YUL Terminal VFR

[RayJr]

Hello,

Does anyone know if there is a good time/Altitude/Anything else to get cleared through YUL Terminal VFR?

I fly Ottawa - Maritimes VFR often and have about a 40% success rate for getting through. This is at maybe 140 KTAS at either 8500 or 9500.

Flying north or south isn't the end of the world obviously but my direct route goes straight through the middle of MTL. YYZ Terminal has never turned me away oddly enough. Not sure what the difference is.

Thanks

[Braun]

Hello,

Does anyone know if there is a good time/Altitude/Anything else to get cleared through YUL Terminal VFR?

I fly Ottawa - Maritimes VFR often and have about a 40% success rate for getting through. This is at maybe 140 KTAS at either 8500 or 9500.

Flying north or south isn't the end of the world obviously but my direct route goes straight through the middle of MTL. YYZ Terminal has never turned me away oddly enough. Not sure what the difference is.

Thanks

Hmm that is weird. I work this airspace and I would say we rarely refuse VFR's at these altitudes. We may vector or descend you a bit to fit better with the traffic flow. It is possible on some of those days we had staffing issues and if you were lower it is more likely to be refused. Even when the NOTAM restricting VFR traffic is in effect we usually still take as many as we can traffic permitting. You might've just been unlucky in that regard. That being said we usually prefer to work VFR's at those altitudes as it is easier to manage and we know it can be difficult to avoid Class C at those altitudes.

Going over the airport isn't always ideal, we'll usually do it when traffic permits but keep in mind we also have CYHU and CYMX that are very close to CYUL which also makes our airspace a bit more congested than one would expect.

Sorry I can't really help more without more specific details.

[thenoflyzone]

YYZ Terminal has never turned me away oddly enough. Not sure what the difference is.

I think a big part of the difference is that:

1. YYZ TCU is probably closer to being staffed than YUL TCU, meaning less restrictions.

2. Not 100% sure, but I believe VFRs transiting the Toronto TCU might be handled by - or shared with - another unit (Toronto-Airports unit), whereas in Montreal, it's the same controllers from one unit (Montreal TCU) that handle both IFR and VFR traffic. So if Montreal TCU is short staffed (which they often are), VFR's will get the short end of the stick, whereas in Toronto, there are 2 units that control the airspace around Toronto, so capacity to handle VFR's is significantly greater than at YUL.