March 8th 2016

NAV P.O. Box 3411 Station 'T' Ottawa, ON K1P 5L6

By electronic and regular post

To whom it may concern;

Re: Automatic Weather Observation System(s) and/or Weather Camera(s)

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please accept this letter written on behalf of the Village Councils of McBride and . We thank you in advance for the time and effort it will take to move forward with the requests made by its submission.

We are formally requesting your consideration and response to the implementation of an AWOS system at the McBride and Valemount Airports and/or weather cameras or a combination that will achieve the requirements for both VFR and IFR flight.

Both Villages are currently applying for grants under the Province of ’s, BC Air Access Program (BCAAP) to help offset the costs of installation, however if we are not successful in our applications, we ask Nav Canada to consider bearing the cost of installation and maintenance.

Geographic Overview

The Villages of McBride and Valemount are located in British Columbia’s Robson Valley. The Robson Valley gets its name from , at 12,295 feet ASL, Mount Robson and the surrounding Robson Provincial Park is on the UNESCO World Heritage site list.

The main valley is situated on a North Westerly orientation with the Rockies to the North and the Premier and Caribou Ranges to the South. The valley, part of the , terminates at Prince George.

Aerodromes

McBride Airport, Charlie Leake Field, is located 1 kilometer East of the Village, has a paved runway; 75’ by 2700’ at 2350 ASL with Arcal type J lighting, no Instrument approach, and self serve 100 low lead fuel for sale. The field is named after Colonel Charles “Snarly” Leake who was born and raised in McBride prior to joining the air force. He served with distinction until his retirement. Snarly's achievements include, the first air to air refueling in Canadian airspace, Commander in Charge of Air Security for the 1976 Montreal Olympics and training the Argentinian Airforce on the F5. Charlie retired after commanding the 408 Helicopter Squadron.

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Located three nautical miles northwest of the Village, Valemount has a paved runway; 75’ by 3800’ with Arcal type J lighting, an instrument approach, and self serve 100 low lead fuel. At an elevation of 2600 feet ASL Valemount airport has some approach challenges from the south.

Both McBride and Valemount are within the CYA 131 M airspace and Valemount’s instrument approach and missed approach waypoints are within CYA 131 M boundary altitudes.

Existing Nav Canada Resource’s

Currently, other than a RCO located in McBride, there are no services for itinerant aircraft. The closest manned weather station is Blue River, Prince George or Williams Lake. AWOS Metar/TAF’s are available from Golden, Revelstoke, Edson or Quesnel.

Upper winds are reported from Prince George, Kamloops and Jasper. The upper winds reporting for below 12000 feet end at Crescent Spur, 15 miles north of Blue River and at the Continental Divide leaving the area around the Robson Valley void of upper winds reporting.

Aviation within the Robson Valley

Currently there are two Helicopter companies based in the Robson Valley and four private aircraft. Valemount has seasonal flights from Calgary for clients of Canadian Mountain Holidays Heli-skiing and Crescent Spur Heli ski has occasional guests flown to McBride.

There is a VFR recommended route up the North Thompson with routing west to Prince George or east to Jasper/Hinton. Also a VFR route used by American flyers transiting from Washington, Montana and Idaho en-route to Alaska and a return route up the Rocky Mountain trench via Golden or Revelstoke. This constitutes a 270 nautical mile circuit without weather reporting and with limited communications, 130 miles of which are over water, another route which is becoming increasingly more popular is the North Thompson / McBride / Prince George / Vancouver route. commercial students completing their cross-country requirements and many aircraft from the Edmonton area transit the valley en-route to the west coast. McBride is also the halfway point for rotary students doing their mountain training from Grand Prairie.

Based on fuel sales it is estimated that McBride and Valemount see an average of 150 to 200 aircraft purchasing fuel annually. We expect with a decrease in the cost of fuel, and the exchange on the American dollar, fuel sales will increase.

Population, Economy and Infrastructure

The Robson Valley has approximately 3500 residents spread out over 250 kilometers. Starting at Albreda and ending at Dome Creek it is one of BC’s most geographically remote areas that is connected by two major highways. Highway 5 runs up the Thompson Valley and connects Kamloops to Tete Jeune Cache where it intersects with Highway 16 running East/ West connecting Prince George with Jasper and beyond to Edmonton. Highway 16 has been upgraded to a Class A highway and is part of the Intermodal project funded, in part, by the Federal Government. The goal of this project was to increase goods from the interior of Canada to the Asia Pacific markets where a marked upswing in both rail and truck traffic has been observed.

McBride and Valemount are both world class destinations for snowmobilers, 30,000 per season, many arriving from Alberta despite the economic downturn. Both Villages rely on the income from 2 these “sledders” to keep local economy stimulated until the summer tourist season. Logging, farming, Heli Skiing, government positions and commuters to the ‘Oil Patch’ make up the rest of the economy.

Emergency Response Infrastructure in the Robson Valley

McBride has the only Hospital between Prince George and Jasper, while Valemount has an Emergency Clinic. Both communities have BC Ambulance Stations with two vehicles, as well as RCMP Detachments and Volunteer Fire Departments. Currently the BC Coroner Service needs to be flown in.

The Robson Valley Emergency Services, Police, Fire and Ambulance respond to an average of 75 to 80 Highway incidents, the majority being in the winter months. Critically injured patients are then transferred by ambulance to either Jasper, Kamloops or Prince George. This can constitute a 2 to 5 hour drive, depending on accident location and road conditions. McBride’s first Air Ambulance patient transfer occurred this past January due to the airport manager, who is a group one rated commercial pilot, being able to provide the aircrew with current conditions that were acceptable to the company SOP’s.

Valemount has had more patient transfers due to its longer runway and instrument approach providing a larger margin of safety. Given its proximity to mountains, pilots must acquire the runway environment at 8360 feet ASL or 5744 feet above the runway. This amount of separation is more conducive to VFR, but without an approved reporting procedure and equipment, BC Air Ambulance contractors are hesitant to dispatch aircraft.

With the recent unfortunate death of five snowmobilers in the backcountry, the community has paused to consider the ramifications if there had been a need for speedy medical intervention. Could the existing services, SAR, Fire, RCMP and Ambulance respond, stabilize and transfer patients to trauma centers within the “golden hour”?

SAR was on site when the accident happened. Local helicopters were dispatched and ambulances could make the one kilometer trip from airport to hospital rapidly enough that the two crews could get all to the emergency ward as they arrived by helicopter. The Nurses and doctor could stabilize patients but it would take both McBride ambulances and one of Valemount’s (a one hour drive away) to transfer all five victims to Prince George a two-hour drive to the west. This would leave the 250 kilometers of highway and 3500 residents with only one ambulance for up to 8 hours and would require three nurses in the ambulances for the care of the critically injured patients.

The BC Air Ambulance’s Kind Air 350 comes with two Advanced Life Support Paramedics and can do a return trip to Prince George in approximately 30 minutes. BC Air Ambulance also has Rotary Wing contractors available from Prince George, while slower that the 350, they are faster than the highway and don’t require the nurses and don’t expose the communities to a lack of services.

The above scenario is also applicable to a small aircraft going down, or a school bus rolling over, or a boat capsizing in a local river or the nearby large hydroelectric reservoir.

Summary

An overview of Nav Canada’s aviation weather website for British Columbia shows a distinct hole in weather observation and reporting services. A pilot flying the recommended VFR route from Kamloops to Edmonton, weather information is available from cameras at Clearwater, a manned 3 station at Blue River and again a weather camera at Hinton and AWOS at Edson. This leaves a 190 nautical mile section past the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies and through the Great Divide without weather reporting. If a pilot wishing to traverse East-West or the reverse, they are again presented with a sparseness of weather reporting with Hinton, Alberta and then nothing until Prince George, a distance of 224 nautical miles.

With the increase in GPS tracking a lot of pilots surveyed by our Airport Manager stated that they were not on a flight plan with Nav Canada. They instead relied on SPOT trackers or itineraries with loved ones.

Aviation is a challenge in and around the Robson Valley. Inclement weather, high mountains, unpredictable winds and limited communications challenge all pilots regardless of their hours. Lack of weather information increases these challenges. The installation of AWOS and/or cameras would make anyone, pilot, resident or tourist safer and help lessen the race against the clock in the event of a serious trauma.

W.P. Kinsela said in his book ‘A field of dreams’ “if you build it, they will come.” We thank you for the opportunity to say, “if you install it, they can come”.

Thank you once again for your consideration of this request and as mentioned earlier in this letter, both communities are applying for funding to help offset the costs of these systems. We hope that this letter will open a dialogue with your organization to look at strategies on how we can all have a successful outcome. If you have questions we can be contacted at;

Ms. Kelly Williams Mr. Mark Macneill, Chief Administrative Officer Chief Administrative Officer Village of McBride Village of Valemount 250-569-2229 250-566-4435 [email protected] [email protected]

On behalf of the Village Council, On behalf of the Village Council,

______Ms. Loranne Martin, Mayor Ms. Jeannette Townsend, Mayor Village of McBride Village of Valemount

CC: The Honourable Bob Zimmer, MP, Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies, Vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities The Honourable Shirley Bond, MLA, Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training and Minister Responsible for Labour 4