Sault Aviatoin, is it as bad as many have posted..

[cheeky cough]

[quote=PilotDAR post_id=1087590 time=1566045294 user_id=39402]
[quote]A solution needs to be found.[/quote]

Who should take responsibility for this cheeky cough?
[/quote]

All hiring is dictated by the major airlines . Pilots want to move up the food chain.
AC and Westjet will have to do something.

They are still a bit smug that they can still get applications. There are a lot of expats coming home. The problem is in the next 10-15 years when even my generation start retiring.

Will it take a merger of the two remaining carriers to have enough pilots in ten years?

The problem then becomes how they select candidates. Nepotism/affirmative action hiring will become a problem. Any keen person should have the opportunity to advance.

[digits_]

All hiring is dictated by the major airlines . Pilots want to move up the food chain.

Some will. Quite a few would stick with instructing if it was a career move. That means, stable company, work 16 days a months and a salary that could be lower than the airlines, but still decent if you want to retain experience. I think other topics mentioned around 85k/year? Something like that would retain experienced instructors.

Not working 26 days a month for 35k. But it looks like those days will be behind us soon.

[Shinyjetsyndrome]

Fellow Aviators..
Agree as well, the list pretty much tells it all and accurate. Just completed our 5th semester/second year, should be working on finishing our Commercial as per the schools outline. Instead 95% of the class were just trying to fishing our Private that we started from last spring 2018. I myself waited 81 days the last semester for a flight, roommates 75 days and 77 days. Suppose to be flying 2 times/week. Was more like 2-3 weeks between flight training. Semester 4 and 5, got in 12 flights Total...12 flights for the full academic year 2, crazy. That was pretty must the same for most.

This Mapp guy/Chair of program is a real winner. Changes our program with what seemed to be a complete disregard with how it was effect us. Comes in one day and tells us all we have to stay this summer or we can not register for the last year in the programs academics in Sept 2019. He did say we had to option of staying or going. Stay and finish the Semester 3 flight lessons started some 16 month ago or not stay but we could not register for our last years classes.This would mean we would have to wait a full year for classes. Some of us are out of funds, and needed to work to pay for our last year. OSAP is suppose to be cutting loans so not sure how to make this work. This did not seem to bother Mapp at all....said we all have to make our own decisions. Guess it is our fault flying is a year behind and they have to many students in the program. But hey, they getting funding per student so, guess that is in their best interest.

What was said about students not doing well on their flights is 100% true. Instructors are working hard, but flying so inconsistent the last 10 months it is just hard to stay current.

It really is just a mess at the moment..almost 2 years now done, over $27,000 spent in total and still not even a private to show for it!

As someone who didn’t make it through the Sault program, I agree that the college definitely has some issues, but let’s be real - you’re probably not being honest with yourself. If you put in work and make yourself available to fly, you should have little trouble staying on time in the program. You will have to go to the airport on days you’re not scheduled to fly to scam flights and you need to be organized and self disciplined with school to make sure you’re as free as possible. The program is far from a walk in the park and you need to put in effort. As for currency, it’s up to you to review and do what you can to stay current. There were times when I was at the Sault where I flew once a month and I once had 15 flights cancelled in a row because of weather. It sucks, but you can still make it work if you really are committed.

It might be a bit too late for you to turn things around though in your specific case. Once you fall behind that far, it’s almost impossible to recover in a reasonable amount of time. If I were you I’d leave and go somewhere else because you’re wasting time and money. I was in the same boat. 2.5 years in with no PPL. I was hardly getting scheduled and I was not able to take half the third year classes. I called it quits, smartened up, and did an entire aviation diploma somewhere else and still finished quicker than some people in my year at the Sault. Timing was great too cause the next fall was that big strike with Ontario colleges... I would recommend just finishing privately though. Some of these regular flight schools have the same opportunities as the colleges ie: Jazz, Encore, etc.

[BBsault]

Just adding this link to the conversation.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=133917&p=1087418#p1087330

[BBsault]

Just adding this link to the conversation.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=133917&p=1087418#p1087330

As well was reading a post from another unsatisfied student on another site, reddit.
dhc8driver
•
“”Mar 2, 2019
Run away. Look into Confed. All my friends who went to Sault had crazy crazy stories of how the school is run.””

[PilotDAR]

Pilots want to move up the food chain.
AC and Westjet will have to do something.

Okay, I get it, AC and Westjet should require that applicants should demonstrate that they have been a flying instructor long enough to serve the industry, before they are considered for hiring to line flying...

The somebody who should do something could also be the consumer of the service. If the service is instruction, ensure that you are making the instruction service attractive to the instructor. If the instructor is working for peanuts, and feeling unappreciated, they'll want to move on. Yet the student would like to have a highly experienced instructor - attract the instructor by appreciating them, and willingly paying for the quality service you would like to receive.

[JohnnyHotRocks]

Very sad what has become of this school. It used to be a top notch training program. But it was also run by hardass ex-military guys. Less than 1/3 of the initial class graduated and the students were not free to follow their own self directed schedules. If you weren’t a ppl by the end of the first summer, you were out.

[BBsault]

Hello Shinyjetsyndrome

Seems that Sault has a long history then of poor performance if you were in the same boat 2.5 years ago. I just wish more students posted so I would of known before accepting the offer.

Just to comment though, it is not just that one person but pretty much the entire class. Going into this month Aug 2019, most of my class did NOT have their PPL, not just "Keeplying" . Here we are, weeks away from starting our last year,3rd year, and still there are many working on their PPL. I can assure you though that this is not a lack of wanna from the students, but more the result of poor upper management by Sault College.

" I flew once a month and I once had 15 flights cancelled in a row because of weather. It sucks, but you can still make it work if you really are committed".

Not sure about this if the system is broken. There were so many in my class that went 4-5 months of flying 1-2 times per month. There were many that went over 5 weeks without flying. I know of a few here that went 2 months and flew 1 time!

The real issue now is passing the recommendation flight with infrequent consistent flying the last year! Many have failed. If you fail, you have to pay about $3500 to re enroll in Semester 3 from year 1, even though we are going into Year 3 Sem #6 This also means you have to almost start over at flight lesson #1 which is crazy, why not work on the issues, but to have to redo about 30 flights lessons again. It has taken almost 2 years to get to this point, and they want you to start over.

I just hope all these posts help others that are thinking of going to Sault.

[BBsault]

JohnnyHotRocks

Yes, things need to change for sure. I understand that the Chair of the program, Mapp, just jumped ship and....umm...quit. He is heading to another flight college in the area. To many parents perhaps knocking on his door, calling him asking what the heck is going on, why are they so far behind, why after this long does my kid not have their PPL.

"If you weren’t a ppl by the end of the first summer, you were out."

NONE of our class had their PPL by the end of the first summer!! Here we are ending the Second Summer, most of he class are still trying to finish their PPL when we started August .

[CL-Skadoo!]

This would be a tough job to come into at this point, but for the right person it could be huge for the program.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=134063&sid=f1202888 ... f4d55988ab

[rookiepilot]

If this is fraud -- relax everyone I didn't say it was -- certainly would not be the first time in post secondary institutions---

[JohnnyHotRocks]

How many students make it to semester three?