Calgary airport procedures

Airspace

Calgary airport is a class D airport. The 7nm control zone (D) extends to 5700ft ASL.

The Calgary TCA is class C from 5800 to 12500 and class B above 12500 to below 18000 within a 35 mile radius of the airport.

Click here to see the VFR Terminal chart for a close up of the Calgary control zone.



Frequencies

Sector ID Radio Callsign Frequency Airspace
CYYC_APP Calgary Arrivals 125.90 The Calgary TCA, towards the arrivals half of the TCA
CYYC_DEP Calgary Departures 119.80 The Calgary TCA, towards the departures half of the TCA
CYYC_TWR Calgary Tower 118.40 The Calgary Control zone.
CYYC_GND Calgary Ground 121.90 All taxiways.
CYYC_DEL Calgary Clearance 121.30 None

Note: See the Calgary TCU page for Terminal/Arrival/Departure procedures.


Noise abatement procedures

Noise abatement procedures exist at Calgary at all times. Please see charts for complete noise abatement procedures.
Bear in mind all times are local (UTC -07/-06 in summer)


Clearance

An agreement has been set up between the airport and the TCU allowing the Clearance controller to issue IFR clearances without requesting them from Terminal. In this arrangement the prefix "ATC clears" will be dropped, as the clearance is not being relayed. Also the phrase "Clearance on request" should not be used, as this implies that you are waiting for someone to give you the clearance. If you have to delay the clearance use something along the lines of "Standby, I'll call you" .

To co-ordinate the smooth flow of aircraft away from departing airport area all departing aircraft must comply with the following routing restrictions.

Route / Clear direct
Direction
  
Route / Clear direct
Direction
V112 / J537 GELLE North   V306 YRM North West
DCT NUDET North East   V304 / J508 SPRAE West
V304 / J504 YEA East   V305 / J505 DYSON South West
V305 / J485 YXH South East   J537 HAYDN South
      V21 / J478 DARWN South

All Jet aircraft are to be cleared by the Stampede One (S1) Standard Instrument departure.
All non-Jet aircraft are to be cleared by the Calgary Nine (C9) Standard Instrument departure.

Squawk codes

  • Internal flights (flights remaining in the Edmonton FIR): 4240-4257
  • External flights (flights leaving the Edmonton FIR): 2140-2157
  • VFR Remaining within the Calgary TCA: 1240-1257

Ground

Standard ground procedures apply.


Tower

Runway configurations

Preferred Runways are as follows (local time)

All hours - 34

0700 > 2300 - Mon-Fri Departures 34, 28
2300 > 0700 - Mon-Fri Departures 34
2300 > 0700 - Mon-Fri Arrivals 16, 28, 25

0900 > 2300 - Weekend Departures 34, 28
2300 > 0900 - Weekend Departures 34
2300 > 0900 - Weekend Arrivals 18, 28, 25

Departures

A permanent agreement is in place with the Banff TCU which places the responsibility of ensuring the initial separation and release of IFR traffic with the Tower. The required radar wake turbulence separation minima must be ensured by the Tower controller and is described in MANOPS section 533.2. Besides providing the radar/wake turbulence separation between departures, the Tower controller must ensure that the initial separation between aircraft does not decrease. Factors such as aircraft performance and pilot technique vary even in the real world so be wary when attempting to run departures with minimum spacing, especially when departing a jet behind a prop, even if their wake category are the same.

On Departure IFR traffic is handed to "Calgary Departures" with the take-off clearance.

Arrivals

Though it is a responsibility of the Arrival controller to provide the appropriate separation between successive arrivals on final approach, responsibility for spacing between arriving aircraft is transferred to the Tower automatically once the aircraft crosses the Final Approach Fix (FAF).
With the use of radar the Tower assumes control of arrivals at the FAF regardless of the weather conditions. See MANOPS section 362.5 for the proper control transfer procedures.

If using IvAi in conjunction with FS to operate a visual tower viewpoint you may decrease the 3 nm separation of aircraft on final provided both aircraft are in sight. Aircraft conducting visual approaches in accordance with MANOPS section 566 and 567 are responsible for maintaining their own separation.

On Arrival traffic will be handed off to Tower once established on the approach, at or slightly before the FAF.

VFR traffic

Arrivals
VFR traffic will be transferred to tower prior to entering the control zone.

Departures
Assign a maximum altitude of 5,000 feet to all VFR departures. A higher altitude may be requested from Terminal.


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