May 2009 Archives

Tuesday, May 26, 2009 - 10:48:36 ET

VFR Flight Itineraries

A recent comment about flight plans by a reader has prompted me to write this post about flight itineraries.

Pilots have the option of filing a flight plan or a flight itinerary. There are important differences between to the two. It's important to know what these differences are so you don't expect a certain level of service that may be available when in fact it is not.

When do you need to file a plan or itinerary?

CAR 602.73(2) lets us know:

(2) No pilot-in-command shall operate an aircraft in VFR flight unless a VFR flight plan or a VFR flight itinerary has been filed, except where the flight is conducted within 25 nautical miles of the departure aerodrome.

There may be that rare case (bonus points if you can tell me when this would apply) where you may be flying from a Canadian airport to a US one, where the distance is less than 25nm. CAR 602.73(4) covers this:

(4) Notwithstanding anything in this Division, no pilot-in-command shall, unless a flight plan has been filed, operate an aircraft between Canada and a foreign state.

If you are doing circuits or airwork, sightseeing, etc.. near your airport, you do not need to file a plan or itinerary unless you will be leaving that 25nm boundary.

Although I cant seem to find it in the CARs, I'm pretty sure you need to file a flight plan if you are entering an ADIZ.

So you've determined that you need to file a plan or itinerary. So which one do you use?

The main difference between a flight plan and itinerary is where the responsibility is for letting the authorities know when you are missing or overdue.

A flight itinerary gives you the option of "filing" the plan with a responsible person. This person should be someone you trust to notify the authorities if you have not arrived at your destination.

A flight itinerary does not preclude you to do proper flight planning. You still need to provide them with your planned route of travel, speeds, altitudes, ETA, etc...

It is important to note that unlike with a flight plan, search and rescue is not automatically initiated by NavCanada if you are over due. The responsible person must contact the proper authorities to initiate SAR.

I would suggest that you give clear instructions to your responsible person on when and how to contact the authorities to initiate search and rescue. You can't expect your responsible person to understand how to read a flight itinerary form. Something similar might work well:

If I don't arrive at Anypoint Airport by 12:00pm, please contact the RCMP at: xxx-xxxx.

CAR 602.79 outlines what the responsible person must due when an aircraft is overdue.

Another big difference between flight plans and itineraries can be illustrated by the following scenario:

Lets say you've filed a flight itinerary with your responsible person. It outlines that you will arrive at your destination at 13:00. You depart on time and head towards your destination. About half way there, you notice that your engine is running a little rough. You decide to divert to the closest airport. This airport would take you 30nm north of your course. During your diversion, your engine quits and you are forced to land 2nm short of the airport.

Your responsible person calls the authorities at 14:00 because you are over an hour late. SAR is launched and they are looking for you along your planned route. Nobody was made aware that you diverted to another airport.

Granted, I'm sure you could tell FSS that you are diverting, but they know nothing of your itinerary because it was filed with someone else.

Flight plans on the other hand contain the same information as a flight itinerary. The difference is that the "responsible person" is now NavCanada. They will automatically notify the authorities when you are overdue.

Do you use a flight itinerary? If so, why? Personally I don't see why I wouldn't file a plan 100% of the time.

Mr. Buckley from CASARA had this to add:

Assuming ATC, FSS, CARS or JRCC is notified you are overdue (as above), the first thing they will do is a communications search, which will include looking for contacts from the aircraft in question to ATC, FSS, CARSs etc. So notifying FSS about a diversion when on a Flight Itinerary is every bit as good, useful and recommended as when on a Flight Plan. In fact giving regular position updates to FSS when possible is a very good idea as each position report removes a good chunk of the country behind you from the area that needs to be searched in the event the worst happens.

Comments (3) | Permalink | Category: Ground School

Thursday, May 21, 2009 - 10:57:28 ET

New YKZ Controlllers?

Has anyone noticed any new voices on tower/ground at Buttonville? I know one of the controllers retired a while ago.

As always you can listen to YKZ tower/ground at Liveatc.net.

Comments (0) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things

Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - 19:58:32 ET

Billy Mitchell Airport

Responding to General Mitchell's urgent call for construction of a temporary airfield, local Hatterasmen used shovels, hoes, and horse drawn carts alongside a tractor pulling a weighted pallet, to fill holes, tidal pools, and marshy areas and pack level a landing strip. Their quick work helped to insure the success of Mitchell's demonstration.

The above is from an inscription at the Billy Mitchell Airport in Frisco, North Carolina. Today the field is paved and contains modern equipment like an AWOS.

This past long weekend (it was Victoria Day in Canada) was spent down south in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Our camp site was a 5 minute bike ride from KHSE. In fact, our campsite was right under the final approach path for runway 25. The majority of the aircraft were single engine 4 seaters. However I did see what looked like a King Air and a few multi engined pistons.

The field is a nice little airport with a 3000' runway. There is no terminal building per se, but just a covered area with seats and parking for about 5-6 cars. There is a large tie down area that can hold over a dozen aircraft. There is also an "overflow" section about half way down the runway where you could park more cars/airplanes.

Runway 25 seems to be used the most of the time. I suspect because it is on the opposite side of the terminal, so there is no need to backtrack. Every time I looked, the windsock always showed a 90° crosswind off the ocean.

I spent about 10 minutes talking to a local who was waiting for his son to arrive at the airport from Virginia. He was telling me how his son's aircraft even has a parachute. I deduced that it must have been a Cirrus. A few minutes later I saw a cirrus fly over the field and I asked if that was who he was waiting for. He confirmed it was him.

The airport is uncontrolled and un manned. No fuel is available and really i just a place to literally land and park your aircraft. The Frisco campsite is a quick walk from the airport.

One of these days I will spend 8 hours in my airplane rather than 16 hours in my car to get here.

Comments (2) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things

Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - 11:14:13 ET

Talk Like a Pilot Day

May 19th marks International Talk Like a Pilot Day!

So, don't be a tail end charlie and get on board! Interject a few pilot vocab into your day today.

Need some help? Here are some ideas to get your started.

Chocks Away!

Comments (1) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things

Tuesday, May 12, 2009 - 02:10:30 ET

Updated: C-172 Passenger Briefing

Update: Thanks for the comments! I've updated the document and the final version now appears at the link below. You are welcome to use them as you see fit. Keep in mind that this document satisfies Canadian Aviation Regulations. I'm not sure who rules are involved with the FAA or other agencies.

So here is what I've come up with for a Passenger Briefing. The idea is to give these two pages to a passenger before the flight. That way when I give them the briefing in person, they will already have an idea of what I will be talking about. This also gives them a chance ask questions that they might have had time to think about.

Comments are welcome.

Comments (4) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things

Tuesday, May 5, 2009 - 22:25:29 ET

"Cleared into the City Control Zone"

I took my girlfriend and her sister on a city tour last Sunday. Logged 0.8 hours in the book.

Sara has been up a few times with me already, but this was Kates first time. The flight was at 830 in the morning, so the air was still smooth and the visibility was decent. This was my first flight over the city since the airspace changes were made last month.

The only difference I noticed was that I was given a squawk code right away before taking off. I was advised to report over the 401 and 404, when I did, was told to flip over to city centre. Piece of cake.

I have a questions to any controllers out there. When a VFR aircraft calls up and mentions their squawk code, can you just punch the code on your radar and the target will be highlighted? Similar to if I just pushed the ident button on my transponder?

We flew around the city a few times and noticed a huge bike racing going on downtown. It was pretty cool seeing the streets closed and all the bikers riding around.

All in all it was a great day for a flight, the passengers had a great time!

I'm going to be creating a passenger briefing hand out that I can email to my passengers before the flight that will cover all the legal requirements. I will of course still go over everything in person, that way they will know what to expect and can ask me any questions they might think of by reading the printed hand out.

I'll be sure to post it here when I'm done.

(All photos courtesy of Kate)

Comments (4) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things