Regardless, I’ll have a sectional as well as my GNS430, to fly into CKYZ from the east, and I’ll pick up a terminal chart, and do some asking around when I get there before I take off on my sight seeing excursion.

One other question while I’m at it if you don’t mind. I was looking at the restricted area over Niagara Falls, they show a pattern of flight over the falls that crosses the border and comes back. I know you can do that in the US, across the ADIZ, but you tell ATC your intentions and get a squawk code so customs radar knows what your up to. Have you ever done that flight (Niagara Falls)?

Thanks for your help.

Steve

Like in the Boston terminal area, getting clearances depends on what runways are in use at the big airport, how busy ATC is, and whether you sound like you know what you’re doing. I think you’d probably be able to get clearances into terminal airspace as far north as Vaughan and King City, though you would have (just) enough space below the shelf if you wanted to do it in class E. You might have to take a roundabout way to get there from Buttonville, though, if Pearson’s using 24L/R or 06L/R — just draw lines from the runways on your map, and you’ll get a good idea what you’ll be up against.

So if I understand this correctly I would have to get clearance from Toronto approach to go flying north of the city (Vaughan and King). It looks like you can’t stay under the C and remain 1000 AGL for much of that area. Anyone know how are they for that sort of thing on a Sunday morning when it’s not too busy? If you take off from Buttonville, can you tell ground your intentions, get a squawk code, and have them hand you off to Toronto approach?

Otherwise if you have to have clearance before you enter their airspace I guess I’ll just hold somewhere in Buttonville’s airspace, call, and see if they’ll let me in. Otherwise forget about it and just fly north where I can get under the C and just get flight following.

I grew up around there and wanted to do some sight seeing. Trying to find out how they do things before I go up, any help would be appreciated.

1. Canada only — the U.S. requires only two-way radio contact for class C (making it more like Canadian class D, while Canadian class C is more like U.S. class B).

2. Neither. Canadian pilots have the option of a flight plan or a flight itinerary (basically, someone promising to call if you don’t show up) for flights over 25 nm.

3. Canada. The official ICAO class F definition is completely different (as paraphrased by Wikipedia): “Class F: Operations may be conducted under IFR or VFR. ATC separation will be provided, so far as practical, to aircraft operating under IFR. Traffic Information may be given as far as is practical in respect of other flights.”

4. Neither. The U.S. AIM recommends a 45-degree entry, but the only requirement in the FARs is that all turns in the pattern be made to the left (or right, with a right-handed pattern). Canadian publications recommends crossing midfield from inactive side to join the mid downwind, but again, it’s not in the CARs.

5. Canada. In Canada, all controlled airspace except airport control zones becomes class B at 12,500 ft — that applies to class E airways as well as class C and D terminal areas. In the U.S., you can fly uncontrolled over New York city at 7,500 ft, but you can’t do that over Toronto, because terminal airspace reaches right up to the flight levels.

6. U.S. It scared the crap out of me the first time I flew to a U.S. airport. Controllers will routinely issue landing clearances to more than one airplane at once, assuming that we’ll follow each-other and land in sequence. You might get your landing clearance when you’re five miles back and number 3 to land.

7. Canada. I think the minimum requirement is $1M in liability insurance. Technically, U.S. private planes also have to have that coverage to fly in Canada, but I’ve never heard of anyone checking.

8. U.S. Customs services for private aircraft are free in Canada, while the U.S. charges an annual fee of $27.50 for a sticker that you have to put on your plane. You can pay for extra service in Canada by joining Canpass (allowing you to land at smaller airports like Rockcliffe), but it’s not required.

9. U.S. The U.S. republishes all of its charts, directories, and approach plates every 7 weeks. Canada republishes the IFR material and the CFS on the same schedule, but VFR charts come out only as needed. Most 1:500,000 VNCs are updated every couple of years, but the 1:1,000,000 WACs haven’t been touched since the mid 1990s(!!)

10. Neither. VFR pilots have to have all required information for their flights, but they don’t explicitly have to have current charts, as far as I know. Of course, they could be accused of reckless behaviour for not having them, but that’s another story.

11. Both — 126.7 MHz in Canada (which is also the common FIC frequency and the enroute advisory frequency) and 122.0 MHz in the U.S. (which is a special service, FlightWatch, used only for weather and NOTAMs, not filing flight plans, etc.).

12. Canada. In the U.S., you can fly at 12,500 ft (and on up to, but not including 14,000 ft) for up to 30 minutes without supplemental oxygen.

13. U.S. U.S. sectional charts include “RP” in the airport info to indicate “right pattern”. They also include the three-letter airport identifiers, which makes them more useful for GPS navigation, and they include full airspace info for terminal airspace around big cities (in Canada, you have to use the 1:250,000 VNCs to fly in Toronto, Montreal, etc.).

14. Canada. This is a very controversial decision, and will also affect U.S. pilots who plan to fly to Canada.

15. Neither. Canadian small private aircraft owners pay a fixed annual NAV Canada fee of about $75, whether they fly IFR or not. In the U.S., the airlines have been pushing for an IFR user fee for general aviation, mainly for turbine aircraft, but have met stiff resistance in congress.

16. Both. Both countries have class G above 60,000 ft, but more practically, Canada also has a lot of class G above 18,000 ft in the north, where the flight levels start higher. (I had forgotten about the airspace above FL600, so I would have had this one wrong — thanks to Viennatech for the right answer).

1. Both
2. Neither, Canada requires a flight itenerary/plan but only if 25 NM from home. So if I just went to shoot circuits, I’d not need one.
3. Canada
4. US
5. US
6. Neither (I hope!)
7. Canada (We’re quasi-socialist eh!)
8. Both
9. US, Canada likes to act like they do but I’ve heard plenty of “oh this one is close enough!”
10. Both (I hope!)
11. Both (122.2 in US and 126.7 in Canada but I’ve not used either so I could be off on that one!)
12. Both
13. Neither
14. Canada
15. Canada
16. Both (But only at insanely high altitudes, so you would have to go thru a class A to reach it)

So how did I do, am I ready to file direct to Boston? or should I go directly to ground school without passing CYRO?