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Today was a vacation day for me. One of the few that actually fell on a VFR day. What a great day it was too. A high pressure area over the mid Atlantic is keeping the nice weather us at least until this evening. Liz was on vacation too. The day was really shaping up nicely!
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While I was pondering where I would purchase the next $100 Tofu Burger, Liz suggested we try the Niagara Scenic flight. It is something that we’ve wanted to do for a while and what better day to do it than a day that’s in the low to mid 60’s, blue skies and all the kids in school! That settled it, Niagara Scenic it is.
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I took the AFD out of my flight bag to review the procedures. I’d never made this flight before and I wanted to make sure I complied with all of the published procedures. It’s not difficult by any means, A simple clockwise racetrack traffic pattern that’s outlined very well in the AFD. Maintain at or above 3500 MSL, get the altimeter from Niagara tower (or the ATIS if the tower is closed) and self announce on 122.05.
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Step (c) in the AFD says to contact Transport Canada for the flight restrictions in Canadian airspace. I think they say this because a US publication ought not be publishing Canadian restrictions, sort of a stepping on toes thing I guess. Anyway, Canada has their own version of the racetrack pattern with entry and exit points and the restrictions in place over their sovereign land. You would have to have a copy of the Canadian AFD to get it. I called Transport Canada and talked to a guy named Mark. He was kind enough to scan the page in question and email it to me. If you want to see it, click Here.
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 We launched and contacted approach. We told them of our intent to fly the Niagara Falls Scenic and requested transition. The controller cleared me for a mid-field transition and said to fly at or above 2500 feet. I climbed to 3500 and transitioned. When I was over KBUF I turned towards Niagara. Once I was dropped I contacted Niagara Tower for the altimeter. I told the tower of my intent to fly the scenic. I was waiting for someone to give me instructions on how to enter or what altitude to fly or something. Nothing. Nobody told me anything. I thanked the tower guy and switched over to 122.05. I should explain at this point that I didn’t need to get transition through the Niagara Class Delta since I was at 3800 feet at this point. The top of the Delta space is 3100 feet.
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Once over the southern point of Navy Island I announced my position and intention. I didn’t know what to say on call up so I just said “Niagara Scenic Traffic, Cessna 6279P over Navy Island, heading 281, 3800 feet inbound to join the pattern at the SouthWestern end”. It seemed to work, I heard a couple of helicopters announce. They typically are at 1500 feet although I heard one at 3000 feet. Now I was looking for the railroad yard. It’s tough to see since it’s straight down, but there is a river that runs south of the train yard that’s quite easy to spot. I headed right for that.
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 Once there I announced that I was turning northbound on the racetrack pattern at 3800 feet. I figured that I would announce at each end of the pattern. I flew the stated heading of 51 degrees although it seemed that a fairly strong wind was pushing me to the east, I turned to about 40 degrees and that seemed to solve the problem. Liz got out the camera and started taking pictures. What a spectacular sight! If you haven’t done this, by all means, do it!
Once you’re heading northeast bound, make sure you don’t go passed the Rainbow Bridge, It’s very easy to spot since it crosses the gorge right away after the falls. Do a normal 2-minute turn and head back for the train yard. You won’t see much on the way back. I announced that I was at the north end of the pattern turning southbound. I flew 240 degrees and it seemed to get me back to the right spot.
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 We made two more circuits before calling it a day. I exited to the east at the north end of the pattern since that was the direction back to Buffalo. Just follow the river!
Once again Buffalo transitioned me mid-field. I turned toward Lancaster and started descending. I like to fly south of the airport and come in on the 45 for 26 so that’s what I did. Two squeaks of the tires and another 9 tenths on the hobbs. Tomorrow may rain but I’m back to work anyway.
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