Ramble and rant about overseas touring

My ‘big tour’ this year is one I have planned for a while now. This is a visit to my buddy in Ottawa in August to hire a plane and fly from:

1. Ottawa to New York (Westchester / White Plains) via Massena to visit my sister,
2. New York low level city trip, then Niagara Falls and Toronto City Airport,
3. Toronto City to Ottawa.

As part of the preparations, on my last visit in February this year, I had lined up the paperwork and medicals etc. for a written test to get a full Canadian PPL based on my standalone FAA PPL.

This was a mini-performance in itself which I have already written about. Suffice to say that it didn’t end in February and I had to actively chase Transport Canada to persuade them to chase the FAA for an answer to a very simple question (which I was sure the FAA had overlooked – and so it turned out). Anyway, I finally got my Canadian PPL in early June – precisely four months after applying for it.

While I was in Ottawa in February, as part of the preparations, I visited my preferred flying club (where I had flown on a P U/T ‘trial flight’ basis the year before), Rockcliffe and introduced myself to one of the Senior FI’s there. I explained my plan and asked if I could hire one of their C172’s. He agreed in principle (subject to a check ride – of course) and even talked about the relatively complex and fiddly Canada to USA border clearance procedures and where to read up on them (I am a Canadian passport holder, so easier for me to get into the USA than a Brit). He said that he couldn’t actually book a plane for me there and then as their system didn’t load dates that far in advance and advised that I should contact them 8-10 weeks before the trip. So far so good. I had previously checked Rockcliffe out on the internet and noted that they had several write ups on trips their members took to US destinations and made various recommendations for US destinations.

So having done what I thought was ‘all the right things’, including personally introducing myself to a senior Flying Instructor at Rockcliffe, once the actual licence arrived in early June, I called the same FI at Rockcliffe and re-introduced myself and explained again my plans and asked to book a plane for a check ride followed by my planned trip.

There was something in the vague and non-committal way he was responding that made me wonder. It told him about my flying experience (not vast at 400 hours TT, but hardly a beginner either) and again he sounded a bit vague but promised to get back to me. I was left with a somewhat uneasy feeling, but put it down to the fact that English wasn’t his first language (Ottawa is probably the most bi-lingual city in Canada). Two days later I got an email from him saying that he had now spoken to the club CFI (……hmmmmm……that sounds ominous…) who wanted to ‘keep trips to the USA down this year’ and wasn’t keen to rent to ‘someone they don’t know’ to make such a trip!

OK – not happy now! So I emailed back and politely pointed out that I had flown with them before, met their FI in February when he raised no objections at the time. I would be flying with my buddy who lives in Ottawa and was a long-serving member of the Canadian Armed Forces and he would be happy to ‘vouch’ for me. This didn’t cut much (i.e. any!) ice with them and they responded that the USA was out, but they would be happy to rent to me ‘provided I passed the check ride’ (they mentioned this every time and I was getting bored with the repetition). They also asked for copies of both the Canadian and FAA licences (why the FAA one I don’t know), copies of my last few logbook pages (fair do’s) and a note of recent touring and experience in the C172 (OK – fair enough).

I had already carefully planned my trip to New York, bought the maps, marked the routes up, prepared the PLOG’s, prepared flight plans, made enquiries about the trickier stuff (New York low-level city route, Niagara Falls traffic patterns etc.) only to be told that although I had discussed it with them in February, that they would not now rent me the plane for the trip, but I could change plans and do something else purely within Canada – NOT HAPPY! Had they told me this in February, I would probably have gone along with it and planned something else, but now I feel a call to other clubs coming on.

I tentatively booked with Rockcliffe anyway and sent the information requested while at the same time emailing my buddy with the news and suggesting alternatives along the lines of:

- Check with other flying clubs in Ottawa / Montreal / Kingston and see if they all had similar concerns and restrictions – if so then it must be a general rule
- Drive to Massena in the USA and hire an FAA aircraft from there and stay in the USA.
- Do alternative tours in Canada only – like Ottawa to Quebec City or maybe the Bay of Fundy etc.

Well, my buddy is a resourceful kind of guy who sees ‘no’ as the first step on the road to a ‘yes’. He made a few calls and spoke to some other clubs. If I know him, he probably ‘talked me up’ and made me sound like a cross between Charles Lindberg and Chuck Yeager – I hope not! Anyway, the good news is that ‘the other club’ in Ottawa were happy to hire a C172, subject to a checkride (of course!) for the planned trip. They want a substantial deposit on account (I have seen this before when I trained with a school in the US – they are a long established club, so I am not too worried), but it looks like a go-er.

So I will be speaking to this other flying club and sending them no doubt much the same information and a substantial deposit ‘on account’.

What I don’t understand is what I could possibly have done differently and why people say one thing then do another. With hindsight, I suspect that I should have made a point of speaking to the CFI. Needless to say, I will not be doing future business with Rockcliffe Flying Club.

I am hoping to arrange a similar flying holiday next year in the summer. But this should be easier (note ‘should be’) as I hope to fly with my bother-in-law’s brother, who lives in Texas (he is an aircraft owner and an FAA Instructor) and maybe my sister (who lives in New York) and my buddy (who could fly down from Canada). The trip could be entirely in the USA around Texas, New Mexico, Nevada etc. My contact in Texas could easily arrange a rental for me and even do the checkride / combined FAA BFR. Sounds strange to be looking forward to next years trip before I have done this years, but that’s what GA touring is about I guess.