Shafted by the Transport Canada?

The issue was resolved in a discussion with a manager at Transport
Canada. I explained how I had tried to gather proof of the filing and
activation of the flight plan and how I had filed and activated plans
for all the other legs in Canada. Also, I explained how I had even
tried to close the flight plan after landing in Canada.

The regional manager dropped the case stating there was insufficient
evidence. I found the officials in Canada very responsive to my calls
(unlike the FOIA people) and the issue was resolved a lot quicker than
I expected. The bottom line is you might want to file IFR if going to
Canada.






Ken Chaddock wrote:
wrote:

This morning I received a letter from Transport Canada informing me I
am being fined $250 for not filing a flight plan. I had flown from
Minot, ND to Regina, Canada on July 30, 2005. I had meticulously
planned the flight using the AOPA webpage on the subject (got all the
radio station permits, customs decal, etc.). I am absolutely sure that
I had filed and activated a VFR flight plan for that flight. I had a
squawk code and was getting flight following, but when I landed in
Canada the FSS couldn't find my flight plan to close it. I was
informed of the investigation by a phone call about a month after the
flight. Conveniently for Transport Canada, Minot ATC erases their
tapes after two weeks according to the manager of the Minot FSS. I
submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Great
Lakes Regional FSS as soon as I heard of the investigation in September
2005. As expected, Great Lakes said they don't keep records long
enough to fill my request. BTW, they were terrible to deal with. The
FOIA woman never answers her phone and never returned any of my calls.
The only response from Great Lakes FSS was a letter in February 2006
saying they no longer had records for that time period.

So, basically Canada says I didn't file a flight plan and I don't have
any way of proving that I did. Anybody have any ideas on how to
dispute this or had a similar experience? (AOPA Legal was no help.
Their only suggestion was the FOIA request.)

Thanks,
Bob

Well Bob I'm sorry for you, but it doesn't sound much to me like you
are being shafted by Transport Canada more so by Minot FSS, Great Lakes
Regional FSS and the "FOIA woman" who won't answer or return your calls.
What do you expect Transport Canada to do...take your word for it ?
They have no record of your flight plan...considering the level of
service you've received from you own FSS people so far I'd speculate
that it probably wasn't passed on to NavCan...and now your own FSS
people can't/won't confirm that you actually DID file one...from
Transport Canada's perspective you NEVER DID file a flight plan...

...Ken

Recently, posted:

The issue was resolved in a discussion with a manager at Transport
Canada. I explained how I had tried to gather proof of the filing and
activation of the flight plan and how I had filed and activated plans
for all the other legs in Canada. Also, I explained how I had even
tried to close the flight plan after landing in Canada.

The regional manager dropped the case stating there was insufficient
evidence. I found the officials in Canada very responsive to my calls
(unlike the FOIA people) and the issue was resolved a lot quicker than
I expected. The bottom line is you might want to file IFR if going to
Canada.

Out of curiosity... what is the difference between filing IFR vs. VFR for
such flights? The problem you ran into appears to be a loss of
documentation that you had filed, not which way you had filed. The
procedure that I follow is to contact CanPass as part of the flight
planning. At that point, they know you've filed, and the details of those
records stand for a long time.

Neil