Mr Iler,

 I'm not taking issue with your legitimate fight against curfew violations.  That is Black and White.  I have said that 1 or 2 minute violations should be overlooked based on the difficulty in making an exact landing estimate and that the time one person refers to is likely different than the time piece being used by someone else.  If you are awake at 11 PM, then surely you will still be awake at 11:02 PM - but that is another issue.

 The fact that the control tower closes is not unique to the TCCA.  Most control towers close at a certain time based on several factors including scheduled services, peak traffic times and YES, also financial considerations.  For example, the Tower at the Sault Ste Marie Airport only operates for 12 hours instead of the 16.5 at the TCCA.  This covers the times when MOST traffic will use the facility.  In Windsor, the airport does not have a curfew and remains open all night - the tower closes at 10:45PM even though there is a scheduled flight from Toronto that arrives at 10:59PM.  There are specific procedures for these operations and pilots learn them at DAY 1 of ground school.

 Brampton does not have a tower and on many days will equal or surpass the traffic amounts at the TCCA.  The rationale there is that their traffic is generally of the same size and speed which makes traffic situations more manageable (I.e. aircraft being able to safely follow one another etc...)  At the TCCA, If you expected pilots of small training aircraft to figure out how to avoid an incoming or outgoing Q400 without the guidance of a controller, you might have a serious safety issue.  Given that the small training aircraft are gone by 11PM, the only thing remaining will be the occasional curfew permitted MEDEVAC flight OR a potentially curfew busting Porter Dash 8.  It should be obvious to someone that follows every move of the TCCA that there are legitimate traffic volumes prior to 11PM that don't exist after 11PM so this 6PM or 9PM question is truly facetious.

 I don't know who decides on the Tower hours of operations but it is someone at NavCanada.  At the TCCA, the traffic volume after 11PM is so low that NavCanada has likely deemed that any traffic using the facility should be able to safely arrive or depart in these hours.  Mr. Iler, with all due respect, please tell me of how many incidents you have found to have occurred after 11PM?

If the tower operated all night, you would likely complain that funds are being spent on providing a service that virtually no one is using.

 This isn't some radical new experiment - these procedures have been used for decades all around the world.

The alarmist and fear mongering tone of the latest press release is troubling and begs the question of what your real motives are?

 And if you can't tell, I'm very disappointed that you chose to ignore consulting someone in the field PRIOR to distributing this misinformation.

You've written to me in the past and I have ALWAYS gone out of my way to provide all of the information you required.

 I honestly feel like all CAIR was looking for was an attention grabbing headline to cause negative publicity about the TCCA.  This is desperate and sad.  It takes away from the very well researched issues you are fighting to rectify.  Why do I have to tell you this?  You are a bright man - surely Mr. Kotyk could have looked up the information and said "Hey Brian, this is standard all over the world - this is not news."  I think CAIR should stop trying to create controversy about the TCCA that doesn't already exist.  You have enough legitimate ammunition without attacking procedures that have been in use for many years. 

Take Care!

Joe