Thursday, November 30, 2006 - 12:36:28 ET

Fire at Pearson Tower

There was a fire at Pearson on November 28th. Specifically the Tower was evacuated for smoke and/or fire:

NAV CANADA ADVZY 003 CYYZ/CZY *** TORONTO TWR IMMEDIATE EVACUATION ***

EMERGENCY EVACUATION OF TORONTO CONTROL TOWER -- SMOKE.

ALL AIR TRAFFIC UNITS SHALL IMMEDIATELY GROUND STOP ALL IFR
DEPARTURES INTO OR THROUGH THE TORONTO TOWER.

FSS ARE REQUESTED TO PASS THIS MESSAGE TO APPROPRIATE TOWERS AND
APPROACH CONTROL UNITS ASAP. YXU FIC PLS ADVISE TRENTON MTCU AT
613-965-2979.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
TORONTO TMU 905-676-3528 / 800-268-4831 / USA 800-387-3801

06/11/29 02:14 NOC

LiveATC.net has some interesting chatter on Toronto Centre as controllers put a bunch of planes into holds while the tower is evacutated.

Air Canada 427 Holding before landing at YYZ

Comments (2) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things

Sunday, November 26, 2006 - 15:35:26 ET

Visual Alignment Guidance System Explained

A little while back I noted that Toronto City Centre was getting a new lighting system. The explanation if such system is out in the latest AIC. I wonder if such enhancements were due to Porter Airlines flying out of YTZ now.

The visual alignment guidance system is made up of two light units placed symmetrically on each side of the runway threshold. It is indicated by the notation "AZ" in the CFS and CAP.
The lights provide unidirectional rotating beams, which create a flashing effect. Each light flashes once per second.

When the aircraft is on the extended centreline, or within 0.45° either side of the centreline, the pilot will see the two lights flashing simultaneously, similar to RILs.

If the aircraft is off the runway centreline by more than 0.45°, up to a maximum of 15°, the pilot will see a delay between the flashes. The two lights will flash with a variable delay (60 to 330 ms) according to the position of the aircraft relative to the centreline. The further the aircraft is from the centreline, the greater the delay. The delay between the two flashes produces a sequence effect, which shows the direction towards the runway centreline.

Think of it as a PAPI or VASI but for left/right orientation instead of glideslope. I guess this system was put in place because there is no localizer for this runway.

I created a PDF with the relevant information.

Comments (0) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things

Sunday, November 26, 2006 - 14:46:41 ET

Long X-Country Done!

I decided to take the day off work on Friday and attempt my long X-Country trip that I needed to do as a requirement for my PPL.

The forecast was not looking good for Friday morning the night before. Regardless, I decided to do the flight planning anyways in hopes that the forecast was incorrect.

I woke up early on Friday morning to get things ready and was delighted to see the weather was not anywhere near what was forecast the night before! Awesome! I tweaked some of the numbers (mainly the upper winds) in my flight planning and headed off to the airport.

I also brought my GPS which I had pre-configured earlier to the route I was going to fly. This would be the test to see how well my non aviation hand held GPS unit worked in real world conditions. Since this exercise was to practice my navigation skills sans GPS, I was only using it as a "backup".

Pre-Flight went off without a hitch and I was quickly on my way to my set heading point at Newmarket. There was hardly any wind, so my crab angle was small to nil. It was a really easy flight up to Muskoka. Traffic was pretty quiet as soon as I got to the west side of Lake Simcoe. Didn't see any airplanes all the way up to Muskoka.

I tuned into the Muskoka MF to speak with Timmins Radio. All was quiet there, I was the only one in the control zone. This is where I made my first mistake. I thought the terminal was at the north end of the field. The winds were favoring runway 18. Perfect I thought, no need to backtrack all the way back down the runway. I land, hop off the runway onto a taxiway and head towards some buildings. Hmm.. nothing but hangars here. I call up Timmins Radio again and ask them where the terminal is. He explained to me that it's on the south side of the field at the threshold of 36. Doh!

I backtrack down the runway, hop out of the plane get my log book stamped had a quick bite to eat (I packed some snacks) and departed again.

The trip to Peterborough was smooth as well, my ETA for Peterborough was just after 12pm. about 10 minutes out I tune to Peterborough Unicom to get an airport advisory. The frequency was buzzing with a lot of traffic coming and going. "Damn, I wish this place had a tower..." I thought to my self.

I was a mile back from the field and at 2200' when I heard someone call up that they were also a mile back from the field at 2100' and their intentions were exactly mine. I couldn't find them anywhere! I called up and said that I was going to stay at 2200' and do a 360° turn to let them go ahead. They replied saying it was too late and they were already doing one and had me in sight. I felt bad for cutting them off.

I cross overhead the field at 500' above circuit altitude, make my turn and descend to circuit height and head back to join the mid-left downwind. I see the airplane that made the 360° above me doing the same thing. She ended up following me all the way in.

I'm on base just about to make my turn and call on the radio that I'm on my final when I hear another airplane call up and say they are going to backtrack down the runway. Oh no you don't! I called up and said I was on final. They called back saying that they would wait for me.

I taxi to the terminal get my log book stamped and taxi back to the runway. This is where I wait, and wait, and wait. There is a plane in front of me waiting to backtrack down the runway. After about 10 minutes he's able to get down the runway and take-off. I wait for two other planes to land then head down the runway. I can see a plane on base and turning final just as I reach the end of the runway. I turn around, call up saying I'm on the roll and take off. Phew!

That was the busiest I have ever seen an uncontrolled airport before.

After my set heading point, I calculate a few things and figure out that I'm going to be 15 minutes later at arriving back home than whats on my filed flight plan. Time to call up FSS and let them know. At first I try 126.7Mhz. No answer... hmm.. I thought London Radio listened on 126.7. Then I remembered that there was a RCO at Buttonville at 123.15, dialed them up and was able to amend my flight plan.

Although I am going to be overhead Oshawas control zone (by 1500') I always call them up ahead of time to let them know that I will be crossing overhead at 4500'. They give me a squawk code and let me know if there is any traffic around me.

It was a nice day and a nice flight. Smooth air, all of my landings were in near zero wind conditions. I cant wait to be able to do more x-countries (especially at night) once I get my PPL.

I took a few photos which you can see in the gallery.

Comments (0) | Permalink | Category: Training

Thursday, November 23, 2006 - 09:24:54 ET

Super Short Field Take-Off

If only the Cessna 172 can do a short field take-off like this guy:

Comments (1) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things

Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 10:11:59 ET

I Should Be X-Countrying

Today would be a perfect day for my necessary long x-country. Alas, work beckons me.

METAR CYKZ 211500Z 22006KT 12SM SCT220 BKN250 01/M05 A3051 RMK CI2CI2 CONTRAILS SLP340=

METAR CYQA 211400Z AUTO 16005KT 9SM CLR M03/M05 A3044 RMK SLP325=

METAR CYPQ 211500Z AUTO 21006KT 9SM CLR 01/M06 A3050 RMK SLP340=

Visibility is lower but still good enough. Damn.

Comments (0) | Permalink | Category: Training

Sunday, November 19, 2006 - 13:46:46 ET

Flying Under Pressure

The ceilings were too low yesterday to do the pre-flightest work. So I decided to do some circuits and practice various types landings and take-offs.

I'm trying to spend a few days each week going over my notes and keeping the information for the PPL exam fresh in my mind.

The weather this coming week is looking promising. Mostly cloudy skys and light winds. Thank god for high pressure systems.

Registration for next semester starts tomorrow. I will be taking only one class this winter: Economics. One of the two non aviation related classes that I need to take. I'm a little disappointed that the other two classes (Personnel Management and Instruments and Avionics) that I need were not also offered this semester.

I can't believe that it's almost been a full year since I started.

Comments (0) | Permalink | Category: Training

Monday, November 13, 2006 - 18:18:28 ET

Setting Up Your GPS Handheld

You can buy aviation specific gps units for $500 and up. These can include features such as terrain alerts, weather radar overlay, and a database of air space, way points, intersections, etc..

There is an alternative though. You can spend $100 on a "cheaper" gps unit and pre-program it with your way points on a x-country trip, for example.

Some tools you will need:
- A GPS Unit (i'm using the Garmin eTrex Venture)
- GPX Aviation Waypoint Generator
- Ministry of Natural Resources Geographical Name lookup
- Latitude/Longitude Converter
- EasyGPS

Step 1: Get Your Waypoints
You can pre-populate your GPS with aeronautical way points from multiple sources. The GPX Waypoint Generator makes that easy. I selected the "Ontario" database and included all navaids including VFR navigation way points.

Step 2: Add Your Own Waypoints
The Ontario database only includes "official" way points located in the CFS. On my trip, I have additional way points. Mainly to avoid flying over water (Lake Simcoe). I was able to look up the town names on the Ministry of Natural Resources website.

I was using EasyGPS to manage my way points. The only downside is that EasyGPS uses lat/long values in decimal while the MNR website uses hour, minute, second notation. I had to use a converter to change the notation from one to another.

Step 3: Create Your Track
Once you have all of your way points in play, it's time to plot your track. Using EasyGPS, click on the "route" button and start connecting the dots!

Step 4: Upload To Your GPS
Connect your GPS to the computer and click on the send button in EasyGPS

Step 5: Setup Your GPS
I personally find the navigation screen too cluttered with all of the way points. So I changed the settings to only show way points within 12nm from the pointer location.

The other setting I changed was the "heading" information. By default (in my GPS) heading information is given in degrees true. Being in the southern domestic airspace, all my maps and navigation are done in degrees magnetic. Don't forget to put in the proper magnetic variation!

Step 6: Fly!
I haven't actually tested how well this works in the plane. However I did turn on the "demo mode" in the GPS and it "flew" the route at a blistering 20KTs.

The GPS can be a powerful tool to let you know things like how far off course you are, your ETE, ETA, and how to correct your course.

One thing you have to be careful of though is that you don't "home" to your way points but rather proper technique to correct for wind. You can use the GPS and the various track correction methods (double angle, etc..) to stay on course. Using the navigation page (the compass page) on the GPS will help you do that.

Comments (2) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things

Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 11:21:27 ET

Why I Haven't Been Flying

There are two main reasons why I cant get my arse out there to finish the last little bit of things I need to get for my licence.

Weather
This has had to have been the crappiest and wettest fall ever. October and November have been dominated by low ceilings and drizzle. The Weather Network's forecast is calling for higher than normal precipitation until Winter.

I had so many opportunities to do the things I needed to do this month, but the weather hasn't been co-operating at all. Normally I don't get frustrated with the weather, because it's something that you can't control. However, this is getting on to the point of rediculous!

Planes
For whatever reason, this is the busiest I've seen the reservation system, ever. Almost every day during the week (and especially the weekends) 3 or 4 weeks in advance, planes are booked solid all day.

That is the schedule 3 weeks from now! The fact that there is less daylight also doesn't help with my "window" of when I can fly. The best thing I can do is check frequently for any cancellations.

Comments (3) | Permalink | Category: Training

Saturday, November 11, 2006 - 12:28:35 ET

My Toronto ACC Tour

(This is all from memory, so apologies if I get anything wrong)

The tour of the Toronto ACC was awesome. Our tour guide was great, he was able to answer all of my questions. He's a controller as well as a pilot, so he knows both sides of the story.

We started off with a presentation on Toronto's airspace and why things are done a certain way. He was able to answer a lot of questions about why VFR pilot (which flight following) are vectored this way or that. He explained that if 24 runways at Pearson are active, then they can have IFR traffic as low as 3000' in the Claremont training area!

He also talked about the radar display itself, there really are 5 different types of "targets":

1. "Chicken foot" (looks like a 'Y"). It's purple and contains no information. It's a target on their primary radar. This could be some birds, a glider, a 150 with no transponder, etc..
2. A VFR target (someone squawking 1200). It contains limited number of information (Mode-A transponder)
3. A "splat" (looks like a "*"). This is someone with a Mode-C transponder. Shows altitude in addition to squawk code.
4. An IFR target (with Mode-S) shows items like altitude, rate of climb, where they are going (from their flight plan) aircraft type and call sign.
5. A "coast" target. One that has stopped transmitting data or has fallen off the radar. It's light blue.

The operator can filter his screen based on aircraft type, altitude, destination, etc.. An operator can hand off a target to another operator along with a little message. You can do some pretty cool things like select a target, pick a destination, and a blue line will appear for what track he should be following in order to get there.

I asked about conflict notifications. He said that only happens at the higher altitudes (above 14,000). Otherwise the alarm would be going off all the time at the lower altitudes. I also asked about the emergency squawk codes, what happens when someone uses one. He told me that all of the ATC's screens flash showing which target is squawking 7[5|6|7]00. Even if you had that transponder code set for 1 second, then switched it back.. the controllers know.

There is no conflict notifications between FIRs. So if a plane in the Edmonton FIR is flying towards the Toronto FIR. The Edmonton controller doesn't know anything about the traffic in the Toronto FIR. Even though a conflict might exists, he's not notified.

This is also true for handing off aircraft. The controller in Toronto doesn't know if/when an aircraft is going to appear in his region. The two controllers might talk to each other on the phone. But that's it.

I asked about working schedules and such. I was told that the controllers work a 2hour on 1hour off schedule for 8.5 hours a day. They rotate between day and night shift. I think they end up working 18 days out of the month.

NavCanada provides the training for you which can last 18-24 months if you get hired. There are two streams, Area Controllers, and Tower Controllers. There is no cross over. You are either one or the other.

Our tour guide mentioned that he will be giving a seminar/talk at Buttonville sometime. I'll keep an eye on it and let you guys know if/when he's talking.

Comments (0) | Permalink | Category: Training

Wednesday, November 8, 2006 - 18:37:30 ET

I've been sucking lately..

My flight on the weekend was the worst. I hadn't been flying in quite a while so I elected to make this flight a review and not the "mock test" flight.

I told my FI that I wanted to review forced approaches, precautionary landings, and steep turns. She through in some stalls and spiral dives for good measure.

I forgot what to do for the forced landing, screwed up my estimation of the length of the field, buggered up the mayday call. I would have made the field had the airplanes full flaps were 40° instead of 30° ;) (GIKW is awesome though... I was cruising at almost 110 KIAS). Didn't do a cause check, and didn't shutdown the engine either. What happened? I used to rock at these things.

I started doing the precautionary checks on the wrong leg (downwind, instead of upwind leg) this would have resulted in me having to make yet another half circuit to be able to land.

My next lesson is at 8am on Friday.. It's going to be another review.. and if I rock that, I'm going to make the next lesson the pre-test flight. I really, really, want to get my licence by the end of this month. The weather has been so messed up lately (1/2 mile visibility and 200' ceilings in November? What gives?). I already have flights booked to take up some friends in December.

My tour of YYZ Tower and Toronto Centre has been postponed until tomorrow. I'm pretty excited to check it all out. I'm going to have a list of questions to ask our guide tomorrow.

One of my classmates is already working on his Multi-IFR. He also has his night rating, and float rating. I think he's going to get his commercial real soon now. He did his commercial x-country in a float plane!

Comments (2) | Permalink | Category: Training

Friday, November 3, 2006 - 15:54:38 ET

EC Radar Updated

Environment Canada has updated their Radar page to include more information on their maps.

You can now add roads, rivers, and smaller towns on the radar map. They have also updated their Radar help pages too.

My next Instrument Procedures class is going to talk about Radar in detail and how ATC uses it to keep traffic separated. Next Wednesday (the day after my class) we are going to go on a tour of Pearsons ATC Tower and the Toronto Centre FIR controllers (or ARTCC for my American readers). It's going to be an interesting and rare look at how controllers keep an eye on Toronto's airspace.

I doubt I will be able to bring in my camera, but I will be sure to post a recap of my visit next week.

Comments (0) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things

Wednesday, November 1, 2006 - 21:14:46 ET

New Lighting at YTZ

I got the next version of the CFS in the mail today and decided to take a look at the changes. There was only one change from the last version:

New lighting system in use at Toronto/City Centre, Ontario Visual Azimuth Guidance. The VAGS (Visual Alignment Guidance System) provides a combined signal of approach azimuth guidance and threshold identifcation (see Lighting CFS Section A or A.I.C 30/06)

The only information in the CFS is:

Visual Alignment Guidance System and Runway Identification Lights. (Uni-Directional Rotating Beams Creating Flashing Effect)

It is designated as "AZ" in the CFS

I couldn't find AIC 30/06 as the next version of the AIC wont come out until at least 10 days before the next publication date (which I am assuming will be the same as the CFS which is November 23rd).

I'm unable to find any other information on the internet about this new system or how it works. As well, there is no mention in the latest version (October 26th, 2006) of the AIM.

I guess I will have to wait for AIC 30/06

Comments (1) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things

Wednesday, November 1, 2006 - 16:18:45 ET

Loooook Ouuuuuut!

Just a funny clip that got passed to me... enjoy!

Comments (0) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things