Olympic Airspace Restrictions make for Interesting Times

As the new pattern of flight training operations have emerged following the imposition of the restricted airspace, it is clear that we can say that these are interesting times for pilots on the Lower Mainland.  While the first day certainly seemed chaotic as our Flight Instructor staff flew “probe” flights to Chilliwack, Abbotsford, and Bellingham, we have since settled into pretty well predictable patterns of operations, thanks especially to the folks at the Kamloops Flight Information Centre (Pacific Radio) who have had to administer a complex array of flight plan openings and closures, as well as the associated transponder squawk codes—well done to these hardworking folks.  Most round-robin training flights must be planned around two flights plans—outbound and inbound—and the inbound (return) plan must be activated with an assigned transponder code 15 minutes prior to crossing the CYR’s 30-mile marker.  We have settled into the pattern of treating the CYR 185’s Victoria Monitor as an outer controller.  Like the Kamloops Flight Service Specialists, the folks at Vancouver Centre have been stellar in setting up a well organized transition pathway through the restricted airspace.

(From the Chief Flying Instructor's Page, February, 2010)