"Chip Jones" writes:

Just curious David. Do Canadian pilots flying VFR largely have to
use ATC service, or can you guys just do the squawk VFR thing and
fly willy nilly around Canada without talking to ATC?

We are required to file a flight plan or flight itinerary for any VFR
flight beyond 25 nm, but a flight itinerary is as simple as telling
someone where you're going and asking them to call 911 within 24 hours
if you don't show up -- that makes sense for a big, mostly-empty
country like ours.

Also, all of our airways (and all other controlled airspace)
automatically changes to class B at 12,500 ft. Our control zones top
about around 3000 ft AGL like yours, but our terminal areas extend
right up to the flight levels, so you cannot overfly Toronto at 10,000
ft without talking to ATC, the way that you can overfly New York.

Otherwise, though, we're pretty much the same. We have very little
restricted airspace (they've even reduced the temporary restriction
over our Parliament buildings to 1500 ft and 0.25 nm radius, and that
doesn't apply to IFR approaches or departures), and we have a *lot*
more class G than you have, so much so that we even have standard
transponder codes for uncontrolled IFR (!!), which is common in the
north.

Just to put that in context, our fees have shot up by about CAD 5.00
(USD 3.50) for next year. As I mentioned before, it's a different
situation for the airlines, but it's hard to argue that the fees have
any effect on G.A.

But when (not if) GA user fees in Canada go up again, what can the
Canadian GA pilot do about it?

That is a real risk -- we're all vulnerable to the whims of our
elected politicians and public opinion. For example, we don't have
any property or use taxes on aircraft in Canada, while you guys have
to deal with them in quite a few states. Likewise, we rarely have
anything like your TFR's, and we don't have a lot of security
paranoia.

In the end, we have to rely on our advocacy groups just like you do.
So far, COPA has been very effective -- the fees were originally
supposed to be several times higher, and COPA successfully beat them
down to about the cost of a half tank of fuel for my Warrior, and they
keep on fighting every tiny rise now. Personally, I wouldn't object
to paying more, but then, I use ATS a lot, flying out of a busy class
C airport inside a class D terminal area -- I can see how a farmer
with a Cub in her barn would be ****ed off.

If we privatize ATC down here, the corporations that are going to be
running the show will *not* care a whit about GA or BA.

That depends on how you privatise it -- I understand that those of you
fighting to keep the public system don't want to give up quite yet,
but there may come a point that you want to get involved on the inside
to make sure that any new private system is a reasonable one like
ours, and not the worst-case scenario dominated by a few big users,
like you're suggesting.

In Canada, the airlines pay most of the cost of ATS, but small planes
get equal service, just as in the U.S. I often land with two or three
airliners waiting for me, or have commuters or jets slow down behind
me while I'm on an approach. If you end up with something like that,
life won't be too bad.

Now, if we're done talking about privatizing ATS, let's talk about
socializing your medicine ... (just joking).


All the best,


David