turn” after an engine failure on takeoff contributed to the crash of a Cessna 206 on floats on Kuashkuapishiu Lake, Quebec on Sept. 25, 2016 that killed two of three people on board.
In a report released this week, the Transportation Safety Board said the pilot of the 206, which had just taken off from the lake, had no chance of making the turn after a fuel pump failure made the engine stop.
“The decision to make a 180° turn at low altitude suggests incomplete planning before takeoff, because it is impossible to make a 180° turn when gliding below 200 feet AGL,” investigators concluded.
The 206 had just cleared the shoreline and was climbing out at full power when the drive shaft in the engine-driven fuel pump sheared. Rather than take his chances with forced landing in the trees, the pilot tried to turn back to the lake. The right wing stalled and the aircraft spun into the ground. A post-crash fire consumed most of the plane.
The pilot survived but two passengers died. They were headed to Ra-Ma Lake with food, fuel and other supplies.