Hi Denny. I would stop and clear customs in Lethbridge CYQL instead. Smaller airport without landing fees. Much less hassle in the long run. If you need a place to stop near Edmonton I have a 2300 foot grass strip and accommodations available.
A gent who went up there about three weeks ago, from Montana to AK said that Calgary was the only place in the province they'd let him clear customs in a light plane. He said it wasn't a huge pain in any case, though.
That's what they did right after 9/11 also. I had to fly from Fairbanks to Whitehorse for Customs, so that I could then fly to Old Crow to meet a Canada Customs officer and an RCMP Constable.....go figure.
He said Whitehorse wasn't very friendly.
I'd keep checking the COVID craziness as time gets closer...I'd imagine this stuff is going to change daily.
MTV
As I noted, I’d keep checking, right up to date of departure. I’m told Del Bonita has a lot of gopher holes and maybe a badger to go with. No work party last year due to COVID. MPA is planning to get a work party together early this summer there.
MTV
You’d think the MT government would be doing that field, given its status
Skky hotel in Whitehorse is 5 min walk from terminal and has Italian restaurant that delivers food and whine to the room!! DENNY
I'm thankful for this report on Canadian customs from a week ago. Please continue to send me reports and I'll post here & on my website https://fly2ak.com/?page_id=24
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Customs
Huge nightmare, I don't recommend anyone trying to fly through Canada until major changes occur. Things are changing rapidly in the US with major progress on vaccinations, but my understanding is that Canada is way behind and obviously their government is always painful to deal with. We are both pilots and AK residents, and we spoke with the customs official 2-3 times / week for SIX WEEKS leading up to our trip, and she held our hands telling us exactly what we needed to do.
Fast-forward to our trip. We've been told that we need a negative COVID test within 72 hrs of crossing the border, and that even one hour past 72 would result in us being turned away, so we planned to get the test along the way once it was clear that we could make it to Canada within that window without wx / plane / other issues. Canada will only accept PCR tests, and explicitly will not accept an antigen test. Since a polymerase reaction test is in fact an antigen test, and testing paperwork is not standardized, we had to spend 4 hrs finding a clinic in Price UT whose paperwork included only verbiage acceptable to Canadian officials.
Problem solved....or so we thought. We arrive on the border with our data pre-populated in the ArriveCan app, as requested. But we couldn't submit our application through the app, because it's not set up to even accept a non-Canadian address as a final destination. Customs officials (who were very friendly and helpful, and even called the current Canadian situation a "police state") called their superiors, then the health department started telling them that we would be required to get another COVID test (barely 48 hrs after our last one) and quarantine for 5 days...after two hours, they told us they were making an executive decision, took down our information by hand and told us to get moving. What a clusterf-ck.
I got home last night form Washington State with a cub. Had to use Kelowna for customs as Kamloops was closed on weekends.
One thing I found is that not even the customs folks can keep up with changes. BE POLITE but know the rules. I was asked about Covid test- but was told by CANPAS I am exempt because I am a REQUIRED crew member... the Canadian Government does not differentiate Airline Jets from Super Cubs! So crew is exempt from lots of the stuff.
Don't Take Passengers!! The plane's owner with an instructor is NOT REQUIRED CREW! In fact, if you are the owner you better have a letter showing employment in Alaska, or be from Alaska taking the plane home. As an owner you might actually need the Covid test, I was hired to move the plane so the questions became few once it was established I was flying in commerce.
The Canadians use the term 'ESSENTIAL' as related to their country, not ours. They need jet traffic, but forget about the little guys- that is our loophole!
My phone won't do the app, so they had a paper I filled out. They were nice about it, just a part of the requirements. My phone did not work in most of Canada.
Things to know:
Tech. Stops are allowed- meaning stops required for safety of flight. Overnight, fuel, oil check... all ok. Stops to go fishing not so much. Know the term Tech Stop.
Canadians like Masks.
Don't have passengers. A jet might get away with a claim of two pilots, but a cub or 180 is going to be an issue. Their view is it is a pleasure, or unrequited, flight if you need two people.
Covid Test is NOT required for essential aircraft crew. be polite when you remind the Customs folks about that. I got asked, but they were pleasant and accepted my statement. Confirm with CANPASS when you call in though. (Again, ask about REQUIRED crew).
When in Canada, please remember that how you treat the rules they set out for travel will directly impact those traveling behind you. Make haste and get through. Don't wander around town, even though no one is checking on you. The big border lockdown a year ago was because folks were found vacationing in their national parks, not traveling through as they were told. Let's not give them an excuse to separate little planes from Jets in their rules.
FYI: Kelowna Customs took about 10 minutes, including having me fill out the form.
On another note, Williams Lake is a $40 cab ride each way to town. Not spending another night there if I can help it. Nice people, but sucky tiedowns and expensive to go to and from town.
Smithers allowed me to use grass to depart, so if you are going through there, you can ask for grass!
Update on the TRENCH route:
Update from pilot who just flew the Trench route this week in a C-172. I'll also post this on http://fly2ak.com
Sigh, it seems the BC government (?) took over the fuel ops at McKenzie CYZY. Vicki and Jim are no longer there.
No more 100LL. Limited Jet A.
More importantly, no more free ice cream cones from Vicki and Jim.
Closest reasonable fuel is Quesnel CYQZ, unless one wants to literally get screwed at Prince George CYXS. Last time I stopped at Prince George even the fuel truck guys recommended getting absolute minimum needed to safely reach the next closest stop. And if one were to purchase more than 49.9 liters there was a surcharge!
Dropping McKenzie effectively adds 160 miles to the required fuel range. Total distance now from Quesnel to Watson Lake CYQH is 553 sm.
Apparently 90 octane MOGAS is available on an emergency basis at Fort Graham CBW3.