Flight instructor reacts to possible loss of air traffic control in Regina

The air traffic control services at the Regina International Airport could be facing some changes, but one flight instructor believes the service should stay.

NAV Canada is performing a review of airports across the country, including Regina, about the level of service being provided.

“NAV Canada thinks Regina should be on that lower end of movements that require a lower level of service so when it is less-congested airspace, flight services is a very safe operation for sure,” said Rylan Grubb, the chief flight instructor at the Regina Flying Club.

“NAV Canada is saying this is all from pre-COVID numbers and from those numbers, anybody who operates in Regina really can’t understand why they would need or want to remove ATC. Ultimately we’re thinking it comes down to money and budgeting.

“NAV Canada is feeling a pinch as anybody in the aviation industry is right now and we’re just worried that’s going to compromise safety just for the need to save some money.”

He said NAV Canada is using a benchmark of 60,000 annual movements to determine if a site should continue to have ATC.

“In the past, it has never been an issue that Regina has been very close to that threshold,” Grubb said.

Grubb said current work done by air traffic control staff allows for more efficiency at the airport because it directs the planes and keeps them moving. It also allows the Regina Flying Club to get more training sessions in.

“It definitely allows us to get more movements in, which essentially allows us to be more efficient in our training and if we didn’t have that service, it would have an impact on our operations for sure, especially in peak operation times during the summer when we have air cadets and stuff train with us,” Grubb said.

He said the change would replace the air traffic control with Flight Services Stations.

“What Flight Service Stations can do, they’re more of an advisory service and that’s what NAV Canada is proposing should be implemented in Regina and basically, they leave it up to the pilots to decide what to do,” Grubb said.

“Flight services would advise on known traffic, so they may advise you that there’s other traffic in the area to watch out for but they are ultimately going to leave it up to the pilot on where they should go.”

While Regina is under that, Grubb said due to the wide variety of aircrafts that use Regina’s airspace — from training planes to large passenger aircraft to military planes — the ATC is a valuable tool to have.

“Some of the manoeuvres that the military aircrafts do are quite complex and that ties into the complexity of the situation with a lack of positive control, having pilots be able to decide where and when they should fit into the sequence. A very different manoeuvre happening from a military aircraft can cause issues,” Grubb said.

“Our big concern, same with the Airport Authority as well, with the reduced level of service, that makes our airport less desirable for some of the major airlines to come to as well so you may see a reduction in flights that want to come here. For our operation, we could still definitely operate; we just might see a slight decrease in efficiency for sure.”

And the change could affect flight students as well.

“There’s enough that they’ve got to worry about on their own and having air traffic control with that positive level of control and oversight over them definitely helps improve safety and their situational awareness,” Grubb said.

But while he thinks ATC should stay, he said Flight Services Stations can be safe when the airspace isn’t congested.

“Any good pilot, if they’re advised by flight services, they’re going to listen to that input that that flight services specialist has to offer,” he said, “but ultimately it’s up to the pilot to ensure they do follow that or take into consideration that advice.”

Regina mayor doesn’t want to see ATC services go

Regina Mayor Sandra Masters is also against the move by NAV Canada. She spoke on Gormley with guest host Mike Couros about the situation.

“I think it stifles our current growth plan. If we just leave COVID out of it and recovering from COVID, which will be crucial as well, we had significant growth in terms of movement coming into our airport. It meant that people were looking to locate or visit for business purposes. We had more and more opportunities being created,” Masters said.

According to the mayor, Regina receives about $800 million in economic impact from the airport. She said NAV Canada doesn’t expect there to be a safety concern from losing the service.

“They suggest there’s not because there’s other airports that are regional that have a different level of service that function just fine in terms of in and out,” Masters said.

“Ultimately if you’re looking for increased air traffic, it could prevent airlines from looking at us as a potential site to land in the future. That lack of service may prevent them from looking at us.”

And if companies in the future decide to not invest in Regina — or even pull some flights — Masters said people in southern Saskatchewan might take their money elsewhere.

“If you’re living in Weyburn, it’s an hour to us or it’s just a slightly longer drive to Minot and those direct flights from the United States. It’s that economic driver, the employment being local here. But it’s not just supporting the city of Regina, it’s supporting southern Saskatchewan,” Masters said.

She said she has spoken to other cities who will be affected and they are trying to come up with a co-ordinated effort to send a letter to Ottawa. She said other cities have spoken to neighbouring communities about how they could be affected as well.

“We’re going to kind of join together and write into the minister (of transport) as well in terms of it’s not just six of us, there’s an exponential impact in terms of reducing our tower service,” Masters said.