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Airspace

Runway 05 - 06L/R active Runway 15L/R active Runway 23 - 24L/R active Runway 33L/R active

Toronto airport is a class C airport. The 7nm control zone (C) extends to 2500ft ASL and is surrounded by a TCA extending up to FL230. The TCA is class C transponder airspace below 12'500ft, and B, then A above that.
Max radius is 26nm centred over the Toronto airport.

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

The Toronto TCA also covers the Buttonville (CYKZ), City Centre (CYTZ), Downsview (CYZD), and Brampton (CNC3) airports, and the terminal control unit is responsible for providing service for Hamilton (CYHM), Kitchner-Waterloo (CYKF), and Oshawa (CYOO) airports and their surrounding area.

Frequencies

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

Noise abatement procedures

Noise abatement procedures exist at Toronto Pearson during the day (0700-2300 local), as well as at night (2300-0700 local). Please see charts for complete noise abatement procedures.
Bear in mind all times are local (UTC -5/-4 in summer).

Clearance

Due to the volume of traffic departing Pearson 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.
Furthermore when parallel east/west runway operations are in use the departure runway will depend on the aircraft's route, not location on the field.
The exceptions to this rule include MEDEVAC or any other priority flights and aircraft that need a longer departure runway due to operational requirements. For example long-range transatlantic flights unable to depart any of 06L/R or 24L/R due to insufficient length would have to be assigned a longer departure runway such as 33R or 05/23. In non-routine cases such as these, co-ordination with the Tower and Ground controller is essential.

All IFR flights are to be cleared via a Standard Instrument departure. Which one you use depends on the active runway, type of aircraft, and time of day.

Enter the SID followed by runway identifier in the Cleared Waypoint field when issuing clearance:

• Runway 05 / 23: N
• Runway 06L / 15L: L
• Runway 24R / 33R: R

Example: Lester 7 from runway 23 -> L7N

Squawk codes

• Internal flights (flights remaining inside the Toronto FIR): 4301-4337
• External flights (flights leaving the Toronto FIR): 2201-2237 / 6340-6377

Ground

Standard ground procedures apply.

If two ground positions are in operation you may clear the aircraft all the way to it's destination, provided standard taxi routes are followed. In any other case the aircraft will be cleared to a point within the controller's area of responsibility.
Always hand-off before the aircraft enters the other ground's area of responsibility.

If no aprons are open North Ground manages T3 apron, and South ground manages the T1/T2 aprons.

Pearson ground is quite complex in reality and it is not necessary for it to be duplicated to the same degree with the typical traffic loads online. However, to help simulate reality and for consistency the following are some general guidelines:

• Taxiway Alpha is dedicated as a northbound taxiway
• Taxiway Bravo is dedicated as a southbound taxiway
• Taxiway Delta always flows eastbound east of runway 33R
• AJ and AK are the outbound points from Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 aprons
• AL is the inbound point for Terminal 1, and Terminal 3 gates C34 and higher
• When departing runway 05 or 06L, all T2 departures leave the apron at AM
• When departing runway 05, taxiways Echo and Golf are used to reach runway 05 so that traffic landing on 05 may exit at H3 without conflict.
• Traffic landing 06L and not going to T2 are normally taxied initially westbound on taxi Charlie.

Tower

Split operations

As mentioned above the Tower may be split into two separate positions if traffic warrants, and staffing permits. The two stations will control half the control zone, split between the centrelines of 05/23 and 06L/24R for east-west operations, and between the centrelines of 15R/33L and 15L/33R for north-south operations. Callsign and frequency is as listed in the table above.
VFR traffic operating within the control zone will be on the appropriate sector's frequency, and will have to be transferred if moving to the other half of the control zone.

Runway configurations

In general theory all runways are available for arrival, and all runways except 06R/24L and 15R are available for departures.
In practice though it is preferable to use the "east-west" runways whenever possible, as 05/23 and 06s/24s are completely independent, and therefore parallel approaches and departures may be conducted, which isn't the case for 33R and 33L where only one runway will be used for arrivals, and the other one for departures. In heavy traffic this would probably cause delays both on the ground and in the air.
Finally the south runways (15L/R) are only used for departures if the crosswind component of all other runways exceeds operating limitations for aircraft, as the residential zones directly to the sough of the airport are very sensitive to nose pollution, and there is a minimum climb gradient in place, required to provide vertical separation with the City-Centre control zone.

To summarise the preferred runways assignments are

1. Arriving 05/23 and 06R/24L, departing 05/23 and 06L/24R
2. Arriving 33L, departing 33R
3. arriving 15R, departing 15L

When weather and traffic permits you can also mix 'n match runways, for instance using 15L for arrivals, and 24R for departures, or 06L for arrivals and 33R for departures. The idea is to reduce taxi time, fuel consumption (and air pollution) when possible.
In low visibility conditions only 06L can be used for arrival (as it's equipped with a cat II/III ILS) and only 33R or 06L can be used for departure.

Departures

As with clearance delivery a permanent agreement is in place with the Departures controller which places the responsibility of ensuring the initial separation of IFR traffic with the Tower. The required radar wake turbulence separation minima must be ensured by the Tower controller and is described in M533.2 As these are important figures we will mention them here as well:

• Heavy behind a heavy - 4 nm
• Medium behind a heavy - 5 nm
• Medium behind a medium - 3 nm (minimum spacing in a TCA)
• Light behind a heavy - 6 nm
• Light behind a medium - 4 nm
• Light behind a light - 3 nm (minimum spacing in a TCA)

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.

During the day, props may be issued a turn off a SID by the Tower controller from any runway. The significance of this exemption is that by turning a Prop aircraft on departure, it allows subsequent departures to be expedited. The procedure is described in MANOPS section 554.1. No prior co-ordination with the Departures controller is required provided the aircraft are always turned away from the parallel runway by 30° or 60°, and the initial altitude is 3000ft. Remember to update the datatag if using this procedure with the assigned heading instead of the SID identifier, as described in the Clearance SOP.

When parallel departures are in place aircraft will remain on tower frequency until they complete the initial turn in the SID then handed off to departures.

Phraseology: "Jazz 8686, tower, stay with me, cleared for take-off runway 05" -then- "Jazz 8686 contact departures 128.8"

When only one tower is open and parallel departures are not used aircraft will be instructed to contact departures with the take-off clearance.

Phraseology: "Jazz 8686, tower, contact departures airborne, cleared for take-off runway 33R "

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 an 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.

The two sets of parallel runways at Pearson have enough distance between them that an aircraft may be departed from one runway, regardless of the distance back on final an arrival is on the other runway. For instance, Tower may clear aircraft to depart runway 33R at any time regardless of the position of an aircraft on final for runway 33L. If the aircraft on final were to execute a missed approach you would have to assign a heading to maintain separation with the traffic departing 33R. This is not an issue with the east-west runways.

On Arrival IFR traffic will be handed off to Tower once established on the approach, passing FAF (which is inside the control zone), usually at 170 knots.

Phraseology: "Speed 170 to (NDB/FIX), tower 118.7/118.35 as you cross"

VFR traffic

Arrivals
VFR traffic will be transferred to tower prior to entering the control zone, approaching one of the reporting points.

Departures
Assign a maximum altitude of 2,000 feet to all VFR aircraft and transfer to East Satellite, West Satellite or City tower as appropriate.