Airport Spotlight: Brantford, Ontario

Danny — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:40:00 +0000

Brantford Airport (CYFD) is located 4 NM southwest of the city of Brantford.

It features 3 landing surfaces, a lot of hangar and apron space and a great FBO in the Brantford Flying Club (Full disclosure: I’m currently training at BFC so I may be a bit biased toward it). Before I go any further I’m going to throw up the disclaimer:

Disclaimer Please understand that each post in this series is meant to be educational and should not be used for any type of navigation. The information I am using is most likely outdated and incomplete (the Canada Flight Supplement that is in my possession expired in December 2007. No I do not actually fly with it). Always, always, always check the most up to date information available for your departure and destination airports and make sure your charts and CFS are up to date.

Here’s some basic info about the airport:

Name	Brantford Airport
ICAO Code	CYFD
IATA Code	YFD
Elevation	815 ft
Runways	05/23, 5,000 ft 11/29, 2,600 ft 17/35, 2600 ft
Communications	ATIS: none Ground: none Tower: none UNICOM: 122.825

All runways are paved and runway 05/23 has ARCAL type K lighting. Brantford is an uncontrolled airport so you don’t get all the perks you would at an airport with a tower. It also means you need to brush up on your uncontrolled airport procedures to keep everyone, including yourself, safe.

As I mentioned, the FBO is the Brantford Flying Club and it offers a wide variety of services, including flight training. The BFC’s fleet consists of 4 Cessna 152’s, 3 172’s (one with retractable gear) a Piper Aztec and a simulator (not sure what type; I haven’t done any IFR training yet). There are 8 instructors there and the club offers Recreational, Private and Commercial licences as well as night, instrument and multi engine ratings. The planes and instructors are also available for charter flights.

Every year, the club runs an air show which features the Snow Birds and the Lancaster from the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum at Hamilton Airport. COPA flight 148 also operates from the airport.

If you’re in the Hamilton / Kitchener / London area and are looking for a place to learn to fly or fly out of on a charter, I would definitely recommend Brantford Airport! A word of warning though, they are extremely busy and getting a plane at a time that fits your schedule can be difficult some times.

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Airport Spotlight: Hamilton, Ontario

Danny — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 08:00:00 +0000

This is the first post in what I hope will be a series of posts taking a look at airports from around the world. This is intended to be an educational experience for both you, my readers, and me (practicing reading maps and the CFS is a skill I should practice more often). While I have some airports lined up for the spotlight, I am always open to suggestions. Drop me a line and let me know which airport or which areas of the world you would like to see featured here.

Disclaimer Before I begin please understand that each post in this series is meant to be educational and should not be used for any type of navigation. The information I am using is most likely outdated and incomplete (the Canada Flight Supplement that is in my possession expired in December 2007. No I do not actually fly with it). Always, always, always check the most up to date information available for your departure and destination airports and make sure your charts and CFS are up to date.

Now that, that’s out of the way, the first airport I will be taking a look at is John C. Munro International Airport in Hamilton, Ontario.

View Larger Map

Hamilton airport is where I first started my flight lessons, so it is somewhat special to me. I had the chance to land on each its runways and took a few trips up to the tower.

Here is some pertinent information regarding the airport.

Name	John C. Munro
ICAO Code	CYHM
IATA Code	YHM
Elevation	780 ft
Runways	06/24, 6,000 ft 12/30, 10,000 ft
Communications	ATIS: 128.1 Ground: 121.6 Tower: 125.0

Its control area extends to Caledonia on the south side, and McMaster University on the north. The reporting points listed in my CFS are the Burlington Bridge (also known as the Skyway) and the town of Waterdown, Ontario. It is located about a half hour’s flight from downtown Toronto and St. Catherine’s Niagara airport. There used to be a training unit at the airport, however in November last year that came to an end (read more about it in this post).

Perhaps the biggest attraction is the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. The great thing about it if you’re flying by on a nice summer day is that you get to share the airspace with beauties like the one in the picture below.

Hamilton airport now has only commercial carriers like Cargojet and Flyglobespan flying out of it. There is a Tim Hortons in the main terminal building and a usually 24 hour one near the Transport Canada building on the other side, near the threshold of runway 24. Overall, if you’re looking for a stop over to grab a bite, I would suggest looking elsewhere.

Make sure to check this airport’s COPA page from some more information including landing fees.

Dan's Landing » Airport Spotlight

Airport Spotlight: Brantford, Ontario

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Airport Spotlight: Hamilton, Ontario

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