Q400 and YCG
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Q400 and YCG
I was looking at the summer flight schedule and noticed AC added YCG with the Q400, just went I thought they were permanently pulling out due to the planned removal of the Q300. It's currently scheduled to operate 3 days a week in July, with CMA still showing once daily with the BEH. Based on the historical operational challenges YCG has, will it likely only be a seasonal operation, as summer seams to be the only time of year that flights consistently get in and out?
Re: Q400 and YCG
The Q400 can do Castlegar year round. It may have some restrictions, but in now way will it be utilized during the summer months only. Now will AC keep it on that route or will it contract a "codeshare partner"? That's the real question.
Re: Q400 and YCG
The City of Castlegar is working behind the scenes to get RNP approach and departure procedures approved.
Any comment from a pilots perspective?
If they are successful in bringing the ceiling limits below 2000' AGL it will make a huge difference.
The West Kootenay are booming with new people, I suspect the route will do very well post-covid.
Any comment from a pilots perspective?
If they are successful in bringing the ceiling limits below 2000' AGL it will make a huge difference.
The West Kootenay are booming with new people, I suspect the route will do very well post-covid.
Re: Q400 and YCG
Well it only makes sense. It's bonkers to think that in 2021 we're restricted to flying an aircraft into an airport (on most days), especially one that was served by a regional airline for so many years.quikfixxx wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 3:36 pm The City of Castlegar is working behind the scenes to get RNP approach and departure procedures approved.
Any comment from a pilots perspective?
If they are successful in bringing the ceiling limits below 2000' AGL it will make a huge difference.
The West Kootenay are booming with new people, I suspect the route will do very well post-covid.
- KenoraPilot
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Re: Q400 and YCG
It won't be a problem for the Q400, and likely year round service, regardless if they get the RNP or not. Some days just don't work for Castlegar, joys of living in a triple valley.
Re: Q400 and YCG
Didn’t some company fly 737s in there “back in the day”?
Let’s Go Brandon
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Re: Q400 and YCG
Pacific Western Airlines did regular schedule service with the 737 back in the day.
There were numerous communities around bc where PWA earned the name 'Probably Wont Arrive', and I'm sure they earned it in Cancelgar more than anywhere else.
Re: Q400 and YCG
I thought it was ' Please Wait Awhile' '?goldeneagle wrote: ↑Sat Jun 05, 2021 9:50 pmThere were numerous communities around bc where PWA earned the name 'Probably Wont Arrive', and I'm sure they earned it in Cancelgar more than anywhere else.
Re: Q400 and YCG
Fantastic video. What a nice paint job too on that Canadian North. Of course it can be done. Question is: "Is it economical"?
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Re: Q400 and YCG
I don't know much about the feasibility about the route but
Re: Q400 and YCG
I have seen a video of the RNP approached developed by Jeppesen and it does not stand a snowball's chance in hell of ever being approved. Not only does it require a number of deviations from the RNP design criteria it is just plain scary. And that comes from a guy that does procedure design and procedure design to mountainous airports.quikfixxx wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 3:36 pm The City of Castlegar is working behind the scenes to get RNP approach and departure procedures approved.
Any comment from a pilots perspective?
If they are successful in bringing the ceiling limits below 2000' AGL it will make a huge difference.
The West Kootenay are booming with new people, I suspect the route will do very well post-covid.
We have looked at CYCG backwards, forwards and sideways to improve the results there and the reality is is the airport is in a terrible location, surrounded by mountains with no clear way in or out. The former localizer approach to a localizer located downtown was the best solution but TC nixed that as it did not meet any design criteria whatsoever.
But even if you can get into to CYCG how do you get out? That is even worse. So who is going to strand an aircraft there for possibly days?
"You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear".
Re: Q400 and YCG
IIRC YCG is one of the protected routes in the 'act'. That airport also serves multiple communities and I know they've been screaming at the feds to resume service and they're demanding something better/bigger than a 1900.
Its totally doable on 'most' days. It'll be much like going in there with the classic. Expect a missed if you're 'at' the RNAV mins...
The Q will have no problems departing.. I believe the issue has to do with 'stable criteria' for the circling RNAV. I can only see an issue in icing in the winter if you go RIGHT TO MINs as the speeds are fairly high when you get up close to max landing weights
They don't call it cancelgar just 'cuz.
Its totally doable on 'most' days. It'll be much like going in there with the classic. Expect a missed if you're 'at' the RNAV mins...
The Q will have no problems departing.. I believe the issue has to do with 'stable criteria' for the circling RNAV. I can only see an issue in icing in the winter if you go RIGHT TO MINs as the speeds are fairly high when you get up close to max landing weights
They don't call it cancelgar just 'cuz.
Re: Q400 and YCG
Incidentally, CMA has just announced that they are pulling out of YCG after July 5th. They stated it would not be economical for two airlines to serve the route.
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Re: Q400 and YCG
Flights are operating with very decent loads.
Any plan to increase frequency this summer? It looks like most other bases in BC are going to at least daily in August.
Any plan to increase frequency this summer? It looks like most other bases in BC are going to at least daily in August.
Re: Q400 and YCG
That's good news on the load side. I'm more curious to see if they'll want to operate during the winter months when it becomes a crap-shoot.