Sudbury tower.....er radio

[F,D and H]

Hey guys,

I used to fly IFR into Sudbury quite a bit but have changed jobs and haven't for a while. I remember when someone on here had announced that they would be closing the tower and putting in a FFS thinking among others that it would cause problems. I have been doing some flying in the area over the last little bit and in printing off the plate for Sudbury, I noticed that it had after all been changed.

NOW, I'm not trolling for a debate as to whether it has more traffic than this airport or that one.

My question is for the guys flying in there on a regular basis; have they noticed a lot of delays? Obviously a rush when it's IFR and there's a bunch of Bears, Jazzes and ect it's going to be worse than on a normal quick turn. Is it comparable to a Timmins power back and wait type thing or worse?

Just effin' curious.

[Bushav8er]

Same as Timmins but they seem to like assigning approaches and SIDs when its busier.

[paydaymayday]

I find it's busier than Timmins, especially at rush hour. I haven't found there's much of a wait that often in YTS, whereas SB will have you power back, feather, and wait more often.

[BTD]

Not nearly as bad as YTS, because they can get you on radar in YSB significantly lower. However, I do on occasion find myself waiting and waiting to get out. It is a hub for us, so we usually have 4-5 aircraft there at once.

The worst is when a Cessna is cleared for the approach and is 10 miles out with 200-1000 foot ceilings, then we aren't going anywhere for a while.

BTD

To add: It is definitely busier then YTS most days, but with the lower radar coverage I find the wait times less.

[Jim la Jungle]

Thanks Navcanada for cutting back on safety and increasing delays! I was in YSB last week for the first time after they closed the tower. Wow, what a cluster f***k. And it was a SKY CLR day! I'll grant you it was during rush hour. A collegue had to wait 20 minutes on the ground before even getting a vrf dep clearance on a clear day!

If I compare with the time of the "tower era", it was way better then: more efficient, safe and less stressful.

My two cents worth

[Jonathan]

I am working at Sudbury FSS. I'm also a pilot so I can understand your frustration guys..

To answer your question, yes sometimes aircraft will get normal delays, especially in IFR weather and during rush hour. But it's usually not too long I believe. In VFR weather, most pilots will request VFR departures, or will cancel their IFR when arriving.

Waiting 20 minutes to get a VFR departure is extremely rare from what I have seen , but it probably happened when both FSS and ATC were busy.

[...]

It's interesting how reactive people can be when they realizeit was not a good idea to begin with. I wish more people can be MORE pro-active with the obvious.

Anyway...no problem, glad you brought this topic up again...even if it started two years ago.

viewtopic.php?f=54&t=37804&hilit=Sudbury+tower

Anticipate a similar thread on the future closure of Hamilton... not yet slatted yet but it will come...soon...

[Guido]

Anticipate a similar thread on the future closure of Hamilton... not yet slatted yet but it will come...soon...

Yeah, but Hamilton's just asking for it!