Flight plan when crossing the boarder

In a previous article, (Robert M. Gary) said:
(Paul Tomblin) wrote in message
...
In a previous article, (Robert M. Gary) said:
Does anyone know the actual reason you're required to file a flight
plan when crossing the boarding between the U.S. and Canada? Does

Because if you don't, they'll send a pair of F-16s out to check you out.
And then, if they decide not to shoot you down, they send you a bill for
the fuel the F-16s used. You don't want that. :-)

That just doesn't make any sense though. If you are talking to ATC,
they would just ask you what you are doing. Remember though, there is
no ADIZ between Canada and the U.S. If you decide not to talk to ATC
as you cross you wouldn't have a transponder code so they can't tell
the difference between the planes that have filed and those that have
not. They all just look like dots on the radar. How would they know

Since 9/11, aircraft crossing the border are required to be on a flight
plan AND in communication with ATC, either VFR Flight Following or IFR.
When flying across southern Ontario talking to Toronto Center, I was
continually hearing Canadian pilots calling up near the border to get
flight following across the border. That's in contrast to American
pilots, who seem to get flight following the whole way there.

--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
A bleeding heart can be hell on the carpeting.

(Paul Tomblin) wrote in message ...
Since 9/11, aircraft crossing the border are required to be on a flight
plan AND in communication with ATC, either VFR Flight Following or IFR.
When flying across southern Ontario talking to Toronto Center, I was
continually hearing Canadian pilots calling up near the border to get
flight following across the border. That's in contrast to American
pilots, who seem to get flight following the whole way there.

I guess some parts of Canada are just too remote to get Flight
Following from. I know that pilots somewhat regularly cross into the
U.S. from Mexico without radios or transponders (since 9/11) but you
have to prearrange the crossing location and exact time. The last time
I was down in Mexico I ran into an airplane recovery guy who picks up
wrecked airplanes and flys them back to the insurance co. Sometimes
they end up as "green" airplanes (no radios).

-Robert

Since 9/11, aircraft crossing the border are required to be on a flight
plan AND in communication with ATC, either VFR Flight Following or IFR.
When flying across southern Ontario talking to Toronto Center, I was
continually hearing Canadian pilots calling up near the border to get
flight following across the border. That's in contrast to American
pilots, who seem to get flight following the whole way there.

I know this to not be the case when entering the U.S. from Mexico but
perhaps that's just because you have a transponder code. We usually
are not talking to ATC when we cross back into the U.S. but we have a
DVFR open.

I was pretty happy with how easy the handoff was into Canada. When I
entered Canada I was VFR. It wasn't really a handoff but I was allowed
to keep my transponder code and the Canadian controller expected me
(the U.S. controller said FF canceled, remain this code, contact
Victoria). Southbound I was IFR (and IMC) and you couldn't tell the
difference other than the use of the phrase "decimal" rather than
"point" when giving freq's.
Landing at Vancouver Int'l was really a piece of cake. The controllers
were very friendly when I told them I didn't know any of the locations
they were talking about (I never saw any "coal mines", etc on the
charts).
-robert