How is Brampton Flight Center?

[mike132.7]

As posted, heard their training quality is very good. Anyone who used train there and get any comments?
Also would like to know how's the living cost over there?

[rookiepilot]

As posted, heard their training quality is very good. Anyone who used train there and get any comments?
Also would like to know how's the living cost over there?

High living cost in the GTA, and winter can be uneven for flying.

Go to Steinbach, MN, if you have choices. Better weather, much lower living costs, if that's important

[RedAndWhiteBaron]

Go to Steinbach, MN. Better weather, lower costs.

Well that was a useless reply.

I usually train out of YTZ but go to Brampton sometimes for a review or when the weather is just too awesome not to fly. I did my PPL ground school at Brampton. I have no complaints about the instruction there, and they do have quite a lot of instructors available so it's easy enough to find one that you work well with. It can take some time to book a plane/instructor - usually about two weeks' notice is required, but once you have a regular schedule set up it's not an issue. The planes are well maintained and equipped with reasonably modern avionics, and they have G1000 glass cockpits available as well, or 152's for the budget constrained.

[EDIT]They have recently sold their 152's, and they are no longer available.[/EDIT]

The ground school is done quite well IMO - after you pay a one-time fee, as long you are still a member of the club in good standing, you can return for ground school classes in perpetuity. They've also worked out almost all of the kinks forced upon them by the pandemic by now. Overall I have found it to be a very professionally run flight school and I have few, if any, complaints about them. The practice area is shared with another flight school (out of Waterloo, I think?) and it can get quite busy some days. I've had at least one near miss west of Shelburne. The restaurant is closed currently due to the pandemic, but when it's open, it's very good. The pilot shop they have also sells most everything you need at a slightly higher price than the shops you'll find around YYZ, and they have a much smaller inventory - everything you need, and nothing you don't.

I don't know if it's a factor for you, but I don't believe there's any public transit available to the airport. I can look it up easily enough, I live in Brampton.

As for the cost of living, it ain't cheap here. You can probably find a dark basement for $1200 or a single bedroom apartment for $1400 or so. I haven't looked in a while, I've been in the same place for ten years, but that would be about in the ballpark.

Brampton itself has it's own... "charm". Biggest small town in the land. Kinda the black sheep of the GTA. Lots of parkland and ravines if that's your thing, great parks&rec, even a ski hill built on top of a pile of garbage and beach replete with urban myths of piranhas dating back decades, but one hospital for 600k people, and zero nightlife (even pre-covid). Downtown? Blink, and you'll miss it. Traffic is hell, and car insurance is the highest in all of North America. The Indian food you can get in Brampton is the best you will find this side of India.

If you're looking into moving here for flight training, I would suggest looking into outlying towns as well. Erin, Georgetown, and Orangeville aren't that much further from the airport once you factor in traffic, and the rent will likely come at a not insignificant savings.

[sjatana]

As posted, heard their training quality is very good. Anyone who used train there and get any comments?
Also would like to know how's the living cost over there?

The flying school is great.

The cost of living for a student in flight training, not so great. I would suggest looking at the surrounding areas for cheaper rent, such as Georgetown. Maybe Belfountain?

[2112]

Go to Steinbach, MN. Better weather, lower costs.

Well that was a useless reply.

No that was the most useful reply here. If you are coming from overseas to train then Harv's air in Steinbach MB is a much better option than anything near Toronto. More time in the practice area, less traffic, cheaper accommodations, cheaper fuel/groceries and my experience was that you will get your training finished much sooner. Yes there are lot's of flight school's in the GTA but your money won't go nearly as far down there as it does out west.

[rookiepilot]

Go to Steinbach, MN. Better weather, lower costs.

Well that was a useless reply.

No that was the most useful reply here. If you are coming from overseas to train then Harv's air in Steinbach MB is a much better option than anything near Toronto. More time in the practice area, less traffic, cheaper accommodations, cheaper fuel/groceries and my experience was that you will get your training finished much sooner. Yes there are lot's of flight school's in the GTA but your money won't go nearly as far down there as it does out west.

Thank you. No one compliments anything I write.

[Squaretail]

Thank you. No one compliments anything I write.

That means you have to come up with better material.

[PilotY]

I'm quite familiar with that place.

Overall, very good school. Fleet is very well maintained and there are instructors at the ready. The 152s were sold last spring so a 172P is your best budget option.

It's a good location training wise. Uncontrolled field allowing for easier flight training (no limits on the circuit that controlled fields may have), and tons of airports within a 1 hour flight away, so XCs are viable. Theres a good selection of destinations to practice controlled airport procedures too, and you'll be talking to Pearson a lot. It's a good mix. The practice area is nearby relative to other schools, so more time is spent training, and less commuting.

Right now, depending on your intention, training out of that airfield may be difficult with Covid. Pilots who had the intention of flying only for recreational purposes have been shut out due to Covid restrictions. Only self paced commercial students (and PPL students with the intention of going commercial), and college students, are allowed to train at the moment.

Cost of living is, well, high. Although there are cheaper areas around if you're willing to do a 45 minute commute or so.

[Dh8Classic]

I'm quite familiar with that place.

Overall, very good school. Fleet is very well maintained and there are instructors at the ready. The 152s were sold last spring so a 172P is your best budget option.

It's a good location training wise. Uncontrolled field allowing for easier flight training (no limits on the circuit that controlled fields may have), and tons of airports within a 1 hour flight away, so XCs are viable. Theres a good selection of destinations to practice controlled airport procedures too, and you'll be talking to Pearson a lot. It's a good mix. The practice area is nearby relative to other schools, so more time is spent training, and less commuting.

Right now, depending on your intention, training out of that airfield may be difficult with Covid. Pilots who had the intention of flying only for recreational purposes have been shut out due to Covid restrictions. Only self paced commercial students (and PPL students with the intention of going commercial), and college students, are allowed to train at the moment.

Cost of living is, well, high. Although there are cheaper areas around if you're willing to do a 45 minute commute or so.

Actually,

The above is the useful response along with the Baron's response. Not sure why people start talking about a place a thousand miles away as a response about a particular location.

[2112]

I am sure Brampton is a fine school, however as it sounds like this pilot-to-be is coming from overseas it only makes sense in my book that they understand they have options when choosing a school. Canada is much larger than the GTA and as a rule everything generally gets less expensive the farther away you get from urban centers. My point being that if I was coming to Canada to become a pilot I would be interested in finding schools where A) My training funds go further B) Somewhere less busy so I could knock out the training as fast as possible and C) Somewhere in close proximity to companies that will actually hire low time CPL's if I planned on staying (anywhere out west). Disclaimer I have no affiliation with any school nor am I a Flight instructor or an airline pilot, I did my training at a smaller school not affiliated with any colleges and am currently flying left seat medevac. Best of luck to you with your training either way!

[RedAndWhiteBaron]

Go to Steinbach, MN. Better weather, lower costs.

In my defense, the above was the sum total of the reply when I posted that snarky comment. It has since been edited and I now look more like an asshat than I intended to. I still don't find it very useful - it's much like someone asking for specifics on the latest F150, and being told "F150's suck man, get a Sierra!", or it least it did at the time it was posted.

That being said, it certainly can't hurt to inform people of other options for flight training locations that they may not have considered. I too got the impression that the OP was asking from overseas. But to offer nothing in answer to the question helps the poster very little.

All that said, it would be a good thing IMO to include a subforum in the flight training forum that could be used for comparing various flight schools. I've seen this question (not specifically about Brampton but in general) asked a lot in my time here.

[photofly]

I am sure Brampton is a fine school, however as it sounds like this pilot-to-be is coming from overseas it only makes sense in my book that they understand they have options when choosing a school. Canada is much larger than the GTA and as a rule everything generally gets less expensive the farther away you get from urban centers. My point being that if I was coming to Canada to become a pilot I would be interested in finding schools where A) My training funds go further B) Somewhere less busy so I could knock out the training as fast as possible and C) Somewhere in close proximity to companies that will actually hire low time CPL's if I planned on staying (anywhere out west). Disclaimer I have no affiliation with any school nor am I a Flight instructor or an airline pilot, I did my training at a smaller school not affiliated with any colleges and am currently flying left seat medevac. Best of luck to you with your training either way!

If you're coming from overseas and you want to work here, first priority is probably to find a school that can get you a Post Graduate Work Permit. That means a Designated Learning Institution (https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-re ... -list.html) Now those permits are limited in time to match the length of your training, so if you want the maximum three years permission to work after you finish training you want a course that's at least two years long. "As fast as possible" might not be what you want.

[rookiepilot]

Go to Steinbach, MN. Better weather, lower costs.

In my defense, the above was the sum total of the reply when I posted that snarky comment. It has since been edited and I now look more like an asshat than I intended to. I still don't find it very useful - it's much like someone asking for specifics on the latest F150, and being told "F150's suck man, get a Sierra!", or it least it did at the time it was posted.

That being said, it certainly can't hurt to inform people of other options for flight training locations that they may not have considered. I too got the impression that the OP was asking from overseas. But to offer nothing in answer to the question helps the poster very little.

All that said, it would be a good thing IMO to include a subforum in the flight training forum that could be used for comparing various flight schools. I've seen this question (not specifically about Brampton but in general) asked a lot in my time here.

To your F150 analogy-- this OP sounds like he's never driven a car, and he saw an ad for an F150. But whatever.

I don't see the point, coming from overseas, to waste money in Toronto on shoebox accommodation, worse weather, and waiting 20 minutes to takeoff, unless you have too.

That's me. So I provide an alternative -- what I would do.

If your real desire is to be in Toronto or Vancouver to party while you're learning to fly, knock yourself out.

[RedAndWhiteBaron]

To your F150 analogy-- this OP sounds like he's never driven a car, and he saw an ad for an F150.

You win that one. Really.

[mike132.7]

I'm quite familiar with that place.

Overall, very good school. Fleet is very well maintained and there are instructors at the ready. The 152s were sold last spring so a 172P is your best budget option.

It's a good location training wise. Uncontrolled field allowing for easier flight training (no limits on the circuit that controlled fields may have), and tons of airports within a 1 hour flight away, so XCs are viable. Theres a good selection of destinations to practice controlled airport procedures too, and you'll be talking to Pearson a lot. It's a good mix. The practice area is nearby relative to other schools, so more time is spent training, and less commuting.

Right now, depending on your intention, training out of that airfield may be difficult with Covid. Pilots who had the intention of flying only for recreational purposes have been shut out due to Covid restrictions. Only self paced commercial students (and PPL students with the intention of going commercial), and college students, are allowed to train at the moment.

Cost of living is, well, high. Although there are cheaper areas around if you're willing to do a 45 minute commute or so.

Thank you very much, these are really the information that I need.

[mike132.7]

Go to Steinbach, MN. Better weather, lower costs.

Well that was a useless reply.

I usually train out of YTZ but go to Brampton sometimes for a review or when the weather is just too awesome not to fly. I did my PPL ground school at Brampton. I have no complaints about the instruction there, and they do have quite a lot of instructors available so it's easy enough to find one that you work well with. It can take some time to book a plane/instructor - usually about two weeks' notice is required, but once you have a regular schedule set up it's not an issue. The planes are well maintained and equipped with reasonably modern avionics, and they have G1000 glass cockpits available as well, or 152's for the budget constrained.

[EDIT]They have recently sold their 152's, and they are no longer available.[/EDIT]

The ground school is done quite well IMO - after you pay a one-time fee, as long you are still a member of the club in good standing, you can return for ground school classes in perpetuity. They've also worked out almost all of the kinks forced upon them by the pandemic by now. Overall I have found it to be a very professionally run flight school and I have few, if any, complaints about them. The practice area is shared with another flight school (out of Waterloo, I think?) and it can get quite busy some days. I've had at least one near miss west of Shelburne. The restaurant is closed currently due to the pandemic, but when it's open, it's very good. The pilot shop they have also sells most everything you need at a slightly higher price than the shops you'll find around YYZ, and they have a much smaller inventory - everything you need, and nothing you don't.

I don't know if it's a factor for you, but I don't believe there's any public transit available to the airport. I can look it up easily enough, I live in Brampton.

As for the cost of living, it ain't cheap here. You can probably find a dark basement for $1200 or a single bedroom apartment for $1400 or so. I haven't looked in a while, I've been in the same place for ten years, but that would be about in the ballpark.

Brampton itself has it's own... "charm". Biggest small town in the land. Kinda the black sheep of the GTA. Lots of parkland and ravines if that's your thing, great parks&rec, even a ski hill built on top of a pile of garbage and beach replete with urban myths of piranhas dating back decades, but one hospital for 600k people, and zero nightlife (even pre-covid). Downtown? Blink, and you'll miss it. Traffic is hell, and car insurance is the highest in all of North America. The Indian food you can get in Brampton is the best you will find this side of India.

If you're looking into moving here for flight training, I would suggest looking into outlying towns as well. Erin, Georgetown, and Orangeville aren't that much further from the airport once you factor in traffic, and the rent will likely come at a not insignificant savings.

Thank you for the reply, yeh, I'm not really a big city person, small towns will make me happy, haha.