Comments 751 to 800 of 908
re: Landing fees
If you're paying a fee for landing, isn't it pretty much a given that you're also going to take off? So why don't they just increase the landing fee rather than imposing a takeoff fee as well?
Fly Out Fishing trip with Northwest Flying Inc.
We flew in to this airport for our fly-in fishing trip we booked with Nortwest Flying Inc.
Excellent trip and first class service.
A bit old...
That must have been taken a while back. The telephone tower isn't there yet! Neat picture to have though.
CNA8
A nice, small airport just outside of Ottawa. General aviation only.
EAA Chapter.
This airport is a main reason that I am a flier today. I went up on an EAA Young Eagles flight at the age of 16. There is a great EAA chapter on the field that is stuck in time. It is like walking into the 1940's going in there. Great people and great projects. A tribute to the romance of aviation. Definately worth a stop!
new fuelling system now includes jet a fuel
new fuelling system includes jet a and avgas available as of dec 1/07
Touch and Go
Just did a touch and go on a x-country from Buttonville. After reading these comments I wish I stayed and checked out the terminal. Maybe next time.
Sunday afternoon, was pretty busy. 3 or 4 people doing their thing in the circuit.
Fuel
As of Friday 1 November 2007, 100LL fuel at Pepco (Esso) was CAD 1.344/liter + tax. There is a callout charge between 5pm and 8am, but no extra charges during the day.
Pepco (Esso): (705) 335-0872
No fees
According to the airport manager (by phone, Thursday 1 November 2007) there are no fees for private aircraft, not even for overnight parking.
Airport: (705) 335-2611
Paint Shop
We took our club's Dakota here to get painted. They did an excellent job, and the plane looks beautiful now.
Supply / demand
I'm not defending the costs of landing a 747... yes it's outrageous. But, having been into Pearson in a light plane once, I would say that the landing fee is fair - especially outside of peak hours ($75). I'm sure the landing fee is set to keep us little guys from joyriding in the area and becoming a hazard to the more serious traffic which is lined up on approach. Certainly the $75 (or $200) is not a money making proposition.
I do agree, though, that there are a lot of better alternatives nearby. CYTZ in an awesome little airport. Approaching the city over the water, with the skyline just of your shoulder is really amazing.
re: IFR
I came into Rockcliffe a few weeks ago with a 1,000 ft AGL ceiling and good vis underneath (daylight), and it was no problem transitioning from the Gatineau VOR/DME 09 to a visual landing at Rockcliffe.
re: St.Catharines airport
Its a great place to visit......See ya
St.Catharines airport
The airport is only a 10 munite drive from the Falls (niagara falls) there are also helicopter and aircraft flights over the falls every day. The airport is served by a Flight service station and there are motels and hotels in close proximety. Niagara region is also a wine region so wine tours are common. Niagara on the lake is one of the most beautiful towns in canada and is located a 5 minute drive from the airport.
Spectrum Airways
A great family business which includes a maintenance facility with energetic and helpful mechanics. One of the best places I've overnighted with my plane.
Hills
There are lots of hills surrounding the airport -- there's nothing scary, but you do have to be on top of things. The grass runway was in fairly good shape (a little bumpy, but no holes), and there are nosewheel planes based at the airport, so they obviously maintain things (taildraggers can handle much rougher ground than nosewheel planes). I like the airport, and I plan to stop there again, though I might not want to try outclimbing the hills with my family on board on a hot summer day. The runway is good and long (over 3,000 feet), so that's not an issue.
Fuel from Air Killarney
I called Air Killarney (705-287-2242) -- they're not based at the airport, but they advised me to call when I land. According to the woman I talked to, it takes only five minutes for them to get out to the airport to fuel a plane.
Fuel and maintenance
Available from Almaguin Aero Maintenance (Ron and Vera Cooper), 705-386-0011.
CYPQ - Peterborough
Spent the weekend with relatives. Parking = $8.00/night. Friendly FBO. Beautiful runway for an a/p of this tfc volume.
Landed at night
I only did a few touch and goes at this airport, at night.
ARCAL works as published ;)
Home!
My home airport...where I learned to fly and my father flew from for many years before me.
Car rental
The car rental company/companies in Stratford are closed Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday, so if you need to rent a car on the weekend, you might be better flying to the bigger airports at London (YXU) or Waterloo (YKF), and then driving 30-40 minutes.
Hotels hard to get in the summer
With the Stratford Festival (Shakespeare, etc.), we were unable to book hotel rooms two days before for a club flight from Rockcliffe.
FBO information
The FBO is Huron Flight Centre, 519-542-6599. I was unable to reach anyone by phone on a Saturday afternoon, despite several tries.
re: Nice Grass Runway
Thanks for the info -- I've moved the longitude a bit to the west, to the other side of the road.
Nice Grass Runway
I landed here once to practice some soft field landings. Well maintained. The landing strip is west side of the road. (the plane cursor is marking the east side)
First Visit
This was my first time to Burlington.. it was a busy airport, a few people during circuits. Unicom girl was helpful and I later found out was cute as hell.
Nice terminal with windows all around so you can see activity on all the runways.
I couldn't find a pilot registry to sign or anything...
Renovating
New hangars and restaurant open. Home of the Collingwood Classic Aircraft. Eden Flight Inc flying SportStar advanced ultralights.
Shell FBO very helpful
Last year I had to overnight unexpectedly due to a problem with my aircraft which took me a couple of days to sort out. The operator of the Shell FBO also owns a motel and he was very helpful - providing me with an excellent room rate and a car rental on short notice at a great price.
You can't ask for better service than that!
World's highest landing fees
This is the world's expensive airport -- http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2005/11/15/gtaa-051115.html
If you're a private pilot, you can get dinged with a landing fee close to CA $200 even in a light plane, and that's before ramp fees, parking, etc. If you're an airline passenger, your share of the obscene landing fee (over $13,000 to land a 747, vs around $3,000 at other Canadian airports) is tacked onto your ticket price.
The high fees have nothing to do with the fact that the airport's busy -- it has about the same traffic as Philadelphia Intl (PHL), which had no landing fee for light aircraft when I visited in 2003 and charges around US $2,000 for a 747 to land. Something's just broken somewhere, and nobody will take responsibility for the problem.
If you're coming to Toronto, use CYTZ (downtown), CYKZ (northeast), CYOO (east), CNC3 (northwest), or CZBA (west). CYTZ has a landing fee of around $10 for a light plane (watch the ramp fees at Porter, though!), and the others have no landing fee at all.
Fantastic GA airport
This airport is possibly the nicest GA airport I've ever been to. The Kingston flying club has free tie-downs, and they sell fuel at some of the cheapest prices in Ontario when they're open. For odd hours, the Esso has reasonable prices too. Also a very scenic airport, and very straightforward uncomplicated procedures. Highly recommend visiting Kingston.
Visited for the first time the other day
The airport is very scenic, especially at night. The ramp and fuel prices are tough to swallow though. The airport closes at 11pm, and the last ferry runs at midnight.
Druxy's on site
There is a Druxy's (deli chain) in the FBO. The food isn't too bad, standard deli stuff like smoked meat sandwiches, bagels, and salads. Not gourmet, but it's better than Subway, and it's easy if you're stopping at Buttonville.
Not open to public
This airport is in an ideal location, right in the middle of metro Toronto near the end of a subway line, but unfortunately it's not normally open to the public. It's a former military field, long used by Bombardier for flight testing. The closest public airports are Buttonville (YKZ) to the northeast, City Centre (YTZ) to the south (right by downtown), and the very busy and expensive Pearson (YYZ) to the west. Oshawa (YOO) and Brampton (CNC3) can also be useful for the extreme ends of Toronto.
Fees and fuel costs
On Saturday 4 August 2007, at Flite Line Services:
Landing fee (airport): CA $7.00 + tax
Parking: CA $8.14/night + tax
100LL: CA $1.47/litre + tax
Tax is 7% GST. Flite Line collects the landing fee on behalf of the airport, so you have to pay it no matter where you park. Flite Line has a ramp fee that it waives when you take fuel, but you still have to pay the first night's parking.
Best airport for Blue Jays baseball
This airport is a short walk from Skydome (now the Rogers Centre), where the Toronto Blue Jays play -- you could probably watch a bit of a game from your plane on short final when the roof's open (check out the satellite picture).
re: Car rental
Don't worry about the car rental hours (see my previous comment). National was happy to leave the keys and contract for me at the Flite Line FBO, so my arrival time didn't matter. Flite Line itself rents Hertz, but they'll handle keys for the other companies as well.
Busy
This is a busy GA airport. Arriving on Saturday morning on a nice VFR day, tower sent me several miles on a downwind -- all the way over the city -- and then turned me number 4 for landing. Be ready to get off the runway quickly so that you don't hold up other traffic. My past two visits were during the week, when it wasn't quite so busy.
Car rental
Hertz rents out of Buttonville, and the rates are reasonable (make sure you use your COPA or AOPA discount if you have one). After hours is no problem -- I called earlier then arrived Sunday night long after the desk was closed, and my contract and keys were waiting for me at the FBO with no fuss. Renting a car is the only realistic way into Toronto from Buttonville, but it's easy since the airport is right beside the 404, which turns into the Don Valley Parkway and leads straight into downtown Toronto. Outside of rush hour, you can expect to be downtown in about 25 minutes. I still prefer City Centre (YTZ) for downtown, since it's in walking distance, but Buttonville is better for the 905 area code or anywhere else you might need to drive.
Nice little airport
Nice little strip. There's a fairly large grass parking area just north of the field that's coned off. It's close to the road, but I didn't see any tie-downs. There's also private hangars off the west end of the runway. The runway is in decent shape, but there's often lots of gulls sitting (and crapping!) on it.
Normally closed
This airport is PPR, and as a military aerodrome is normally closed to civilian traffic. The Air Cadets do sometimes run glider ops out of here though.
Airport info
I'd recommend calling ahead to COPA flight 53 which is based here for the latest update on conditions. When I was there the Air Cadets were running glider ops off of runway 17/35, which is still in very good shape. The other two runways have deteriorated significantly with lots of cracks and grass, and small loose rocks scattered over the surface. Most of the ramp is much worse, with many areas that have loose nails, broken glass and gravel lying around. The flying club is located at the N-W corner of the field, tie downs are available there, and the ramp is cleaner there too. Also remember that the closest fuel is at Tyendinaga, or Kingston if you want it for cheaper. Picton is an extremely scenic airport though, and thoroughly underused so you'll have no problems parking or anything.
Challenging Approach/Landing
This was the first time landing at an aiport with a "shorter" runway (~2500'). The worst landing I've ever done (almost a 90 degree crosswind). Obsticals on both end of the runways (trees) so be careful on those hot/humid days.
Approach for 27 flies right over my friends cottage.
Landing Fee
It is a small world - I stopped in Rockliffe today for a burger and started talking to someone. It turned out that Roland is the President & CFI of Eagle Flight Centre in Sudbury. He told me that what I was charged in Sudbury was the terminal parking fee, but there is no landing fee. He said that if we visit, we should park at his Flight Centre, he does not charge a parking fee. He welcomes visitors, his 100LL is cheaper than the main FBO and he will sell fuel to transients.
Finally, if you know of any flight instructors looking for work, he needs instructors at his schools in Sudbury and Timmons for both wheels and floats.
Car rental
National and Avis rent through the public terminal, while Hertz rents through the Flite Line FBO. It was hard to get a car on the August Civic Holiday weekend -- Hertz and Avis had nothing available, and I had to guarantee a car (which is unusual) through National.
For an economy car, National charged $40/day before taxes+fees including the COPA discount. It's worth noting that the opening hours are unusual, so plan your arrival carefully (for example, National is closed from 12pm-2pm on Saturday).
FBOs
There are two FBOs on the field:
Flite Line: http://www.fliteline.ca/ (off taxiway B, if I recall correctly)
Waterloo-Wellington Flight Centre: http://www.wwflightcentre.com/ (end of taxiway C)
Flite Line usually has the cheaper gas.
Tim Horton's at north field
To add to Tony's comment, there's also a Tim Horton's (like Dunkin Donuts in the U.S.) about a 5-minute walk from the Ottawa Flying Club, so it's easy to walk over and grab a coffee or a bagel.
Great little airport
Really, really nice terminal. Leather comfey love seats for you to relax on. Cute little cafe to grab some food.
Spent some time talking to the Unicom lady (didn't catch her name) and she mentioned that it usually gets busy around lunch time on the weekends.
Really nice place.
Airport closes at night
The airport closes some time around 11:00 pm (no takeoffs or landings allowed except medevac) and the ferry across the channel stops, so unless you can track down a water taxi you're stuck for the night. A few years ago I talked to one pilot who landed late, didn't get away in time, and ended up sleeping in his plane.
re: Landing fees
🔗 Wed, 19 Dec 2007
— @david at Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport, Canada
The airport authority is collecting the landing fee, while Nav Canada is/will be collecting the usage fee.