Technical stops

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MikeS

MikeS

Pre-takeoff checklist
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MikeS
In my commercial flying days I could pull into any appropriate airport in the event fuel was running short. Get gas, nobody except me leaves the plane, get back in the air.

Flying from say, Bellingham to Ketchikan with just enough fuel to get there, I've read that landing in Canada can be a hassle. Why can't I just call up Prince Rupert, tell them the winds are causing me fuel problems and get permission to land for fuel. What's wrong with this idea, if anything?
 
MikeS said:
In my commercial flying days I could pull into any appropriate airport in the event fuel was running short. Get gas, nobody except me leaves the plane, get back in the air.

Flying from say, Bellingham to Ketchikan with just enough fuel to get there, I've read that landing in Canada can be a hassle. Why can't I just call up Prince Rupert, tell them the winds are causing me fuel problems and get permission to land for fuel. What's wrong with this idea, if anything?
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You can do that, and I have. The Canadians are sympathetic.Returning to the US can be uglier, though...

Paul
 
Big brother is out there watching. I’d just jump through the hoops for your Canadian fuel stop, or have enough to make it nonstop.
 
PaulMillner said:
You can do that, and I have. The Canadians are sympathetic.Returning to the US can be uglier, though...

Paul
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Why is Canadian sympathy necessary? Stopping at some intermediate airport for fuel has always just been normal procedure and nothing out of the ordinary. As for U.S. Customs being "ugly", it's a flight from U.S. airspace to U.S. airspace with no formal entry into Canada, so why would Customs even be involved? What am I missing?
 
I contacted the DHS/CBP on this along with the Canadian side and asked this exact question. If I am over flying Canada, from Ketchikan to Washing State or Michigan to New York what happens if I have to land due to issues of mechanical or biological nature. The Canadians said more or less no problem, just call us (customs) when you land and explain the situation. The US said to contact them prior to departure with a phone call and explain the situation. If possible file eAPIS, if not something should be able to be done over the phone if no internet service at the location.

Mike - formal or not the CBP/DHS considers the origination to be in Canada and you'll have to do all the appropriate steps you would as if it were planned.
 
CBP considers you part of the ones to defend against, not one of the defended. The American Volkspolizei thanks you for your subservient compliance.

I need bigger tanks....
 
Thanks EdFred and others. Times have changed looks like.

The same people have turned trips to Mexico into an ordeal instead of something casual, as they once were.
 
Or leaner lean of peak... Tanks, tanks a lot!
 
MikeS said:
Thanks EdFred and others. Times have changed looks like.

The same people have turned trips to Mexico into an ordeal instead of something casual, as they once were.
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Somehow I think Mexico did that....
 
MikeS said:
In my commercial flying days I could pull into any appropriate airport in the event fuel was running short. Get gas, nobody except me leaves the plane, get back in the air.

Flying from say, Bellingham to Ketchikan with just enough fuel to get there, I've read that landing in Canada can be a hassle. Why can't I just call up Prince Rupert, tell them the winds are causing me fuel problems and get permission to land for fuel. What's wrong with this idea, if anything?
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Great plan 20 years ago.
 
MikeS said:
No . . . Mexico didn't do that. The U.S. did that. If you had any awareness of anything beyond your TV news you'd know better.
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I do know better, and you are incorrect. We'll have to agree to disagree. Cheers.
 
MikeS said:
Why is Canadian sympathy necessary? Stopping at some intermediate airport for fuel has always just been normal procedure and nothing out of the ordinary. As for U.S. Customs being "ugly", it's a flight from U.S. airspace to U.S. airspace with no formal entry into Canada, so why would Customs even be involved? What am I missing?
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You are entering the country. Period.
 
MikeS said:
Thanks EdFred and others. Times have changed looks like.

...
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Certainly have. When I was a teenager used to be able to cross the border with a paper drivers licence that had no picture.
 
GRG55 said:
An eAPIS filing and an assigned transponder code to exit the USA (both utterly ridiculous) is not something the Mexicans dreamed up.
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You're missing the point, drug traffic FROM Mexico is the root cause. Your minor inconvenience is the response.
 
Lantraxco said:
You're missing the point, drug traffic FROM Mexico is the root cause. Your minor inconvenience is the response.
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Sure, if you say so.
No doubt a highly effective countermeasure.
 
"Minor inconvenience"? And you think @GRG55 is the one missing the point? LOL The irony.....
 
Years back almost all countries allowed technical stops for gas or to allow a pilot to enter the country using his pilots license if his airplane had a mechanical problem. Those days are clearly over.
 
". . . You're missing the point, drug traffic FROM Mexico is the root cause"

Either you've drunk some kool-aid or you haven't been paying attention. Our government has been in the drug business since the Fifties, possibly even earlier. Read The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia for starters. That'll give you some foundation. If you want something more current, check out the CIA G-II that crashed in Yucatan with 3.2 tons of coke on board. That's happened twice that I've heard of . . . they really like Gulfstreams. Look up the name Eugene Hasenfaus and find out what he was bringing back in his C-123 after he'd dropped off arms for the Contras on his many trips. IF you want' to educate yourself there's a wealth of data to poke through. If not, continue watching TV. Nobody that's over 50 on this board is unaware of any of this.

That's why the border hassles pilots now have to deal with are irritating. It's just theatre.

Thanks to those who have responded knowledgably. I'm clear on this issue of what we once called technical stops. Over and out.

Mike
 
Yes, the US government, or shadow government, has always hated competition, one of the reasons Mexico and most of the other South American countries are still poor and riddled with corruption and crime. The cartels and some independents like to bootleg some product in through alternate channels, and thus the same agencies transporting and distributing the stuff arrange regulations to reduce that competition. Blame the whole thing on drug addicts if you want, or big pharma and the doctors that handed out legal heroin like candy in the form of Oxycodone et al. Fly where you want, land where you will, LOL I feel a thread lock coming.............
 
You guys wearing tin-foil hats, too? Walt Disney smuggling heroin to put his and Minnie Mouse's love child through Harvard, but it was covered up by the gov't because Walt had the goods on Trumman's secret deal with Stalin to get kickbacks on the Berlin wall construction?

The sheet people will believe if it's in a book and within a distant horizon of the truth. . .then again, my sister-in-law thinks "Executive Action" was historically accurate. . .
 
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Lantraxco said:
You're missing the point, drug traffic FROM Mexico is the root cause. Your minor inconvenience is the response.
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How exactly is the need to file e-APIS when LEAVING the country to go TO Mexico going to do anything about drug traffic FROM Mexico? :dunno:

As for Canada, crossing the border in both directions used to be a non-event. There were four questions you got asked when entering Canada: Where are you from, where are you going, what are you doing when you get there, are you carrying any firearms, have a nice trip. If you were driving a commercial vehicle, they wanted to know what you were carrying and see the paperwork, at least in part to be sure it was going to get taxed correctly.

Returning to the US was similarly easy and ended with a "welcome home."

Post-9/11, I was once coming into Michigan from Toronto with a trainee, and we were physically pulled out of the truck, in January, wearing t-shirts (and my poor trainee was in shorts, at least I had jeans on) and given the third degree for no apparent reason. They asked why we took so long in Canada (uh, because we timed out and needed to sleep!), whether we had drugs, our exact movements the entire time we were in Canada, while other CBP officers opened up the truck and trailer and went through everything. And they were complete *******s about it the entire time.

So glad I don't have to do that any more...
 
SkyDog58 said:
And the Boston Tea Party, Pearl Harbor, and Tet.
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I thought the Germans were the ones that did Pearl Harbour. I'm sure I read that on the internet...:confused:o_O

EdFred said:
So Mexico was behind 9-11 and The Patriot Act! I knew it.
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And isn't the Patriot Act just a set up to ensure Belichick has a shot at another Super Bowl credit?
 
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DutchRoller said:
Just don't do a tech stop in Goose Bay Canada. You might have a long wait.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/trav...ssengers-canada-goose-bay-airport/2635749002/
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Diversions for medical emergencies can be interesting sometimes. Years ago I was on a Lufthansa 747-400 from Frankfurt to Denver when we were diverted to Keflavik, Iceland due to an on-board medical emergency. We had already passed Iceland, and the crew did a first class job of a sharp 180, fuel dump and max rate descent for a straight in to Keflavik. Paramedics were waiting and the passenger, now patient, was whisked off the flight to an ambulance in short order.

Then the interesting part. Keflavik has no scheduled 747 traffic and therefor did not have the Boeing approved towbar required to push the airplane back from the bridge station.

Another good reason to fly biz class. In situations like this they make sure your whiskey or wine glass is never empty. It eased the pain of missing my connection at Denver. ;)
 
There is no such thing as a "technical stop" in part 91 operations.

You decide to stop outside of the US for whatever reason, you deal with the consequences. On the other side, in air carrier operations, they have procedures for doing technical stops.
 
The thread has been locked by MC vote. Some posters could not resist the urge to take this thread to the spin zone instead of answering the OP's question.
 
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