One should file IFR on all cross-country flights, and take every opportunity to fly into busy airspace and high traffic city airports, not only for complex arrival/departure procedures, but also for different taxi procedures.
My first IFR was to fly back from CYPQ (Peterborough) to CYGK (Kingston) after passing the test, this was straight forward as Kingston is not a busy airport. My second IFR was a little more challenging - it was flying from CYGK to CYKZ (Toronto/Buttonville) and back.
Departure: The departure clearance was exactly as I had asked, so no suprises. Direct to YCF, and direct to CYGK, climb to 4000, contact Trenton on XXX.XX, Squak XXXX. I had to recyle the transponder a couple of times as it wasn't picking up.
On-Route: Flying to CYKZ was straight forward, I was transferred from Kingston MF to Trenton Centre, then to Toronto Terminal, to Toronto Centre, then to Buttonville Tower. As you approach the airspace you should get destination airport ATIS on the 2nd radio so that you know what to expect. The ATIS tells you which runway and IFR landing is in use.
Arrival: When switching over to Toronto Centre, tell them you have the ATIS. They'll tell you to expect a XX approach to runway XX. It was a Visual approach to Runway 33 for me, and I took it to speed things along instead of asking for a GNAV or the NDB approach which would have added about 5-10 min. to the flight time. When I have more time I should take these for practice. They also wanted me to call when I have airport in sight.
I called having sight of the airport, they cleared me for the approach and had me switch over to tower which spaced me in between four circuit traffic!
Next day - CYKZ to CYGK:
Filed for direct CYGK as I saw other people on fltplan / flightaware get it. I had filed for 18.10, but online, I saw 18.20 scheduled for some reason.
Clearance: It helps to study the airport diagrams, departure procedures and other things on the charts. Knowing exactly where you are, and knowing what taxiways to expect to get to the active runway before calling helps as well... probably goes without saying.
I got the departure clearance - it was completely different from what I had filed - but I got the readback correct on my first try. I had filed direct, but I got "Cleared for CYGK, direct to CYOO, direct to YCF, direct to CYGK, Buttonville 1 Departure, sQUAK XXXX, Contact Toronto on XXX.XX on the handoff"
The fun begins! I had to restudy Buttonville 1 departure which is simply climb on runway heading to maintain 3000 and expect vectors, and there were some communication failure instructions. Also - the routing was different so I had to reprogram the GPS. This time I remembered to set the transponder code right away, and double checked that when holding short of the runway when doing the PTILT check.
Departure: I climbed runway heading, and clearing 1000 ft, tower wanted me to turn left to heading 060 and climb to 4000. They then told me to switch over to Toronto, and Toronto kept me at that heading for a while. They then said climb to 4000 and THEN turn towards YCF climbing to 5000. SO! Toronto changed my routing yet again - I didn't have to go to CYOO and then to YCF - it was direct to YCF, and then CYGK.
On-route and landing: No suprises for the rest of the flight. For departure, I tuned Kingston 10 min prior to let them know that I'm on my way and I'll contact them on the handoff. When I was cleared for the approach, I asked for Visual 25 which I got. I then switched over. I noticed that Georgian was waiting for me (I guess they don't release IFR traffic until other IFR traffic lands!?) - so I called "have airport in sight, will cancel IFR to speed things up for Georgian". Both Kington Radio and Georgian thanked me for this.
Lessons learned:
- Studying charts well pays off (Standard departures, airport diagrams, etc.)
- Study other routings - you might be given something other than what you've filed
- Learn to cope with rapid instructions from ATC (climb to XX, turn to YY, climb to ZZ - they are saying climb to XX and then turn to YY - not climbing XX AND turning YY... I was glad that I wasn't shy to get that clarified from the ATC)
- Make sure landing lights are on when cleared for take-off and when cleared for the approach from ATC; even during the day - it helps with visibility, and a metal check that you got the clearance
- Parking: the ground was on an uneven level - so the right tanks crossfed to the left tank and spilled fuel - I estimate around 30 L wasted! ($50 wasted.. and sorry environment - I wish I had known; something that I'll definitely watch for every time)
