Trouble filing IFR to Canadian Airports

[Andrew Sarangan]

I've made this flight many times before and never encountered this
before. I filed from my home airport (MGY) to PT(which is an NDB) to
CYKZ using DUATS. Everything went fine. When I called for my
clearance, they didn't have anything on me. So I departed VFR, and
tried calling again. Still no luck. They tried manually entering my
flight, but then said they had trouble entering my Canadian waypoint
and destination so I better call Flight Service. I filed with FSS and
called ATC again, but still ATC had nothing for me. I called FSS
again. Now he says his computer would not take CYKZ or PT, and the
only way he could do this is if I provided the lat/lon for these
places. After shuffling through a lot of mess, I found the co-
ordinates for CYKZ and read the numbers. I said forget the enroute
waypoint; I'll go direct. After nearly one hour after departure I
finally got my clearance. It was good time too because we were in IMC
not too long after that.

I was totally puzzled by this. Since when did Canadian airports and
navaids disappear from US computers?

[Robert M. Gary]

On Jun 1, 8:52*pm, Andrew Sarangan > wrote:
> I've made this flight many times before and never encountered this
> before. I filed from my home airport (MGY) to PT(which is an NDB) to
> CYKZ using DUATS. Everything went fine. When I called for my
> clearance, they didn't have anything on me. So I departed VFR, and
> tried calling again. Still no luck. They tried manually entering my
> flight, but then said they had trouble entering my Canadian waypoint
> and destination so I better call Flight Service. I filed with FSS and
> called ATC again, but still ATC had nothing for me. I called FSS
> again. Now he says his computer would not take CYKZ or PT, and the
> only way he could do this is if I provided the lat/lon for these
> places. After shuffling through a lot of mess, I found the co-
> ordinates for CYKZ and read the numbers. I said forget the enroute
> waypoint; I'll go direct. After nearly one hour after departure I
> finally got my clearance. It was good time too because we were in IMC
> not too long after that.
>
> I was totally puzzled by this. Since when did Canadian airports and
> navaids disappear from US computers?

I've done this by filing an international flight plan. Is that what
you are doing or are you trying to file an FAA IFR plan? The
international is the long form that asks about ADF, VORs, etc
installations.

-Robert

[Andrew Sarangan]

On Jun 4, 3:09*pm, "Robert M. Gary" > wrote:
> On Jun 1, 8:52*pm, Andrew Sarangan > wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > I've made this flight many times before and never encountered this
> > before. I filed from my home airport (MGY) to PT(which is an NDB) to
> > CYKZ using DUATS. Everything went fine. When I called for my
> > clearance, they didn't have anything on me. So I departed VFR, and
> > tried calling again. Still no luck. They tried manually entering my
> > flight, but then said they had trouble entering my Canadian waypoint
> > and destination so I better call Flight Service. I filed with FSS and
> > called ATC again, but still ATC had nothing for me. I called FSS
> > again. Now he says his computer would not take CYKZ or PT, and the
> > only way he could do this is if I provided the lat/lon for these
> > places. After shuffling through a lot of mess, I found the co-
> > ordinates for CYKZ and read the numbers. I said forget the enroute
> > waypoint; I'll go direct. After nearly one hour after departure I
> > finally got my clearance. It was good time too because we were in IMC
> > not too long after that.
>
> > I was totally puzzled by this. Since when did Canadian airports and
> > navaids disappear from US computers?
>
> I've done this by filing an international flight plan. Is that what
> you are doing or are you trying to file an FAA IFR plan? The
> international is the long form that asks about ADF, VORs, etc
> installations.
>
> -Robert- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

No, I filed an FAA flight plan using DUATS. It worked every single
time in the past. I have even filed FROM Canada to the US using DUATS
and it has always worked. This time, DUATS accepted it, but nothing
got transmitted to ATC. I am going to try again on my way back this
weekend. It could have been a temporary glitch.

[Andrew Sarangan]

Well, I filed CYKZ to KBUF using DUATS and the tower at CYKZ had my
IFR clearance without any problems. So the problem appears to be with
FSS and ATC. They were unable to enter the Canadian destinations, but
DUATS seems do the job.

[Paul Tomblin]

In a previous article, Andrew Sarangan > said:
>I was totally puzzled by this. Since when did Canadian airports and
>navaids disappear from US computers?

Not quite the same thing, but every time I fly IFR to Ottawa, I get told
to fly the CYRIL SEVEN STAR. But DUATS and Flight Service won't accept
CYRIL as a waypoint, so I file to ART, then direct. And as I get close to
ART, Wheeler-Sack Approach comes on the air and says "I have a revised
clearance for you", and then clears me to fly to CYRIL and then the CYRIL
SEVEN arrival.


--
Paul Tomblin > http://blog.xcski.com/
[Y]ou should write for the comprehension of the next programmer who
looks at your code, keep it clean and sensible, and *not* play
any obscure Jedi mind-tricks. -- Anthony de Boer