YYZ Ground Stops

[TheStig]

Just finished reading this thread. It's interesting to hear from those on the other side of the frequency. Too bad we don't get better opportunities to share our issues with each other more often.

Couple of things came to mind; Slow taxi speeds, some times you just have to.
1) While I see there is some resurfacing going on of the taxiways in YYZ, they have gotten pretty punishing over the past year, for example crossing 15L on H at more than 12 knots could cause concussions.
2) Normally we don't start our before take-off checklist until clear of the apron as there are too many trucks ripping around to take a set of eyes out of the picture. When you exit at DT for a departure off 24R things can be pretty rushed if there is no line up, obviously rushing through important checklists isn't a good idea.
3) My airline has an affection for adding rows of seats to it's aircraft, encouraging pilots to land and not use reverse thrust (when safe) and has shortened the planned turn around times of its aircraft. What I've noticed is this leads to aircraft pushing with brakes that are warmer than they used to be. So in order to avoid building heat up in the brakes while taxing for departure, you guessed it..you taxi slower.

As you've noticed there has been a ton of growth and this has led to lots of advancement at the airlines. It takes a little time for pilots to become familiar with the proper techniques to finesse things into running smoothly. Knowing what weights/approach speeds and configurations are most suitable takes either a bit of experience to figure out of some guidance. I othen find myself suggesting that it's a better idea to plan to make C4 or H4 when landing on 24R or 23 than to try and make C2 or H2...missing it and then scrambling to get off the runway. There really doesn't seem to be any replacement for experience and at some point most of us have been that idiot new guy.

I think Canadian controllers do a fantastic job and would argue they do a better job as a whole than American ATC because they offer a more consistent service, while most US controllers are helpful and informative, some (few) are truly miserable, as a whole though, I know what to expect over Canadian airspace.