The issue of runway incursions is a hot topic in the aviation industry. COPA
has strongly recommended that Transport Canada increase runway layout knowledge
and safety at airports. The following is the most recent letter from COPA
president and CEO Kevin Psutka to John Maxwell, TC director, Aerodrome Safety.
"Some time ago I communicated with you concerning a safety initiative in
the United States to address runway incursions. AOPA has obtained, at no cost to
AOPA, the airport diagrams for all major airports in the U.S. and they are in
turn offered free of charge on-line for downloading. Pilots can easily and at no
cost avail themselves of diagrams to fully understand the airport into which
they will fly. To achieve this same level of understanding in Canada requires
the purchase of a Canada Flight Supplement, at a cost of $21.95 plus taxes and
shipping for one issue, valid for only 56 days. You can visit the page on AOPA’s
Web site where airport diagrams can be downloaded http://www.aopa.org/asf/taxi/
to see how it works.
"Now AOPA has taken this safety initiative one step further by offering, at
no cost to AOPA or its members, current approach plates. And topping this off is
other airport information. See the announcement and link to the search engine: http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2001/01-1-016.html.
And soon, all of this will be downloadable to a computer or Palm device for
carrying the entire database onboard an aircraft.
"AOPA can offer this service and future enhancements because all of the
data and diagrams are available in the public domain. AOPA simply downloads it
and repackages it for their members, thereby providing the most up-to-date
information at no cost. In Canada, we are told that although the data is
considered public domain, the charts, airport diagrams etc must be purchased. We
have discussed this with Geomatics Canada to find a cost-effective way to make
this safety information available but to date no solution has been found.
"I strongly believe that safety would be significantly enhanced, in these
times of increasing costs, if the information, developed with public money, were
made available in the same manner as in the U.S. COPA would be more than willing
to participate in establishing the system to disseminate the information and
link it with our U.S. counterparts so that the information is available on
either side of the border.
Let’s take an example from our friends to the south and find a way to make it
happen."