[Mar 29] Canadian Xpress March 2025 Monthly Fly-In

This month with spring just around the corner, we head west for one last run down the ski hill. Departing Calgary we head for the BC interior at Castlegar.

Castlegar is a community in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, Canada. In the Selkirk Mountains, at the confluence of the Kootenay and Columbia Rivers, it is a regional trade and transportation center, with a local economy based on forestry, mining and tourism. Castlegar is home to Selkirk College, a regional airport, a pulp mill, and several sawmills and 2 of the most popular powder skiing resorts in BC, Red Mountain and Whitewater.

Castlegar Airport or West Kootenay Regional Airport is not a place where you jump into your favorite tube-liner and ride the ILS in for landing. Castlegar Airport is a small regional airport with limited ramp space, and a small 15,000 sq ft passenger terminal. Due to the mountainous terrain impinging on both runway approaches, there is no possibility of a straight-in approach. The airport is therefore certified for daytime operations only, and the glideslope on approach is set to a steep 5.0 degree rather than the standard 3.0 degrees. The instrument approaches to Castlegar are considered among the most challenging of any in use at a commercial airport in North America.

In 2006, Castlegar airport was developing departure procedures for nighttime operation, but as of 2010 the airport was certified for daytime operation only, so for this flight you might want to look at time offsetting your flight SIM. A $1 million program installed six beacons on the hills of the Columbia Valley that allow night-time take-offs from the airport. It is expected that this will only be used by air ambulances and medical traffic.

Canadian Xpress would like to invite all pilots to join us on Saturday, March 29th at 21h00edt (Sunday 01h00z) for our March 2025 fly-in where we depart from Calgary International (CYYC) and fly to West Kootenay Regional (CYCG).

One lucky Canadian Xpress® pilot* will win:
• Any Just Flight Product from:


*Please see Fly-In PDF for contest details and eligibility requirements.

This is an open invitation to all pilots no matter what your flying experience to attend this Canadian Xpress event that will be flown on the VATSIM network.

More information regarding this event including operational details, charts, optional add-on scenery and Canadian Xpress Model Sets can be viewed by visiting https://canadianxpress.ca 

See you all on Saturday the 29th!