BCGA Delegate: Johathan Davis

As previously announced at the COPA convention, the BC General Aviation Association has partnered with COPA, Transport Canada and other aviation organizations to participate in the new Transport Canada Aviation Safety Campaign.

​BCGA Member Jonathan Davis will be representing our organization in the consultation process which is aimed at furthering general aviation safety across Canada. Jonathan is a commercial multi-ifr pilot and is currently leading a research initiative with a focus on pilot complacency.

We feel that he will be an excellent representative for the BC General Aviation Association and support him fully as he moves forward with this important work. If you have anything that you would like Jonathan to take to the panel please post below or email info@bcaviation.ca and we will ensure that he gets the message. 
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About The General Aviation Safety Campaign
From: Transport Canada

The General Aviation Safety Campaign is a collaboration between Transport Canada and the general aviation community to promote flying safely.

Approach
There are three pillars to the General Aviation Safety Campaign:

• Promote compliance with safety rules
• Exchange safety best practices and encourage self-education
• Use well-targeted inspections to verify compliance with safety requirements

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Safety Topics
We will add safety topics throughout the campaign with feedback from the aviation community.
The first wave of safety topics include:

1. Pilot Decision-Making - Accidents start in the planning stage; good decisions need to be made before flying begins.
2. Mountain Flying - Transport Canada requires pilots to have the right skills and qualifications to operate in the environments they plan to fly in.
3. Changing the Culture - Existing rules and regulations should be followed in order to encourage safety, not just because it is mandatory to do so.
4. Shoulder Harnesses - Approved shoulder harness kits are available for certain aircraft; Transport Canada will promote their availability to aircraft owners and encourage their use where appropriate.

Partners
Transport Canada would like to thank the following partners for their continuing contribution to the campaign’s development:

• Air Transport Association of Canada
• Smart Pilot
• Alberta Aviation Council
• Aviateurs et pilotes de brousse du Québec
• British Columbia General Aviation Association
• Canadian Owners and Pilots Association
• Civil Air Search and Rescue Association
• Greg Sewell
• Moncton Flight College
• Manitoba Aviation Council
• NAV CANADA
• Saskatchewan Aviation Council
• Ultralight Pilots Association of Canada

Smartpilot.ca
Transport Canada has partnered with SmartPilot to encourage information sharing with the aviation community. Smartpilot.ca has a wealth of information including articles and videos for self-education on safety topics.

• SmartPilot.ca

Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA)
Transport Canada is collaborating with the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA) on developing and implementing this campaign.

• Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA)

Anyone that has been flying around BC this summer knows that constantly changing NOTAMed restricted airspace due to forest fires has been an issue. BCGA member Chris Knight has taken the initiative to develop a prototype of a graphical "Temporary Flight Restriction" map depicting any NOTAMed restricted airspace. This depiction is still in the development stages and Chris is looking for any input that may help this become an even more valuable tool for pilots. This initiatives taken by individual pilots are integral to keeping the community safe through the sharing of information and is a key component to keeping general aviation safe and enjoyable! Thanks for taking the initiative Chris!

Chris' Message on the BC General Aviation Facebook Page:

Because plotting NOTAMs can be a bit of a pain, and because there doesn't seem to be a Canadian equivalent to the FAA's "Graphic TFR" service (http://tfr.faa.gov/tfr_map_ims/html/), I asked our internal intelligence team to put together a "Graphical TFR" report product on a "testing"/"beta" basis. I'd really appreciate feedback from the aviation community as to whether this is something worthwhile, and what improvements we could make to the product if we decided to maintain and disseminate it on a regular basis. Thanks!

The 2017 AGM was held on August 22nd 2017 and was graciously hosted by the Aero Club of BC in Pitt Meadows B.C.  A recording of the meeting is available on this page. This year we had 39 members in physical attendance and dozens more watching the live broadcast on the BC General Aviation Facebook Group. Northern B.C. Director Brodie Otway took on the job of moderating the simultaneous live discussion on the Facebook broadcast so that those members could also have their voices heard. 

After the meeting all motions were emails to the membership at large and 70 members returned votes to be combined with the 39 votes that were cast in person. 

We would like to take an opportunity to thank Roger Nickel for his service over the past year. Last year Roger Nickel stepped up to be the new Okanagan director in order to give representation to this important region of our province. Roger has worked hard to promote the BCGA and offered to continue on the board but also volunteered to step aside to give another motivated member a change to take the helm in the Okanagan. Thank you Roger for your service and we look forward to seeing you and an event soon!

The new Okanagan director by election is Dave McElroy. Dave is the current president of the Kelowna Flying Club and has quite the resume when it comes to general aviation. After the business part of the AGM Dave made a very inspirational presentation on his upcoming fundraising flight from Kelowna around the entire continent of South America and back in support of Hope Air. This ambitious fundraising initiative is called Give Hope Wings. Dave also gave a presentation on his previous flight around the world that was completed in 2014 after only 80 days. 

The other big development was the addition of an additional seat on the board that will be occupied by Travis McCrea. Travis shared an energy filled video with those at the meeting explaining why he would be a great director. Travis brings youth and energy to the BCGA board. We are looking forward to working with Travis who is motivated to fund raise and as a web developer will make an ideal addition to an organization that exists in a large part online. Side note, Travis designed our current logo at our inception.

The meeting minutes will be available in the next few days for all to see.

We appreciate all the member support and look forward to continuing to move our organization forward while strengthening our relationships with members and other like minded organizations such as COPA and the BC Aviation Council. 

Respectfully,
Ryan Van Haren (BCGA Director)

By member request, a LOG OUT button has now been added to the BCGA website. It is located in the horizontal menu on every page of the site. Clicking log out will allow you to securely log out and leave the site thus keeping all the Member Only content secure. 

The BCGA is thrilled to announce the results of the 2017 scholarship competition. This was the first year of BCGA scholarships and we received 12 applications for the three available awards. All of the applications were very compelling. A panel of three BCGA directors came to a consensus on this year's recipients. 

Many factors came together to allow us (The BC General Aviation Association) to offer these scholarships. 
1. Generous contributions by Erissa Yong & Dr. Harshbir Toor.
2. A strong and productive partnership with our affiliate organization The BC Aviation Council.

The recipients are being announced today August 22nd which is the same day as our annual general meeting however the awards will be presented at the BC Aviation Council's Silver Wings Awards Gala on October 25th. 

We wish to thank all those that applied for the awards and encourage those that did not apply and those that were not chosen this year to submit an application for the 2018 awards.

 The BCGA is aware that many local pilots have been frustrated with the VFR restrictions at Vancouver International Airport over the past few months. The BCGA is not a lobby group, our primary function is to promote general aviation and the activities and community that surround it in our region.

The key lobby group for any of your aviation needs in Canada is COPA. If you have any issues they would like to hear from you.

In light of the frustration over the VFR restrictions at Vancouver International Airport it appears that NavCanada has issued a NOTAM to help alleviate some of the pressure by allowing VFR pilots both in private and commercial operations to call in an book a VFR arrival slot time. This should help to mitigate much of the frustration of the GA community.

NOTAM
171595 CYVR VANCOUVER INTL
  CYVR IN SUPPORT OF CYVR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT INITIATIVE ALL VFR ACFT
DEP WITHIN VANCOUVER FIR DESTINED FOR CYVR, EXC CAM9 AND HEL TFC,
ARE REQUIRED TO CTC VANCOUVER ACC 1-877-987-2055 WITHIN 60 MIN
PRIOR TO DEP FOR APPROVED ARR TIME
1500-0200 MON-FRI
1708171500 TIL 1708310200

IN PLAIN ENGLISH
If you plan on flying into Vancouver International Airport VFR between August 17 - August 31st (Monday to Friday) during the hours of 0800 - 1900 Local time you will need to call 1-877-987-2055 within 1 hour of your departure time to get a VFR arrival slot into YVR.

The purpose of this article is to make BCGA members aware that systems have been put in place to allow VFR operations to occur at YVR. The only difference is that VFR aircraft will require a slot time much like IFR aircraft already do. To our knowledge there are 6-10 VFR arrival slot times available per hour.

By Rick Church ~

Off to say goodbye to a good friend of many years tomorrow. Absolute Prince of a man. One who was able to be successful in aviation and a great guy at the same time. 
Dan Wuthrich was owner and builder of North Cariboo Air, officially of Ft St John but with bases in Edmonton, and a huge base in Calgary. I have had the pleasure of working with Dan for 25 years, helping him buy his fleet of King Air and 1900 aircraft. I also worked for him on a contract basis in maintenance at his base in Khartoum Sudan, Ft St John and Calgary. Dan passed away last Saturday suddenly at his home in Ft St John. 
He will be missed by so many.

Camino Aero has launched a new website that offers pilots the ability to keep an online logbook and track aircraft maintenance status. This is a new service and website and the BCGA has been asked to present it to its members to try for free. If you are interested in trying their product you can register for a free trial on their website www.caminoaero.com and if you decide that you would like to signup for a subscription they are offering BCGA members a 20% discount. 

For the discount code CLICK HERE and log in with your member credentials. 

Note: The BCGA was not paid for this post and has no experience with Camino Aero. This as been presented to our membership becasue we feel that it may be of interest.