Ontario Flight Colleges - Question/Advice (Solved)

[Typhoon]

All fixed, can be deleted.

[gustind]

.

[tzu]

hilarious!

[macbainz1]

Hi there,

I have a quick question regarding the Ontario Flight Colleges. As a current students in one of the 3 subsidized flight colleges in Ontario (I don't really want to say which one as someone may be watching)

Hi all,

Just dropping in to say hi and that I will be attending Confed this September. I'm currently in....

A quick look at your profile/user posts. So much for trying to hide it...

LOL

[Stevo226]

The only reason I decided to go to Confed was because it was CHEAP! That should be motivation enough.

On top of that, in the end you wind up with 400+ hours of groundschool (I think, it might be more) versus the minimum 120 hours at a local FTU. Being a flying encyclopedia does have its advantages, believe it or not. You'll see

[Typhoon]

Thanks for the advise Stevo, appreciate it.

[supertrooper]

It doesn't. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have 60 grand laying around to pay for their training so the next best thing is confed, sault, seneca ect.. that take care of the flight training and all you pay for is the college tuition.. Unfortunately with the flight colleges doing well in the non flying courses are what pass you onto the next semester.

[CD]

Don't get me wrong, I understand that you've gotta do what you've gotta do, however, it seems like the extra classes are just a complete waste of time. The ground school and flying portions are phenomenal and I enjoy them a lot. Is the extra hassle outweighed by the benefits received by completing one of these programs?

While I don't have any particular advice regarding the diploma, I would note that some of the "extra classes" that you might consider a "complete waste of time" might be anything but. Once upon a time I had the (mis)fortune to share a number of courses with an aviation flight management class and was amazed at the negative attitude displayed by some of those future aviators. One of the courses that stands out in particular was related to total quality management (this was about 20 years ago so you might be more familiar with one of it's current forms -- safety management systems). The flight management students were generally disruptive, argumentative, and dismissive of the theory being taught because learning about quality management programs wasn't going to "help them fly". They were partly right, too. It was unfortunate that whenever resumes came through the flight ops department, those future aviators often had a much slimmer chance at being considered for employment as a result of their attitudes.

So, I would recommend that you view the extra courses as an oppotunity. Also, always remember that how you conduct yourself today might be important for the job you want tomorrow...

[Stevo226]

Those other classes can also bite you in the ass. I remember about half of the people who failed out first semester, failed math. And this is easy math! multiplication and division! So don't take it too lightly, the ones that fail out are the ones that take it too lightly and don't bother to study or take a look at the textbooks.

One other benefit is that if you decide to change careers or pick up another one as backup, some of those courses will transfer over to other colleges or in some cases, university (Athabasca). Having a backup plan is a must!

Want to get paid ridiculous amounts of money to sit on your ass all day? Become a bus driver in London

[Typhoon]

Thanks for all of the info guys, I really appreciate it.

[gustind]

Alright well Typhoon I was getting to the serious post sooner or later I just had time to point that out .

As stated already, it is cheaper - significantly. You have to remember that yes, these are college programs and there will be the occasional course that has nothing to do with aviation (such as math (not the simple shit)). It is filler for the piece of paper you will receive at the end of your program. Another example being English and its respective sub-categories like courses on sociology or short-novels. These are required by the college if memory serves be correctly.

I came in my program with a PPL and I have found that the quality of training is almost the same aside from a few differences. A Cessna 172 will fly straight and level whether you're in a local FTU or a college program. The differences lie within the schools own rules (which differ anyways from FTU to FTU) and each individual instructor.

Although I hate some of the courses I am taking, it doesn't mean I am not learning from them. I guess you can say that learning it is a benefit for life, however reciting the words of Emmanuel Kant while in cruise may also kill time. Just keep focusing on your goal and try to enjoy every step to it.

I think the ideal reply you were looking for was explaining wx or not the airlines care if you have this piece of paper saying you've been in a college program. I cannot answer that for you, however I hope you have found some inspiration in my post.

Cheers,

[Dagwood]

Although I hate some of the courses I am taking

What's wrong with Ms. Kosiba?

[skybaron]

As a side note, I was generally referring to the encyclopedia part with regards to the english/other electives that are required. They are so plain and boring, and honestly, I haven't learned a thing in them. It's basically like highschool all over again (some may prefer that, but I would enjoy learning about things that I don't already know about especially if I'm paying big bucks for it).

Any other advice as to how having a diploma from Confed would benefit you in the industry over a university degree/licenses obtained from a local FTU?

Typhoon - STOP WHINING.

Yes, those elective courses are boring and frustrating, but, what they do is increase your workload, and, if you tackle the semester successfully (academics, flying, groundschool,exams) - help in your ability to manage stress, as well as multi task. I'm sure your fine lineage of aviators would agree that being a 777 or Dash 7 capt wasn't a walk in the park, and I'm sure they've had their fair share of handling big workloads and stressful situations. So, by no means will the curriculum at Confed compare to the day to day tasks of flying and decisions making, but it's an excellent place to start.

Also, correct if I'm wrong, but those "funded" colleges also have/had a competition for a Jazz sponsorship scheme. 200 hrs and into a cockpit of a CRJ/Dash. Crazy indeed! Certainly doesn't have my vote, but, its the flavour of day I guess.

As with the other posters - the college is way cheaper than any FTU. Will it make you a better pilot - NO - as that depends on a ton of other factors such as yourself, and mainly who did you learn the ropes from etc.

Hell, it might even be one of your classmates, or instructor who lines you up for your first flying job (that is if you don't make that illustrious cut for Jazz - don't be betting the farm on this option).
All in all be professional, and suck it up.

[Typhoon]

Thanks for the response again guys, cleared up a lot. Your post did come through gustin .

Thanks.

[CanadianEh]

Want to get paid ridiculous amounts of money to sit on your ass all day? Become a bus driver in London

Obviously the drivers didn't think it was that much money now that they're on strike, eh? How's it treating you Stevo?

[Stevo226]

Want to get paid ridiculous amounts of money to sit on your ass all day? Become a bus driver in London

Obviously the drivers didn't think it was that much money now that they're on strike, eh? How's it treating you Stevo?

I've thrown many insults while driving by (as long as there's a green light ahead). eggs will be next.

These deucebags make $25/hour plus benefits plus overtime. The city offered them an 8% increase in pay, they declined because they want 15% increase. Now they're on strike. Western has been running a shuttle service to students who relied on the bus to get to school, now the LTC union wants to picket at Western because using a shuttle service is a "strike breaking activity". Now come the eggs

[CanadianEh]

Want to get paid ridiculous amounts of money to sit on your ass all day? Become a bus driver in London

Obviously the drivers didn't think it was that much money now that they're on strike, eh? How's it treating you Stevo?

I've thrown many insults while driving by (as long as there's a green light ahead). eggs will be next.

These deucebags make $25/hour plus benefits plus overtime. The city offered them an 8% increase in pay, they declined because they want 15% increase. Now they're on strike. Western has been running a shuttle service to students who relied on the bus to get to school, now the LTC union wants to picket at Western because using a shuttle service is a "strike breaking activity". Now come the eggs

Right behind you Stevo! Do you live near the airport?

[Stevo226]

No I live about 15 mins away. And I have a car. According to LTC that makes me a scab