Vancouver Intl airport procedures

Procedures

Airspace

Vancouver airport is a class C airport. The 7nm control zone (C) extends to 2500ft ASL and is surrounded by a TCA extending up to 16'000ft. The TCA is class C transponder airspace below 12'500ft, then B above that.
As the TCA is merged with that of Victoria the shape is extremely irregular.

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

Squawk Codes

Internal flights (flights remaining inside the Vancouver FIR): 5101-5147
External flights (flights leaving the Vancouver FIR): 3701-3747

Frequencies

Callsign	Voice Callsign	Frequency	Airspace
CYVR_O_APP	Vancouver Arrivals	128.6	The Orange area as depicted on the diagram at the top of the page.
CYVR_I_APP	Vancouver Arrivals	133.1	The Green area as depicted in the close-up graphic. This position may only be opened if all other sectors are staffed.
CYVR_DEP	Vancouver Departures	132.3	The Blue area as depicted on the diagram at the top of the page. Departures manages all through traffic not landing in Vancouver. Workload permitting it may provide service for the Victoria sector as well.
CYVR_TWR	Vancouver Tower	118.70	7nm Control zone to 300ft ASL.
CYVR_GND	Vancouver Ground	121.70	All taxiways, excluding aprons.
CYVR_DEL	Vancouver Clearance	121.40	None

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

Noise abatement procedures

Such procedures exist at Vancouver. See CAP.

Clearances

No outbound routing restrictions have been defined yet. Make sure the route is a preferred route according to the CFS, if there is one. Otherwise, use your best judgment. Keep in mind the multiple other airports around.

Because the volume of traffic in Vancouver is big enough, there is no need to request clearances from the terminal or ACC. Therefore, the prefix "ATC clears" must not be used.

Ground

Standard ground procedures apply.

Tower

Runway configurations

All runways are available for arrival and departures. See noise abatement procedures for any restrictions.

Departures

Use standard separations for departures and take that responsability.

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.

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

Arrivals

Though it is a responsibility of the TCU/ACC to provide the appropriate separation between successive arrivals on final approach, responsibility for spacing between arriving aircraft may be transferred to the Tower 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 (or any leg for visual approaches) prior to entering the control zone. If TCU/ACC is offline, make sure the aircraft calls you in advance so you can start managing separation between other traffic as needed.

VFR traffic

Routing restrictions exist in Vancouver complex airspace. On IVAO however, it is up to the pilot to decide if he wants to follow them or not.

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

Departures
Restrictions should only be applied for separation with other IFR traffic. There are no pre-defined guidelines.