Foreigners coming in Western Canada

[dayto91]

Hello guys, I'm reading the forum from few years now and I want to thanks all of you bc I found lot of informations I needed here.

For some personnal reason I did my entire training in Europe so I got professionnal EASA licences but now, I want to purchase my dream to fly in your amazing country with my PPL and especially bc I got a visa to come. In fact we're 2 french guys and we're looking for a very good place to fly during few months. We went to QC and ON few times before so now we would like to come in BC, AB or YT to see it differently.

Does anyone could recommend us where he should go if he was in our situation please ?

I read lot of good stuff on Air Hart, Chinook but is it good enough just to "rent" planes and fly ?


Thanks in advance and fly safe everyone

[RoAF-Mig21]

So just to clarify, you have an EASA PPL? To rent an aircraft in Canada you most likely need a Canadian PPL (or, I'm not even sure if they have it, some sort of Canadian PPL "validation" based on your EASA PPL). Most places will rent you an aircraft once you do a check out with them. Around Vancouver you'll have Boundary Bay, Pitt Meadows, and a few other places. It's been a while since I lived out there, but I think there is Pacific Flying Club, Sea Land Air (if they're still around, etc)

As far as flying in Western Canada is concerned, I recommend you have some experience. It's not the easiest of terrain, especially once you go East of Vancouver, over the Rocky Mountains. There are plenty of beautiful places to see. Chilliwack, Kelowna, Kamloops, Castlegar, Vernon, Penticton, etc. Going West (from Vancouver) you have Victoria, Nanaimo, Tofino, Comox, etc.

Again, the terrain can be challenging and there is a lot of VFR / IFR traffic around, so again, I recommend you have some experience flying in busy airspaces and over mountains.

I hope I answered some of your questions.

[dayto91]

Thanks a lot for your quick answer!
By equivalence we can convert our EASA PPL onto TC PPL, I put the link here: https://tc.canada.ca/en/aviation/licens ... ign-pilots (it may help someone else)
You're absolutely right, indeed renting is not the good word I could used, at first we want to fly with some intructors to learn about the area and the differents tools you use in Canada and thereafter maybe we'll rent.

In fact, the Yukon is absolutely one of the region that attract me... I only found Alkan Air Flight Academy there, if anyone has an other place to recommend...

[RoAF-Mig21]

Thanks a lot for your quick answer!
By equivalence we can convert our EASA PPL onto TC PPL, I put the link here: https://tc.canada.ca/en/aviation/licens ... ign-pilots (it may help someone else)
You're absolutely right, indeed renting is not the good word I could used, at first we want to fly with some intructors to learn about the area and the differents tools you use in Canada and thereafter maybe we'll rent.

In fact, the Yukon is absolutely one of the region that attract me... I only found Alkan Air Flight Academy there, if anyone has an other place to recommend...

I haven't flown a single engine piston in more than 5 years. Even if I go back to my flying club now, I would have to get a checkout ride before they'd rent anything to me (regardless of the fact that I work as a pilot for a regional airline). You need that check ride for insurance purposes. Also, some flight schools have internal policies, where they need to do a "mountain check out". They want to make sure you're familiar with the procedures and challenges flying in high terrain.

I have flown thousands of hours in Canada's North (Nunavut, NWT and Yukon). Things are way too expensive there, there are lots of bugs (in the summer) and the scenery is nowhere near as nice as British Colombia. I wouldn't bother going there, honestly. There isn't that much to do. Stick to Southern Canada. It's prettier, has way more things to do, and it's cheaper. Most places up North are commercial operators focused on flying pax, freight or other air service. There aren't that many flight schools or flying clubs.

You cad do "Fly for Pie", where you land at Chilliwack Airport and go to their airport cafe, or many other awesome places. I never liked living in BC (because of the high cost of living and crap rain.. btw that's something I forgot to mention. West Coast has a tendency to have a lot of rain), but I loved flying out West. It was amazing.

Chilliwack airport patio


Penticton Airport


Castlegar Airport



Kamloops


Nanaimo Airport


Also you can take a trip all the way to Springbank Airport in Calgary and fly over the Alberta Rockies. It's also an amazing place.

Alberta Rockies

[WANP]

BC is stunningly beautiful to fly around.

Enjoy!

Ps. Great photos.

[RoAF-Mig21]

BC is stunningly beautiful to fly around.

Enjoy!

Ps. Great photos.

It is.

By the way, these are just photos I found on the net. All I did is imbedded them on this forum. They still have the original link.

[WANP]

Well still great photos lol.

[dayto91]

Thanks a lot for your advices ! We'll check it down and tell you later on when we'll decide what and how to plan our "trip":)