Most of the time we are given clearance only with no squawk code which makes sense in non radar environment. Why is it that somtimes we are given a squawk code when departing YYQ?

Where are you departing to? If you are going to be heading anywhere that might take you into radar converage, then you should be issued a code. Also, sometimes the radar has some pretty strong inversions and the range is MUCH better then normal. Also, there are a few controllers who will always issue the code.

It depends on the controller really. There are a few trainees on the North Low board right now and they are taught to always give the squawk. The oldermore experienced controllers know not ot give the squawk. If i am given the squawk i have a responsibility to read it back to the controller verbatim but i ussually do ask if the squawk is neccesary. If the controller gave ot by mistake he will tell me to disregard it bbut some just want it in.

From what i have seen it is mainly due to trainee controllers who just give it always. You have to remember that new people ussually don;t have any flight experience or knoweldge other than what they learned in school so sometimes they don;t realize the differences between radar and non radar procedures. Also they may know but have been taught to give the squawk regardless of airspace and until they get there license they give it and hope to not upset there OJI.

There are a lot of reasons to give or not give the squawk code, but not knowing the radar coverage isn't one of them. If a trainee doesn't know his airspace's radar coverage, he's not getting out of the sim and onto the floor.

There are a lot of controllers out there that that will always issue the code though. And hey, I've seen weird things happen with inversions and what not. Supprises the hell out of you to see an aircraft turning final at an airport 100NM away from the nearest radar site!

You hit the nail on the head with the OJI comment.

Hi guys! I work as a controller in the North Low Specialty and can clear up a few points regarding squawk or no squawk. It only comes down to habit. Every other clearance we ever give in our entire airspace (approx. 750 miles) has a squawk & requires it because the flight will enter radar coverage at some point (not necessarily in our a/s) so when it is already printed on our flight planning strip that we give clearances on (which it is 95% of the time) , we say it out of habit. It's simple as that. It's not about inversion etc. We won't see that at CYYQ, CYQD maybe but not CYYQ. BTW, we don't have several trainess on the floor, nor did we when these posts were written. There's only one.[/quote]

Well i stand corrected. Sorry atcgirl, never meant to imply you guys are like trainess...Well maybe Matt....LOL!

no need to apologize. And Matt... well, he's in a league of his own. LOL! No, no just teasin'. He's a good guy. The best! BTW, if you're the FSS guy I think you are, you're the probably the best we work with out of all of our airports... just for the record.

atcgirl wrote: BTW, if you're the FSS guy I think you are, you're the probably the best we work with out of all of our airports... just for the record.

My initials are EJ so i doubt i'm the one your thinking of. I'm a very simple kinda slow FSS. Or as my colleagues call me ......"Special"....

Yup! I thought it was you! EJ you're the guy I was talking about. I'm called 'special' too so you're not alone.. I'm probably one of the controllers you think is a trainee. LOL!! Actually, all you guys in CYYQ are awesome to work with!

bigfssguy wrote:

atcgirl wrote: BTW, if you're the FSS guy I think you are, you're the probably the best we work with out of all of our airports... just for the record.

My initials are EJ so i doubt i'm the one your thinking of. I'm a very simple kinda slow FSS. Or as my colleagues call me ......"Special"....

Were you un YYQ for 10 months? We had a flight 2 weeks ago in Churchill for lunch (a Gonzo)

Max

Was that the Mustang B190 or the Grizzly DH8A. I talked to the grizzly flight as they were leaving for back to winnipeg. I was on days off for the Mustang flight though. You may have talked to one of my co-workers, we have areally great group of guys working here most pilots have had nothing but good things to say about this group. Well most anyways!

bigfssguy wrote:Was that the Mustang B190 or the Grizzly DH8A. I talked to the grizzly flight as they were leaving for back to winnipeg. I was on days off for the Mustang flight though. You may have talked to one of my co-workers, we have areally great group of guys working here most pilots have had nothing but good things to say about this group. Well most anyways!

Nah, we talked to you, we were the Dash flight! That was a nice little lunch up in Churchill, we really enjoyed the town (for the time we were there..) and of course, the FSS

Max

Yup you sure did talk to me. Ya people that come to Churchill for a day or two love the place. when you live here for a couple years and you aren;t local time tends to drag on! 1 more year til i get paroled yaaahhhhoooooO!......Well hopefully anyways.