Quebec airport comments

Gatineau is having its runway resurfaced during the summer of 2008. It's going to be shut down completely overnight from 00z (8:00 pm local) until 10z (6:00 am local) starting on Tuesday 19 August 2008, and has only about 2,700 ft available during the rest of the day.

This has been a mystery airport for me for a while. I heard it mentioned on the radio a few months ago (a pilot said he was landing at "Pontiac Airpark" east of Arnprior). A search on the web turned up almost nothing, aside from a mention in some town council minutes for Pontiac, Quebec:

http://www.munpontiac.com/documents%20pdf/rapp-mtgs/angl-reg/MN070911.pdf

The only information in that document is the fact is that the airport is by Chemin River (River Road). Nothing shows up in the Google Maps satellite view, but I flew along River Road on Wednesday 6 August 2008 at 1,000 ft above ground level and found what looked like a large dirt runway (with no planes) at this location -- it was the only possible candidate. Maybe the airpark is still under construction.

The airport currently pays the government $1,000 per visit for customs services. It owes $95,000 to the federal government in back fees and is unable or unwilling to pay:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2008/05/15/qc-tremblantairport0515.html

The float plane base is a separate entry in this site - id "CSA7".

Drummondville airport is also a float base - there is a dock on the river with a fuel pump just across the road near the treshold of runway 20.

Les Cedres would be faster (but further) than St. Hubert, and Mascouche would more difficult than both to get into downtown. If you're cabbing, I suppose the St. Hubert landing fee would be justified, but be sure to check fuel prices too!

Lommer: thanks for the comment on YHU -- I haven't been there since they brought in the landing fee. How are Mascouche and Ceders for getting into downtown Montreal compared to St-Hubert? It would be pretty easy to burn more than $8.67 in extra round-trip transportation costs.

This is an abandoned former cold war military runway which is still in better shape than some places where I've had to pay landing fees. It's right by highway 117 if you need to be rescued.

Popular fuel stop on your way up north.

The only seaplane base that has public fuel in the Quebec city area. Lac St-Augustin is closer to downtown but they don't take visitors anymore.

Ste-Véronique is one of the few places in the Laurentians where there is public fuel available. Lots of room, quick service.

Marina Venise is also close to downtown, but no easy public transit connexion to Montreal. 100LL available but no maintenance. There is also a helipad.

Probably the closest seaplane base to downtown Montreal. 100LL and maintenance available. Dock for about 3 planes, and a ramp an tractor. They take your plane in and out of the water if you stay longer than a few hours. About 100 yards from a bus stop; 15 minutes drive from downtown. It's just outside of the CYUL tower control zone; if you arrive via the VFR corridor to the north (over the Riviere des Prairies) below 1300 you don't need a transponder code or prior ATC clearance. Local frequency is 123.2 (uncontrolled airport).

Beware of traffic from nearby Mascouche airport (CKS3) to the north. It's advisable to monitor 122.65.

Also there is a private strip and seaplane docks between Boisvert and Masouche called Contant/Laval Aviation.

I don't remember all the fees and fuel prices from my visit in the summer of 2006 -- they weren't onerous, but they were enough to annoy. On the other hand, it's a well-maintained, all-weather airport with easy access into the town of Gaspé as well as the Gaspesie region. For a less expensive alternative, there's Du Rocher-Percé (Pabok), which is slightly closer to the tourist town of Percé:

http://www.ourairports.com/airports/CA-CTG3/

This airport is actually closer to Chandler (a much larger community) than to Percé. It's a small rural strip that's not always attended, but doesn't have the landing fees, etc., of the larger Gaspé airport to the north:

http://www.ourairports.com/airports/CYGP/

We use this airport quite a bit for practice work. No landing fees for single engine, easy MF to help with radio work. Very quiet area and is just about 3-5 minutes from Rockliffe. Nice long runway and a decent place to park and eat.

There is no food available at Baie-Comeau except for some junk-food vending machines and a coffee machine. There is a room that used to be a cafeteria -- it still has tables and a microwave -- but there's nothing served there any more. Staff told me that the nearest food is in town, about 18 km away (I think).

Baie-Comeau has both a landing fee and a terminal fee. The security guard collects it, before she or he lets you back onto the field through the locked door. I think that they're around $15 each, but they were waived for my Hope Air flight. You pay for gas from the FBO inside the terminal near the checkin desks, so you can't just stay outside to avoid the fees.

Baie-Comeau is a mandatory-frequency airport, with a remote transmitter run by Mont-Joli; however, unlike other MF fields, Mont-Joli does *not* want you to make any traffic calls on the MF (they chastized me over the radio when I announced that I was taking the runway for departure) except what they ask for.

The Petro-T FBO also offers free parking if you fill up with them. The 100LL is 10 cents cheaper if you self-serve. Nice lounge. First ramp off Twy D.

Cartierville was the site of the Canadair (now Bombardier) factory. There is still a major Bombardier plant here, but the airfield is now a golf course and residential development. Hundreds of aircraft were built here to be ferried to England in World War II.

There is at least one known case of an airliner bound for Dorval (now Trudeau) which landed here by mistake in the 1960s.

This was the site of a experimental airport set up as a federally funded research project in the 1970s to research the economic feasibility of short take-off and landing air service in downtown airports. Air Transit was an an airline operating shuttle flights from downtown Montreal to downtown Ottawa (at Rockliffe, CYRO) using specially modified de Havilland Twin Otters (series 300) that had improved spoilers and sophisticated avionics. The approach and take-off path were quite steep, as they had to clear the Victoria Bridge to the east and the power lines to the west. The crews were provided by Air Canada.

I flew once from here to Ottawa. The arriving terminal in Ottawa was the building which is now the entrance hall of the museum. I guess the economics didn't work out, as the STOLport concept didn't catch on.

It's too bad that this airport wasn't kept as a downtown GA field, as it conveniently located and isolated from residential areas by freeways, factories, and the St-Lawrence river. It's now the site of movie studios and a technology park.

This airport (actually, the co-located hydrobase) was where Canadian bush flying started... in 1919! It is still a busy field for small GA aircraft.

Two runways, one of which has an approach over the lake which is used as a hydrobase. There is a restaurant at the treshold of this runway, which also is the docking area for floatplanes. Fuel is available. Excellent aircraft maintenance facilities, including a good engine overhaul shop.

This little airport is one of the nicest, and friendliest places to fly in/out of in the country. An active COPA wing operates here and there is always an interesting mix of ultralights, homebuilts and general aviation machines of all types - some real classics.

There is a certified ROTAX service center located here, and the Jabiru Canada agent is based here too (or was until recently - has Gord moved to his Lancaster home airport now?) ...

Beloeil is a fly-in community where people live in the second story of hangars, and park their planes and cars on the ground floor. It's very easy to spot from the air as all the hangars have red roofs. There's not much in the way of publicly available tie downs, but there is room to park, and theres a TON of GA aircraft that are permanently based here to avoid the CYHU landing fee.