Toronto (February 28, 2019) – In March 2019, NAV CANADA will retire the only turboprop aircraft from its Flight Inspection Aircraft (FIA) fleet, which undertakes routine flight inspections two to three times per year at over 130 airports in Canada, including Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport.
 
Flight inspections support safe operations at the airport by ensuring navigational aids are calibrated and functioning optimally and by certifying instrument procedures used by pilots. NAV CANADA currently has three aircraft for conducting these routine flight inspections across Canada: One De Havilland Dash 8-100 (DH8-100) turboprop aircraft, which is similar to the aircraft in daily use at Billy Bishop Airport, and two Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ-100).
 
Historically, the turboprop had been used by NAV CANADA to conduct flight inspections at Billy Bishop Airport. However, the DH8-100 is nearing the end of its lifecycle and can no longer flight check some newer procedure types that are currently being deployed in Canada and around the world. As such, in the next few weeks, the DH8-100 will be decommissioned and NAV CANADA will rely solely on its two CRJ-100 jet aircraft to conduct all flight checks in Canada, regardless of whether or not jet aircraft are presently in use at the airport undergoing inspection.
 
The CRJ-100 will neither land nor take-off from the Billy Bishop Airport runway, as this is not required for flight checks, but it will undertake certain procedures in Billy Bishop Airport’s airspace, thereby maintaining compliance with the 1983 Tripartite Agreement, which restricts what type of aircraft can operate at Billy Bishop Airport.
 
The first flight inspection by NAV CANADA using the CRJ-100 is currently planned for June 2019. More information on the date and time will be provided when confirmed. For more information on this change from NAV CANADA please review this NAV CANADA presentation that was delivered to the Community Liaison Committee on March 6, 2019.