By Adam Hunt
COPA Members often ask about publications,
particularly whether you can be violated for carrying out-of-date publications.
As always, the answer is “that depends.” In this case it depends on what type of
flying you are doing.
For other than day-VFR flying the rules are pretty straightforward. CAR 602.60
(1) (b) says, in part, that the following is required:
“Where the aircraft is operated in VFR OTT [Over The Top], night VFR flight or
IFR flight, all of the necessary current aeronautical charts and publications
covering the route of the proposed flight and any probable diversionary route.”
That CAR does specify that the publications have to be “current.” That means,
for instance, that if you just landed at night (IFR or VFR) you could be asked
to produce publications, like the Canada Flight Supplement, that are not
date-expired.
What about day VFR flying, which is specifically excluded from CAR 602.60?
CAR 602.71 then is the governing rule. It says, in total:
“The pilot-in-command of an aircraft shall, before commencing a flight, be
familiar with the available information that is appropriate to the intended
flight.”
This implies that if you memorized the information you needed about the route
and frequencies, as many pilots do when local flying in an area that you are
very familiar with, that that is acceptable.
This is one of those rules that you prove you broke only after the fact by
tuning in an out-of-date frequency or getting lost because you didn’t have a map
with you!