Flying in Canada

Tristar

Tristar

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Tristar
I'm scheduled for my first trip to Canada this weekend. We're going into Toronto International. It'll be part 135 and I'll have another pilot with me but it'd still be a good idea to know what I'm up against. What are some major differences and things to look out for?
 
They speak English, don't say "eh", bring your passport. NO handguns unless you want to go to prison. :no:
 
Tristar said:
I'm scheduled for my first trip to Canada this weekend. We're going into Toronto International. It'll be part 135 and I'll have another pilot with me but it'd still be a good idea to know what I'm up against. What are some major differences and things to look out for?
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Flying IFR, its not much different. Are you up to date with border crossing requirements?
 
Here are a few things in no particular order:

- Make sure your company calls CANPASS between 2 and 48 hours prior to arrival in Canada
- Make sure your company filed inbound and outbound eAPIS
- Make sure you have a stamped outbound GenDec prior to leaving the US
- Most places (if not all?) in Canada will have you switch to departure once airborne vice being instructed to "contact departure"
- Slow to 200 KIAS within 10NM of the airport below 10,000 ft (except departure or ATC assigned higher speed)
- Make sure everyone has their passport
- Check everyone's passport to see that it matches the eAPIS transmission (particularly for the inbound back into the US)
- Confirm your date and time of arrival with the inbound CBP office and update them if your arrival time changes
- It's a good idea to have 6059B declaration forms (blue forms) on board for you and your pax to fill out
 
-They speak French and English on the radios, although not as much near Toronto.
-As Jason said, they'll sometimes issue you a takeoff clearance with "contact departure when airborn"
-Start off your tail number with "November". So instead of my typical "four-eight-eight-sugar-pop" it's "november-four-eight-eight-sugar-pop"
-I've never had to deal with outbound declarations. Only been asked a couple of times for them inbound, but all my flights have been part 91
-DO NOT exit the plane on either side until either cleared on the phone by CanPass (they usually don't come visit the plane) or the agents walk up
-Make sure you've gotten your ok to enter via phone from US before departing Canada, and make sure you've gotten your ok on the phone from CanPass before departing US

It's pretty easy and seamless overall. I've never flown into YYZ, but it is a busy airport with slots.
 
Thanks Jason. Most of what you mentioned is on a checklist we have so I'll be working with the captain before we go. They called our declaration form an E311 form, is that the same thing? I'm glad you mentioned that since I wasn't sure if that's something we had to turn in to someone before the flight or bring with us. I know exactly where my passport is. The 200 kt rule is also good to know since we're taking the mustang. The Canpasses are being taken care of. I'm not sure what an eAPIS or a GenDoc is yet other than we need it. I'm assuming thats General Declaration form which it looks like the crew and pax have to have one too. Whats the difference between a crew declaration and an individual E311 declaration card? I think there's more paperwork involved in aviation than flying. :)
 
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Tristar said:
Thanks Jason. Most of what you mentioned is on a checklist we have so I'll be working with the captain before we go. They called our declaration form an E311 form, is that the same thing? I'm glad you mentioned that since I wasn't sure if that's something we had to turn in to someone before the flight or bring with us. I know exactly where my passport is. The 200 kt rule is also good to know since we're taking the mustang. The Canpasses are being taken care of. I'm not sure what an eAPIS or a GenDoc is yet other than we need it. I'm assuming thats General Declaration form which it looks like the crew and pax have to have one too. Whats the difference between a crew declaration and an individual E311 declaration card? I think there's more paperwork involved in aviation than flying. :)
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The E311 is a Canadian form. I've never filled one out to be quite honest so I don't know much about it.

The General Declaration is required for Part 135. It's CBP form 7507. It is a declaration of your crew and passenger count, departure, destination, date, time, etc. It must be approved (stamped) before leaving the US, part 135.

eAPIS (Electronic Advance Passenger Information System) is an electronic submission of all crew and pax information for both inbound and outbound.

The only place I've ever been asked to fill out a crew declaration (part 135) is in Florida. Most CBP offices don't use or request the form except those in Georgia and Florida.

For customs purposes, if you leave the country part 135, you will clear inbound customs part 135 even if it is a dead leg back into the US. The same is true going the other direction.

Have fun!
 
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Clip4 said:
Flying IFR, its not much different.
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Not so fast...;)

If you are on a STAR..( I'm guessing you will be on YWT.YWT5)

If they tell you to decend, you are expected to make all the crossing restriction "windows" ...even though they don't say decend via. ("IE SH7 decend when ready to 11'000 , you need to cross Habbs between 14000 and 12500 ")

You can't depart YYZ until 630 AM I believe , they are nazis on noise abatement so make sure you SOP is compliant with NA Departure procedure 1 or 2 ..should be in your Jepps. basically just climb steep to 1500 agl (V2+20) climb thrust ASAP, and plan flap retraction no less than
1500 AGL ...this goes for all turbojets..

Don't change frequencies until they tell you to...(tower/ground)

The have weird looking taxi signs ..pay close attention

Have fun..but the beer is expensive...I'm there Sunday day and night as well
 
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They have slightly different ATC phraseology too but not so different that you can't figure it out.

Have a good time!
 
Well we survived Canada! Customs wasn't as much of a pain as the horror stories say. We got a clearance direct to the field in CYYZ and then had to clear customs in Detroit. Other than waiting for 20min due to lack of staffing, he was pleasant to talk to. The FBO was right under the flight path to one of the runways. I have never heard wake turbulence before! The airliners flew pretty low. I told the other pilot that I would have been entertained here as a kid. He told me, "yea but you're easily entertained." He's flown with me too much, hehe. The flight home was against a 120kt head wind at FL400 over tornado central Chicago. Very glad I was in a jet today even with the ugly ground speed. All in all, very good learning experience. No surprises on airport operations or the arrival and approach. There's more paperwork than anything.
 
That is good. That means nobody in your party had a DUI. Sigh. Glad you overflew us. You did not want to land here, today.
 
We were just outside of ORD at FL400. An airliner called center asking how the airport was looking and they replied that it was closed. I felt bad for the pax as the pilots got a clearance for Detroit. I watched the news tonight and there were tornadoes in the exact bands we flew over. Detroit even had a tornado watch from another smaller band that just moved out. Very active and uncommon for this time of year.
 
Today was pretty rotten in the mid-west. Good day to be flying over or pick your timing right. We landed at Traverse City just as the weather was reaching there. Once it had moved east enough, we kept going. Ended up waiting on the ground around 2 hours.
 
I missed your first post, glad you had a good trip.

For everyone else reading this thread. PIC need to learn and understand eApis in the US. Aircraft needs Customs registration sticker. Not asked for, but aircraft needs FCC station license, pilots need radiotelephone operators permit. Pilot certificate needs to have the "English Proficent" statement.
 
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