Penticton Airport

[rubato]

Does anyone know what's going on at the Penticton Airport? There seems to be a lot of smoke hanging in the air.

[Tootsie]

Well, there was a lot of smoke from the airshow in Penticton today (planes blowing blue smoke for the show). There was a RCAF reunion or something happening today - airshow was great.

[fluffy]

I saw mention in the paper about a "Sabre Jet Pilots' Reunion".

[nepal]

Yes, the newspaper says there are 475 former F86 Sabre jet pilots meeting in Penticton for the weekend. They had there own airshow in front of the Lakeside Hotel, over Okanagan Lake, Penticton, on Saturday. It was a great airshow and even a four engine Aurora, Harvards, Yaks and the Fraser Blues team.

[GordonH]

Bumped

This could be a pain in the as for Penticton residents flying in or out.
https://globalnews.ca/news/5997465/shor ... ellations/

Added later: That mill been there for years, now it's all of a sudden an obstruction due to its height.

[pentona]

Friends from Calgary were supposed to come in on tonight's WJ flight; but for some reason it never landed and returned to Calgary. We were down there to welcome them; but it just flew overhead and never touched down. They could have at least tried Kelowna for goodness sake and bused folks down.

[polelady]

So as I am aware... all airlines are given landing clearance as soon as they activate their flight plan ,, so when Westjet left Calgary it was given a landing clearance for Pentiction.. give and take a few minutes for weather etc... All flight have to carry enough fuel to make their destination and some extra ,, not sure maybe 45 min.... ( the reason for all this is so the airplane is full capacity,, it can cut back on fuel to carry extra baggage,,, as needed... ) and they usually fuel up for the next leg... when landed...!! Just stating what I have knowledge of from being a pilot....
SO NOW... WJ arrives to land at Penticton... and the weather ie visibility is not good...things have changed... and with that (Obstacle that Nav Canada NOW has found in the way... the landing was not within safe practices...) ( I would certainly assume that mill has a permit from when the tower was built but someone with nothing to do... changes the rules... and forgets to let everyone know to take responsibility persay... the gong show starts... on the height of it !!)
Westjet pilot get landing clearance at Kelowna.. but again bureaucracy , jumps to the pump.... it could have been a number of reasons... no unloading ramp,,, no ramp to park , no staff to off load, and he has to decide how long to hang around to land... again... I bet many many reasons... and if the plane was to land at Penticton and do a quick turnaround - head back to Calgary for another flight for that crew... all are factors in the situation... happening fast in the cock pit..
I realize the disappointment for passengers and family... but it is a matter of safety in this world... if that pilot had to make a go around attempt and for some reason hit that (Greenwood Forest Products sawmill exhaust tower) the *bleep* would be hitting the fan BIG TIME....
I suggest the people of Penticton become weather experts and read the visibility charts... that will tell the truth if the incoming planes... are going to land.... again sometimes the departing limits are different set of rules... !!!
Cheers and no use chirping to the YLM ( Kelowna ) as they are busy patting them selves on the back... and will just shrug you off... lol
SO for information... Kelowna runway is 8900 ft , Kamloops is 8000 ft, Penticton is 6,000 ft in lengths... again it depends on the type of aircraft being used and weather... but with the PIB in the north and the mill.. does not look good !! for bad weather flights... !!

[fluffy]

Question for pilots: The issue in Penticton is apparently one of visibility and the difference in rules for visual or instrument approaches. On a clear night, dark but no clouds, is a pilot still able to use Visual Flight Rules?

[dreamon]

So as I am aware... all airlines are given landing clearance as soon as they activate their flight plan ,, so when Westjet left Calgary it was given a landing clearance for Pentiction..

Destination airport will give a landing slot. This is very different to a landing clearance.

Landing clearances are given by the airport you are landing at and only when "cleared to land". The clearance is given anywhere from one minute to say ten minutes prior to landing.
If following another plane in to land, you will get "#2 behind company 737" or whatever the traffic is.

[dreamon]

Question for pilots: The issue in Penticton is apparently one of visibility and the difference in rules for visual or instrument approaches. On a clear night, dark but no clouds, is a pilot still able to use Visual Flight Rules?

VFR/IFR rules apply day or night. So yes on a clear night you can land VFR.
Having said that an individual airport may issue a NOTAM cautioning night operations on a given runway (landing 16 in this case) for a specific issue.

[XT225]

Destination airport will give a landing slot. This is very different to a landing clearance.

Landing clearances are given by the airport you are landing at and only when "cleared to land". The clearance is given anywhere from one minute to say ten minutes prior to landing.
If following another plane in to land, you will get "#2 behind company 737" or whatever the traffic is.

I doubt very much if you will ever hear the Penticton Flight Service people say "you are cleared to land"; they haven't the authority to do so. Air Traffic Controllers were laid off years ago at YYF; only they could say such a thing. Flight Service Specialists as they are called are "advisory" people only. They may say "there are no apparent conflicts" or "preferred runway is" but not much more. Perhaps this is why things are rather different between YYF and YLW; Kelowna does have Air Traffic Controllers.

[dreamon]

I doubt very much if you will ever hear the Penticton Flight Service people say "you are cleared to land"; they haven't the authority to do so. Air Traffic Controllers were laid off years ago at YYF; only they could say such a thing. Flight Service Specialists as they are called are "advisory" people only. They may say "there are no apparent conflicts" or "preferred runway is" but not much more. Perhaps this is why things are rather different between YYF and YLW; Kelowna does have Air Traffic Controllers.

Not doubt, you are 100pc correct with regard to Penticton. Also unlikely to hear "company 737 or jet of any type", maybe company A-star or company EC130 lol

[Tony]

My question is simple... the Greenwood tower has been there ever since I can remember, and we used to land jets in Penticton. What changed in the last couple of weeks? Did the tower grow?????

[Glacier]

My question is simple... the Greenwood tower has been there ever since I can remember, and we used to land jets in Penticton. What changed in the last couple of weeks? Did the tower grow?????

Some bureaucrat in Ottawa decided that it was unsafe because he needs to justify his 6 figure salary.

[XT225]

My question is simple... the Greenwood tower has been there ever since I can remember, and we used to land jets in Penticton. What changed in the last couple of weeks? Did the tower grow?????

I believe that I read somewhere that Instrument Landings in Penticton are not authorized presently due to this Government audit. Too bad this hadn't happened earlier and it would have made a great topic to toss at the Federal Election party candidates. Jets still do land here; in fact Jagmeet Singh's chartered jet was here on Saturday. B.C. Air Ambulance planes have the latest GPS equipment in them; lets hope there are no air medivacs needed here in bad weather. The Greenwood situation is a joke and someone in the Federal Government deserves to be fired over it. Who authorized it in the first place if its too tall?