Land and Hold Short

The Internet Death Clock says that I’ll die on 30 August 2038, 30 years from this summer (it doesn’t take into account the longer average life span in Canada). That’s good news, because now I don’t have to worry about running through my preflight checklists, flying VFR into IMC, going up in severe icing, running out of fuel over the mountains, etc. — after checking the death clock, I feel a lot more confident about my flying from now until July 2038.

In the U.S., AOPA president Phil Boyer wants to know how to stop the pilot population from declining — it has fallen below 600,000, and is still heading downhill.

No surprise, really. Flying is a fuel- and land-intensive pastime, when both oil and real estate are expensive and in short supply.

Canada

In Canada, as of September 2007, there were 61,109 pilot licenses and permits in force, with an additional 7,683 student permits [Transport Canada]. If we had the same population as the U.S., that would be the equivalent of nearly 628,000 active pilot licenses. Granted, that’s licenses/permits and not pilots, and a few pilots will hold multiple licenses or permits (e.g. fixed-wing, helicopter, and glider), but it’s probably true that Canada has proportionally more pilots than the U.S. Furthermore, the number seems to be holding fairly steady — ten years ago, in 1998, there were 61,241 licensed pilots (excluding student pilots?) [Transport Canada].

Positive or negative vibes?

What’s the difference? After all, we’re paying slightly more for fuel than the Americans are. One thing might be the hysteria about security and terrorism in the U.S., which paints pilots and planes as, if not exactly potential terrorists, certainly high risks.

Why get involved in a pastime that will make people look at you suspiciously, where your state or city will try to run extra security checks on you, where you read in the news about small planes being intercepted in constantly-changing TFRs, where the less talented investigative reporters will sneak onto your little community airfield to see if your Cessna’s door is unlocked so that they can run a scare story on the news that evening?

That won’t turn everyone away from flying, of course, but it will make some difference — we’re all sensitive to what our friends and neighbours think. In Canada (and, I suspect, parts of the U.S., like Alaska), people still generally react positively when they hear that you’re a pilot, though they learn quickly not mention the weather as a topic of conversation.

The allowed answers for each question are “Canada“, “U.S.“, “both“, or “neither” (for the sake of this quiz, “U.S.” refers only to the continental U.S., excluding Alaska and Hawaii). I’ll post the answers in a comment later.

1. Which country requires pilots to have a clearance to enter class C airspace?

2. Which country requires pilots to file a flight plan for all VFR flights?

3. Which country misuses “class F” in a non-ICAO-standard way to refer to restricted airspace?

4. Which country requires pilots to enter the downwind leg of an uncontrolled airport at a 45-degree angle?

5. Which country requires pilots to have a clearance to fly along (or cross) most Victor airways at or above 12,500 feet?

6. Which country’s controllers will issue landing clearances for more than one aircraft (not flying in formation) landing on the same runway?

7. Which country requires private aircraft to carry liability insurance?

8. Which country levies a fee for customs services for private aircraft?

9. Which country publishes updated VFR charts on a fixed schedule?

10. Which country requires VFR pilots to have copies of current charts on board the aircraft?

11. Which country has a standard, nationwide VHF radio frequency that pilots can use to obtain weather updates and file PIREPs?

12. Which country requires pilots always to use supplemental oxygen at a cabin pressure of 12,500 feet?

13. Which country publishes traffic circuit/pattern direction information on its 1:500,000 VFR charts?

14. Which country plans to require private aircraft to carry 406 MHz ELTs?

15. Which country would charge a Cessna 172 pilot/owner a fee for each IFR flight?

16. Which country has class G airspace above 18,000 ft?

My U.S.-manufactured 1979 Piper Warrior II was originally registered as N22309, until it was imported into Alberta, Canada in 1988 and reregistered as C-FBJO. It wasn’t the only plane to use that registration number.

The first N22309 that I can find was a Cessna 150 based in the Phillipines. On 28 May 1973, a solo student pilot was executing a go-around (touch and go?) at Plaridel Airport before heading to Clark Air Base. Unfortunately, things didn’t go so well, and the plane ended up flying into the trees. The 35-year-old student pilot survived, but the plane was a write-off (summary).

The N-number lay dormant for six years, until it was assigned to a new Piper Warrior II in 1979. The plane kept the number until 1988, when it was exported to Canada (and later bought by me in 2002).

The N-number lay dormant for another seven years, then was reassigned once again in 1995, this time to a Ryan RX-6 (a type I can find almost nothing about). The plane didn’t have it for long, however — it was canceled in 1998. All the database says is “Reason for Cancellation: Destroyed”. There’s no accident report in the NTSB database, so let’s hope it was destroyed while parked on the ground, with no one in it. The number has been available for 10 years now.

Anyone interested in a slightly used N-number?

Here’s what it cost to own and operate a 1979 Piper Warrior II in Ottawa, Canada in 2007 with 80 hours air time (a bit more flight time, of course). Since the US and Canadian dollars are basically at par now, there’s no need to convert:

These are real costs, including sales taxes, not the BS costs you hear people throwing around at the airport. Reserves are $20/hour for engine and paint. I also pay about $500/year for charts and recurrent training, but I’d pay the same as a renter, so I don’t count those as ownership costs.

2007 was by far the cheapest year I’ve had with C-FBJO, and also the fewest hours I’ve flown (I’m usually over 100). I was parked at a less expensive airport and used less gas (flying less), but the biggest difference was maintenance — annual maintenance for a small plane like mine can be $2,000 one year and $10,000 the next, depending on what goes wrong (and even the simplest plane has a lot that can go wrong). I’m keeping a nearly 30-year-old plane operating, so stuff wears out and has to be replaced all the time, just as it would with a 30-year-old car; unlike with cars, however, buying a new plane isn’t a solution — I read recently that routine inspection and maintenance for an SR-22 runs $8,000-$10,000, and that’s without any problems coming up.

Fees include tie-down (and required club membership) at my home airport, transient landing and parking fees during trips, and the compulsory $75/year Nav Canada and $27.50 US customs fees. Consumables are oil (mainly), filters, fluids, etc.

When so many of the costs — tie-down fees, insurance, and (most) maintenance — are fixed, I can see the logic in taking one or two partners. You’ll still pay just as much for fuel and engine/paint reserve, but you slash the other overheads. I don’t think I’ll take a partner in C-FBJO at this point, but if I move up to something bigger like a Cherokee Six, I probably won’t try it alone.

So where did this money take me and my passengers (besides the Ottawa area) in 2007? In chronological order, Maniwaki QC, New York City (Teterboro), Drummondville QC, Pembroke ON, Toronto ON (Buttonville), Sault Ste. Marie ON, Toronto ON (City Centre), Brockville ON, Waterloo ON, Toronto ON (Buttonville) again, Sundridge ON, Sault Ste. Marie ON again, Toronto ON (City Centre) again, Burlington VT, Boston MA (Norwood), Alexandria Bay NY (Maxson), New Jersey and New York City (Caldwell), Montreal QC (Trudeau), Baie Comeau QC, Maniwaki QC again, and Burlington VT again. Not all that exciting a year, but it kept the rust off the wings (mine and the plane’s).