La semaine dernière, Transports Canada lançait un site web dédié à la campagne de sécurité de l’aviation générale, mené partenariat avec COPA et un bon nombre d’autres groupes en, de conseils et autres associations aéronautiques à travers le pays. Suivez ce lien pour les détails et les mises à jour.
Last week, Transport Canada launched the website devoted to the general aviation safety campaign, which they are doing in partnership with COPA and a number of other aviation groups, councils and associations from across the country. Follow-this link for details and updates.
Pilots on long US cross-country flights with multiple overnight stops are often faced with the problem of selecting an airport that is near or accessible to hotels and restaurants. Often the most route efficient airports are miles from the nearest town and too far to walk and may have no taxi service. Many US airports offer courtesy cars to transient pilots but finding which airports have such vehicles is difficult and time consuming. Fortunately, this is no longer the case. In planning a long US trip, a COPA member found a website that locates all airports offering courtesy cars indexed by State. This is a fantastic benefit making stay- over locations easy to plan. All COPA members flying in the US will find this web site and its mobile application immensely useful. It is www.airportcourtesycars.com. This member suggests that Canadian pilots could certainly use something like this and perhaps COPA could display this information when known. COPA agrees with this and welcomes any information to this effect.
Register for COPA Convention before June 1st, 2018 and be entered to win a CoPilot Watch from VIP Pilot!
CoPilot Chronograph / Black / Quartz
Features;
Solid 316L stainless steel case and bezel with sandblasted black PVD finish
Solid wrist pins with real screws
Screw down case back
Water resistant to 10 ATM / 330 ft / 100 m
Japanese luminova on dial and hands
Date display
To register click here.
We will see you in Saint John!
April 28, Sedgewick, AB. Iron Creek Flying Club COPA Flight 157 will be hosting their annual COPA for Kids event on April 28, 2018 at Flagstaff Regional Airport CEK6.
By Brian Pound
COPA Atlantic Director
Our COPA Board works on a committee structure and the committees usually meet on the first day of our two-day meetings. This allows them to bring their recommendations to the whole board on Day Two. This is really an efficient way of going over the many issues the board is presented with, and then proceed they present their determinations on how the board could proceed.
With most of the board members serving on more than one committee, the scheduling of these overlapping sessions requires that it ends up being a long day.
The most recent board meeting was April 6-7 in Edmonton and some of us had a few free hours between our meetings. Therefore, upon Director Bram Tilroe’s (AB) recommendation, the five of us went on a short journey south of Leduc, to the Reynolds Museum.
We were on a tight time limit, so we just toured through the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame, and that alone was worth the trip. It is amazing to see the extent of Canada’s contribution to aviation and the men and women that made it happen.
What really makes this a unique facility, is that you can actually fly into CEX3 (Wetaskiwin) and taxi directly to the aviation hangar. There you can view the second largest vintage aircraft collection in Canada as well as attending the other buildings highlighting transportation and machinery. How cool is that?
This second article will deal with position reports in the circuit, having in mind the objective of keeping these VFR communications clear, concise and standardized.
Around the traffic pattern, the first consideration in communicating one’s position is safety and then complying with the stated requirements. And it should start with broadcasting one’s departure procedure intentions before moving onto the runway. Once airborne, the pilot should comply as much as practical with the standard reporting in the circuit. However, generally in some areas, student pilots have been taught to report indiscriminately up to four times in their local traffic pattern and will evidently continue to do so everywhere else after they are licensed.
Unnecessary Position Reports. Unless traffic dictates otherwise, only two transmissions are required in the circuit. Arriving, TC’s AIM directs pilots operating within an MF and ATF to report when joining the aerodrome traffic circuit, giving the aircraft’s position in the circuit; when on downwind leg, if applicable; when on final approach; and when clear of the surface on which the aircraft has landed. Unchecked, the practice of reporting four times can lead to frequency congestion under heavy traffic, particularly at those airports where, for instance, Air Cadet Glider training is taking place, a flight school is simultaneously conducting dual flight training and launching solo’s, and inbound traffic is approaching, or at Air Meets. So, for consecutive circuits with touch-and-goes for example, only two radio reports are required, downwind and final, provided that the intentions given are not limited to the touchdown phase of the circuit.
Incomplete Intentions given on Final. If we transpose ourselves in a control zone, intentions must be provided to the controller before obtaining clearance to land for a landing with a full stop on the runway, a touch-and-go, or the option with ensuing departure procedure, or the continuation of circuits. When uncontrolled, these same corresponding intentions (plural) should be broadcasted on final for the benefit of the arriving and local traffic. Again, when properly made, the report on final will minimize radio transmissions. Also and as stated in my first article on the subject, when on-going flight is planned and transmitted on final, the pilot can concentrate exclusively on the parameters of this crucial phase. For continuous circuits, the AIM with reference to CAR 602.102, direct to: ‘Report when on final approach; stating the pilot-in-command’s intentions’. Note the use of plural.
Examples: ‘XXX Radio\Unicom\Traffic FABC on final for Landing, or Touch-and-go and the Circuit, or Stop-and-go, or Touch-and-go with departure to the West for CYXX’ at 2500 feet’. Note that for a Stop-and-Go, full departure intentions must be given on the runway, not the take-off only.
The following videos about approaching and landing at an MF and ATF zone are pertinent:
The next article will cover communications on cross-country and local area flights.
Foreflight customers using older Apple tablets and phones are being urged to upgrade soon to be able to get the latest versions of the popular flight planning app. The company announced earlier this month that Apple iOS 10.3 will become the minimum operating system requirement for new versions of the mobile app although the existing functions will keep working. “Essential features like chart downloads, documents, and data syncing will continue to work as they do now,” the company said in notice to customers.
The devices likely to be affected include iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad Mini 1 and iPhone 4S. “We’re planning to add many exciting new features to ForeFlight this year, so consider upgrading your iOS devices soon so you’re ready when they arrive,” the company said. It offers an iPad Buying Guide to help customers pick the device that will work best for them.
Transport Canada Civil Aviation’s (TCCA) first Aviation Safety Letter of 2018 is now available online and it’s of particular interest to COPA members. The ASL is a special edition devoted to general aviation as part of the General Aviation Safety Campaign announced at the 2017 COPA Convention and Trade Show in Kelowna last June. The document has seven feature stories, some provided by COPA, that cover a broad range of GA-related topics. There’s also an item that describes a new approach by TCCA inspectors in their quest to better understand the safety issues involving GA pilots.
Inspectors will fan out over the local airport ramps of the country and in addition to checking documents and certificates, will be asking questions about a variety of topics in an effort to broaden their understanding of GA operations. The so-called “targeted inspections” will be designed to gather information “to uncover why and how things are happening.” TCCA says the focus of the targeted inspections is to allow inspectors to gather information and learn but that doesn’t mean they won’t be doing their jobs. “While our goal is to motivate compliance through oral counselling, if a serious safety concern is identified it will be addressed as is appropriate to the situation. TCCA Inspectors’ first priority is always safety,” the safety letter story says. “Consider this as an opportunity to talk directly to TCCA and help inform the future of general aviation in Canada. Your experiences and insights are important to make the skies safer for everyone.”
COPA co-founder John Bogie died April 6 at the age of 91. Bogie was a towering figure in Canadian aviation and remained active with COPA until he became seriously ill in late 2017. The official obituary follows:
Born September 6, 1926 in Brooklyn, NY, son of late Florence R. Maclaren and Robert R. Bogie. He was predeceased by his wife Penelope Lindsay and Brother Robert (Bo) A. Bogie. He is survived by his sons Iain and Craig (Alyson), his step daughter Martha Lindsay (Brandon), five grandchildren Duncan, Alexander, Kassandra, Christopher and Dylan. A US Navy aircrew veteran who because he was underage could not fly at the time, John commenced a lengthy pioneering career in Canadian aviation shortly after the war. In the early 1950’s he flew extensively for Laurentian Air Service and various mining exploration companies in Northern Quebec, Ontario, Newfoundland/Labrador and elsewhere in Canada. In 1968 he purchased Laurentian Air Service Ltd from his uncle Barnet A. Maclaren Sr. and for the next 40 years continued to operate Laurentian and its affiliates (Air Schefferville, B.M. Aviation, Air Laurentian) in charter and scheduled flights, Delay /river Outfitters for fishing and hunting expeditions in Northern Quebec, aircraft maintenance and refurbishing many US military Dehavilland Beaver aircraft in partnership with Colin McOuat late of Lachute Quebec. John together with the late Marg Carson wee instrumental in establishing and growing Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA), representing the interests and concerns of private airplane owners throughout Canada. The Canadian Aviation Historical Society Journal 2009 recorded John’s love of flying in an article entitled “John Bogie: A Life in Aviation”. In recognition of his many contributions to private and commercial flights in Canada John was inducted as a member of the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame prior to his death.