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Places to Fly: Regina, Hanover-Saugeen
April 29, Flight 54. CYHS Hanover Saugeen Annual Rust Remover. 0830 registration, 0900 presentation start and 1130 finish.
April 28, Regina, SK. Flight 4. COPA Flight 4/Regina Flying Club annual Rust Remover will be held at the Royal Regina Golf Club, 5401 11th Ave West, Regina. Doors Open at 8:00, presentations 9:00 – 12:00 followed by lunch. To register please contact Cindy or Audrey at Regina Flying Club, 306 525-6194
Buttonville Open Until 2023
Buttonville Airport will continue operating until at least the spring of 2023 as its owners tackle the daunting tasks involved with rezoning it for development. The Sifton family has owned the airport for decades and in 2011 partnered with developer Cadillac Fairview to create a mix of commercial and residential development on the property. But the wheels move slowly at City Hall for projects of the scope proposed by the partners and they issued a news release on Friday saying it will take at least five years to sort it all out.
“Due to significant delays in reaching an appropriate rezoning, CF, Armadale and Torontair have extended the timeline for airport operations to continue for up to five years, into spring 2023,” the companies said. “The outlook for extensions beyond this date will be dictated by progress on approvals.” Many businesses have already left Buttonville in anticipation of its closure but the extension will be welcomed by the many private aircraft owners who keep their aircraft there.
TSB Presses Mandatory Recorders
The Transportation Safety Board has repeated its call for the equipage of charter and small airline aircraft with flight data and voice recorders after it was left guessing about the cause of a B.C. crash that killed four people in 2016. The Cessna Citation went down on a mountain shortly after takeoff from Kelowna Airport on Oct. 13. Among those killed was former Alberta Premier Jim Prentice. The lack of onboard recorders, which were not required on the crash airplane, left investigators with only the radar track and partial wreckage to try and figure out what caused the crash.
TSB Chair Kathy Fox said their best guess is the pilot, who was not current in night flying, became disoriented and reacted inappropriately with control inputs but without the precise data a recorder would have provided investigators can’t be sure. “We aren’t much closer to knowing with certainty what caused this accident,” Fox told a live-streamed news conference in Calgary.
COPA Comments On Off-Airport Landings
Three off-airport landings in a week caught the attention of the national media this week and COPA was ready with some perspective and background to help non-pilots understand the training and skill that went into each of these successful events. Carter Mann, COPA’s Director of Government Affairs and Communications spoke with CBC Calgary for more than seven minutes this week to offer insights into the incident there involving a Piper Navajo along with an emergency landing on the Coquihalla Highway in B.C. and on a road in Outaouais, Quebec. The audio is courtesy of the CBC
TCCA Certification Email Changes
Effective June 4, 2018, National Aircraft Certification will be using a different e-mail address to distribute Airworthiness Directives (ADs) and Civil Aviation Safety Alerts (CASAs) related to your aircraft:
Email Name: National Aircraft Certification – Distribution / Certification nationale des aéronefs – distribution (TC)
Email Address: TC.DoNotReplyNAC-NepasrepondreCNA.TC@tc.gc.ca
Important: To be sure you receive all publications, we recommend you save the above noted e-mail address in your contact list and make appropriate adjustments to your SPAM protection
This new e-mail box cannot accept incoming e-mails.You will find below, e-mail addresses to be used for various situations:
· tc.aair-raina.tc@tc.gc.ca : This address is for all questions/concerns related to the Annual Airworthiness Information Report (AAIR) program.
· AD-CN@tc.gc.ca : This address is for all questions/concerns related to the content of an Airworthiness Directive.
· TC.NACcommunications-CommunicationsCNA.TC@tc.gc.ca : This address is for all distribution questions/concerns including updating your e-mail address.
· SDRS@tc.gc.ca : This address is for all questions/concerns related to the Service Difficulty Report (SDR) program including technical support with the online WSDRS system.
· cawwebfeedback@tc.gc.ca : This address is for all other Continuing Airworthiness matters including CASAs and Feedback articles.
Places to Fly: Kelowna
Kelowna Flying Club will hold its annual Rust Remover April 21. Fly-in traffic and park at the T-hangars and speakers will talk on health, weather, mountain flying and search and rescue. Go to Kelownaflyingclub.com for full information
COPA AGM To Be Live Streamed
For the first time in COPA’s history, the Annual General Meeting is being live streamed via internet for members not able to join us in Saint John.
Through the web portal, members will be able to see and hear the AGM in real time as well as ask questions via built-in chat. Unfortunately, COPA’s current bylaws do not permit members to vote who are not attending the AGM in person.
The streaming service we are using also provides the ability for people to listen in on a dedicated conference call if they have computer or other technical issues.
The AGM will take place on Saturday, June 23 at 10:30am ADT. Official Notice of AGM is included in the May issue of COPA Flight as well as the proxy form for those members who wish to assign their proxy.
More details on how to access the live stream will be provided in the coming weeks.
Prop Exemption Followup
COPA has been meeting with Transport Canada Civil Aviation official to discuss exempting small piston aircraft from calendar-based overhauls of variable pitch propellers.
On Nov. 21 2017, COPA submitted an exemption request to Standards 625 Appendix C item 5 to state that “No hard time, including calendar time, for the overhaul of variable pitch propellers need be observed in the case of small aircraft with reciprocating engines in non-commercial private operation.”
Following our 10-year prop overhaul exemption request submitted Nov. 21 2017, TCCA has come back to us with preliminary discussion items explaining the actual regulatory position. On April 18, COPA met with TCCA to discuss these items but also how to move ahead on this file, where we can work collaboratively and address our concerns while maintaining an acceptable level of safety.
Over the coming months, TCCA will be looking at finding supporting fact-based evidence, talking to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) as well as investigating what, in the 12-month inspections, can be done to see trends or indications of possible failure. This situation and request will also be brought by TCCA and COPA to the table of the “Maintenance” Work Group of the General Aviation Safety Campaign (GASC) group, for discussion and exploration and possible input to help in the assessment. Information coming out of our work may also result in applicable changes to Appendix C pertaining to the overhaul exemption request.
TC has the information on hand to know how many aircraft would be targeted by this exemption request.The request will be treated in a fashion similar to one coming from a group of operators asking for a specific exemption.
The ultimate goal sought by this work is to alleviate the financial burden imposed by a fixed calendar time on aircraft owners, many of them COPA members, while maintaining the equivalent level of safety the actual regulations provide. COPA is pursuing the work on your behalf, with TCCA. Be assured that we will keep you updated on the developments.
Avgas Flowing Again
Imperial Oil has resumed manufacturing and shipment of aviation gasoline from its Strathcona refinery in Edmonton.
Spokesman John Harding told COPA fuel shipments will return to their previous level and ensure a reliable supply for customers across the country.
In February, Imperial announced that some of the fuel produced in six-week period did not meet specifications for electrical conductivity. That could have affected capacitance type fuel gauge sensors on some aircraft and on airport fuel tanks.
The fuel was quarantined and that interrupted supplies across western Canada and in parts of Ontario, Quebec and the U.S.
The Strathcona refinery is the only source of 100 LL in Canada.