As labour shortages ground more flights and squeeze airline schedules, Sault College is ramping up to put a new generation of pilots in the cockpit. The
Article content NAV Canada is reviewing the airport’s service level. The controllers “manage the dance” between different types of aircraft including commercial flights, Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry aircraft and medevacs, says the chair of the college’s aviation program. Nine air traffic controllers cover an area of 10 nautical miles around the Sault airport. The control tower “helps manage all that conflict,” said Greg Farish during a media event Tuesday marking the arrival of a new training aircraft at the college’s airport hangar. The weather over Lake Superior recently “deteriorated quickly” on a day that was forecast to be “beautiful.
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Sault Ste. Marie Airport wants flight-control service at its site to be maintained because of an expected return to pre-pandemic traffic levels followed by additional growth driven by an expanded Sault College flight training program. NAV Canada, the private, non-profit corporation responsible for air traffic control, airport advisory services, weather briefings and aeronautical information, is reviewing service levels at six Canadian airports, including the Sault. The assessment is prompted by traffic volume. NAV Canada says annual movements at the airport, ranging from 55,225 to 62,228, are below, or at, the lower levels of guidelines for airport control services. Nine air traffic controllers cover an area of 10 nautical miles around the Sault airport 16 hours a day.