I've done better. Back in '99, just after I bought my Cherokee, a bunch of us (8 planes, 16 pilots in all) went for a Sunday brunch at the Chateau de l'Aéroport, the on-site hotel. We filed for a touch-and-go at St Hubert (far busier than YMX), direct Mirabel. Of the 8 planes we were the only one cleared direct over downtown Montreal at 1500 ft. We were cleared for a right base to 06, and parked at one of the remote pods. A security SUV, with flashing lights, picked us up and drove us to the terminal building. After all 16 of us had arrived we headed over to the hotel for brunch. We then left all together. We checked in with security, and on this quiet Sunday, they fired up one of those PTVs, and drove all of us out to our waiting aircraft. It was way cool. Your Tax Dollars at Work (actually I figured I was just getting a return on mine.) The controller wasn't used to having to deal with 8 planes at once, 4 of which were Cherokees. He kept getting all our reggies confused. To make it worse, they were understaffed in the tower and the poor guy was working the apron, ground and air frequencies. Try doing that at O'Hare, or even Dorval! After that we flew to St Hyacinthe, a small GA field about 20 n.m. from my home field of Bromont. We gassed up (cheaper gas). This small (3800 ft runway), uncontrolled field was far busier than YMX, go figure! Mike Gammon ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bahadir Acuner" <bahadiracuner@yahoo.com> To: <AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU> Sent: Saturday, February 15, 2003 1:20 PM Subject: Re: Speaking of Montreal... > Actually I was lucky enough to do a touch and go at Mirabel in Sept 2000. > Took a C172 from a local school at St. Jean - sur- Richeleau) and flew over > Montreal. What was amazing that you had to fly over some open land before > you get to Mirabel. YUL was too busy for us, but at least we flew over it > and have a nice shot of an An-124 parked in the cargo area. Ahh the memories > of Canada.. :) > > BAHA ACUNER - CFI,CFII,MEI > > www.bahadiracuner.com > www.acuwings.com > > -----Original Message----- > From: The Airline List [mailto:AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU]On Behalf Of > JoeThree@aol.com > Sent: Saturday, February 15, 2003 8:04 AM > To: AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU > Subject: Re: Speaking of Montreal... > > > In January, 1989, I flew through Mirabel on a British Airways L-1011, flying > DTW-YMX-LHR. > > We landed well after dark, and taxiied for nearly ten minutes before we > arrived at the terminal. During the time we were taxiing, I did not see a > single sign of life other than the runway and taxiway lights. No hangars, no > ground vehicles, no other aircraft, until we were within sight of the > terminal. It felt as though our TriStar had landed in a small airport in the > Canadian bush, instead of at the international gateway for one of the > world's > most exciting cities. > > We were on the ground for about an hour for servicing and to pick up > additional passengers (at that time, Detroit did not have a big enough > traffic base to support nonstop transatlantic flights), and in that time, I > saw just six other aircraft: two Minerve DC-8s, a Sabena DC-10, and a 747, > an > L-1011, and a 767 of Air Canada. I'm sure working in the tower at YMX was > one > of the lowest-stress ATC jobs in Canada! > > Joe Wolf > Minneapolis, Minnesota > > Airport Codes: > > DTW: Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, Michigan > YMX: Montreal Mirabel > LHR: London Heathrow >