CADORS Number:2013Q09002010-02-11
Narrative:
SWG679, a Boeing 737 operated by Sunwing Airlines, was IFR from Val-d'Or (CYVO) to Sept-Îles (CYZV). The aircraft took off from Val-d'Or without the runway lights being turned on by the crew with the Aircraft-Radio Control of Aerodrome Lighting (ARCAL) system, which was working fine.
CADORS Number:2014Q03842013-05-03
Narrative:
A Sunwing Airlines Boeing 737-800 (SWG9322), from Val-d’Or (CYVO) to Sept-Îles (CYZV), took off without runway lights, which were not turned on by the crew even though the ARCAL system was working properly.
Attempting take off without runway lights has caused an incident in the past, and most interesting, it involved another airline that made use of TFW pilots who were flying Canadian Registered aircraft although they only had a foreign licence.2014-03-14
Narrative:
A Sunwing Airlines Boeing 737 800 (SWG9425), from Val-d’Or (CYVO) to Sept-Îles (CYZV), took off without using aircraft radio control of aerodrome lighting (ARCAL) to turn on the runway lights. Yet, it had turned them on upon arrival. No known impact on operations.
http://www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-repor ... 3o0034.pdf
The first officer was an employee of My Travel Airways Ltd., United Kingdom (UK) and was flying for Skyservice Airlines for the winter season as part of a crew sharing arrangement between Skyservice and My Travel. He held a valid UK, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), ATPL. This licence had been appropriately attached to a Transport Canada, foreign licence validation certificate and was being properly exercised in accordance with the privileges of his UK licence.
The first officer was unfamiliar with operations at uncontrolled aerodromes, including ARCAL lighting procedures, which resulted in the captain attempting to assist the first officer with his PNF
I was informed that the year after this incident, Transport Canada informed Skyservice that the next batch of of foreign pilots would need Transport Canada licences. Skyservice complied and provided a ground school to about 70 British pilots, who did their exams and all obtained Canadian ATPLs. This was not necessairily as a consequence of the above mentioned incident but because there was pressure from a lot of Canadian un-employed Canada 3000 pilots who resented the fact that Skyservice was using TFW with foreign licences when there were qualified and experienced Canadians to fill those posts that were given to Foreign Nationals. And CAR 705.106 and 725.106(6) did specify that one needed a Canadian licence to fly revenue flights under Part VII in Canada. So that winter, in 2004, someone at Transport Canada decided to apply the CARs to the letter...........The first officer was unfamiliar with procedures at uncontrolled aerodromes. He transmitted the initial aircraft manoeuvring on the apron on the appropriate ATF and then, in error, requested the IFR departure clearance on this frequency. He then contacted London FIC on the appropriate radio frequency to obtain the departure clearance. The first officer made it known to the captain that he was not familiar with uncontrolled aerodrome procedures and as a result the captain assisted the first officer in his PNF duties, thereby increasing his own workload. The captain made the subsequent appropriate radio calls while manoeuvring on the taxiways and prior to back-taxiing on the runway; however, these radio calls were transmitted on radio frequencies other than the ATF. This non-use of the ATF and the captain=s expectancy to receive a response on either the tower or ground frequency indicated that he was not fully aware of the environment in which he was operating. The flight crew did not monitor the published ATF, and, as a result, they did not hear any of the radio transmissions directed to them by Staff 28.
During the runway back-taxi and after conducting the before take-off check, the flight crew discussed the lack of runway lighting and the means of activating the ARCAL lighting system. Skyservice Airlines does not specifically address the operational use of ARCAL lighting systems in either its initial or recurrent ground school for flight crew members. It likewise does not address operations at night at uncontrolled aerodromes in either company SOPs or the company operations manual. There is no Transport Canada regulation requiring them to do so; however, instructions for using ARCAL lighting exist in the Canada Flight Supplement (CFS) as well as the Air Canada Route Manual Supplement, which is Skyservice=s primary source of airport supplementary information. Both of these documents are part of the on-board library and were available to the flight crew.
Then they went back to issuing FLVCs to TFW pilots again..........
Why, I have no idea..........the rules and regulations were still the same.
