Hi, I am from Europe, and wonder what effect the smoke from Canada has on flying ??
Dangerous ??
Depending on circumstances it can be extremely dangerous, flying over water for example. We had extreme bushfires at one stage that covered vast areas of our oceanic area with smoke, unfortunately right over our area of operations. Weather was legal helicopter VMC in smoke and it was like flying at the centre of a grey ball, no differentiation between water (dead calm sea) or sky, no horizon, the oil rig we were going to appeared to be floating in space when it came within visual range. The young first officer who was flying made a number of attempted approaches to land but was overwhelmed by the circumstances he was facing (visual, sensory) and handed over. Solid IMC in effect.