Comments 851 to 900 of 908
Caution - Lots of Fire Fighting Helo Traffic Here in the Sum
Stopped here several times for fuel travelling East or West around the top of Superior. In July and August there can be numerous firefighting fixed wing and helos transitting the area to pickup crews or fuel. Listen closely on 126.7 for updates.
Birds
There is a bird sanctuary near the airport, so be sure to keep a good lookout for birds.
No. 6 RCAF Dunnville Museum
A great little gem of a museum. This airport has a great community around it that has brought a BCATP airfield back to life. Well worth a visit.
Marathon
Nice airport. Got weathered in here while on a trip to the West. Self serve pumps work well. Eat at Marino's just down the road.
Crosswind Strip
There is a shorter crosswind turf strip at Smiths Falls that is not depicted in the CFS (visible on the map above). A flying club member recently told me to feel free to use the grass if there was a good crosswind on my arrival on a cross country flight. I would guess it is about 1500' long.
Missed my chance
I skipped the restaurant since it was a refuelling stop in the morning, but it sounds like I missed some good food. The FBO staff were very friendly as well.
re: Bushplane Museum
Fun for home *builders*, that is.
re: Bushplane Museum
I can second Flying Celt's recommendation of the Bushplane Museum. It's downtown, near the Station Mall and the bridge to the U.S., and has a small but very nicely chosen collection of planes. They're not too crowded, and there's a lot to do, including climbing into some of them. They have a Taylor Cub that was found on Baffin Island many years after it disappeared. There's a special focus on forest fire fighting, and a good selection of kids' activities. Restoration is going on right on the museum floor, and a sign welcomes you to visit the work area, so it would probably be especially fun for home buildings.
Butter tarts
Butter tarts yes. Also - there are go carts next to the field. It's a back track runway - though so don't be too tight on the plane in front of you.
Bushplane Museum
I flew into Sault Ste. Marie in late June. It's a nice airport. Car rental was only $35 for a day - which is cheaper than the cab or limo. If you go there be sure to visit the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Museum http://www.bushplane.com/. It's a must see for aviation enthusiasts. Lunch at Muio's Restaurant - 685 Queen St E can't go wrong.
Buttertarts
Famous for the best buttertarts anywhere!
Home of the famous fish and chips
About a 25 minute walk from the airport is the famous Herberts Fisheries where you'll get probably the freshest fish and chips you'll ever have. People come from far and wide. But be ready to wait up to an hour for your food. Well worth a visit.
Head for the south
This is the southern most point in Canada. There's a Caribbean theme restaurant about a 10 minute cab ride from the airport with great seafood. Honestly comparable to the very famous Herbert's fisheries in Killarney. Worth a visit.
Katana Cafe
Amazing, gourmet-class cuisine overlooking runway 33. Highly recommended.
Food
Cafeteria at Upper Canada Village entrance & restaurant at golf club.
Flight School with Twin
Radio svc is good for an a/p this size. Great stop while heading down the scenic St. Lawrence.
Great View
Great view of Lake Ontario & the St. Lawrence when departing to the South. Taxicab svc to downtown for good restaurants is fast & not too expensive.
Light rail
I live in Orleans but my hangar is at Carp. Light rail would solve lots of problems. I think Carp and Arnprior are the only local airports to permit the building of private hangars at reasonable cost.
First GPS Approach to Minimums
I flew my Baron into Kap for a Hope Air mission in 2004. I took Simon Garrett from Rockliffe along for the company and some Multi-IFR experience. We filed IFR which was a good thing since it was IMC from North Bay to Kap. We flew the GPS Approach to minimums and taxied to the terminal in heavy rain. Then we had to wake up our passenger who fell asleep departing Ottawa. At least he had confidence in our abilities.
Light rail
Thanks for the fuel info, Tony.
There's talk at Ottawa city council about building a light rail line as far as the village of Carp. If that ever happens (and it would be years away), CYRP could become a fairly important Ontario GA airport.
The North Field vs. The International Airport
Runway 04 - 22 at the North end of the Ottawa Airport is for General Aviation - the flying clubs and local avionics shop are there. The Ottawa Flying Club has a restaurant open for breakfast and lunch. The same landing fees apply at the North Field.
There is an Esso Avitat and a Shell FBO just East of the main International terminal, just beside Runway 07-25 for business travellers and charters.
Self-serve fuel
Yes, they have 24-hour self-serve, and their regular customers can sign up for their loyalty program for another discount! See John at West Capital in the FBO building.
Breakfast every Sunday
The Brockville Flying Club has a fly-in breakfast every Sunday. It's hard to find official info, but I think it's 8:30-11:30 am. I hope to try it out tomorrow.
Special landing/takeoff procedures
Because there's a high ridge just east of the airport, the normal procedure for landing on runway 12 is to do a wide left downwind, then follow the river valley through the town on a slant left base. Because of a hill SE of the airport, you won't see the runway until you're almost lined up on final. For departure from runway 30, just reverse the procedure (unless your plane has a very good climb angle) -- instead of trying to outclimb the ridge, make a gentle right turn after takeoff and follow the river valley southeastwards until you're high enough to get over the hills. Note also that there are trees off both ends of the runway. If you're in a low-powered plane like a Cherokee or Cessna 172, it might be a good idea to take off when the air is cool (e.g. not midafternoon on a summer day), and to be a fair bit under maximum gross weight (you can top up your fuel at Pembroke [YTA] and Peterborough [YPQ], which are both only 62 nm away and have long paved runways), though the gravel runway is a good length at 2,200 ft. It's a fun airport for a pilot, but note the previous comment for a passenger's perspective.
Up on a hill
This airport is up on a hill, several hundred feet above the city below and Lake Nippising. That's both a good and bad thing -- once, I was able to depart VFR when the city was completely fogged in, because the hill was above the top of the fog with blue skies above. On the other hand, if there's a low ceiling, it will be lower here than in the city.
Awesome downtown airport!
This is a great airport if you are visiting Toronto. You land on the island, right next to downtown. The approach gives you a dramatic view of the CN Tower, the baseball stadium, and the downtown core. A quick ferry ride takes you to the mainland. Hop public transit, or grab a cab, and you're in the core in a matter of minutes. The city is quite walkable and has fabulous public transit. No need to rent a car to visit the main sites in Canada's largest city.
Pearson (Toronto's major Int'l airport) is way out in the west end - there is no efficient public transit into the downtown core, and a car/cab ride is going to take at least 45 minutes, if the highways aren't jammed with traffic. The smaller airports (Buttonville, etc.) are great if you're visiting the 'burbs, but not so great for downtown.
Very busy airport
For a small airport, it certainly is busy. Very active flight school, with lots of people training.
Aviation Museum as well
I should also have mentioned the Aviation Museum which is right behind the airport.
Scary take off
As a reluctant small plane flyer, I found the landing, but particularly the take off a bit scary at this airport. There is a very tall rock formation (cliff?) at one end of the runway, and one has to climb quickly, and navigate past it. Coming in to land, we executed a number of steep turns to position ourselves, and I really hate that tilty feeling ... Still, when you land, you're in Canadian Shield topography, with a beautiful view all around. Don't miss the ice cream at the Dairy on the far side of town!!!
Decent food
Linday has a small restaraunt on the airfield that has decent food and seems to attract a fair amount of locals from town. One of the better on airport restaraunts in southern Ontario
Ferry is free
The new ferry is free, at least so far. If you fly in with four people, that's a significant saving at $5.50/person.
Porter FBO
I tried out the Porter FBO yesterday. The fuel was expensive, but they waived the ramp fee because I was a COPA member (I think that the offer's good only for summer 2007). It's not a bad FBO, aside from the cost ($35/night tie-down, etc.).
Upper Canada Village
Upper Canada Village, a reenacted 1867 village, is located right across the highway within walking distance. There is also a golf course near the airport. Note that there's no fence or security of any kind, and your plane will be in clear view of the highway.
No civilian traffic
I called a couple of times when a relative lived in Trenton, and the base does not allow any non-emergency civilian traffic (unless on military business). It's too bad, because Trenton's the only decent-sized airport along the 401 between Kingston and Oshawa, unless you count Peterborough a fair bit to the north.
Skydiving
There is a lot of skydiving at Gananoque, so it's important to keep a sharp eye out if you're landing here.
Fuel stop?
I'm thinking of using Killarney as a fuel stop between Ottawa and Sault Ste. Marie.
Vehicles on runway
This airport has a long grass runway sloping towards the lake. When I was back-taxiing a few years back, I came face-to-face with a pickup truck using it as a shortcut (luckily, I wasn't in my takeoff roll).
Very nice airport
This is a nice airport to visit, though I miss being able to get fuel at TransCapital.
Aircraft parking update
I landed at CYAM today, and two of the (already limited) tie-down spots behind the old firehall are now reserved for Soo Aviation, the new flight school at the airport, leaving only, I think, three for transient aircraft. That means you'll almost certainly have to chock your plane on the apron near Maratech, the FBO.
On the bright side, ATC was as friendly and helpful as usual.
Aircraft parking
There are a few tie-down spots for light aircraft on the far side of the old firehall. Otherwise, you can have the plane chocked on the apron near the FBO.
Car rental
The only car rental companies actually at the airport are Enterprise and Budget -- the others are in downtown Sault Ste. Marie, a long way away.
Fuel
There is a 24-hour, self-service fuel pump, as at CYRP. It was NOTAM'd O/S for a long time, but the NOTAM's gone now, so presumably the pump is back in operation.
Approaches
The NDB approach is to 06, but the GPS approach is to 24 -- watch for the risk of head-on, opposite-direction traffic over the runway when people are practicing simulated approaches.
Runway lighting
Note that the runway lighting ARCAL is *not* on the same frequency as the ATF. Use 122.7 MHz for the ATF, but 122.9 MHz to activate the lights.
Good fuel stop
This airport is a good fuel stop for private planes -- there's no landing fee, and no ramp fee if you're staying only a short time. There's an ILS and a *very* long runway (an old NORAD runway) for bad weather, and Sudbury is close by as an alternate.
Tie-downs
The tie-downs for private aircraft are behind the old firehall, but there are only a few. You can also chock the plane on the ramp in front of the FBO. There's no landing fee for light aircraft if you buy gas, but they do charge around $13 or so/night for parking no matter where you park.
Free tie-downs for visitors
The last time I was in Kingston, they still weren't charging visitors for overnight tie-down. There are cables you can tie to on the apron in front of the Kingston Flying Club.
Nice airport
This is one of the nicest airports in Canada for flying to a big city, either commercially or in a private plane. It's unbelievably quiet considering how close it is Toronto freeways, and you can actually walk downtown after taking the little ferry across.
Wind turbines
If you're a pilot, watch for the wind turbines on the hills to your right on departure from 30. I've had to refuse a right turn after departure because I wasn't climbing fast enough for obstacle clearance (a left turn towards the U.S. is much easier, if you need to head east).
Great Airport
🔗 Sun, 22 Jul 2007
— @Flying_Celt at Brantford Municipal Airport, Canada
My plane is hangared here :) !
C-FAKQ a 1976 Cessna Cardinal RG