Area to start flight training

[knackebrod]

What I am looking for is an area to start my flight training
Are there areas that I should avoid (weather wise)? Or for other reasons?

All suggestions are welcome!

Thanks

[North Shore]

If you dont mind the cold, Id head to Harvs Air, in Steinbach, Manitoba. The weather there will be cold, but clear for most of the winter. I'd avoid the west coast because of poor winter wx..

Good Luck!

[Tylerjohnston]

Good Evening!

I don't know how realistic a 10 month goal is here in Canada. I started my private in the winter and in 6 months I only had about 25 hours because of the inclement weather here in Toronto. I decided to go to Florida to do my flight training, and was able to finish the rest of my private plus the rest (CPL, IR, Multi) in 2 days short of an exact year. To even make that short, I was usually doing a dual flight in the morning, GS in the late morning early afternoon, and sometimes another flight or cross country in the late afternoon. Its gruelling, although I went from essentially nothing to having both Canadian and FAA certificates in like 13.5 months.

As stated above Harv's air, I've heard numerous great reviews for that school !

Do some research, just my two cents, Enjoy your weekend.

[PilotDAR]

Harv's Air is well recommended, lots of space to fly there! Cold in the winter, but that's not a bad thing, excellent density altitude, and lots of vis in the clear air on nice winter days.

If you would like to train straight through, also consider a smaller school, farther away from the large centers. An example would be Lake country Airways, in Orillia. You can train on wheels and floats there, the airport has a water aerodrome too. In Ontario, there are also several schools around Toronto, and some further away. Ontario weather is generally good, plan to fly 20 to 25 days in an average month. November, March and April a little less good, summer very nice.

Eastern Maritimes is very pretty, though prone to fog, so some days there is less flying. Vancouver and Victoria area has several choices, though rainy weather sometimes. Accommodation will be expensive. Fantastic scenery, though with the US south, ocean west, and mountains north and east, you're somewhat boxed in, and the airspace can be busy.

[CpnCrunch]

Well there are a lot more VFR flying days in Winnipeg than Toronto. However the temperature tends to be below -30C most mornings in winter, so whether or not the schools will actually let you fly in -30C is another question. Some schools in Alberta have a cut-off of -20C as it's too hard on the equipment even with preheat.

My choice would be California, Florida or Spain. However, as you want to do float flying, Canada is probably a better bet career-wise. If you have the option, wait until spring and then do your training in BC. There are a lot of good float-training courses here that you can do after you get your CPL.

[Tylerjohnston]

+1 On Lake Country Airways, Phenomenal bunch of guys! Plus that airport is beautiful!

[PropToFeather]

Weather-wise, especially during winter, my personal advice would be to steer clear of the coasts. Especially if you're only getting your PPL - coastal weather being what it is, you'd be lucky to get much flying done. From just general knowledge of Canadian weather (having never flown in the prairies myself - others can either confirm or deny their experiences there), Manitoba or Saskatchewan would probably be the places with the best winter weather for training in Canada. That said, see above for what CpnCrunch said - it does get cold.

As to being able to finish in 10 months... that's going to be rough. It's doable, (and you will certainly find people that have powered through training like that), but you're risking a high chance of burning yourself out. Plus, you're adding the stress of "having to finish training by [date]" while having to deal with the multitude of factors in flight training which you can't really control - such as weather, mechanical, personal issues, etc. You don't think that would be a big deal, but... well, after getting weathered out for a week, and then realizing that your next few flights have got bumped to a week from now because the FTU had to make some choices, and the dispatcher was angry at you for snagging a plane (despite it being a valid snag)...

When it comes to places to avoid, I'd go through this board, and try to read up on places here. The "AvCanada Test" applies - if a place gets mentioned a lot by different people, and the reviews are generally positive, it's probably a decent place to train (conversely, if the reviews are strongly negative... maybe consider other places first?)

I'd personally also put a +1 for training in Ontario, and, more specifically, either the Southern or the Eastern portions of it. The weather is pretty good for the latter part of the winter, and most of the summer, and, during your CPL, you can visit a whole lot of airports with different scenery... in both Canada and the US!

[ahramin]

As to being able to finish in 10 months... that's going to be rough.

How is that possible? Every summer a couple hundred Air Cadets get their PP licences in seven weeks. If someone is doing their licence full time, I don't see how it could possibly take more than three months even at the most lackadaisical pace.

[Broken Slinky]

As to being able to finish in 10 months... that's going to be rough.

How is that possible? Every summer a couple hundred Air Cadets get their PP licences in seven weeks. If someone is doing their licence full time, I don't see how it could possibly take more than three months even at the most lackadaisical pace.

That's my thought too unless the OP is talking about going all the way to CPL in 10 months.
From first flight to passing my written, I did my PPL in 9 months. That also included a 7 week hiatus for the Cadets and the typical work and family commitments along with whatever weather cancellations I had. I was in the air on average twice a week. I had my night and OTT within another 2 months after that. I was lucky that my night rating happened in January and February. Only time I enjoyed seeing the sun set at 18:00.

[tipsails]

As to being able to finish in 10 months... that's going to be rough.

How is that possible? Every summer a couple hundred Air Cadets get their PP licences in seven weeks. If someone is doing their licence full time, I don't see how it could possibly take more than three months even at the most lackadaisical pace.

That's my thought too unless the OP is talking about going all the way to CPL in 10 months.
From first flight to passing my written, I did my PPL in 9 months. That also included a 7 week hiatus for the Cadets and the typical work and family commitments along with whatever weather cancellations I had. I was in the air on average twice a week. I had my night and OTT within another 2 months after that. I was lucky that my night rating happened in January and February. Only time I enjoyed seeing the sun set at 18:00.

It's totally possible to go from non licensed to MIFR CPL in 10 months. You just have to treat it like full time school.

I know people who went from PPL-CPL-MIFR in 9.

I did my PPL in 3.

[PropToFeather]

As to being able to finish in 10 months... that's going to be rough.

How is that possible? Every summer a couple hundred Air Cadets get their PP licences in seven weeks. If someone is doing their licence full time, I don't see how it could possibly take more than three months even at the most lackadaisical pace.

I was implying more along the lines of PPL+CPL+ratings. PPL is very much doable in 10 months (in fact, I'd call that a pretty leisurely pace), considering I've seen a couple of people finish their PPL in about 2 months. The rough part would be, in my opinion, getting everything done within 10 months without significant delays. I mean, if the OP is lucky with weather and mechanical, it's 100% manageable.

[tipsails]

Your best bet is Stienbach with Harv's Air. That's where I've heard of people do it in under a year. The weather there really does help, along with their school minimums for allowing flights. Some flight schools have very unrealistic minimums which stop you from flying a lot of the time the weather "might" change (IE; hasn't and in the end didn't but you couldn't fly because the dewpoint spread was 3 degrees).

go to Harvs

[piperdriver]

I did my training at Mountain City Aviation in Morden Manitoba. I have nothing but great things to about the flight school. The instructors are knowledgeable and the aircraft are well maintained. The weather in southern Manitoba is usually cooperative and most days you will be able to get out flying. I flew twice a day when the weather allowed and completed my PPL in just under 6 weeks.

[knackebrod]

Wow thanks a lot for the great answers! I prefer small schools who are more focused on quality instead of large schools that are focused on producing large numbers.

[PropToFeather]

The study visa allows me to work up to 20 hrs a week, I will be doing that to help cover my living costs. The remaining time will be dedicated to my study.

Just make sure you check, double check, and triple check what kind of work you could do, whether it has to be related to your place of study, and whether you'd be actually able to land a job where you're going to be studying (ie: small town with a flight school? Good luck finding an opening). A friend of mine got burned by that in university, when she found out that the only jobs she was eligible for with her visa were on-campus, low-paying jobs.

And, remember, if you have to take a dispatch or a ramp job at school, it may both pay less and cut into your actual study time more - especially if you like to network (or, less fancy, loiter with other pilots around the dispatch desk) when you're done working.

[EthanRoy]

Learning to fly will unlock a world of possibilities and give you unparalleled freedom to see the world. It is a truly unique experience—one of the last great adventures in our modern life. It is challenging, rewarding and flat out fun!
Some people start flying to make a career out of it, eventually working as a professional pilot. There are numerous jobs in aviation besides just airline pilot. Career opportunities include business aviation pilot, flight instructing, cargo airlines, military flying, law enforcement and many more.

[praveen4143]

I did my SE CPL in 7 months and 2 weeks flat. 10 months to do a ME-IFR CPL shouldn't be too hard. I trained at Harv's Air at their Steinbach location. I would definitely recommend either of their locations!