Question - IFR flight plan through Canadian airspace?

Baflier

Baflier

Filing Flight Plan
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baflier
Hi All -

I am planning a flight from KLOM (west of Philly) to an airport south of Detroit. I filed an IFR flight plan on Foreflight today and the FAA flight computer appears to have come back with a routing that takes me through Canadian airspace over Lake Erie. Is this right? Will aircraft that are departing and landing within US airspace on IFR filed flight plans be able to overfly Canadian airspace as they make their journey? Or is it likely this will be amended when I pick up my flight plan before departure?

Thanks,
Ben
 
Nope, you get to talk to those Canadian controllers and everything. I've done it a few times, no big deal.
 
If you look at the Enroute low ifr charts, you’ll see a few areas on the northern border where US ATC controls airspace over Canada and vice versa. Mostly around the Great Lakes. The transition is easy for you, the pilot. Just contact whomever they tell you to contact, and fly the assigned route.

I am surprised because this post has been up hours already, and nobody has incorrectly chimed in that you need to file an eApis manifest and advise Customs if you fly into Canadian airspace. As you probably know, those rules apply only if you land in Canada, not for overflights. So you don’t have to do either.

You also will not incur a NavCanada service charge.

Jon
 
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Since Canada does not accept BasicMed as a qualification, am I correct in thinking that a pilot operating on BasicMed would be legally required to say "unable" in regard to the routing through Canadian airspace ?
 
Probably best not to have any firearms or other things on board in case you had to make an emergency landing in Canada.
 
Baflier said:
Hi All -

I am planning a flight from KLOM (west of Philly) to an airport south of Detroit. I filed an IFR flight plan on Foreflight today and the FAA flight computer appears to have come back with a routing that takes me through Canadian airspace over Lake Erie. ...
Click to expand...

A good portion of that airspace over Canada is ceded to the US, for ATC. You may only talk to Erie Approach, and then Cleveland Center on what I presume to be your routing. But even if you do get switched to Toronto Center it will be seamless for you, and as mentioned upthread already, you don't need to do anything special. (eh?)

* Orest
 
Palmpilot said:
Since Canada does not accept BasicMed as a qualification, am I correct in thinking that a pilot operating on BasicMed would be legally required to say "unable" in regard to the routing through Canadian airspace ?
Click to expand...
That's likely correct, though there's no consequences *unless* for some reason you have to land in Canada. Even then, the Canadians are unlikely to pick it up... the problem will arise when you arrive back in the US, and Customers & Border Control decides to ream you for not having a medical. Though... if you present your BasicMed, some Customs guys won't know the difference between that and a medical... quality varies widely in my experience.
 
So a related question: do you need your aircraft radio station license since technically you are crossing an international border? My AC's license has lapsed and I have a flight routing for next year that will take me across the lake just like the OP's routing. I have my RR, but do I need to get my station license back UTD?
 
PaulMillner said:
...Though... if you present your BasicMed, some Customs guys won't know the difference between that and a medical... quality varies widely in my experience.
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The large difference in size and shape would be a clue.
 
I know if you land in Canada and come back to the United Sates you will have to go through Customs/Border Control. If you take off and land on U.S. soil and only fly through Canadian airspace, is there still a requirement to go through customs upon arrival at your destination? My guess is no, but I don't have any experience in this area.
 
Kevin Eggert said:
... If you take off and land on U.S. soil and only fly through Canadian airspace, is there still a requirement to go through customs upon arrival at your destination?
Click to expand...

No, no requirement.

Also true in the inverse, Canada to Canada, but overflying the US.

* Orest
 
Michael Cutler said:
So a related question: do you need your aircraft radio station license since technically you are crossing an international border? My AC's license has lapsed and I have a flight routing for next year that will take me across the lake just like the OP's routing. I have my RR, but do I need to get my station license back UTD?
Click to expand...

The way the FCC rules were explained to me was if you are talking to someone outside of the US you need a station license and the RR. I would think the chance of the FCC catching someone on an overflight are slim to none.
 
PaulMillner said:
he problem will arise when you arrive back in the US, and Customers & Border Control decides to ream you for not having a medical. Though... if you present your BasicMed, some Customs guys won't know the difference between that and a medical... quality varies widely in my experience.
Click to expand...

US customs has no standing to gripe. Their job is not to enforce Canadian laws. Although, my experience with US Customs in Toronto a couple years ago wants me to fire them all.
 
Baflier said:
I am planning a flight from KLOM (west of Philly) to an airport south of Detroit. I filed an IFR flight plan on Foreflight today and the FAA flight computer appears to have come back with a routing that takes me through Canadian airspace over Lake Erie.
Click to expand...
Looks like a direct route goes pretty close to right over my house near the southern shore. There's no way I'd take a straight flight to Detroit from here in a single—too long of a cold swim to shore. I'd, maybe, cross by island-hopping west of Cleveland (uh, no I wouldn't) or, better, go around the lake altogether. I've crossed Lake Erie perhaps 1,000 times, but in multiengine airplanes, mostly reliable corporate jets. From my house, when it's windy, I can hear the lake roaring like a lion. You can tell that I respect it a lot.
 
Pugs said:
US customs has no standing to gripe. Their job is not to enforce Canadian laws. Although, my experience with US Customs in Toronto a couple years ago wants me to fire them all.
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You misunderstand. You violate FAA rules by flying internationally without valid credentials... and US Customs busybodies themselves into that space. Why else do they check for pilot Medicals on returning pilots? Because they can!

Paul
 
PaulMillner said:
You misunderstand. You violate FAA rules by flying internationally without valid credentials... and US Customs busybodies themselves into that space. Why else do they check for pilot Medicals on returning pilots? Because they can!

Paul
Click to expand...

The FAA also has no standing to tell me to not go to Canada with basic med. That's on our friends to the north. The FAA doesn't get to enforce other nations laws and I was perfectly fine when I was in their regulatory airspace. The United States would be far better off with more people filing complaints against bureaucrats who think we exist to serve them.

Would I fly in Canada with Basic med? No, If they don't accept basic med I'll go get a class III again if I decide to go but I've worked with the government and military ever since undergrad and they are often as ignorant of the laws as your average DMV clerk. Don't let them get away with it.
 
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Pugs said:
The FAA also has no standing to tell me to not go to Canada with basic med.
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I get that you believe that... it's not clear to me that the FAA agrees with you... they seem to feel they have jurisdiction over US-certificated airmen no matter where in the world they fly, and therefore are empowered to initiate enforcement. Just be advised that US Customs has cast themselves in this documentation checking role. And if they don't like what you have to show them (assuming the person you're being examined by knows what they're looking at), they'll refer it to the FAA for enforcement... and you'll get to make case law for all of the rest of us, perhaps!
 
Baflier said:
Hi All -

I am planning a flight from KLOM (west of Philly) to an airport south of Detroit. I filed an IFR flight plan on Foreflight today and the FAA flight computer appears to have come back with a routing that takes me through Canadian airspace over Lake Erie. Is this right? Will aircraft that are departing and landing within US airspace on IFR filed flight plans be able to overfly Canadian airspace as they make their journey? Or is it likely this will be amended when I pick up my flight plan before departure?

Thanks,
Ben
Click to expand...
Not a problem at all — as a Canadian pilot, I fly through US airspace every time I cross Maine heading to/from the Maritimes. If you depart IFR from Sanderson Field in Sault Ste Marie MI, you'll even get your IFR clearance from Toronto Centre. The US and Canadian systems are well integrated.
 
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