British Columbia airport comments

Beautiful run coming in. Take a bike and ride to Long Beach Lodge for extremely fine dining and an even more phenomenal beach... great surfing destination

While knowing the procedures at CZBB is a great thing, if you are coming from elsewhere and don't have the CFS or terminal chart, you will be OK. Get the ATIS well outside the CZ and call up with your position (I am assuming you have the VNC). Say you are unfamiliar and the tower will treat you well. From the south it's best to approach via Pt Roberts.

Just make sure you stay out of Terminal Class C, if you weren't already in it that is. If you were you will be handed off appropriately.

The one other thing is - if you approach from the east, stay 1000' or higher to avoid Delta Airpark. Ask for descent instructions.

The are several important reporting points:

South: Point Roberts

North: Alex Fraser Bridge (on Hwy 91)

East: 99 and the Nickel river (barely south of the hwy 99 and king george hwy interchange), 99 and the serpentine river (west of King george airpark; i'd recommend calling up over the airpark though when inbound), the gas pumps (intersection of ladner trunk and hwy 99)

That said, there are several unusual procedures in place, RH circuits on Rwy 25, and inbound/outbound traffic procedures to avoid interference with Delta Airpark to the East. I highly recommend getting a hold of a CFS and looking at the traffic flow maps in there, for first time visitors CZBB can be very confusing. That said, the southbound dep/arr is pretty straightforward.

Hi Intheclag,

I'll be flying up from Renton (KRNT) next Saturday (4/19) around noon to land at KZBB.

I don't have a CFS, just the VFR chart. Can you elaborate on the reporting points - tell me which ones to expect and their lat/longs? I plan to fly over Pt Roberts, and will be on Flt Following.

Thanks,

Good coffee friendly people

Another one of my Favs!

This gravel strip is still in great shape and the camp is alive and well in the summer months (Summer 2007). My favourite airport ever.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has released its final report on the Cessna 208 Caravan that crashed in January 2006 while trying glide to the Port Alberni Airport after an engine failure (five out of eight occupants survived):

http://www.tsb.gc.ca/en/reports/air/2006/a06p0010/a06p0010.asp

There's nothing there, so it's a great place to make an unlikely pit stop between Penticton and Prince George when the weather is down at Williams Lake and you've had too much coffee for breakfast.

100 mile house's runway has a favourable gradient for landing eastbound and taking off westbound. This combined with a big hill to the east makes it effectively a 1-way strip. Watch out for your density altitude as the hot summer days can reach > 30 degrees C regularly. If your runway length is tight, you can begin your takeoff roll on the ramp as only a very slight turn is required from there to line up with the runway. The airport itself is quite scenic, and it's close to the town - either a medium-length walk or a very short cab ride.

The runway here is quite short (1520ft) and has ravines at both ends, plus downdrafts. I went there with an instructor from Victoria and he told me nobody got it right on the first approach. I didn't either. Backtracking to take off, he showed be tire skid marks that went to the edge of the pavement, then disappeared in the bushes down the ravine...

That was my comment above. More photos of Chilko Lake and vicinity can be found on my Virtual Tourist pages for this area. (Darby2)

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/3bd31/de3dc/

~Darbs

I made a trip by road this summer to Tsuniah Lake via the back road from Chilko Lake as I have done several times in the past. The fishing in Tsuniah was fabulous as usual.

There were two planes parked on the turf nearby.

Possibly the world's nicest city, and a very efficient airport.

I've done the PAR and the missed but not actually landed.

That's it. They paved it. It used to be grass. I guess there were people who said that when they paved what is now Pearson.

Dease Lake is a good fuel stop along the Cassiar Hwy with cheaper fuel than Whitehorse, Watson Lake or Smithers. Jim and Sharon of Pacific Western Helicopters run the only fuel concession at the northeast end of the field. They can help you get a room nearby, too.

deaselakebase@pwh.ca

250-771-5911

ASOS 128.7

Did my training here. Great training airport and excellent tower staff that were very facilitating and patient. Good place for IFR training too.

Golf course and resort short walk from field. Services and 100ll available

Great little airport, watch out for extremely strong crosswinds on some days. Prior permission is required, but is usually given if you have business at either of the two nearby ranches.

Beautiful part of the world if you are willing to make the long overwater flight in a light single. No 100LL available so fill up before you make the trip. Nice little motel with a great pub adjacent to the terminal building. Rental cars also in the terminal if you want to explore the Islands.

Check out http://www3.telus.net/airpark.

Delta now has WiFi service at the Coffee Shop. Bring your laptop and do your flight planning on line at the Coffee Shop!

Boundary Bay is home base to my little Piper Archer. It's a very busy GA airport about a 30 minute drive south of Downtown Vancouver.

Runway 07-25 was recently restored back to it's original 5000' length. There is no proper FBO here, just a managment company that runs the field and sells the fuel and acts as landlord to the many flying schools and other aviation related businesses. Services are minimal and the fuel price tends to be one of the highest in the region, no self serve, truck only.

Still, this is a reasonable option if you are flying yourself in to Vancouver. No landing fees and it's the closest airport to downtown other than YVR itself. It's a Canpass airport if you are coming from the US, but note that the Canpass hours are limited, typically 10:00PM is the latest you can arrive.

Transit here is poor, a few buses a day, so plan on arranging a rental car to be delivered or take a taxi. Be warned the taxi fare will be well over $50 and in rush hour there can be significant traffic.

There's a Nav Canada PIK (pilot information kiosk) in the main terminal building, and if you hang out near the Pacific Flying Club building you can usually log in to their WiFi.

Because of the intense flight school traffic and the proximity of this field in and under the airspace for Vancouver International, you need to study arrival and departure procedures in the CFS with great care, and if possible enter the VFR reporting points in to your GPS. The tower expects you to know these procedures and fly them accurately. Pay special attention to the various airspace ceiling heights, they are a bit unusual.

The folks at the local flight school, Victoria Flying Club, are nice and competent and their aircraft are very well kept. Very nice area to fly around if you're visiting.

If you park on the western ramp, there is a path that takes you through a campground and then accross the road to a beautiful footpath through the woods and a fantastic beach. Beautiful place. I'm jealous of all these west coast folks.