Anyone from the sault want to state their own opinions of the school?

[dot123]

I thought this was the school I want to got to, but after hearing many negative reviews I am having second thoughts.

[Techno]

I haven't been there but from everything I've seen, they are *way* behind on their flight training schedule. Years worth of delays.

[OldTracker]

I have been monitoring questions about the Sault school for 3-4 months on this site and r/flying. https://www.reddit.com/r/flying/ - I haven't visited the school as of yet but someone close to me has applied for admission and is awaiting results. They have also applied to Seneca. I have not talked to any students from the Sault but have visited Seneca on a open house.

The issue I am having with the posts within these forums that I have read dating back to 2018 about Sault college, is that almost all of them have new accounts in the forums and say the place is in turmoil.

I suspect that there is someone very pissed at the Sault college and berates them via these forums.
I intend to contact and visit the Sault college if he is accepted and make sure their isn't a real problem with timelines etc to finish the course. Its just a waiting game right now to get the application results.
I like Seneca but he likes the Sault. (cheaper and has a PPL) I would suggest you email someone within the Sault college and see what they say. P.M. me if you do and let me know what they say please. Good luck.

[Beefitarian]

The problem with things like yelp and other online rating sites is, if a person is happy they just carry on but if something goes wrong they are angry and make sure they put it out to warn everyone and punish the place. I'm not saying there might not be issues but a few people complaining is expected.

When you look at a restaurant review and they are almost all bad, I know something is up.

Anyone that had a good experience with Sault recently is probably busy working or looking for a job and won't wander in to share.

[Flyboy2019]

Hello all,
This is your future and your money, so know what you are getting into. Asking on here is a start but just ask current or recent students to get a picture. Asking the school will always paint a rosy picture for you, which is often not the case. REMEMBER, the school is paid by the government per seat filled.

Now, all above have good points for sure. But just do a search on here as well as other sites. There are way to many current posts of the current issues at the Sault College. All of these post say the same thing as to just how troubled the program at Sault has been the last few years. As well many from past years have commented about the issues that use to go there. Below are some of the alleged recaps from many posts here and on other aviation sites. Again to many posts, different sites so you can decide.

• What is a fact is that the school seems to have way to many students in it for their resources. Again, part government funded per seat, so you can figure this part out.

• What is fact is that most of the class of 2020 DID NOT HAVE THEIR PPL ending Year 2 of the 3 year program. The class stared this in year 1! Many of those started year 3 in Sept 2019 again without there PPL. ALMOST 2 YEARS TO GET A PPL!!

• What is fact is students were leaving the program, or parents pulling their kids, after going 3-5 weeks repeatedly NOT flying. There are many post on here and other sites from students in year 2, not flying for a month or longer..again repeatedly.
  

• What is fact is so many Students were failing in full or part their check rides from inconsistent flight training.

• What is a fact is that the chair of the program...quit...perhaps from all the students/parents asking why they are not flying/ so far behind.

• What is fact is that during the summer of 2019, the students were told that even though it was a "non semester" if they did not stay and fly, they would NOT be allowed to continue with there academics/finish their last year. Why, because flying lessons ( Lessons plans LP) and their academic classes were so out of sync. They would be staring Sem 6 of 7 Sept 2019, learning Multi and Muilt IFR in class, but still working on their PPL flights from their first year.

• What is fact is that the school although knew of the issues, did not cut their intake levels in 2018, 2019. In fact they in one year took above numbers of new students thus adding to the issues.

• • There was even a post on one of the sites from a parent asking if others would join them in pursing legal against the school.
  These are some of the things we know. Take it as you will. Do your research again it is your money and time. Remember lost years in this industry is lost opportunity. It is not uncommon for Sault College students taken up to 5 years to finish this 3 year program, that is 2 years lost pay, lost seniority, lost jobs.

I think this post sums it up...

Sault College, grounding student pilots dreams, one cancelled/delayed flight at a time.

[cpl2go]

New to post but not new to this site.

From reading the above I wanted to add my thoughts. Just because I am new to post does not mean what I post is not true! I have been reading from this side for over a year now.

Being a student of Sault College what is posted above is pretty accurate. Living in a house of 3 other aviation students, we all have gone between 3 to 6 weeks without flying. This has happened many many times. Flying during year two was REALLY bad. I know a few in my class that have gone longer then 6 weeks. I think a few only flew 6 times in almost a 5 month period.

School was sending out students last year to do the Multi at Cornwall.

None of my friends had completed their PPL at the end of the second year. There were a lotd of our class that started year 3, still working on their PPL or Night rating. We were suppose to be done our CPL by then.

Flying was so far behind that many of our class have not even written our CPL yet ending Sem 6 of the 7 semester program Jan 2020.

Honestly, if I had to do it over again I think I would of gone and got a degree and did my flying on my own. I would of saved money and been done everything by now. .

[Lotro]

Funny thing though, I know a guy in the program right now, who's going to finish early...

I'm sure he's the exception, and not the rule, but based on what I've read here over the last little while you'd think that would be IMPOSSIBLE!

Of course, I don't think he's posting complaints on AvCanada. Might be too busy flying.

[OldTracker]

Funny thing though, I know a guy in the program right now, who's going to finish early...

I'm sure he's the exception, and not the rule, but based on what I've read here over the last little while you'd think that would be IMPOSSIBLE!

Of course, I don't think he's posting complaints on AvCanada. Might be too busy flying.

I am not the OP but I have an interest in this as well.
Do you think your friend or any of his classmates would reply to this thread to give us some feedback about the school? I plan to visit the school anyways in the spring and find out for myself anyways, but it would be great to hear some comments from students about the situation at the Sault. Thanks.

[snowcrest]

I go to Seneca but know a couple guys at the Soo, it's really not as bad as some people say it is..

[saultdelays]

Fellow Aviators
OK, only been a reader here but had to chime in with my 2 cents.
Current at the sault college for a few years now.
If you going to invest time and money here, visit first if you can. MAKE SURE you talk to current students not just the school The school will always tell you all is good. Your time and education money so you want to hear it from a student..right.

Is what you have read above and on other sites true about the delays overall, 101% YES!!
Are there any in the current year that are "ahead" maybe so 1 or 2, but definitely not the norm and non that I know of.
There have been many that have not flown for over a month at a time.
Did most of the class of 2020 finish the second year of the program May of 2019 NOT having a PPC, YES.

Here is one of the big issues here, TO MANY STUDENTS IN THE PROGRAM and we are all paying for it!!I
The weather often plays a factor here, so when you are weathered out, their are so many students, most of the time you just do not fly that week as their are no free times. This can go on for weeks, or months at a time when you only have 1 flight booked per week.

When we meet at the airport to ..wait for a flight, there have been many that have gone 5..6..7 weeks without flying.
The school use to display what lesson plan everyone was on, those booked for that day on Talon, online app school uses. It was easy to see where you were in training compared to your classmates So, I log in, see who is flying that day, and what LP they were on. Well, mid last year THEY REMOVED THIS so you could not see just how far behind the entire class year was.
Last year as most of us hardly flew for months. This is why NON OF US finished out PPL on time. Flying was almost a year behind.
Many students failed on rides, setting them back.
The biggest issue here...LACK OF CONSISTENT FLIGHT TRAINING.

In case some of you think I am not real, here is this mornings E mail....

To:Aviation2019, Aviatoin2020, Aviation2021, Aviation2022
CC:Aviationinstuctors, aviationschededuler

"All night Cross country flights will be cancelled"
F K

You want my advice, stay away from here for now. You will save time and money by doing it at a local school.
Most of the "To Busy flying" is more of chair flying here..

[cpl2go]

Hi,
Sault Aviation, grounding student pilot dreams, one cancelled/delayed flight at a time....

I hope you made a good decision and stayed away from Sault College Aviation program. A bit late to the party here as well but wanted to add my 3 cents. There are so many posts on here, as well other aviation sites of just how bad Sault College aviation is.

I am part of the class here at the moment. I am rooming with 3 other Sault aviation students, all of which are so far behind in flight training.

Here are some of the issues.
Most of the class of 2020 went into their last year (Year 3/Sept 2019) NOT having their Private license. At that point should have been completing or have their Commercial license according to schools manual.

Semester 6, 7 or year 3 is the end of the program. It is here in classes you learn Multi/IFR according the the schools training manual and the academic classes. So we are learning Multi etc, but working on PPL flying lessons from the first year.

Multi ratings were taking 6 months plus.

I know of at least 3 students that just left the program after 2 years and spending their education fund as they were simply NOT flying on a regular bases.

It was not uncommon for students to not fly for 3 weeks at a time on a regular bases. The result is students were failing their rides as in some cases did not fly for 3-4 weeks before. This was a real issue for the school, so they had to extend their deadline to allow all the students to re enroll in Semester 3 (PPL Training) which cost them approx another $3600. If not they would have to wait another 12 months to pick up Sem with when next offered.

Year 2, students were going a month at a time with NO FLYING

School was changing cut off deadlines for flight training or students would have been dropped from the program as well lose their tuition fees. The cut off was first September 2019, then end of November 2019, now I believe Jan 2020 to finish their PPL. Students should have reached this point before the start of year 2, NOT year 3.

Even though the school knew of the issues, they did not cut back on the intake of the following year students. The school gets $10,000's of thousands of federal money per student that are in the course so you can figure this part out!



Just some of the points. This is not a student issue of not wanting to fly, but the schools issue of too many students in the program for the number of aircraft/instructors they have and poor upper management.

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Post by losercruiser » Thu Dec 19, 2019
Sault is a joke. It's been going downhill for years. Stay far away.
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by nwopilot » Tue
Just go get a group 1 upgrade in 4 days at cornwall for $3700 once you graduate. Still wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy quicker the sault. In today’s industry, anyone would be crazy to go to sault. Those jazz spots are not guaranteed. Do you wanna waste an extra $20k and an extra 2-3 years of your life at sault college just to find out you did not get that spot at jazz?
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by shawnthesheep
... the school is now know for falling behind. Expect to spend 4 years plus. I actually left Sault College on my own terms, in third year...... Seems a silly ... and still finished all my training and got a job before 90% of the people in my graduating class
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... I have spent about $35,000 still working to getting my PPL I am at Sault College in the aviation program presently. Myself and my 3 roommates ... with most of our class, trying to finish our Private PPL... We were suppose to be done the PPL last summer. Most of us went over a month repeatedly between flights...
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I, and most of my friends in the Sault college aviation programe, have at times waited up to..... MONTHS to get a flight in I know one that waited....3 months. Most of the time we were waiting 3 weeks or longer to fly. If we got in 2 flights in a month, it was like winning the Lotto. We are suppose to be flying 2 times a week.
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Just some of the many pages that have posted here as well as other sites about the current Sault College Aviation issues.

[DCL415]

I graduated from the Sault, it is not as stated before. The number of people doing 6th and 7th semester right now is about the average from past years.
In MOST of the cases if you are delayed in that program is YOUR own fault. Notice I wrote most, there are always exceptions.
A lot of voice messages saturday and sunday mornings of people being "sick"

[worstpilotincanada]

deleted

[TalkingPie]

I spoke with a student today who's working and doing his CPL at Cornwall, no idea if he posts here. He was working on his PPL at Sault and left due to the problems, and ended up getting his PPL privately within weeks. According to him, the problems with the school are as bad as is often described here. When I remarked that it's funny how students have such different experiences - some saying it takes years to get the PPL while others say they get through normally - he explained that there are a handful of students - the teachers' favourites - who are allotted the required flying time, while everyone else is forced to wait.

Just a secondhand anecdote, but at least I can confirm that the complaints aren't just relegated to people reposting on forums.

[classof2020]

Ya, its pretty well known know in the industry about Sault. There have not been one flying club I have been to over the last 2 years that when the topic of Sault comes up, I get the same question. "So is it as bad as what I have heard". Word gets around I guess. One of the CFI's I talked to said that "Transport was made aware of the current issues" for whatever that means.

I hope everyone filled in the the KPI surveys yesterday in class!!

Yes, some are treated differently, and there is always the exceptions. There have been some that have been given a 2nd and third chance passing flight tests, while others have been sent packing, come back next year.

Flying is very inconsistent, just to many in the program, as stated above. If your flight is cancelled, you just do not fly for that week.
Can not speak for others but Longest wait time between flights, over 45 days multiple times!

It is true though, the college did stop displaying what lesson plans students were working on in Talon. Use to be able to see where everyone was at.
Come to think about it, they use to as well post a list with student numbers with a" pass or a fail " for the written tests for CPL..PPL . They stopped that as well in mid 2019 as I think there was an abnormal number that failed and did not look good maybe.
The Chair of the program did jump ship recently. Could of been from all the parents, students knocking on his door, who knows.

If you think of coming here, just make sure you do your research.

[Ssmpilot]

I go there. It is quite good. No issues with all this "back up" on flights. Lake effect doesnt help with weather some days but it's not too bad. For price and knowledge it definently lives up to it. If you are considering coming and ur worried about the weather. Look at the METAR for a few weeks and see how it is. Overall it's a good suggestion! All teachers and instructors really are good aswell. I'd recommend

[saultdelays]

I still say stay away from Sault College until they figure out its their students that count more then their bottom line.
Ask any 3rd year students that is just now writing their Commercial Qualifier April 22nd 2020. A Full Year after they should have !! Most if not all of us did NOT have the required time

Some of the 1st year students may NOT have an idea as of yet as to the issues. There is a reason why the school removed what lesson plans each student is working on...on Talon. So students will would not know overall how delayed everyone was.

To Many students in the program!! Again the school gets government money per aviation student so do the math. Below is from a news article March 2020 in the city paper. More students, more delays, more aviation students dreams being grounded!

"Sault College has expanded its annual intake of students for its flight-training program to 110 from 100 and has plans to grow that to 150 in the next four years"
March 2020
SooToday

From a current student below...who posted to the article

Nick Mar 5, 2020 10:59 AM

Sault College wants to increase their aviation enrollment?? They can't even deal with the amount of students they have now! Just ask the third year class how many of them have their commercial licenses - they are at minimum a year behind. That program will always be the piggy bank that fills Sault College coffers...taking additional students in that they know they cannot accommodate.

[derateNO]

Run awaaaay.

Go to Confed or Mt Royal before Sault.

Or better yet, go do everything on your own then go up north for a year and get 1000 hours. You'll nearly have an ATPL and likely start at whatever regional you want at the same time your friends at Sault do. Maybe even a year earlier and you won't have to worry about how you'll upgrade with no PIC time.

[snowcrest]

All these comments regarding Sault's "issues" seem like a massive shill. If I had to guess, probably some kid who got kicked from the Soo and keeps making new accounts to berate them.

[classof2020]

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion....but just to many posts, just to many different sites all saying the same thing re Sault.

There is always good and bad in each program, but we hope that the school would do their best to help students be successful. This clearly is NOT the case with Sault as they simply just have to many in the program. And what do they do about it...say they are going to increase their intake by 50% over the next 4 years as stated in their local newspaper this month. Clearly they just do not get it, more students, more government funding seems to be their mission.

Ask any 3rd year students/most of the class that went into their last year of the program working on their Private, or just getting it.
Ask the students that finish the program in April 2020, next month, that have yet to write their commercial. This was suppose to be done a year ago, and is not being done till after the program technically ends.""CPL Qualifier Exam Week April 20th 2020, Transport Exam mid May "

Ask the students that left the program, or parents pulled them from the school because of lack of progress.
The list goes on and on....
Maybe someone should ask upper management why they seemed to try to cover up the lack of overall progress of the students by removing what flight lesson plans each student was working on..on their online Talon platform. As well why they last year they removed the list of those that pass/fail on the written. As well, maybe ask just how many failed their check rides from inconsistent flying intervals. That is flying once or twice a month last year. There is reason that many 3rd year students only have just over 100 hours total presently. Suppose to be finished end of next month or shortly after with almost double those hours. This is one of the reasons they could not write their commercial, simply did not have the required minimum flight hours. This is also the reason some were forced out of the program, as they did not have the required flight hours to continue into the last year, Semester 6/7. Imagine spending your education fund that you saved for, or took out loans for and being forced out! The school even then had to extend this deadline as it would of meant many would be washed out. The class room academics and the flight training were so out of sync!

Can they do better...sure they can. But clearly commenting in the paper that they going to increase intake by up to 50% shows you what matters most! Government funding, an the bottom line. Lost time is lost seniority, lost income, and lost opportunity.

If any of you can bypass the college and do your training at a local flight school, as stated many time here, best to do that by far! You will finish way faster, cost you less in the end, and start building your hours!