Flying from the US into Canada (Toronto)

After the 4th of July I am planning a flight from the Philadelphia area to
Niagara Falls (YSN). I figured a short hop from there would be Toronto City
Centre Airport that I just read about in Pilot Getaways.

What are the proceedures for a US pilot to fly into Canada? I know I would
need to fly into an airport-of-entry which Niagara District (YSN) airport
is, but do I need a passport? Would I need to file any paperwork before I
take off? etc.? Thanks for any help.

Kobra

Kobra wrote:

After the 4th of July I am planning a flight from the Philadelphia area to
Niagara Falls (YSN). I figured a short hop from there would be Toronto City
Centre Airport that I just read about in Pilot Getaways.

What are the proceedures for a US pilot to fly into Canada? I know I would
need to fly into an airport-of-entry which Niagara District (YSN) airport
is, but do I need a passport? Would I need to file any paperwork before I
take off? etc.? Thanks for any help.

Kobra


I am not 100% sure on this, but I believe that it depends on how long
you will be there. If you are just going to be stopping by for the day,
there isnt much to do. If you plan on leaving the airport and staying
for a while there is a lot more to do. I had a link a while back, but
cant seem to find it now...I will keep looking

--
Jonathan,

www.virtual-hangar.com

I believe that copanational.org has a lot of info on this.

Tony
--

Tony Roberts
PP-ASEL
VFR OTT
Night
Almost Instrument
Cessna 172H C-GICE


In article ,
"Kobra" wrote:

After the 4th of July I am planning a flight from the Philadelphia area to
Niagara Falls (YSN). I figured a short hop from there would be Toronto City
Centre Airport that I just read about in Pilot Getaways.

What are the proceedures for a US pilot to fly into Canada? I know I would
need to fly into an airport-of-entry which Niagara District (YSN) airport
is, but do I need a passport? Would I need to file any paperwork before I
take off? etc.? Thanks for any help.

Kobra

www.aopa.org.
Everything your need. accurate. I went to Montreal a year ago and
everything went as they said.
Michelle


Kobra wrote:

After the 4th of July I am planning a flight from the Philadelphia area to
Niagara Falls (YSN). I figured a short hop from there would be Toronto City
Centre Airport that I just read about in Pilot Getaways.

What are the proceedures for a US pilot to fly into Canada? I know I would
need to fly into an airport-of-entry which Niagara District (YSN) airport
is, but do I need a passport? Would I need to file any paperwork before I
take off? etc.? Thanks for any help.

Kobra





--

Michelle P ATP-ASEL, CP-AMEL, and AMT-A&P

"Elisabeth" a Maule M-7-235B (no two are alike)

Volunteer Pilot, Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic

Volunteer Builder, Habitat for Humanity

In article , Kobra wrote:

What are the proceedures for a US pilot to fly into Canada? I know I would
need to fly into an airport-of-entry which Niagara District (YSN) airport
is, but do I need a passport? Would I need to file any paperwork before I
take off? etc.? Thanks for any help.


AOPA has an info pack available. And a search on google groups should
yield some info for this frequently asked question.

Before you leave for Canada, you need to call 1-888-CANPASS, tell them
your tail number, your ETA, who's on board, etc. Get a confirmation
number. They require at least 1 or 2 hours (IIRC) advance notice, no
more than 24. Then, when you arrive, if no-one's waiting for you, call
CANPASS again and let them know you've arrived. They will give you
a confirmation number that you've cleared customs (yes, they clear you
over the phone). NavCanada (ATC) will bill you by mail (although I
haven't received any bills yet).

When you cross the border, you need to be on an active VFR or IFR
flight plan, with a discrete squawk code _and_ talking to ATC (IFR
or flight following).

Flying within Canada has a few differences. You need to file a flight
plan for any flight over 25 NM (IIRC, maybe 50?). Joining the circuit
(pattern) at an uncontrolled field, you cross midfield at circuit
altitude to join the downwind. Some nontower airports are "Mandatory
Frequency"--you do need to talk on the radio. Monitor 126.7 enroute
if able.

Coming back into the U.S., you need a customs sticker, which you can
order over the web. On a trip to Canada earlier this year, I used the
confirmation number and a print-out of the web order form, since the
sticker was only ordered the day before. You need to call the customs
facility for the airport where you will be landing (long distance call)
and they each have different rules for notice. Customs at my home
airport is only available M-F regular hours, but they will be there
evenings/weekends on request with advance notice (someone gets some
overtime pay). The airport I've crossed at coming home from Montreal
has longer hours, seven days per week, with one-hour advanced notice
required (lessee, 10 minutes to preflight, 10 to taxi & run up,
40-minute flight...).

HTH,


Morris

Google this topic.
Someone else asked this question not more than three months ago.
Lots of good answers in the archives.

Kobra wrote:

... do I need a passport?

The requirement for both entry to Canada and return to the US is that
you need to bring proof of your citizenship. That could be a passport,
or, assuming you were born in the US, an original copy of your birth
certificate, with the embossed seal of the issuing agency. A photocopy
is not sufficient.

That said, sometimes they never ask to see it, and if you don't bring
the proper documents, it is up to the immigration officer if he will
accept things like driver's licenses. It's best to bring the right
documents to avoid a hassle.

Michelle P wrote in
ink.net:

www.aopa.org.
Everything your need. accurate. I went to Montreal a year ago and
everything went as they said.
Michelle



Although AOPA strives to provide accurate information, this aspect still
has a lot of confusion. For example, the document
http://www.aopa.org/members/files/gu...nadabrief.html says phone
numbers for US customs can be found in the front pages of the AOPA online
airport directory. I looked, but I could not find anything like that in
the front pages of the online directory. In the AOPA customs guide, there
is a link to US customs http://www.customs.gov/xp/cgov/toolbox/ports/ to
find out about airports of entry. May be I am stupid, but I can't
understand the listings in that document. The hours of operation of most
places are listed as 8am-4pm Mon-Fri. However, when I called Sandusky
airport, the customs inspector said they are open seven days a week.
There was another pdf document I found on AOPA (can't recall the link)
that had yet a different customs hours listed for each airport. AOPA also
recommends calling both customs and immigration upon enty into the US.
But I have not yet found a number for US immigration. When I phoned
customs at Sandusky, the inspector said there was no need to call
immigration. Confusing? I think so! On the Canadian side, my planned
landing airport is Waterloo (Ontario), which is an airport of entry. The
airport website lists a customs service fee is $250. Ouch! I thought
customs service was free at airports of entry. Is this a misprint?
Therefore, it is not surprising that so many people are confused
(including myself).

"Martin Hotze" wrote in message
...
don't you need a photo-id anyway as a pilot flying in the US?

"Photo ID" and "proof of citizenship" are not the same.

That said, I was not aware of any requirement to carry proof of citizenship.
Many US and Canada citizens both have never been issued a passport, and
certainly do not travel with their birth certificate, and yet they are
permitted to cross the Canada-US border freely.

If there's a requirement to carry proof of citizenship, it's new. There
never was one the last time I flew between the US and Canada (which
admittedly was quite a while ago, and well before 9/11/01).

Pete

Peter Duniho wrote:

If there's a requirement to carry proof of citizenship, it's new. There
never was one the last time I flew between the US and Canada (which
admittedly was quite a while ago, and well before 9/11/01).

No, it's not new. It has been the requirement for decades. What is new
is that the US authorities, in particular, enforce it much more
rigorously now. In the past, they would often accept a driver's license
as ID if you were driving a car from that state, and otherwise appeared
harmless. They started tightening up with the first Gulf war, and
tightened up further with 9/11.

As I said, it reduces hassles if you carry the proper documentation.