A new country, a new career

[Wannabe2018]

Hi there everyone,

I am a development sector professional working for a major donor agency in a developing nation. For the better part of the past 10 years, I have dedicated myself to this line of work, often working in challenging environments to improve infrastructure, access to education, and nutrition in some of the most impoverished areas in Asia.

As a child, I always had the dream to make a career in aviation and fly 747s someday. Unable to enter the "real" cockpit, I went virtual, setting up online networks for flight simulation, which eventually led to international recognition, building a fixed base C172 simulator for a local university, and teaching flight simulation as a subject on the side. So far, this has been enough to keep my aviation bug pacified.

I hope I don't get any hate for repeating the perpetual scenario, but early next year I am looking to move to Canada for good. A couple of days, when I was speaking to my graduate student advisor, he flat out asked: what is your dream job? I hate to admit, but I sort of gleaned over that question with a non-answer. After our conversation, the simple idea that I could perhaps get into aviation as a career has been bugging me ever since. Since I am going to be uprooting my life and starting from scratch, why not try my luck in aviation?

Long story short, here are my credentials:
- A 4 year degree in development studies
- Nearly a decade of experience in infrastructure development and vocational training projects

I have searched and read through a few valuable posts on this forum over the past couple of days. From what I have gathered, the route I wish to take is one that leads to flight instructing: I have found that teaching is an ability that I have picked up over the years, and interacting with young people and helping them steer their lives towards success gives me an internal satisfaction that I cannot describe.

However, to go down that path, I have to extensively study and pay my way through flight school while settling in to the country. I guess at this point I am looking for advise on how I can enter the aviation sector on the ground - perhaps as a dispatcher or customer service agent - that will allow me to gain operational exposure to the field, while giving me a sufficient income to save up and start flying. The flight dispatcher route is of particular interest to me, as I have worked closely with people who have done their training from Sheffield (USA) and gone on to have successful careers in the Middle East.

Any practical advice would be really appreciated.

Best,
-A

[anibalb]

Hi
If you are interested in becoming a Dispatcher you may want to read this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=66678#p733923

What it comes down to is to make yourself employable you want to take the Flight Dispatcher exams (there are links for courses on that link). I would try to get them as soon as possible and start applying to companies once I have them. If you are interested in working on a flight school you probably don´t need them but they will give you a good knowledge base of aviation in Canada.
Feel free to PM me if you need more info.

Good luck!

Anibal

[jg24]

Hi
If you are interested in becoming a Dispatcher you may want to read this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=66678#p733923

What it comes down to is to make yourself employable you want to take the Flight Dispatcher exams (there are links for courses on that link). I would try to get them as soon as possible and start applying to companies once I have them. If you are interested in working on a flight school you probably don´t need them but they will give you a good knowledge base of aviation in Canada.
Feel free to PM me if you need more info.

Good luck!

Anibal

To clarify what Anibal said, the Flight Dispatcher exams are what most commercial operators seek for their dispatcher positions. Passing these exams certifies you to perform those duties for a commercial operator from a Transport Canada standpoint. It is also good advice to start off small at a flight school, where such exams are not required. They will do in house training and you'll perform duties such as flight following, customer service, bookings answering phones etc... All while performing 'flight dispatch' duties. Be aware a flight dispatch position at a flight school won't pay very well.

The flight dispatcher courses will teach you a lot about the industry, and if you do follow that path, it will help you (general knowledge wise) as a pilot in the future a little bit. But many will say that it is a bit of a unnecessary detour. It can be argued that you will gain a lot of operational experience and as a pilot in the future, you could appreciate your dispatcher's hard work a little more.

I'm not very helpful or answering your question, but take a look into doing the dispatcher exams. A mature person should be able to dedicate some study time and do well on the exams. For a person with zero aviation knowledge or background, it may be a bit overwhelming, but you seem to have your mindset around aviation to some extent.

If you want to get an idea of what the exams cover, check out the TC Flight Dispatcher Study and Reference Guide:

https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/ ... u-1320.htm


best of luck

[Beefitarian]

It's the Internet, you'll get lots of hate. Don't worry about it, "An empty bottle makes the most noise."

[matthew.oommen]

What part of the country are you moving to? If Calgary, I might have some ideas for you

[Wannabe2018]

Hi
If you are interested in becoming a Dispatcher you may want to read this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=66678#p733923

What it comes down to is to make yourself employable you want to take the Flight Dispatcher exams (there are links for courses on that link). I would try to get them as soon as possible and start applying to companies once I have them. If you are interested in working on a flight school you probably don´t need them but they will give you a good knowledge base of aviation in Canada.
Feel free to PM me if you need more info.

Good luck!

Anibal

Thanks a lot Anibal!

To clarify what Anibal said, the Flight Dispatcher exams are what most commercial operators seek for their dispatcher positions.
If you want to get an idea of what the exams cover, check out the TC Flight Dispatcher Study and Reference Guide:

https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/ ... u-1320.htm


best of luck

Thanks a bunch jg24, this is exactly what I needed to hear

It's the Internet, you'll get lots of hate. Don't worry about it, "An empty bottle makes the most noise."

Thanks for the heads up!

What part of the country are you moving to? If Calgary, I might have some ideas for you

I plan to land in Toronto and stay there for some time - after that, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver - I'm open to it all. Sent you a pm.

[HiFlyChick]

...a dispatcher or customer service agent - that will allow me to gain operational exposure to the field, while giving me a sufficient income to save up and start flying....

This is the part that leapt out at me - I had a friend who a few years back wrote her exams and started dispatching with a feeder airline. She didn't explicitly talk about pay, but I got the impression that it wasn't great. What she did talk about was ridiculously long shifts (14-16) for many days in a row (10 not unheard of), to the point that she was so exhausted she was becoming a danger on the drive home. We both actually wondered how it was legal to ask people to work these shifts (I think she was supposed to match her training person and he was a machine - maybe the scheduling was strictly his idea, but in any case she only lasted a few months).

This was a number of years ago now, and maybe there was a shortage here or in general at that time, but maybe there's someone in a dispatch position who can comment...


That being said, I would personally recommend to the OP that if he needs to earn a living with enough left over to start flight training that he go for a job that pays well - he'll learn what he needs to know in the course of his studies, and financing will be the biggest factor when starting out

[Phlyer]

If you were to find an excellent school that has lots of well maintained airplanes and lots of students then you could potentially do all your training with them and go the instructor route and get hired by them when you done.
A reputable school would hire you after spending all that money assuming you are competent and you come across that way.
It would take about a year of full time flying, ground school and studying. Maybe someone who has done that more recently than I can chime in with rough costs.
You probably know this already but instructors are not well paid.
Another option would be to get into a company as a Flight Co-Ordinator - this is different than a dispatcher and requires much less training and knowledge, but again it's a bit of an entry level job with associated headaches.
With all of your licences you can get into a regional plane fairly quickly these days - maybe 2-3 years? Again long ago for me and things were very different when I started.
Best of luck - it's good to chase your dreams!