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These seem to be the two biggest differences I've encountered, from the perspective of a VFR pilot.

1) There is no class Bravo airspace in Canada around major airports, like there is around LAX, SFO, etc. Even YYZ is class C. Bravo airspace in Canada just seems to be used between 12,500 and FL180. However, class C on a VNC in Canada is denoted in blue, while blue on the map in the US denotes bravo airspace (charlie airspace is magenta).

2) In Canada you require ATC clearance to enter class C airspace, not just to establish two way communication. In the US, it is sufficient to establish two way communication before entering Charlie.

Boy, I hope I got all that right. Can anyone please correct me if I'm wrong in any of my points? Are there any other major differences I've missed? A Google search on this topic did not turn up any really good resources on this subject. Thanks.

it seems like pilots in Canada can swap from tower to departure without instruction from ATC. That is not the case in US. There are several pilots who fly in Canada and have flown here for a while, so hopefully they'll chime in!

In most airports in Canada we get our permission to change freq with out take off clearenxe. For example "Westjet1243 contact departure 119.9 in the air cleared for takeoff runway 31" for instance.

Keith Smith wrote:it seems like pilots in Canada can swap from tower to departure without instruction from ATC. That is not the case in US. There are several pilots who fly in Canada and have flown here for a while, so hopefully they'll chime in!

I've heard the "Contact departure airborne" used by controllers in many countries outside of the US. I think it's traffic dependent or controller preference because I've flown to airports that sometimes use it, and sometimes they issue "Contact departure" after takeoff.

Another thing the controllers say internationally is "After the landing traffic, line up and wait". You have to be careful that you hear that little "AFTER" before taxing onto the runway, since the US controllers only use the non-conditional "line up and wait" instruction. A sterile cockpit is extremely important when flying internationally because of accents and different ATC phraseology. You want to make sure both pilots hear them clearly in order to avoid any confusion. They will also speak to local traffic in their native tongue which can reduce your situational awareness if you don't understand the language.

Another slight difference that I was clued into from one of two flying lessons I had in Canada is that Canadian airport don't have the (inner/outer) runway marker system that the U S. has. Not really airspace but interesting nonetheless.