re: Nasty Control Zone
Reply to @dazuppa: I'm not sure how long you flew around the Springbank area but as someone who's flown out of CYBW for the past decade I can assure you that your experience with ATC is not the norm. In fact, the controllers at CYBW are as friendly as they come; more so if you are friendly from the start.
CYBW is one of the busiest GA airports and serves both training pilots and training controllers. Inner/outer tower is a both a necessity and a great learning experience at the same time. If you walked away thinking otherwise then it's an opportunity missed. I've flown across the country and found that the Calgary-area airspace is second in complexity only to the GTA. If you can handle CYYC/CYBW you can handle anything.
Finally, having done training and rentals (before purchasing a PA32) at most of the schools located at CYBW, I can also say that your experience at CFC is not typical. I would consider both SATC and CFC to be the same in most respects. The biggest difference between the two is that SATC is a commerical operation whereas CFC is more of a 'club' and therefore offers a richer experience (and cheaper fuel) for all pilots.
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