Comments 876 to 908 of 908
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).
Cafeteria open again
There is an airport cafeteria operating again. It also sells magazines, including flying pubs.
Night landings
When the wind is light, most pilots land on runway 09 at night instead of 27 -- that way, they can land on the lit part, and overrun onto the unlit part if necessary.
BBQ
There's a BBQ going most of the time in the summer with hamburgers (and veggie burgers, I think).
Ground transportation
The OCTranspo 97 bus is a fast bus to downtown, and then on to the Bayshore Shopping Centre in the west end, mostly on a dedicated express Transitway (about a 25 minute ride). The schedule varies from every 9 minutes or so at peak times to every 30 minutes in the wee hours of the morning, and the adult fare is $3.00 cash or $1.90 if you buy tickets. You can transfer to the 95 for the train station.
Landing fees
For private single-engine light aircraft, CAD $15/landing or a flat fee of CAD $30/month. Nav Canada will also introduce a fee for each takeoff, starting in 2008.
Electrical outlets
The new terminal has lots of electrical outlets for laptops, etc. in the waiting areas -- they're on the pillars at the ends of some rows.
IFR
CYRP does not have an instrument approach, but some pilots shoot an approach to Gatineau (about 4-5 miles away) then break off and scud run over. I'd want a pretty good ceiling to try that, and wouldn't even consider it at night. Fortunately, CYOW is also close, and has two ILS's.
Self-serve fuel
I have read that they've recently added a 24-hour self-serve AvGas pump, but I haven't had a chance to try it yet.
Up on a hill
🔗 Sat, 21 Jul 2007
— @david at North Bay Jack Garland Airport, Canada
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.