24 September 2018

Pigs and Pies in Westport - Cancelled!!

by Mike Miles, Rideau Lakes Flying Club/COPA Flight 56

Planes from all over Ontario and Quebec generally fly in for the day if the weather is good. Last year we had 50+ different kinds of planes to see. The variety of planes is generally diverse, so a great opportunity to fly your own plane in and to talk with pilots of other makes and models. We have a fabulous spread of Octoberfest sausages (the Pigs) and locally baked pies (the Pies) available for a simple donation.

Love to see you and your members back at Westport on Saturday October 06, either as single plane but preferably as groups of planes from your own Club. For more information you can contact me at 613-276-6276 or Bill Green at (613) 273-5282.

Details

  • Date: Saturday 06 October 2018
  • Time: 11:00–14:00
  • Where: Westport Aerodrome (1 km up Highway 10 - the Old Perth Road) near Westport

23 June 2018

RFC Canada Day Fly-In

From Rockcliffe Flying Club

Every year, the RFC hosts Canada Day celebrations for those who drive-in, walk-in, bike-in, fly-in... even sail-in. Get ahead of this exciting day on Canada's 151st birthday by starting with a hearty breakfast (7-11am), visiting our open house pilot booths (in the morning), enjoying a sightseeing ride (museum side)... and much more besides. Pilots flying in with their aircraft get discounted avgas and the breakfast is on us!

External links

25 May 2018

Bancroft Flying Club Fly In Golf Tournament

By Gary Gaudreau, Director/Secretary
Bancroft Flying Club
Bancroft Community Airport (CNW3)
COPA Flight 119

We are really excited about our collaboration with our next door neighbours, the Bancroft Ridge Golf Club and are pleased to announce that we are putting on our 1st Annual Fly In Golf Tournament on Saturday, 4 August 2018.

Participants can register themselves and their guests on our website.

There are no landing fees, lots of free parking and we have 100LL and JetA-1 available. We hope to see a lot of you here.

22 March 2018

CYOW noise NOIse NOISE!!!

mls-0572yow images

I attended Ottawa Macdonald Cartier International Airport Noise Management Committee meeting on 21 March 2018. It was one of the best noise management meetings I have attended. Neighbours of the airport were represented by 5 local folks. Also at the meeting was representation from Ottawa Flying Club and Ottawa Aviation Services. Others attendees represented the Airport Authority, Nav Canada, Transport Canada, the city of Ottawa and the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association.

The flight training folks that operate light aircraft generate most noise complaints at Ottawa. More on this issue in a moment. There are relatively few noise complaints about jet or turboprop airliners. In fact, complaints about airliners mostly happens during unusual operations, like when a runway is closed for maintenance. One example was the spike in complaints from the Aylmer area of Quebec when due to runway maintenance more airliners landed on runway 14. That put them lower over Aylmer than normally happens. They were seen and heard.

As noted above, the bulk of noise complaints were due to light aircraft in the circuit for either runway 22 or 04. The community representatives asked questions and gave their observations on the traffic they found most distressing. They were very concerned with noise level and frequency of noise events. The representatives from the Ottawa Flying Club and Ottawa Aviation Services said they would do their best to mitigate the noise. They offered to look a flight paths and altitudes in the circuits. There was some suggestion that some circuit aircraft were flying too low, but the airport and Transport Canada said there was little proof of frequent low flying. Both flight training organizations noted that they chastise low flyers and impose corrective measures on the pilots, even cancelling their flying privileges when necessary. They also noted that they would consider quieter mufflers, if they were available and certified in Canada.

One of the airport’s neighbours asked if the flight training could be stopped or at least less frequent, particularly on weekends. The two flight training operations noted that they would go out of business if they could not service their customers/members on the weekends. One of the complainers suggested that the flight training operations were putting their business needs above those impacted by the noise. Both flight training operations offered to do all they could to mitigate the noise. I thought they were most respectful in not pointing out that their families’ well being depended on doing perfectly legal activity of flight training in a manner consistent with all aviation regulations.

Both flight training operations offered to take the locals for familiarization flights so they could see what pilots see. Hopefully that will happen.

The airport noted that they investigate noise complaints but found it very difficult to resolve them without specific information on the time and location of the events. Transport Canada noted that they were conducting investigations of 3 infractions, but that there really was not a problem of frequent low flying at Ottawa airport. They also noted that circuits at Ottawa are a hundred feet or so higher than is the standard 1000 feet above an airport’s elevation across the country.

It was agreed that meetings with community representatives would occur more regularly.

Finally it was noted that runway 04-22 will experience short term closures in the near future. Pilots are reminded to check NOTAMS.

Michael Shaw, former Captain of COPA Flight 8 Ottawa, airmail@rogers.com

10 February 2018

BCATP presentation

Robert Kostecka will be giving a presentation on the Bristish Commonwealth Air Training Program (BCATP) at the Rockcliffe Flying Club (RFC) on 15 February 2018 at 1900 hrs.

Complete details are on the poster at left.

To reserve a spot please contact RFC Dispatch or (613) 746-4425. Space is limited - so you will need to contact them soon to guarantee a spot.

Full-Scale Cessna Simulator Study: 2018

by Kathleen Van Benthem, PhD. ACE Lab Carleton University

We have been busy here at the ACE Lab and are about to embark on a new Cessna 172 study. We have added a new feature where pilots will fly with ForeFlight on an iPad for part of the flight. As well, we will be adding a virtual reality-based cognitive health assessment tool that we designed. We are very excited about this study, as it is a big step forward in our plans.

The ACE Lab at Carleton University is looking for participants!

You may participate if you:

  • are 18 years or older, and
  • have a current permit* or licence (aeroplane), and
  • have a current medical certification; and
  • have flown as pilot-in-command within the last 24-months
    • *students who have solo and cross-country experience may qualify

The study takes place over two sessions at the ACE Lab at Carleton University.

Previous participants are welcome.

Contact cessnastudy@gmail.com for more information or to register.

We look forward to hearing from you!

01 January 2018

The Canadian Private Fleet Rebounds (Slightly) in 2017

by Adam Hunt

Some growth returned to the Canadian private civil aircraft fleet in 2017, after a flat year in 2016. In 2017 the private fleet grew by 101 aircraft, which is 0.35%, while the overall civil aircraft fleet grew by 135 aircraft or 0.37%.

This is the best growth rate we have seen since 2014, but far off the peak growth pace in 2008, just before the recession hit, when the private fleet grew at a peak rate of 3.2%. As the accompanying graph shows, this is the first sign of a reversal from the drop in growth seen due to the 2008-10 recession. In all cases the numbers seem to reflect a cautiously growing Canadian economy, but the low dollar has also had some effects, as can be seen in the number of certified aircraft exported.

The US economy continued to do well in 2017 and its dollar remained fairly high against the Canadian dollar. With the Canadian dollar ending the year at 80 cents US, this resulted in a net flow of used certified aircraft out of Canada, mostly to US buyers.

In 2017 the total Canadian civil fleet increased in size by 135 aircraft. The private segment of the fleet increased by 101 aircraft in 2017, while the commercial aircraft fleet increased by 32 aircraft and the state fleet, those aircraft owned by the various levels of government in Canada, grew by two aircraft.

Certified Aircraft

Certified aircraft had been leading the growth in private aircraft for a number of years when the Canadian dollar was high, but that trend changed in 2015 when we lost 103 certified aircraft and accelerated in 2016 with the falling Canadian dollar, as we lost 161 certified aircraft. In 2017 we lost 69 certified aircraft.

In 2017 the changes to the private certified fleet were made up of a reduction of 80 airplanes, while helicopters increased by seven and gliders increased by three. Private certified balloons were up by one.

There were 16,063 private certified aircraft at the end of 2017, out of a total of 29,371 private aircraft registered or 55%.

Basic Ultralights

BULAs were once again where the growth was in private aviation in 2017, as the case has been for several years. During the year the category increased by 98 aircraft, only down slightly from the growth of 101 in 2015 and 104 in 2016. There were 6,218 BULAs registered at the end of 2017.

The attraction of this category is undoubtedly low cost.

Owner-maintained

The O-M category added 17 aircraft in 2017, down from the 42 added in 2015 and 34 in 2016, making it the category with the third best growth for 2017, behind basic ultralights and amateur-builts. The 17 aircraft added were all airplanes, no gliders this year. By the end of 2017, there were 724 O-M aircraft on the registry, made up of 706 airplanes and 18 gliders.

It is worth noting that aircraft are not built in this category, but are mostly existing Canadian certified aircraft that are moved to O-M. Some may be certified aircraft imported from other countries into the O-M category, as well.

The O-M category has continued to suffer from low numbers of aircraft being moved from the certified category ever since the American FAA announced that O-M aircraft will never be allowed to fly in US airspace or sold in the USA.

Amateur-builts

Amateur-builts were in the number two growth position in 2017, increasing by 35 aircraft, up from 28 aircraft in 2016, although down from an increase of 44 in 2015 and 67 in 2014. Interest in this category seems to be slowly trending downwards over time. In 2017 the aircraft added were made up of 37 airplanes, minus the loss of two helicopters and one gyroplane, with the addition of one amateur-built balloon. Airships and gliders saw no new net additions this past year.

Amateur-builts now number 4,243 in Canada and include a wide variety of aircraft, from fixed wing airplanes, helicopters, gliders, gyroplanes to balloons, airships and even one ornithopter, although the latter is in a museum.

Advanced Ultralights

Advanced ultralights were in fourth place for growth again in 2017, increasing their numbers by only six airplanes, well down from the 20 added in 2015. Their growth this year brought the total number of AULAs on the civil register to 1,241. By its category definition, all AULAs are powered, fixed wing aircraft.

The AULA category was introduced in 1991 and therefore 2017 was its 26th year in existence. The category has increased its numbers at an average of 48 aircraft per year since its inception and so can hardly be considered the success that was anticipated when it was started. As in recent years, the number of AULAs added in 2017 was well below the average from the category's earlier years. The low sales figures are mostly likely linked to the high price of new AULAs and their American counter-parts, Light-Sport Aircraft. US LSAs are also seeing very anemic sales numbers, far below the initial expectations in the US.

Commercial Fleet

In 2017 the commercial aircraft fleet increased by 32 aircraft to bring it up to 6,952. The numbers show an increase of 53 airplanes and a loss of 37 helicopters, with an increase of one commercial balloon.

In round numbers, at the end of 2017 the private fleet made up 80% of the aircraft in Canada, with the commercial fleet at 19% and the state fleet at 1%, all basically unchanged in recent years.

Imports & Exports

Aircraft imports into Canada in 2017 numbered 527, which was up from 398 in 2016, but well below the 968 imported during the pre-recession days of 2008.

In 2017, 675 aircraft were exported, down from 786 last year. There were 148 more aircraft exported than imported.

Conclusions

Aside from a continuing loss of certified private aircraft exported mainly to the US, the private civil aircraft fleet saw a slight rebound after years of ever-slowing growth numbers, although most of the growth is in the lowest-cost end of the fleet. Whether this trend will continue over the next few years remains to be seen, as factors such as increasing aircraft ownership costs, lack of support among younger people for burning fossil fuel for recreational activities, low interest in aviation careers due to low wages and automation, and an aging private pilot population limit possible growth in the field.

Note: Aircraft data for this report was taken from the Transport Canada Civil Aircraft Register and reflects the difference between the number of aircraft registered in Canada on 31 December 2016 and 31 December 2017. These statistics reflect the net number of aircraft built and imported, minus the number destroyed, scrapped and exported. Just because an aircraft is registered in Canada does not mean it is being flown and therefore the number of registered aircraft should not be confused with the amount of flying activity.