This past weekend I planned two flights to CYSN (St. Catharines) and back to practice my cross country skills. The purpose of the flight was to visit with a friend of mine who I hadn’t seen in a while so I figured a 40 minute plane ride was less painful than a 3.5 hour train ride, especially considering what happened near Ottawa recently. Again on this trip I used MotionX GPS to track my flight.
Weather conditions on Friday evening were great: few clouds around 6000′ and about 12 miles visibility. The air was smooth, albeit hot and humid proving that density altitude can become a factor even in Ontario where most airports sit around 1000′ ASL. The picture above is looking out the left wing at a line of cumulous clouds making their way towards me. I had a little fun ducking around them as I made my way eastbound towards the Niagara region.
I had never flown into St. Catharines before so I brushed up on my MF procedures before the flight. They’re similar to ATF procedures but there are a few differences. For one, you’re physically talking to someone at a ground station rather than simply broadcasting your intentions to other pilots. As you’ll be able to see from the GPS track below, I used the straight-in beacon approach to runway 06 and taxied to the terminal to pick up my friend. Simply put, you fly towards the SN NDB (Ch. 408 on your ADF radio) and then turn (left in my case) heading 064ยบ to line up with the runway which is 4.1 NM from the NDB. A simple approach for a simple pilot.
Parking in St. Catharines was very easy. The terminal is located at the very east end of the ramp closest to Bravo taxiway as it exits from runway 06/24. No landing or parking fees!
The return trip was also fairy uneventful. I used flight following from Toronto Center for both legs of the trip. They’re extremely helpful and I would recommend using them if you’re ever going to be near Toronto’s airspace. On more than one occasion, they gave me traffic advisories for both GA and commercial aircraft operating near Hamilton and London. With the sun in my eyes and haze reducing the visibility, I wanted all the help I could get (including using my VTA as a makeshift sun blocker device thingy). Hey… whatever works, right? All in all, both legs went smoothly. I’m definitely getting more comfortable navigating my way farther and farther from home. Having a GPS on board helps but you still need to be confident in your map reading abilities should anything happen to the GPS.
The first leg of my second flight to CYSN marked an aviation milestone for myself: 100 hours total flight time. Can’t wait until the big 200 rolls around and I can take my CPL flight test. Seems so far away….
Enjoy the GPS tracks and profiles. The southerly track is eastbound, northerly track is westbound. Note: GPS track may not show up if you’re using an RSS reader. For best results, view directly in your browser.
Recent Comments