Tag: Transport Canada

Real life stories as a flight service specialist (FSS): Rouyn-Noranda FSS

Pilots: from best to worst

Post author By Stanley
Post date 15 May 2015

October 1984. It was time for the annual holidays. Florida was the destination. What made the trip more interesting was that the Challenger space shuttle would be launched while we would be there, and that the Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau would be on board. He was the first Canadian astronaut to have the opportunity to go in space.

The Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau (upper row, extreme right) and the other american astronauts chosen for the Nasa Challenger Space Shuttle Mission 41-G (from left to right and lower to upper row: Jon A.McBride, Sally K. Ride, Kathryn D. Sullivan, David C. Leestma, Paul D.Scully-Power, Robert L. Crippen, Marc Garneau) on aviation postcard.

The plane’s tickets were bought and one morning of the whole trip was reserved for the shuttle’s takeoff. I was planning to take a picture of the launch from Cocoa Beach. The shuttle would be airborne before daylight, while it was still quite dark.

I had a very basic Pentax camera at the time and all the settings had to be done manually. The aperture and speed were adjusted to ensure a well-balanced picture. But I never expected that the gas combustion would illuminate the sky in such a radical way. I believed, like many people, that the thundering noise from the engines would be the first sign that the launch had just happened.

But the speed of light being way faster that the speed of sound, we suddenly experienced a radical change in the ambient light. I had barely enough time to modify the settings before the shuttle entered the clouds. But I still managed to bring back a little souvenir from that day…

Challenger space shuttle taking-off in 1984 with the Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau on board

I had just seen something spectacular. I knew that on board were pilots with exceptional talent.

But two months before, while I was working as a flight service specialist (FSS) at the Transport Canada flight service station in Rouyn-Noranda (CYUY), I witnessed a different kind of performance. One day that I was listening on a frequency that is not normally used for communications between pilots and air traffic service units, I heard two pilots exchange the questions and answers found on airline pilot license written exams. The pilot’s comments gave me the feeling that they would be very lucky to succeed at such a written exam.

I took the microphone and, without announcing myself, intervened as a third party in the discussion. I asked them to repeat the questions and answers that they just gave each other since I did not have time to copy everything.

The pilots were stunned to realize that other people were listening while they were exchanging the data on the air. One of them said: “Did you hear that?” They immediately ended the radio communication. The simple fact of using radio frequencies for such activities told a lot about the quality of their judgment. And judgment is an essential quality of every performing pilot…

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Real life stories as a FSS in Rouyn-Noranda

Real life stories as a flight service specialist (FSS): Rouyn-Noranda FSS

A twin-engine plane avoids a standing fisherman in his boat

Post author By Stanley
Post date 29 April 2015

Cessna 310 C-GAFO parked on the ramp at Rouyn-Noranda (around 1986-88)

During the summer season, air surveillance is needed to watch for new forest fires in the center and north of the Quebec Province. There are periods, sometimes many days in a row, where the pilots do not observe anything significant. They accumulate hours of flying, quietly waiting to see a new fire or expecting to be directed by a dispatcher to a new problematic area. Those pilots also act as spotters for the Canadair CL215’s and CL415’s.

During the eighties, in the Abitibi region, a Cessna 310 had been in flight for few hours and the pilot had not spotted anything worth a call. Wishing to add a bit of action to his flight, he decided to descend and follow the meanders of a river at an extremely low altitude. As he exited a bend, the pilot faced a standing fisherman in its boat, angling in open water. Imitating the gestures of the fisherman, the pilot later told the Transport Canada flight service specialist (FSS) in Rouyn-Noranda (CYUY) that he was not the only one surprised…

It might be hard to believe that an aircraft could fly that low, especially when exiting a bend in a river. But after many decades in the aviation world, I can say that almost everything is possible. I imagine the fisherman’s reaction, quietly angling during a beautiful summer morning. While the fisherman lowers his head, the pilot pulls on the controls…

The expression in the pilot’s face showed clearly that he had had enough action for the day…I would like to swear that it was his last daring move, but it would be to ignore that this need for extreme flying is always present in some pilots.

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Real life stories as a FSS in Rouyn-Noranda

Real life stories as a flight service specialist (FSS): Rouyn-Noranda FSS

Fictive official procedures at the Val-d’Or control tower

Post author By Stanley
Post date 15 April 2015

Medical evacuation aircraft HS-125 C-FSEN Valentine Lupien of the Quebec Government, around 1986.

During the eighties, while I was working as a flight service specialist (FSS) at the Transport Canada flight service station in Rouyn-Noranda (CYUY), I received a phone call from a Val-d’Or air traffic controller. He told me that there was a problem with the type K ARCAL. The ARCAL allows a pilot to remotely activate the runway lights.

Normally, the pilot can choose between three intensities: low, medium and high. But it now seemed that for an extended period, the ARCAL’s low intensity would not be serviceable. The controller told me to issue a NOTAM stating that nobody could use the ARCAL for an indefinite period.

I did not agree with that request. An ARCAL system that was left available would facilitate a pilot’s life by allowing him to choose between the remaining intensities during the approach, or on takeoff. The pilots of the Quebec Government HS125 in charge of medical evacuations during night time would certainly appreciate.

I told the controller that I did not know of any approved procedures relating to an ARCAL type K system failure and that I did not see why I would consider totally unserviceable a system in which only one intensity out of three was posing a problem.

He replied that those were the written procedures that could be found in the control tower and that I had to call his manager if I wanted to see them. How was it possible that official procedures pertinent to a system installed on many airports across Canada, with or without a control tower, could only be found in selected control towers? This was unthinkable.

Through my manager, I asked to receive a copy of those procedures. But it now seemed that those procedures were not in the Val-d’Or control tower but in the Montreal regional office. I tried to get them from that office, but nobody could find anything on the subject.

It was now obvious that those procedures never existed. The funny thing is that all the stakeholders were defending, one level at a time, the existence of those fictive procedures, for all kinds of reasons.

During those years, there was a program called “Incentive Award”, encouraging an employee to present new ideas that would improve the efficiency of the public service. If a proposition was accepted by the highest management levels, a certificate accompanied with a small amount of money would be sent to the employee by the Deputy Minister at Transport Canada. Realizing I would not obtain satisfaction from the regional management, I used the “Incentive Award” program to present my proposition.

One year later, I received a call from somebody who told me he was working at the national level, in Ottawa. He implied that my suggestion would not be accepted.

I told him that I paid, like other Canadians, to get the ARCAL system installed and that, as long as one intensity would remain serviceable, the ARCAL would have to be available to pilots. I made sure he understood that I could not care if he felt comfortable with the idea or not. He was advised that if he maintained his view on the subject, he would have to justify his action to the Canadian public and to the Minister of Transport, who, at the time, was Benoît Bouchard.

Two months later, I received a check and a letter from the Deputy Minister of Transport Canada thanking me for my suggestion that was improving the efficiency of public service. Fourteen months were needed to make the transition from fictive to official procedures that now apply to all Canadian airports equipped with this type of remote control of runway lights.

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Real life stories as a FSS in Rouyn-Noranda

Real life stories as a flight service specialist (FSS): Rouyn-Noranda FSS

The Cessna 172 that was pulling a 100 kilos cement block.

Post author By Stanley
Post date 7 April 2015

Flight service specialist (FSS) at work in Rouyn-Noranda around 1986

On a nice summer day of July, at the Rouyn-Noranda airport, a pilot from a local flying club called our Transport Canada flight service station to get the latest airport advisory for a takeoff. He wanted to use a Cessna 172. He got the details and started taxiing. I quickly noticed that the aircraft was pulling an object. Using the binoculars, I could see that it was a cement block of about 100 kilos, attached to a rope. That cement block was normally used to immobilize an aircraft after a flight.

Aircraft Cessna C172 C-GUCU in Rouyn-Noranda around 1986

It was now obvious that the pilot had not done his walk around the aircraft, a mandatory procedure to ensure that everything is normal. Pulling that cement block on the asphalt must have required more power from the engine. I asked the pilot: “Don’t you find that more power is required to taxi today?” He answered that, in fact, he noted the need to increase the engine’s revolutions and that it was possibly due to the outside high temperature and moisture.

Without further delays, I replied: “Did you walk around your aircraft before the flight to make sure that everything was OK?” At that very moment, he understood that something needed to be done. He stopped the aircraft on the taxiway, got out and realized why a higher RPM was needed to taxi. Without saying anything that could imply his personal negligence, since he knew the radio communications were recorded, he announced that he was returning to the flying club. He had “forgotten something”…

The working position of the old Rouyn-Noranda flight service station allowed only a partial view of runway 08/26, but a complete view of the taxiway where the Cessna 172 was pulling its cement block.

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Real life stories as a FSS in Rouyn-Noranda

Real life stories as a flight service specialist (FSS): Rouyn-Noranda FSS

The newspaper “Le Moyen Terme”

Post author By Stanley
Post date 1 April 2015

A section of the front page of my newspaper "Le Moyen Terme" — A section of the front page of my newspaper “Le Moyen Terme”

Since the Quebec flight service stations were disseminated over a vast territory, the communications between the employees of each station were quite limited. It was difficult to obtain relevant information on staff transfers: such information was badly needed when came the time to choose the next transfer site.

How would an employee be able to insist that there is availability in Montreal if he did not have in front of him, during the “discussion”, such verified information? To correct the situation, once I was working at Rouyn-Noranda FSS, I decided to create my own newspaper, titled “Le Moyen Terme”.

The newspaper was distributed to every Quebec flight service stations, to the Transport Canada Training Institute in Cornwall, Ontario, to Montreal regional office and to Ottawa headquarters. Suddenly, the Quebec flight service specialists were having access to relevant information that was updated on a regular basis.

I had contributors from all over the province, and as the newspaper gained in credibility, even Ottawa managers started to provide me with some input. I financed the newspaper, wrote most of the articles and mailed a new edition every two months. I was indebted to nobody. This did not preclude the reception of a lawyer’s letter, but in such a controlled environment, that did not come as a surprise. I presented the letter to a well-known judge who took care of the matter for free. He closed the case in one swift move.

Each edition had ten to fifteen pages. It was typed using an old typewriter and mistakes were erased using correcting fluid. A small part of the content was meant to amuse the reader, but must of the information was of an editorial nature. The texts were generally received positively by the employees and that contributed to a regular exchange.

The "Facts and rumors" page of the "Le Moyen Terme" newspaper — The “Facts and rumors” page of the “Le Moyen Terme” newspaper

The section that was possibly the least appreciated by the regional office was titled: “Where are they?” On that page, one could find the name of every employee working at a particular station, with its seniority. The details were now readily available to everybody. The information provided by the management could now be crosschecked by the staff. This possibly annoyed some managers who, until recently, had a relatively easy task in attributing respective postings.

Page "Où sont-ils?" (Where are they?) of my newspaper "Le Moyen Terme" — Page “Où sont-ils?” (Where are they?) of my newspaper “Le Moyen Terme”

One day, I had to visit the Montreal Transport Canada regional office. A high ranking manager, aware of my visit, invited me in his office and ordered me to stop the production of the newspaper. I told him that it was out of question and that the newspaper was useful to many employees. My answer, at the time, did not make me friends in high places, but it was not my goal. The newspaper was produced for another two years. I decided to end this personal project when I had no more time to take care of it, busy with multiple university courses and a seven days a week working schedule in Iqaluit. Since I did not want to dilute or diminish the content or the quality of the newspaper I had created, I chose to stop its production.

(Note: the comic-book characters were created by Gotlib)

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Real life stories as a FSS in Rouyn-Noranda

Real life stories as a flight service specialist (FSS): Rouyn-Noranda FSS

Enroute for the second posting: Rouyn-Noranda FSS

Post author By Stanley
Post date 25 March 2015

New Rouyn-Noranda flight service station. Photo taken around 2002. Unknown photographer.

Photo of the old Rouyn-Noranda flight service station. Photo taken in 1984

November 1983. After having worked every day for more than a year, it was time to leave Inukjuak, in the Nunavik, for a new Transport Canada flight service station (FSS) located in Rouyn-Noranda (CYUY), in Abitibi region in the Québec province. Things got complicated on the day of departure, the weather worsening rapidly. An Air Creebec Twin Otter departing from Kuujuaraapik (CYGW) would now do the flight. But this company’s route implied numerous stopovers along James Bay.

With the strong winds and low clouds, I was aware that we would be in for a rough ride. The clouds being merely few hundred feet above the tree tops, the pilots had to do the whole flight and the multiple stopovers while dealing with those limitations. Along the route, there was no airport equipped to allow instrument landings. The runways were short, in gravel or dirt, and trees sometimes near the thresholds forced the pilots to adopt steeper rate of ascent or descent.

After few hours of flying in this sustained mechanical turbulence, many passengers started to experiment air sickness. They had to use the practical little bag offered by all the companies. I changed my mind by looking through the window. There was no choice of music for the flight: the wheezing and grunting noises of the passengers were used as background ambiance.

We finally landed in Val-d’Or (CYVO) late in the evening. It was different to see a long asphalted runway and an airport equipped with appropriate instruments. One hour later, I was in Rouyn-Noranda. Welcome in the South…!

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Real life stories as a FSS in Rouyn-Noranda

Real life stories as a flight service specialist (FSS): Inukjuak FSS

Ice and ships along Hudson Bay and Ungava Bay

Post author By Stanley
Post date 14 March 2015

(Precedent story: raisins and blueberries in Inukjuak)

The wheelhouse of a cargo ship near Inukjuak in 1982

A radio operator on board a ship anchored near Inukjuak around 1982

Several ships naviguate along the Hudson Bay and Ungava Bay up in Northern Quebec, in the Nunavik, during summer. Sometimes, as flight service specialists (FSS) working for Transport Canada, we are allowed to get on board to take few pictures, like it was the case for the two photos above.

When a ship makes a long journey towards the small villages along the Hudson Bay and Ungava bay, it regularly strikes small pieces of ice. The crew has to determine if the boat’s hull will be resistant enough to stay on the desired path.

Unfortunately, it is not always possible to evaluate the situation correctly and the hull sometimes breaks under the impact with the ice. The photo below shows the ship Kanguk, off Inukjuak in autumn 1982, its hull damaged during its journey towards one of the small villages along the coast.

(Next story: enroute for the second posting: Rouyn-Noranda FSS)

For more real life stories of a FSS in Inukjuak, click on the following link: Flight service specialist (FSS) in Inukjuak

Tags air traffic services, broken hull, crew, CYPH, flight service specialist, flight service station, FSS, Hudson Bay, ice, Inukjuak, Kanguk, northern Quebec, Nunavik, photo, radio operator, ship photography, ships, Transport Canada, Ungava Bay

Real life stories as a flight service specialist (FSS): Inukjuak FSS

Raisins and blueberries in Inukjuak

Post author By Stanley
Post date 7 March 2015

(Precedent story: The cockpit of a KLM Boeing 747 during a night flight over the Atlantic)

Around 1982, during the months when there was an on-the-spot cook preparing the meals in Inukjuak, for Transport Canada and Environment Canada employees, we had it easy because everything was ready when meal time came. It remains that the desserts would have benefited from a little variety. Those were prepared with either grapes or blueberries, week after week, month after month.

We thus had the choice between raisin cakes, raisin pies, raisin puddings, raisin muffins and raisin cookies. When there was no more possibility of ingesting additional raisins, it was now time for blueberries: blueberry cakes, blueberry pies, blueberry puddings and blueberry muffins. However, to add some variety in the menu, there were no blueberry cookies. I was unable to eat raisins and blueberries for a long time following this monthly overdose of the same ingredients.

The cook not being particularly patient, I thought of making him laugh a little by asking him to participate in a trick where the victim would be a new Transport Canada flight service specialist (FSS) employee who had just arrived in Inukjuak in early afternoon. The latter had not taken any meal yet in the staff house’s kitchen. I knew that the dinner was served at 5 pm and that it was necessary to get organized to be on time. I thus told the cook that I would voluntarily arrive five minutes late with the new FSS. That would allow the cook to act as if he was extremely upset. I knew he would be convincing.

Dinner time came. It was 5 PM but training of the new flight service specialist was voluntarily extended five minutes. Then, feigning a surprise, we told him it was necessary to rush towards the staff house, as we feared the cook would be out of his mind. From the corridor that lead to the kitchen, we could hear cauldrons being smashed on the counter while the cook was shouting and complaining that new employees thought they were kings and lacked respect towards the kitchen staff.

The newcomer told me that he was not really hungry. Apparently, he was not anxious to face the cook’s anger. The situation got worse when I nevertheless incited him to go in the kitchen and try to arrange things with the cook. Seeing the new guy, the cook doubled his efforts, red with anger. Then suddenly, all the employees in the kitchen burst with laughter and the cook wished a warm welcome to the new FSS, thanking him for having given him a chance to relax a little.

(Next story: ice and ships)

For more real life stories of a FSS in Inukjuak, click on the following link: Flight service specialist (FSS) in Inukjuak

Tags air traffic services, anger, blueberry cakes, cook, desserts, Environment Canada, Environment Canada staff house, flight service specialist, flight service station, food photography, FSS, Inukjuak, kitchen, meal, muffin photos, Nunavik, raisin cakes, real life stories, Transport Canada

Real life stories as a flight service specialist (FSS): Inukjuak FSS

The cockpit of a KLM Boeing 747 during a night flight over the Atlantic

Post author By Stanley
Post date 28 February 2015

(Precedent story: a kitchen used as a navigation aid to aviation)

Cockpit and crew view of a KLM B747 on a night flight from Montreal to Amsterdam (EHAM) . The picture was taken while the aircraft was mid-point over the Atlantic ocean, in 1983.

There was a time when it was very simple to visit the cockpit of an aircraft in flight. A request was made to the stewardess, who then coordinated with the captain. Even during this period though, several companies forbade those visits when the plane was over the ocean.

In 1983, during a journey from Montreal towards Holland, I decided to take a chance and ask the on-board staff the dreaded question, hoping to be able to take a picture of the cockpit.

The flight was being made on a KLM Boeing B747. In the middle of the night, while the plane had been at cruising altitude for several hours and most of the passengers were asleep, I discreetly asked the flight attendant the authorization to visit the cockpit. Naturally, she refused. I tried again, telling her that I was working as a flight service specialist (FSS) for Transport Canada in Inukjuak, and that I regularly talked with KLM to provide air traffic services. To dissipate any doubts, I finally gave her the KLM call-signs that I was dealing with over Northern Quebec.

She agreed to deliver my request and, twenty minutes later, I was told: “come with me but pay attention not to wake the first class passengers installed near the spiral staircase which leads to the cockpit “. As I entered the cockpit, the captain turned around, greeted me while he crunched in an apple and returned to his work. Everything was quiet in the cockpit and we could hear a continual light whistling caused by the air friction.

After a short discussion with the crew, I asked both pilots and the flight engineer to close their eyes a short moment while I took a photo with flash with my Pentax KX. A photo impossible to take today, under the same circumstances, due to higher security standards.

And, since I started my annual holidays by visiting a cockpit, I thought it would also be interesting, once in Holland, to visit the famous miniature world of Madurodam, so as not to stay away too long from the aviation world…

The miniature world of Madurodam, Holland 1983

For more real life stories of a FSS in Inukjuak, click on the following link: Flight service specialist (FSS) in Inukjuak

Real life stories as a flight service specialist (FSS): Inukjuak FSS

A kitchen used as a navigation aid to aviation in Inukjuak

Post author By Stanley
Post date 23 February 2015

(Precedent story: the UFO invented in Inukjuak in 1983)

Inukjuak during a blizzard that forbid landings for days.

The winter 1982-1983 was fierce in Inukjuak (CYPH), in the Nunavik. There was a period when the winds were strong enough and the visibility reduced to the point that a rope had to be attached between the staff house and the flight service station. A Transport Canada flight service specialist (FSS) had to hold a rope to guide himself from one building to the other. And good luck to the FSS who would try to carry his meal on a tray between both buildings. A hand held the rope while the other one took care of the tray which was going in all directions. On one occasion, tray and food found their way in the snowbank.

Due to strong sustained winds, snow sometimes reached the roof top of the Inukjuak flight service station.

After a storm which seemed endless, I remember that the employees had to dig steps in the hardened snow in order to reach the flight service station door.

We sometimes had to dig in the snow to free the door and enter in the Inukjuak flight service station

This blizzard, which lasted twelve days, had prevented any takeoff and landing. There was no more milk for sale in the Inuit village, as it was now reserved for children. Hardly one hundred feet over us, there was a perfectly blue sky, according to the pilots who had tried to land on multiple occasions. But one morning, an Austin Airways pilot decided to risk an approach.

A red square was useful to help the employees find a building during a blizzard in Inukjuak.

The pilot could not benefit from any precise navigation aid during his approach, as the airport was only equipped with an NDB. So he trusted his local knowledge and what was left of his judgment. He knew that the staff house was painted green and situated just beside the runway. I guess that he prepared himself to aim for the colored staff house then make a sharp turn at the last minute. He dived into the storm, estimating the wind drift as much as he could.

At that same moment, our cook was working in the staff house’s kitchen. He was facing a huge bay window and was stunned to suddenly see the nose of a Twin Otter appear a few meters away from the window at the same time as a steep turn was being made to avoid the building. Reverse thrust was immediately applied to immobilize the plane as fast as possible. The cook repeated what he witnessed to every employee. I guess that helped him to unwind a bit.

As this was not enough surprise for the day, the plane’s doors opened and, instead of the much needed milk cargo expected by the villagers, we witnessed about ten passengers stepping out the plane and chitchatting like nothing ever happened. This unorthodox approach to the Inukjuak airport would now be one more story added on top of all the others told by pilots offering daily air service to northern Quebec villages along Hudson Bay and Ungava Bay coasts.

(Next story: the cockpit of a KLM Boeing 747 during a night flight over the Atlantic)

For more real life stories of a FSS in Inukjuak, click on the following link: Flight service specialist (FSS) in Inukjuak