One More Take at Pilot Use of Cellular Phone
What started as a "Letter to The Editor" in Issue 1/99 of the Aviation Safety Letter is now a permanent change in A.I.P. Canada. A new paragraph in the communications section, COM 5.14, has been added in amendment 2/2000 of the A.I.P., which addresses pilot cellular phone usage during a radio communications failure. It says that in the event of an in-flight radio communications failure, and only after normal communications failure procedures have been followed, the pilot-in-command may attempt to contact the appropriate NAV CANADA air traffic service (ATS) unit by means of a cellular phone. Before the pilot commences using a cellular phone to contact ATS in the event of an in-flight communications failure, transponder-equipped aircraft should squawk Code 7600. The reference to cellular phones in COM Annex B 1-1 has also been removed. Finally, the phone numbers of area control centres, control towers and flight service station (FSS) will be published in the Canada Flight Supplement.