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- Feb 15, 2012
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Well, I was stimulated to do just that, after seeing Keith Smith (of Pilot Edge) request tower tours in his workshop videos. Not sure why I never thought of doing that before. So, I zipped off to Kingston (CYGK) today, the usual SN YGK at a good altitude over the lake. When I landed requested of Kingston, a "tower tour". They said, "Sure, come on up whenever you are ready."
I pulled up to the tower and shutdown, and was buzzed in at the airside door to the tower. I climbed the stair ...
Met the two controllers there, and we had a nice chat about the Tower and how it all works, Kingston flying club (it is struggling), and the airport in general. They asked me about my plane as well.
There is no radar on-site at YGK. The radar image is a computer amalgam of Trenton and Montreal Centre. With the line-of-sight limitation, they don't have any radar below 3000ft. There is a US military radar just over the lake that can see right down to the ground at Kingston. The US Mil is now sharing their imaging with the FAA, and the civilian airports in the area. The guys are hoping that the data might be shared with NavCanada as well.
There are no more paper flight strips, it is all electronic. Here is the "strip" for my return trip, popped up in full.
Finally I bid adieu, thanked them for the tour, and they said drop by anytime.
Had about 30 knots on the nose on the way back, not too bad.
To my delight got cleared right over the top of CYYZ (a rare thing to happen, saved about 20 min.) direct YYZ direct CYFD. Wonderful! He said, "Enjoy the view of Pearson," and then I was transferred to Departures. Here I'm just about to overfly CYYZ.
Then the brisk descent on the west side, my home airport is about 30nm west of the Pearson zone.
A lovely afternoon adventure! Now I'll be hunting new Towers to visit.
* Orest
I pulled up to the tower and shutdown, and was buzzed in at the airside door to the tower. I climbed the stair ...
Met the two controllers there, and we had a nice chat about the Tower and how it all works, Kingston flying club (it is struggling), and the airport in general. They asked me about my plane as well.
There is no radar on-site at YGK. The radar image is a computer amalgam of Trenton and Montreal Centre. With the line-of-sight limitation, they don't have any radar below 3000ft. There is a US military radar just over the lake that can see right down to the ground at Kingston. The US Mil is now sharing their imaging with the FAA, and the civilian airports in the area. The guys are hoping that the data might be shared with NavCanada as well.
There are no more paper flight strips, it is all electronic. Here is the "strip" for my return trip, popped up in full.
Finally I bid adieu, thanked them for the tour, and they said drop by anytime.
Had about 30 knots on the nose on the way back, not too bad.
To my delight got cleared right over the top of CYYZ (a rare thing to happen, saved about 20 min.) direct YYZ direct CYFD. Wonderful! He said, "Enjoy the view of Pearson," and then I was transferred to Departures. Here I'm just about to overfly CYYZ.
Then the brisk descent on the west side, my home airport is about 30nm west of the Pearson zone.
A lovely afternoon adventure! Now I'll be hunting new Towers to visit.
* Orest
