Canada was built on the spirit of northern flying . . .

Safety then as now was a concern.  

Entrepreneurial spirit, determination and just plain guts were words associated with the development of air service in Canada’s north. Names like Wop May, Punch Dickins, George Gorman, Max Ward, William Munroe Archibald, John Austin and Harry Kennedy among others bring to mind developing and pioneering air service to otherwise poorly accessible regions of this vast nation. For a large portion of this country, air service is still by and large their primary means for service and connection with the rest of the country and world. For many communities everything from mail through to food, water, fuel, medical supplies and even manufacturing support and people is delivered or moved point to point by some sort of air service.

Start with a look back . . .

By the 1960s and early 70s, remote flying was an established and growing service but still somewhat rustic in comparison to today. Jim Morrison is well known to many in the aviation world. While today he is the Managing Director of Toronto based Partner Jet Inc., Jim is one of the guys who earned his way up the aviation ladder through a succession of jobs – starting with flying on the unimproved, underserviced and high demand routes of the day in the North. “I spent the very first years of my career working for Russ Bradley at Bradley Air Services based in Carp Ontario” says Morrison.  After flying aerial survey on Beech 18s, Aero Commanders and DC3’s across North and South America and Africa, Jim headed to Northern Quebec and flew first for Survair and then Air Inuit. “We ran a scheduled charter service in those days with Twin Otters , DC3 and Canso aircraft. The scheduled flights happened 6 days a week typically. The run started in Fort Chimo (Kuujuac now) covered Payne Bay Koartak, Wakenham Bay and Sugluc with stops in Leaf Bay and Aupaluk. All of these communities have new names now. The airstrips in the 70s were anywhere from 800’ to 1200’, gravel with only NBD approaches and limited weather information along the coast. We would fly the schedule with either the Twin Otter or the DC3 and be on call for medevacs through the nights.

Cargo work was steady too. The freight loads needed to be moved as well as the mail and fresh groceries. Charters came up on a regular basis and medevacs happened at least 4 or 5 times a week mostly late a night and often in inclement weather - which added to the excitement. I volunteered for many of the medevac trips as it broke the boredom of the staff house.”

“Turn over was high. Pilots typically flew in the north to build hours and move on to the airlines. The average age of pilots up north then was roughly 35 and the majority were in their mid 20s as I was.  For training, we did an in house course on the Twin Otters, DC3s but the HS748s were done at Eastern Provincial Airways (EPA). EPA was the first formal training I saw in the early years and it was exceptional. There was no pressure put on pilots to perform but it was very competitive in those days. There was a lot of pride in completing flights and getting the job done. Each pilot had his or her own set of limitations and stayed within them carefully. The accidents we saw while flying up there and there were a few, mainly were the result of inexperience or lack of cockpit resource management.”

And today . . .

In speaking with pilots and operators today it seems that while the flying hardware has changed, the runways may now be a bit longer and overall the flight ops are supported by broader reaching nav aids, but the basic work and sort of operators along with the people they attract to their jobs is by and large unchanged. Some northern operators have, at their own expense, implemented on-site improvements at some strips including lighting and radios – complete with a locally trained resident to operate and provide real time observations of local conditions.

Technology on the other hand is the one area where there has been a dramatic shift – and one that affords operators a new level of insight and resulting safety as they try their best to support the vast outlying regions of this country. The introduction of new avionics technologies has allowed for a vastly improved level of safety in these operational models. The problem is that while the technology is available, many operators have elected not to introduce or incorporate these options. But all that could be about to change.

The flight into terrain incident involving Keystone Air at Spirit Lake in January of this year was the third incident for the airline since 2000 and the second involving fatalities. And they are not alone. This was in fact the latest in a rash of incidents over the last few years involving smaller airlines that are by all rights hard working and provide invaluable and much needed service into remote communities. These incidents have raised the question of training and the use – or lack of – modern nav aids in the types of aircraft typically used in this sort of operation. What the Spirit Lake incident has brought into the spotlight are a series of issues related to single pilot commercial operations, the challenges of working from unimproved local airstrips and the use of newer technology in the cockpit to aid pilot operations. The use and application of SMS has also been questioned.

Transport Canada was already in the process of changing some of the requirements related to aircraft that are most commonly used in this sort of flight operation. What Spirit Lake and other incidents over the last year did was simply bring the attention of many to an issue that has been smoldering for quite some time. Ask anyone in the avionics world and they will state with certainty that 2012 will be the year that things change. Transport Canada has published Advisory Circular AC 600-003 for Terrain Awareness Warning System (TAWS) regulations. As they report, from 1977 to 2009, 35 airworthy aeroplanes were flown into the ground while under pilot control. Known as controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) accidents, the reported numbers show 100 fatalities and 46 serious injuries as a result of these CFITs. As TC state “To date, risk information alone has not motivated all of the Canadian aviation industry to voluntarily equip key passenger aircraft with existing technologies that would help mitigate risks associated to CFITs.”

The current proposed regulatory amendment (as of writing this article) will introduce requirements for the installation of Terrain Awareness Warning Systems (TAWS) equipped with an Enhanced Altitude Accuracy (EAA) function in private turbine-powered aeroplanes configured with six or more passenger seats, excluding pilot seats, and in commercial aeroplanes configured with six or more passenger seats, excluding pilot seats. The Gazette from TC goes on to state that operators would have two years from the date on which the Regulations come into force to equip their aeroplanes with TAWS and five years to equip with EAA. Norm Matheis, Universal Avionics’ regional manager for Canada feels that  “This is positive change in real terms in safety of flight for remote operations. Our top Canadian Universal dealers are seeing an upswing in hangar bookings now for TAWS mods, in anticipation of the publishing of the TAWS rule in Canada Gazette II this year”.

A TAWS Class A system provides the highest level of protection. It will be required in Commuter CAR 704 Aeroplanes configured with 10 or more passenger seats, excluding pilot seats, and in all aeroplanes operating under subpart 705 for airline operations.

The Class B system has less capability and will be required for private turbine-powered aeroplanes configured with 6 or more seats, excluding pilot and co-pilot. It will also be mandatory on all commercial subpart 703 air taxi aeroplanes configured with 6 or more passenger seats, as well as Commuter subpart 704 Aeroplanes configured with 6 to nine passenger seats, excluding pilot and co-pilot.

Norm Matheis, Regional Marketing Manager – Canada – with Universal Avionics Systems has a lot of experience in helping with northern flight ops. His firm have been pioneers in the WAAS system introduction and implementation of numerous aircraft in this country. In looking at northern flight op safety as a whole, Matheis says: “Today we still see some air operators in the north operating without CFIT protection apart from their flight crew using MK I eyeball.  Some of these aircraft are not even equipped with legacy Ground Prox.  What is a bit puzzling is that some of these same aircraft ARE however fitted with TCAS at a hardware cost approximately three times that of TAWS.  TCAS monitors the airspace around an aircraft for other aircraft equipped with a transponder, independent of air traffic control, and warns pilots of the presence of other transponder-equipped aircraft that may present a threat of mid-air collision.  It’s well documented that as a pilot you have 10 to 100 times the probability of flying into the ground unexpectedly than you do hitting another aircraft in mid-air. That’s a sobering fact.  And, the problem with TCAS (with no GPWS or TAWS) is the possibility that a recommended avoidance maneuver might direct the crew to descend toward terrain below a safe altitude.  Requirements for incorporation of TAWS ground proximity warning mitigate this risk.  TAWS ground proximity warning alerts have priority in the cockpit over TCAS alerts (windshear alerting has the highest priority, if so equipped).”

According to Norm classic GPWS that have provided a last line of defense from a CFIT incident have been available for well over thirty-five years.  Don Bateman, a Canadian-born engineer, developed and is credited with the invention of GPWS. Since 1974, when the US FAA made it a requirement for large aircraft to carry ground prox, there has not been a single passenger fatality in a CFIT crash by a large jet in US airspace. “Universal TAWS with its’ unique Terrain Awareness modes in addition to standard GPWS modes has been available since 2000.  TAWS will provide crews with a warning of terrain ahead of the aircraft as well as classic GPWS warnings.”

 

Universal TAWS was also designed to complement well-known Universal UNS-1 WAAS Flight Management Systems (wFMS).  Integration with the FMS provides an additional unique predictive alerting feature of Universal TAWS, based on knowing where the aircraft will be later in the flight plan.   Universal TAWS uses aircraft inputs such as position, attitude, air speed and glideslope, along with internal terrain and airport databases to predict a potential conflict between the aircraft's future flight path and terrain.  The resulting unprecedented look-ahead capability can provide warnings and alerts well in advance of potential hazards, allowing time for the pilot to make the necessary maneuvers or data corrections for terrain avoidance.  UNS-1 FMS also supports true track navigation in Northern Domestic Airspace and has gravel runways loaded in the navigation database. The Equal Time Point/Point of No Return pages of UNS-1 specifically benefits northern Canada remote ops.

Norm is far from alone when it comes to options and qualified opinions related to CFIT incidents and their prevention. According to Frank Dennis – Field Aviation Sales Representative, Avionics Sales and Service - many affordable options exist for smaller operators big and small who are looking to improve safety. “They can do so by providing their flight crews with additional tools in the cockpit. As an example Garmin’s new GTN Series of standalone GPS units and GPS/Nav/Com units come standard with high-resolution terrain graphics and WAAS capabilities. Full TAWS-B capability is available as an option and graphical weather and traffic upgrades are available. This allows operators to determine what features are most important to their specific operations and add other features as budget and other operational considerations allow.”

Dennis also points to Avidyne’s TAS 600 Traffic Advisory System series that covers a wide range of aircraft.  They are compatible with many different manufactures displays, meaning operators may not need to upgrade cockpit displays to add this capability. And as Dennis notes, these systems can be purchased for under $30,000.00 installed, depending on what add-ons (traffic, weather, etc.) operators choose to purchase.  “With mandatory TAWS regulations coming into force soon, now is an excellent time for operators to research what options are available to them” he adds.

Collins Radio, now Rockwell Collins, has been manufacturing and selling radio equipment since the early 30’s. Rockwell Collins Commercial System products are in a broad spectrum of aircraft, from communication, navigation and surveillance equipment in turbo prop aircraft, to their Pro Line Fusion system used in intercontinental corporate jet aircraft.

According to John Peterson, Director of Avionics Marketing for Rockwell Collins, “We do have cost-effective solutions for making light business/commercial air travel safer in remote areas.  Rockwell Collins offers services and products that can assist pilots and operators in these situations, from training and airborne warning systems, to complete cockpit upgrades that take advantage of the latest technologies.”   

One example that Peterson provides is the Rockwell Collins ALT-1000 (radar altimeter). It measures height above terrain up to 2,500 feet and it is accurate to within 2 feet at the critical low altitudes. The instrument provides a second altitude check for a pilot, by giving absolute altitude from the ground as well as providing information for alerting functions, such as DH.  “It's robust - it is certified for Category II landings” he says.

Rockwell Collins TCAS system is something else to consider in a modern cockpit according to John. “TCAS II works by interrogating the ATC transponders of other nearby aircraft, to determine and display their altitudes, ranges and relative positions. If necessary, they compute and display a recommended vertical avoidance maneuver to ensure safe separation. Rockwell Collins, in conjunction with Bristow Helicopters, now offers a turn-key package to install and certify TCAS II on Rotary Wing platforms.”

The Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics suite is no stranger to Canadian skies. It integrates different functions, including TAWS and EVS.  According to Peterson, Pro Line 21 offers cost-effective EVS solutions that can prove valuable during dark hole approaches, dark taxi, and low visibility conditions.

In terms of the future, he points to the Rockwell Collins HGS-3500 (Head-up Guidance System) solution for turboprops and light jets. “This will further improve flight operations by keeping pilots’ eyes forward and outside the aircraft with synthetic vision, EVS and flight guidance cues” says John.

When all is said and done, it is clear that the ability of northern flight operators to provide enhanced and reliable service to their clients and communities with the aid of improved safety and efficiency is readily available. The avionics aids are on the market now can and do make a big difference and more are coming soon. Cost is always a consideration for these operators. As some travellers have reported, a ticket on one these smaller, regional type airlines can easily cost as much if not more as one on the major carriers between hub cities. For those who feel cost is factor, many of the avionics manufacturers will find ways to work with the operators to provide incentives and financing options – for those who qualify. So be totally blunt, not one life should ever be lost again for sake of a few dollars worth of technology and some training. The pending rule change from Transport Canada is simply making the reality of this something more tangible for an invaluable category and area of aviation service and support in Canada.