Getting my PPL in Ottawa

[xysn]

hi!

I've read the existing thread on flight training in Ottawa, but it's a little over 4 years old, so I thought maybe there some new information out there. I live in the city so I'm looking at OAS, OFC, and RFC.

I don't have any current ambitions to be professional pilot so job prospects at the school are not important to me, just a decent place which won't rip me off.

I'm leaning towards OAS because their ground school schedule is works with mine, and they have a Diamond Katana, although I'm not sure if either of those are particularly good reasons.

I'll also be visiting each and going over that TC checklist on choosing a flight school.

Any experiences with these schools would be helpful. I'm new to Ottawa so the social aspect of a school could be a bonus.

Thanks!

[Driving Comet]

I'm from Toronto, but I lived and worked in Ottawa over the summer.

I already had my PPL, and did some night time building at Rockcliffe Flying Club. They were professional and fun to fly with. They also have a new hangar and 'building' going up that I get e mails about once and a while. They had a rough year last summer regarding maintenance (not their maintenance, but renters breaking the planes) so I found it semi-hard to book time, even though I did all night time flying. I also found RFC to be a place where if I was bored, I could just drop in and hang out at. There's always a person sitting there at Tonys BBQ to talk with, which is extremely different than what I'm use to in Toronto.

The CFI (Simon) was also very good, he helped me get out of a sticky situation one night with 2 pax at the Arnprior Airport without any issues the next day.

Overall, it was a great experience for me because I got my confidence up to fly into small, uncontrolled airports (I'm use to a busy controlled environment), medium sized (flew down to kingston to check out the FSS and see the airport) as well as large airports (doing some touch and go's out of the international when I got bored). If they can keep their fleet healthy, then I can only say good things about them.

DC

[Servisair]

I too did my flight training in Toronto, but when I was first starting out I was in Ottawa and did my PPL ground school at OAS before moving. If was a great school with friendly staff. I cant say anything about the flight training because I haven`t done any with them but my experience there was great.

[ptc]

I did my instructor rating at Rockcliffe and then worked there as an instructor. As both a student and employee I found it to be one of the better schools/clubs I have visited and flown at. The staff are always helpful and willing to chat to students, members and prospective students. As mentioned before Tony serves up a mean burger.

The new hanger will definately help the club out and it will be great to see the new clubhouse get started in the next few years as well.

Good to see you are checking out your options, have a chat with some students or renters and get there thoughts.

Best of luck and enjoy flying

[cgzro]

First I've never heard any complains of any of the schools around ripping anybody off.
Each school has advantages.

On the Ontario side I am partial to rockliffe because it's really low hassle and easy to get to so air time is maximized. Only downside is winter runway maintenance can ground u for a bit.

OAS has an aerobatic plane, the Ottawa airport runways are of course well maintained and u get the controlled airport experience.

There is also a nice school in Gatineau if you speak French. The runway at Gatineau is always well maintained and it's really low hassle. Resgurant is good to at gat. Also lots to see in the way of unusual a/c.

[WTB:PPC]

If you plan on Multi , Multi - IFR then you'll want to go to the Ottawa Flying Club. 2 Duchesses and experienced instructors make for efficient and high quality training program.

With regards to the PPL, the Ottawa Flying Club also offers an extremely efficient booking system and about 20 instructors to pick from. Not to mention the Phở is to die for.

Experience at CYOW dealing w/ clearance, ground & tower will also you gear you up for flying anywhere in the world. I hear alot of students complaining about being nervous on the radios because they started off at uncontrolled airports.

[up_and_down]

I would recommend OAS. They are very friendly and very helpful.

I'm leaning towards OAS because their ground school schedule is works with mine, and they have a Diamond Katana, although I'm not sure if either of those are particularly good reasons.

Those are great points to consider when choosing a flight school. Lets face it, all of your training will have to work around your schedule. The better the two (the training schedule and your schedule) fit together the less time you will spend idle and you will get more value from your training. Keep in mind that the training flight schedule will be up to you for the most part.

The Katanas are a lot of fun to fly (especially spinning) and have lower operating costs which will generally translate to lower rental costs.

Whatever you choose, have fun and enjoy it. There's no better feeling.

[Big Pistons Forever]

I did my instructor rating at Rockcliffe and then worked there as an instructor. As both a student and employee I found it to be one of the better schools/clubs I have visited and flown at. The staff are always helpful and willing to chat to students, members and prospective students. As mentioned before Tony serves up a mean burger.

The new hanger will definately help the club out and it will be great to see the new clubhouse get started in the next few years as well.

Good to see you are checking out your options, have a chat with some students or renters and get there thoughts.

Best of luck and enjoy flying

I had reason to be in Ottawa the last few years and occasionally rented from the Rockcliff flying club. I second the above, it is friendly and accomodating club with an active social program. It is a very efficent place to learn as the airport is usually not very busy and the practice area is nearby. My only beef was the airplanes. They were safe but really ugly

[xysn]

Experience at CYOW dealing w/ clearance, ground & tower will also you gear you up for flying anywhere in the world. I hear alot of students complaining about being nervous on the radios because they started off at uncontrolled airports.

Perhaps obvious answer, but I take that to mean that Rockcliffe airport is uncontrolled?

[cgzro]

Yes Rockliffe is uncontrolled. The Ottawa area is rather nice because you have: Rockliffe/Uncontrolled, Gatineau/MF and Ottawa/Controlled all within 5 minutes of each other, so no matter where you fly you can easily get experience at any of the different flavours.