Fly to Anywhere in the World WestJet Flies

Unable to attend the LIFT Gala in Calgary?

In support of the Flight Safety Foundation, you can buy raffle tickets starting today. For $30.00 a ticket, you’ll have the chance to win two (2) tickets to anywhere WestJet flies in the world (Hawaii, London, etc.). It is WestJet’s “Gift of Flight” prize.
Your tickets will be mailed to you. The draw will take place at the LIFT Gala on October 3rd in Calgary and the winner will be notified by COPA.

It’s a great way to support the cause if you’re unable to attend the gala! Tickets are available in our online store.

You can read the fine print here.

Where to Fly – West: Stettler, Alberta

If all-you-can-eat pancakes are your thing, then head for Stettler this coming Labour Day (Monday, September 2).

Breakfast at this annual Labour Day fly-in tradition is served from 08:00 to 11:00 and is hosted by COPA Flight 135 – Stettler Flying Club.

Stettler airport (CEJ3) is located just under 40 nm to the east of Red Deer in south-central Alberta.  Pilots will find a 3000 x 75-foot runway (07/25) upon arrival. Airport elevation is 2,686 feet. 100LL is available.

Contact the Stettler Flying Club for more information.

Places to Fly – East: Stanley, Nova Scotia

Pilots and aviation aficionados alike will want to fly or drive to Stanley Sport Aviation’s 48th Annual Labour Day Weekend Fly-In.

Taking place this weekend, August 30 through to September 1, festivities begin with a free corn-boil on Friday night, sponsored by Aerotec Engines Limited. Live music will be playing. Saturday evening will see an auction as the main draw.

On-field camping is available, a food truck will be present and hay-rides are planned. A fire pit will keep campers and friends warm in the evening. There will also be static displays and forums, as well as plane-judging.

Pilots will find three turf runways at Stanley airport (CCW4): 02/20 (1900 x 90 feet); 09/27 (2600 x 125 feet) and 15/33 (1800 x 100 feet). 100LL will be available.

Contact either of the following for further details:

Phil Chatterton, Fly-In Chairman, 902-462-8668

Kevin Layden, President, 902-462-5813

Website: Stanley Sport Aviation Association

Flyer-2019_Flying_August

COPA Eastern Fly-In At Cornwall

by Earle DePass

The weekend started with a Nextgen session for 10 aviation enthusiasts on Friday evening after four airplanes arrived from various places around Toronto and Western Ontario. Guests were treated to a delicious chicken supper prepared by Mike Netik. Dessert was fruit. The occupants slept in tents under the wings of their airplanes, just west of Taxiway A, in Oshkosh-similar fashion.

Saturday morning saw all enjoy a delicious pancake breakfast, complete with eggs, sausages, juice, toast and coffee. Under initially cloudy skies which later turned into excellent weather, another 29 airplanes arrived from various parts of Ontario and Quebec. Most of the event was held in Ottawa Air Services’ hangar.

The day started on time at 09:30 with opening remarks from Earle DePass, COPA Flight 75 Captain and Cornwall Flying Club president and from COPA president and CEO Bernard Gervais. Guests were then treated to four sessions: a presentation from CASARA, a town hall session by the COPA president, staff and collaborators, a session from the TSB and finally a session on drones from Transport Canada.

Under tents which provided a very pleasant outdoor setting, 105 guests were treated to a delicious barbecue lunch of hamburgers, hot dogs, freshly-boiled corn, and all the fixings.

There was a display tent from Rotax and the 10 Cornwall Aero modellers who showed off several RC aircraft.

Overall, the many months of planning for this event, including several conference calls with the COPA team, paid off handsomely for Flight 59 with the many very positive comments and goodwill expressed throughout the entire day and later on.

Photos submitted

Canadian Battle of Britain Pilot Dies

John Hart, who served as a Squadron Leader in Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF), has died at the age of 102. A Spitfire pilot, Hart shot down a German Messerschmitt 109 and participated in the downing of two Junkers Ju88 bombers. These accomplishments earned Hart the RAF’s Distinguished Flying Cross, which is awarded for “…an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against the enemy.”

Hart was born on September 11, 1916 in New Brunswick and attended that province’s Mount Allison University, studying engineering. He learned to fly at the Halifax [Nova Scotia] Flying Club. Looking for adventure, he moved to the United Kingdom and joined the RAF in January of 1939, before the outbreak of the Second World War.

After training on Spitfires with the RAF’s 54 Squadron, Hart transferred to 602 Squadron in September, 1940. A month later his aircraft sustained serious damage when he assisted with the shooting down of a Ju88 of the East Sussex coast. On another flight during another battle, a Ju88 shot a hole in his plane’s radiator at 20,000 feet over the English Channel, but he was able to make it back to base.

“I know I have the Battle of Britain medal with a star on it, but I really didn’t have that much to do with it. You were posted to a squadron and you did your job,” said Hart later.

Hart went on to command the RAF’s 67 Squadron in Burma in 1943 and 112 Squadron in Italy in early 1945. After the end of the war, Hart returned to Canada, initially to Vancouver before retiring in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley.

Battle of Britain historian Andy Saunders told Britain’s Daily Mail in an interview “The debt that the nation and the free world owes to those heroes of the ‘Few’ can never be underestimated and it is terribly sad that the ‘Few’ are yet fewer.”

With the passing of Hart, there remains only four battle of Britain veterans still alive.

Photo above: RAF Squadron Leader (Ret’d) John Hart at the Penticton Regional Airport (CYYF) with RCAF Major Denis Bandet of 409 Tactical Fighter Squadron. Courtesy of the RCAF.

Drone Pilot Complains About Near-Collision With Helicopter

The pilot of a remotely piloted aerial system (RPAS) is complaining to Transport Canada (TC) about a near-collision of his drone with a passing helicopter.

Jim Turnbull of 12 O’Clock High Drone Services was operating the drone over a gathering of boats and people who were attending a fundraising event on Glenwood Wharf Road near Caton’s Island, New Brunswick. Turnbull says that his drone was almost hit earlier this month when a helicopter passed by at treetop level, under his drone.

“There was a near disaster,” said Turnbull.

According to CBC News, Turnbull said he had obtained the required Special Flight Operations Certificate (SFOC) a few days earlier, which entitles the holder to ‘own’ a specified section of airspace for a specific period of time as described in the SFOC.

The issuance of an SFOC normally results in the issuance of a NOTAM, as appropriate, by Nav Canada.

With the Bell JetRanger approaching fast at about 200 feet above the water, Turnbull recalled “I had seconds to decide what my options were going to be.” He ended up remaining stationary, at about 280 to 300 feet above the water, and the helicopter passed by under his drone.

“The whole purpose of the special flight operation certificate is to remove such hazards,” Turnbull said.

However, TC sees the situation differently. “Drone pilots are responsible for being aware of other traffic and must yield to other aircraft,” said Alexandre Desjardins of TC, whose enforcement division is investigating the incident to determine whether charges or fines are warranted.

Photo credit: William Daigneault

First Solo Ends In Fatal Crash

On July 3 of this year, a passerby noticed an aircraft nose down and standing vertically on the grounds of Sussex airport (CCY3) in New Brunswick. The pilot, who was the single occupant aboard the amateur-built Zenair STOL CH 750, was fatally injured.

In a report released last week, the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) conducted a short investigation into the incident. Some of the observations from the report are:

  • The pilot had purchased the aircraft in September of 2017, and other than preforming some taxiing runs, had not flown it since then;
  • The pilot had begun flight training in the month prior to purchasing the aircraft;
  • He held only a student pilot permit, and had accumulated only 22.8 hours of total flight time, all with an instructor, all on a Cessna 172 and most of them in the initial three months of beginning his training;
  • In June of this year, the pilot flew two hours (dual) on the same Cessna 172;
  • No flight plan was filed, nor was anyone informed in advance of his flight;
  • The ELT did not activate – it was found in the ‘OFF’ position.

On the day of the crash the weather was fine and the TSB investigators found no deficiencies in the aircraft, which was producing power at impact.

The complete TSB report can be found by clicking here.

Photo credits: TSB

Record-Seeking Gyroplane Pilot Now in Canada

Briton James Ketchell is not one to shrink away from challenges in life. After surviving a motorcycle crash in 2007 that resulted in a broken leg and a broken and dislocated ankle, an accident that doctors said would likely leave him with an impaired walking ability, he went on to live a most adventurous life.

In 2010, Ketchell rowed single-handedly across the Atlantic, from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua in the Caribbean, in 110 days. The a year later, he scaled Mount Everest. Yet another adventure lured him abroad, this time in 2013, when he headed out on a global bicycle ride, pedalling 18,000 kilometres through 20 countries, averaging 100 km per day.

2015 saw Ketchell embark on another adventure, this time to row 5800 km across the Indian Ocean from Australia to Mauritius, off the east coast of Africa, with funds being raised for charities. However, his rowing partner sustained a head injury requiring medical attention only 320 km into the journey, leading to the cancellation of the attempt.

Not one to sit at home watching television, Ketchell came up with a new fund-raising scheme, this time to circumnavigate the globe in a gyroplane. In March of this year, Ketchell took off from Popham airfield (EGHP) in England on another fund-raising adventure. His journey has taken him to a number of European countries before entering Asia over Russia.

Ketchell crossed into Alaska by traversing the Bering Strait, and entered Canada for the first time in the Yukon. From Whitehorse, he piloted his open-cockpit gyroplane down through British Columbia and re-entered the United States in Washington. He has zig-zagged across the U.S., pausing in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to display his aircraft at AirVenture 2019.

According to his route-tracking website, Ketchell is now in Quebec, flying northeast towards the greatest challenge of his journey, crossing the North Atlantic.

Photo of James Ketchell and G-KTCH on the ground in Tok, Alaska was taken by the author on June 22, 2019. Note the open cockpit and the fuel bladder that occupies the tandem passenger seat.

Places to Fly: Cornwall

COPA’s Eastern Canada Fly-In takes place this coming Saturday, August 24 at Cornwall, Ontario. Come and enjoy the riverside setting of Cornwall, situated on the shores of the St. Lawrence River where Quebec, Ontario, and the U.S. state of New York meet. Cornwall is also home to Nav Centre, Nav Canada’s national training centre.

Sessions by CASARA and Transport Canada are planned, in addition to a ‘townhall’ meeting with COPA staff and partners.

Registration opens at 09:00 and the fly-in concludes at 15:30. Admission is $20 and includes lunch. Pre-registration is encouraged.

Cornwall airport (CYYC) sports a 3510 x 100-foot runway and both 100LL and Jet-A are available.

Click here for further information.

Airport Manager Job Vacancy

Does managing a small airport appeal to you? Does living in a vibrant community in Ontario increase that appeal? If so, you may be interested in a job vacancy at the Hanover/Saugeen airport (CYHS).

Operated by the towns of Brockton, Hanover and West Grey, the airport has two paved runways (01/19, 4001 x 75 feet; 09/27, 2502 x 50 feet) and is classed by the CRA as an Airport of Entry (AoE15). The job involves managing and maintaining the city-owned hangars and terminal building, as well as the year-round maintenance of the aerodrome lighting and the fueling equipment, among other tasks.

The full job description and instructions on how to apply can be found in the appended PDF.

Deadline for applications is September 16, 2019.

Saugeen Municipal Airport vacancy