NAV CANADA Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ-100) Will Now Perform Flight Checks at Billy Bishop Airport

Toronto (June 3, 2019) – NAV CANADA undertakes routine flight inspections two to three times per year at more than 130 airports in Canada, including Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. In March 2019, NAV CANADA retired the only turboprop aircraft from its Flight Inspection Aircraft (FIA) fleet and will now use only the Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ-100) for all of its flight checks, including those undertaken at Billy Bishop Airport. The first flight check with the CRJ-100 at Billy Bishop Airport is scheduled for June 6, 2019, subject to favourable weather conditions.
 
The change in aircraft was announced in February 2019 and a presentation was provided by NAV CANADA to the Community Liaison Committee and posted to the PortsToronto website. For more information on this change in aircraft please reference this NAV CANADA presentation.
 
Background:
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 two Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ-100) aircraft for conducting these routine flight inspections across Canada.
 
Historically, a De Havilland Dash 8-100 (DH8-100) turboprop aircraft had been used by NAV CANADA to conduct flight inspections at Billy Bishop Airport. However, the DH8-100 reached the end of its lifecycle and could no longer flight check some newer procedure types that are currently being deployed in Canada and around the world. As such, the DH8-100 was decommissioned in March 2019, and NAV CANADA now relies 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. The aircraft will undertake certain procedures in Billy Bishop Airport’s airspace, but will maintain compliance with the 1983 Tripartite Agreement, which restricts what type of aircraft can land/take-off at Billy Bishop Airport.