Departure

We would like to remind everyone of the phone numbers below which are to be used to report suspicious activity. In NO WAY should these numbers be used maliciously or in hopes of gaining favourable advantage while out at Pearson Airport.  Remember to treat all security officials with respect and obey their instructions.

416-776-3033  Emergencies ONLY
416-776-3055 Non Emergency

Enroute

Airport Watch Groups visit CFB Trenton & CFD Mountainview:

On Wednesday October 12, 2005 members of both the Toronto and Ottawa Airport Watch groups came together to attend tours of CFB Trenton and CFD Mountainview.  YYZ Airport Watch member Steve Cos sent us a nice summary of the days events.  We also have two photo galleries that capture the days events.  Gallery One can be viewed by clicking here, the second can be found in Steve's summary below.

After some planning from the Ottawa and Toronto Airport Watch Groups we paid a combined visit to these two airbases on the 12th of October 2005. Special thanks goes to National Airport Watch Coordinator Cpl Jacques Brunelle of the RCMP, who managed to get the entire tour organized. Also honorable mention should go to Donald Buness and Peter Ivakitsch, of the Ottawa and Toronto Airport Watch's respectively for their assistance in the arranging of the two Watch Groups together. At the official meeting place at CFB Trenton, the Parade Grounds we met with Brian Dunn who stepped in for Peter as the YYZ Airport Watch Ambassador. After our briefing in one of the auditoriums we were handed off to Capt McPhee, 2Lt Morrain & Sgt Dennys. After dividing up in groups and handing out our visitor’s badges we were off to the ramp where the Polaris CC150’s are parked and a Hercules CC-130 was made available for our tour. We proceeded to visit 15001 the Official aircraft of the Prime Ministers Office. We were introduced to Capt Twa & Sgt Swyers, who gave us a marvelous tour. Every question was answered and the information was beyond what most of us expected. Some sat in the PM’s seat onboard and even in the flight deck. We even had a short tour of 005 in a Combi configuration, 56 seats and about 12 pallets when on assignment. Two of the aircraft are being retro fitted into aerial refueling aircraft to assist in the movement of Canadian Forces aircraft. Certification is still underway. Next stop was with Capts MacKwen & Tufenkdjian & Sgt Flemming and their CC-130 130337.  Again many questions and very thorough answers from this crew.

Our morning tour ended with a short walk to the base cafeteria and actually a great meal, we all enjoyed our stay at CFB Trenton. After lunch we headed to our cars for the 30 minute drive to CFD Mountainview. We were met by MWO Petit who is in charge of the operations at CFD Mountainview. He provided a quick overview of what goes on at this base and we entered the one hanger that is use for this operation. We were allowed free access to all aircraft on the ramps and many tour members took photographs as others were logging the aircraft. This took us about two and a half hours to complete. We completed our walk about and concluded with many thank you’s and handshakes showing our appreciation for our tour guides hard work. It was nice to see how much these folks in our Armed Forces enjoyed showing us around and I think many of us left with a greater respect for them, I know I did!

For a concise and photographic record of this tour, please visit YYZ Airport Watch member, Alexis Antonakis’ website at:  http://antonakis.ca/12102005.php    Outstanding log and record of what must be every aircraft at the two bases. Very nice job Alexis!

Many thanks to all the organizers and members for making this a memorable tour!

Calgary aviation enthusiasts set to launch Airport Watch program:

With the assistance of local authorities and the national airport watch coordinator,  an airport watch program is in the works for enthusiasts in Calgary.  The following was extracted from an e-mail I received outlining some of the progress and early observations of the programs reception by authorities.

At a meeting on Oct. 30 with the YYC Airport Authority where the latest Airport Watch PPT presentation was shown to their head of Communications and Safety Programmes. They are very much convinced of the advantages of the program and appear to agree that it can be implemented without too much effort on any one entity. Of note is that this authority is already much aware of spotters at their airport and have not, to their knowledge, chased them away and in fact have built a large paved parking area with painted metal park signs with silhouette of aircraft / carriers that fly to YYC. They also have tables and animal proof trash bins for them.

The same presentation was shown to four Transport Canada Security Inspectors at YYC who all wholehearted agreed that such a deterrence even from volunteers does add to the security of the airport. In effect, they too are ready to support any such initiative.

The head of Calgary Police Service, Airport Unit was made aware of the program and if the authority supports they will too.

Three weeks prior, the same presentation was given to the Coastal / Airport Watch provincial coordinators for all of Canada who had met in Calgary for the annual meet. They too support the program in general. The local coordinator, who is an RCMP investigator at YYC, has called to see if he can initiate our program at YYC. He indicated that he knows already some of the spotters there at YYC. He agreed that the way the "Ottawa Model" was implemented at Pearson was the way to go too at YYC. That would be to form the core group of spotters, and then work with the authority to finalize the program.

As more details become available and things get off the ground, we will provide a point of contact in Calgary for interested local enthusiasts.  All in all, this is great news.

The YYZ Airport Watch group committee are very pleased with the progress thus far.  We appreciate your patience and understanding as we pursue this initiative forward step by step. We would also like to thank the GTAA and Peel Regional Police  for working with us to see that our program is a success for all.

We do want to remind all members, that while progress has been made, it by no means gives any one of us the freedom to do as we please. 
ALL RULES AND REGULATIONS MUST BE OBEYED.
Members are to treat authorities with respect and obey their instructions.

Until next time, your continued support is much appreciated.

E-mail:  admin@airportwatchcanada.com

Ph: 416-674-5959 - Mr. Andrew Cline

Website:  www.airportwatchcanada.com