CASCADE FLYERS

PORTLAND APRIL DINNER ANNOUNCED!

The next Portland Cascade Flyers dinner event has been scheduled!

DATE:    April 11 (Saturday)
TIME:    6:00pm
PLACE:    Acadia New Orleans Bistro
              ( http://www.creolapdx.com )
              1303 NE Fremont St.
              Portland, OR 97212

Please please please email to the list serve to RSVP as
soon as you know your plans (note, last-minute reservation additions at
this place may not be possible, they are small and generally quite
busy). Let me know how many guests you plan to bring (if any). I can
provide and/or arrange transportation for a few people to/from HIO or
PDX, please let me know your plans and how I may assist. -Mark

ICELANDAIR STARTING SEATTLE SERVICE IN JULY

Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle)

Icelandair will begin flying four direct flights a week from Iceland to Seattle beginning July 22.Flights from Reykjavik will be on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and flights from Seattle will be on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

Officials at the Iceland airline cited SAS Airline’s decision to drop service from Seattle to Scandinavia as one reason for introducing the flights, which will use Boeing 757 airplanes.Icelandair CEO Birkir Hólm Gudnason said European-bound passengers will save time by flying his airline.

“This puts Icelandair in a favorable competitive position on the route between Seattle and Europe, and we can offer three to four hours shorter flying times than others from the Scandinavian capitals and other locations,” Gudnason said in a statement.

SHORT FIELD LANDINGS

The first one is from CF member Rob who is still working on Wall Street and who it seems would rather be flying. He must be surfing the net while watching his quote terminal blink red. "I had no idea this plane could do this. It stops on a dime and can back up. UNREAL - it's half way through the vid."

Continuing along the theme of short field landings, this one is from the internet too at an airport with the identifier SABA - does anyone know where this airport is located? Also, what is the deal with those "X's" painted on the runway at each end?

HOW TO FLY TO VANCOUVER B.C. FROM THE SEATTLE AREA

Dave O and I flew to Vancouver for an afternoon in February. Since he flew I was able to drink beer there for once. It was a great opportunity to refresh procedures for crossing the border to Canada and back to the U.S.

1. Get a  US Customs private aircraft arrival form 178, they prefer it faxed but if you don't have a fax you can call them with the information about your arrival. You'll need your passengers' full names and dates of birth. You will need to fax it or call them at least two hours prior to your arrival back in the U.S.
2. Ensure your plane has a US Customs decal, or you have the decal number arranged.
3. Call Canadian Customs and give them your arrival time and passengers' information, full names and dates of birth. Call 1-888-CAN-PASS (1-888-226-7277) at least two hours but not more than 48 hours before flying into Canada.
4. File your flight plan with Flight Service. I often file direct VFR to YVR (The VOR).
5. Just before departure call CAN PASS with an updated arrival time if it has changed by more than 15 minutes or so.
6. Make sure everyone has a passport.
7. Have a copy of the Vancouver VFR Terminal Area Chart (VTA). It shows you everything about flying into an out of the Vancouver area including Boundary Bay Airport.
8. After take-off, contact Seattle Radio to activate your flight plan and to get your border crossing transponder code.
9. If you elect to talk to Whidbey Approach they may change your code in either direction which is OK, it has already served its purpose.
10. From the Seattle area you will normally fly the Coal Pile arrival into CYVR. This route takes you over Orcas Island-Eastsound Airport. Fly the lower altitudes and contact Victoria Terminal after crossing Orcas. They will get you on radar and help you out if you are "unfamiliar".You can tell them it is your first flight into Vancouver but you have the VTA and are following the Coal Pile arrival procedures. They will love you and help you out. Note that CYVR has outer and an inner tower frequencies.
11. Fly the exact profile as shown on the VTA, the charts and information is ordered step by step.
12. Expect to fly a tight base for the south runway, approach to land over the threshold so you may see red PAPI lights, but your goal is to get off the runway asap for the jets behind you or that are holding short. Exit to the South.
13. Contact ground and say that you need to taxi to customs.  Park in front of the customs building, leaving your engine running and call customs on your cell phone if you wish. There is a pay phone inside as an option.
14. Customs may clear you on the phone, have a pen and paper ready to copy down your clearance number. Post this number in your front window and record it in a log book. Once cleared you are free to taxi to your FBO for parking.
15. In the past I have used the Esso/Avitat FBO that is directly east of customs. But on this trip we were hit with a horrendous $50.00 CDN per day parking charge!!! CAUTION. The after-hours receptionist said small plane pilots are often arranging to park at Linden's ramp between customs and Avitat for no charge then walking into Avitat. (Not verified by us).
16. Reverse this whole process to return to the U.S.
17. Inform U.S. Customs of your arrival, fax them the form 178, or relay the info over the phone. The Seattle area number is: +1-(206)-553-7960.
18. Call Kamloops Flight Service which handles VFR flight plans. FBO's will often have this on speed dial in their flight planning rooms.The number is +1-(866)-WX-BRIEF. Ask about getting a transponder code. They will give you another phone number for that.
19. Call "VFR Codes" to get a border crossing transponder code. The FBO will often have this on speed dial too, or you can try, 1-866-VFR-CODE.
20. If you are at CYVR, it is usual procedure, get ATIS, then call clearance for VFR to Boeing Field, etc. Tell then it is your first time departing there, if so, but that you have the VTA and the Garry Point Departure procedure, or as appropriate. 
21. The departure is straightforward, Victoria Terminal may or may not hand you off to Whidbey Approach. Whidbey may change your transponder code for a Seattle Approach hand-off.
22. Upon landing immediately taxi to customs. Have your form 178 all filled out, all passports ready, and your pilot's license, medical and aircraft registration ready. Stay in the airplane until the officer approaches the plane, then the pilot can normally get out - and then go from there.
23. Once cleared immediately taxi out and away from the Customs area.
24. Close your VFR Flight plan with Flight Service, I often do this on approach over the radio.
25. Send CascadeFlyers@CascadeFlyers.org a blogable feature of your experience and adventure!

 

 

Fly directly over the coal pile exactly at the altitudes indicated. There may be crossing traffic from all directions to and from Victoria and  Boundary Bay, including helicopters. After the coal pile expect a frequency change to Vancouver outer tower.

 

Exit right or south on taxiway Bravo and Customs is the building directly in front of you! (The photo got corrupted). Ground control will guide you if needed. Taxi in front of the front door of the building and park inside the red box.Park facing east and Esso will be directly in front of you.

 

 

The Vancouver area departures are just as straightforward as the arrivals. Please send in a few photos of your flight and a little blurb of your experience. Happy flying into and out of Canada!

CF MEMBER IS FEATURED ON TV IN CANADA

Leslee is chief pilot and flight instructor at Fort Langley Air in British Columbia. She was featured on the Canadian TV show "Wings over Canada".



Click the You Tube screen to see this great episode with Leslee. I hope many Cascade Flyers members will visit her at Fort Langley this year!

AVIATION STATISTICS GONE WILD

Did you know?
Based on the FAA.'s data of Active pilots in the U.S. (including Alaska, Hawaii & Military) as of March 1, 2009 and broken down by District Offices,
In the Seattle area there are 1,778 Student Pilots, 37 Sports Pilots, 2 Recreational Pilots, 5,616 Private Pilots, 3,066 Commercial Pilots and 4,217 ATP Pilots, for a total of 14,716 Active U.S. Pilots in the Seattle area alone. Of the Northwest Mountain Region, Seattle is 2nd in highest number of total pilots, with Denver having a total of 16,420. Seattle has the most Student Pilots in the region. In addition, Seattle has 2,344 Instructors and 1,851 Flight Engineers.
In the U.S., Scottsdale, Arizona has the highest number of Student Pilots (3,134), Private Pilots (7,196) and Commercial Pilots (4,779). They also have the highest combined total number of pilots in all Districts at 28,560.
Atlanta, Georgia has the highest number of ATP pilots at 7,050. Probably thanks to Delta Airlines, the world's largest commercial carrier. Dallas/Ft. Worth, with American Airlines, combined with the two District Offices, has 5,684 in Ft. Worth and 2,431 in Dallas (8,115 Total).
Juneau, Alaska has the lowest number of Pilots across the board at a mere 50 Students, 1 Sports, 0 Recreational, 213 Private, 189 Commercial, 110 ATP. Not surprising. But what is surprising is that Juneau has 110 Flight Instructors. That's 2.2 Instructors for every Student.
You would think that Scottsdale, Arizona, having the highest number of students, would have the highest number of instructors. But they do not. Orlando, Florida has 3,877 Flight Instructors where Scottsdale has only 3,645. Scottsdale has 1.16 instructors for every student. Where Orlando has 1.39 instructors for every student.
In all Districts, there are more Instructors than Students. Except for Albany & Baltimore, which each having 0.86 Instructors for each student, and Birmingham  having the lowest at 0.57 Instructors per Student. If you're an Instructor looking for work, I might suggest Birmingham.
TOTALS:
In the U.S., there are a total of 577,062 Active Pilots. Of that, 75,088 are Students, 2,734 are Sport, 246 are Recreational, 230,032 are Private, 126,944 are Commercial, 142,018 are ATP. There are 91,928 Flight Instructors (or 1.22 Instructors for each Student) and 52,305 Flight Engineer's.
There are a total of 138,930 Foreign pilots active in the U.S. For a combined total of Active U.S. & Foreign Pilots is the U.S. of 887,127.
Now how many pilot jobs are there? Anyone know those statistics?
(Data provided by Federal Aviation Administration, Wikipedia, thanks David for submitting the information)

DAVID AND BRIAN FLY TO THE TILLAMOOK AIR MUSEUM

Tacoma Narrows Airport


 

I had a awesome flight today. Zero problems. Brian & I flew to Tillamook, saw the awesome museum and the mini guppie, went to the cheese factory and got some curds then flew home.

SAS TO END SEATTLE TO COPENHAGEN FLIGHTS - SEATTLE TIMES

Carol Pucci, Seattle Times Travel Writer

Sign of the economic hard times: Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) will end its service between Seattle and Copenhagen after 42 years flying the nonstop route.

In a memo sent to Seattle travel agents, the airline said it will stop flying sometime later in the year, but didn't set a specific date.

SAS currently flies five days a week between Seattle and Copenhagen, and will add a sixth day in May through the end of summer. It carried about 137,000 passengers through Sea-Tac airport last year, 4.7 percent of Seattle's international passenger traffic.

Sveneric Persson, an SAS vice president, said in the memo that the Sweden-based airline has been "severely affected by the current recession," and is restructuring to focus more on business travel and on travel within Scandinavia. SAS spokesman Thomas Fredo said the airline hasn't yet determined when it will end service, but it's likely to be sometime between November of this year and April, 2010.

SAS said it would continue to offer connections to Copenhagen from Seattle via Chicago, Newark and Washington, D.C.

USE GOOGLE'S SKETCH-UP TO DRAW AIRPLANES

Google's free  SketchUp can be used to draw airplanes, or anything else really. It's pretty cool if you have free time on your hands and want to do something interactive. There is an entire gallery of airplanes, airports and aviation related drawings that are already there.

ROGER SUGGESTS NEW LOGO

 
"I was sarcastically think that we should have this graphic as our new logo.  It's educational, it's period, it's romantic and it's hot (sort ov).

...the question now is, what angle of bank does a plane have to execute to have THREE muscled men on the wing?" Answers may be sent directly to Roger or via cascadeflyers@cascadeflyers.org.