A good practice for pilots, which I employ after every flight, is to conduct a debriefing of the flight. What went well, what could have been improved, what stupid thing did you do that could have gotten you in trouble (and yes, there are those on occasion), and what did you learn as a result. This little postscript is intended for some of my pilot friends that have been following this blog, and who have asked a couple of questions about weather decisions and how it is to operate in Canadian airspace. For them:
The Debrief
Overall, the trip was really gratifying. My winter planning, a few brush-up hours with a flight instructor (thank you Antonio), and a thorough pre-flight pack-out and rehearsal of minimums set me up for success. But as much as that, lady luck was on my side relative to the weather.
What Went Well
- Having just learned about VFR Flyways from Antonio, specifically the Flyway around Chicago as an alternative to going out over the lake or around the backside of the Class B. I was excited and admittedly apprehensive about the prospect of flying that low (below 2000 feet at one point, or around 500 feet above the water and almost eye level with the top of buildings) and so close to downtown. It was relatively easy and very rewarding. I just set the autopilot and moved the heading bug to keep me in the corridor and take in the view. I choose not to bother ATC, as they were pretty busy, but monitored the frequency to help keep track of traffic in and around the flyway.
- Extensive use of weather resources beyond ForeFlight, including Canadian Flight Service, helped the go/no go decisions in those more remote areas easier to make and with more confidence.
- My transition to glass - at least the G5 and GFC500, is complete. Finally feel very comfortable looking for the right information in the right place (read stop using steam gauges exclusively) and linking the autopilot on the fly.
Improvement Opps
Checklist discipline continues to be an improvement opportunity. A boost pump left off, a prop control not full forward on final, very occasional evidence that my attention to arrival checklists is less than ideal. Same with cruise checklists. A fuel pump left on, mixture full rich at altitude. I need to continue to remind myself that distractions in those phases leads to oversight.
Mistakes
Not a mistake that enhanced risk, but a mistake nontheless had to do with the datalink between the GTN and the GDL. When the error message showed up saying they were not linked, the result being the absence of any traffic information, I didn't think much about what might contribute to it. It was only when I checked the GDL breaker some time later that I found it had been tripped. The mistake was that I did not catch that in preflight. As it turned out, the connection message went out, only to be replaced with a message saying the GDL needs service, evidenced by the fact that we weren't getting any ASD-B IN. Fortunately I still had the iPad with Sentry input.
Lessons
I had planned a practice flight into Thunder Bay, Ontario to work out any bugs in filing for Canadian Border Services and/or U.S. Customs and Border Patrol approvals and registrations. Time ran out, and I wished it hadn't. It would have saved lots of heartburn at the time of entry and re-entry. Lesson: If initiating yourself into a new, more complicated process, give it a go BEFORE deadlines induce stress.
Near the end of the trip, the Arrow's oil pressure began to drop, in stages. Normal at cruise was 68-72 psi. Over a period of 2 hours of flight, that average dropped to 48-52. Finally, on the way into Duluth, it dropped to a range of 33-42. Oil temperature followed suit, climbing to 190 degrees by then. Normally, my practice has been to add oil only when the oil level dropped to 5 quarts, with one quart filling it back to 6 quarts. The last check, in Marathon, showed the level at just barely over 5 quarts. By Duluth, it was just under 5 quarts. After filling back to 6 quarts for the trip home, the pressure recovered to the 70-ish range and stayed there, and oil temp dropped back to the 160's. Is the IO-360 prone to that level of oil level sensitivity? I hadn't noticed in the past. Worth observing in the future.
Weather Decisions
One of my pilot-buddy readers asked how I came to weather related go/no go decisions, and what I used to make those decisions. In the case of this trip, specifically the decisions to set down in Lake County, and the decision to hole up in Killarney or, more importantly, to leave Killarney with MVFR METARS at some enroute locations.
Let me set the stage by sharing that I am a very conservative guy when it comes to weather. If ceilings meet or exceed minimums but are combined with moderate or low visibility, or if rain or harsh weather is in the region, I'm usually sipping on my beer in an armchair. In fact, I usually think of flying only when skies are relatively clear, ceilings high, and winds light to moderate.
Personal Minimums that become deal breakers in a decision:
Flight Cat - VFR
Ceilings - 2000 feet AGL
Visibility - 6km
Winds - Crosswind component of less than 14mph at gust levels
For some discussion of the Lake County decision, see the blogpost here.
For the north shore of Lake Superior, where landing options are mostly nil and emergency resources much the same, I decided to double the minimums for ceilings and visibility.
ForeFlight is usually, sometimes exclusively, my weather information source. It provides METARS, TAF's, synopsis imagery along with NWS discussion, plus radar and satellite imagery. And it's all available in flight if you have a Sentry receiver as I do.
Except in Canada.
Canada has no ASD-B ground stations (they use space-based ADS-B), and with fewer airports, and fewer of those having AWOS/ASOS, the reporting is pretty sparse in the unpopulated areas - especially in flight. As an offset, I used Canadian Flight Services much more heavily, checking with a briefer for enroute conditions at each stop based on their satellite imagery and pireps.
This became especially important on the run from Killarney to Marathon, and from Marathon to Duluth. While looking at the weather data in planning early in the morning, some stations were showing MVFR conditions, while others, including the conditions overhead at my location, were scattered at 4500 or greater with 10km. And little was to be deduced along the Lake Superior shore, as no airports had full METAR reporting.
Flight Service was able to tell me that, while some points along my rural route were 4500 overcast, 3500 broken, other areas were scattered at 6000. And most of the cloud base was from the coastline to about 10 miles inland, leaving ample clear VFR conditions readily accessible. My challenge was that my destination, Sault Ste.Marie, was MVFR with 2500 overcast, since it was right on the east end of the lake with a west wind. With visibilities greater than 10sm and some enroute reporting stations showing partly cloudy VFR, I decided to try to see how far I could go. Once up, I decided to go on top because I could see lots of open areas, especially inland where skies looked clear for some distance. If things didn't clear out by the time I got to my destination, I'd just turn back around and land at one of the intermediate sites with good weather.
Approaching Sault Ste Marie, the skies opened up and and easy landing was made. And with improving conditions going north, and lots of the east horizon blue, I headed on to Marathon.
Same analysis and conditions the next day on the trip from Marathon to Grand Marias, Minnesota. Except this time scattered rain was in the forecast. Leaving with nearly clear skies, I ran into the clouds rather quickly, and chose to stay underneath them. As Flight Service suggested, open areas were common and visibility was much greater than 10sm, even through the light rain showers. Some circumnavigation of the showers and associated clouds was required, but the flight was uneventful.
Operating in Canada
My new friends at Kingston Flying Club in Kingston, Ontario, port of entry for this trip, shared the view that anything in Canada as a pilot was not much different than in the U.S.. I found that to be mostly true. One notable difference is in the patience and ease of communications with ATC. Not quite as rapid fire and formatted as in the U.S.. Some of the terminology is different, but by in large my ignorance did not have much of an effect on safety or communications.
Here's a good reference for planning and reporting in Canada: Canada NAV  |
| Flight Information Centers |
Canada NAV Flight Information Services (FIS) are provided by five FIS centers, reachable by phone and, sometimes, in the air. All my communications were by phone (incredibly, I was never out of cell phone coverage, including in the air). In all cases, I used London FIS, sometimes available by radio if the local frequency is provided in airport data.
In almost all cases, airports have a Multicom frequency, the equivalent of CTAF, required for transitioning airport "Zones," which is what airport airspace is called, if other specific ATC is not available. The Zone is signified by either a Control Zone (CZ) Class (C or D) or by a dashed line. And all areas are covered by an ATC Centre, same as in the U.S. - though don't count on radar coverage at lower altitudes. Flight Following is possible through these centers or through towered fields, though again, coverage has major gaps at lower altitudes.
Some airports, like Thunder Bay and Sault Set Marie, in CZ C or D airspace, have towers with ground frequencies, and operate pretty much the same as in the U.S..
GA in Canada is a bit more sparse, as are the aerodromes and airports (yes, there is a difference, though slight). As are the facilities on those airports compared to the U.S.. Camping on the field, and field GA terminals are not available, in my experience, narrowing the options if you make an unplanned stop or find yourself without transportation. And courtesy transportation was not available anywhere I stopped. Again, minor details, but details worth planning for.
The only intimidating part I found was the administrative application processes for departure (U.S.) and entry (U.S. and Canada) described in the blogpost here. As of this date, documented and registered covid vaccination is required prior to entry, but testing is not.
Bottom line, a great experience with lots of benefit. I encourage anyone to explore the vast open country of Canada.
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