Flying School or Club in Huron County Ontario

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RET46
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Flying School or Club in Huron County Ontario

Post by RET46 »

I recently retired to Goderich in Ontario and my plan was to learn to fly when I moved here but there is no longer a flight school at the local airport with the closest one being over hour away by car in Stratford. I would drive to get my license but with no flying club nearby after I completed by training I would need to drive the hour to rent a plane and that is too far as I hoped to fly every few days. Does anyone know of a flight school or flying club in/near Huron County that I have not found that has airplanes for rent? Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,

RET
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photofly
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Re: Flying School or Club in Huron County Ontario

Post by photofly »

Does anyone know of a flight school or flying club in/near Huron County that I have not found that has airplanes for rent?
Hard to say. We don't know which ones you've found.

Options are:

1. Buy your own airplane
2. Move
3. Put up with the driving. Honestly an hour isn't bad: many people take a 90 minute drive across the GTA to get to one of the airports around here.

There are also flight schools at Owen Sound, London and Hanover.
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YYZSaabGuy
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Re: Flying School or Club in Huron County Ontario

Post by YYZSaabGuy »

photofly wrote: Sun Dec 01, 2019 4:15 pm [There are also flight schools at Owen Sound, London and Hanover.
And St. Thomas......
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RET46
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Re: Flying School or Club in Huron County Ontario

Post by RET46 »

Many thanks for the flight school ideas. The drive to Stratford is OK for school but I hope to find access to an airplane closer to home so does anyone know of any clubs or airplane shares in or near Huron County? Buying was suggested and as an option that could be expensive but there are many nice new airplanes in the Advance Ultra Light category such as a Aerotrek A220 for under $100000 USD when new. Still renting at a club is easier at the beginning.

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photofly
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Re: Flying School or Club in Huron County Ontario

Post by photofly »

I can't answer your question specifically, but as a matter of general knowledge, the state of General Aviation in Canada, and the economics of it, are such that flying clubs are very very rare.

Flight schools typically will rent aircraft to newly qualified pilots grudgingly at best. It's not a profit centre, and they would generally prefer their planes be flown by their students, accompanied by their instructors, which brings in the most revenue. You can rent at flying schools, but it's basically a service to their students and former students and not a core business.

Very occasionally one finds ads for a part share in an aircraft for sale, where an existing part-owner wants out of the agreement. Mostly they are for higher performance and more expensive aircraft. It's unlikely you would be able to buy in to an existing arrangement as a new PPL - insurance requirements and the sensibilities of the existing owners not wanting to trust a recently qualified pilot that they don't know - are big big issues.

Your best bet is to find another owner or owners who are all looking to purchase, and set up your own partnership.

Yes, this is all a lot of hassle and difficulty. Unfortunately those are the requirements to fly a small piston single airplane in Canada in 2019. You may find a happy exception to the points above, but it would be just that - an exception.
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Re: Flying School or Club in Huron County Ontario

Post by Squaretail »

photofly wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2019 12:47 pm ... but as a matter of general knowledge, the state of General Aviation in Canada, and the economics of it, are such that flying clubs are very very rare.
Perhaps to make things more confusing, very often groups that name themselves as "flying clubs" are in actuality flying schools by organization, intent and practice, and other groups that call themselves "flying clubs" are more owners clubs which don't really do any flying per say as a group.
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I'm not sure what's more depressing: That everyone has a price, or how low the price always is.
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