Moncton Flight College

[chris-squire]

Hi All,

I'm looking for a bit of advice on Moncton Flight College (Cabair).

I intend to go out there early March to do a PPL but am struggling to find any useful info on the climate etc at that time of year. I have been advised by Cabair that 6 weeks is fairly reasonable to complete a PPL over there but is this the case during March and April?

Has anyone been out there during these months and if so what was it like? Were there many days you couldn't fly because of snow or ice etc???

Any help much appreciated!!!

Cheers

:)

[BA123]

Hi,

I went to MFC between March and June this year to do a ppl which was not completed in time however I went back in august to finish it off within a couple of weeks. The weather was not fantastic between these times for me however weather does change. Alot of snow and high winds however you do get crystal clear days when it is very cold. I have been talking to a friend of mine there at the moment and the weather does'nt sound great but as i said this can change.

JAA instructors are very good and aircraft availability on the cessnas tends not to be a problem and maintenance of aircraft is good also.

If you want any more info don't hesitate to ask

Chris

[wvg]

Hi Chris

I have taken my PPL at MFC last year and had some experiences with the weather :). I have seen beautiful days with sunshine and hot weather; I have seen days with pouring rain, with hard winds, 50 cm of snow and so on. All in the period of May-07 until Dec-07.

Bottom line is: you simply don't know what the weather will do nowadays. I travel, live and work almost everywhere in the world and during the last years, I have seen the climate changes all over the place. Just as an example: 3 days ago it was about -20 C in Moncton with 165 CM of snow. Today (at the moment of writing) it is 2 C and raining. You simply cannot tell.

Regarding the 6 weeks for your PPL. Yes, I have heart that before :) In theory this is possible and some pilots (although I have not met any of them) are able to pull it off in 6 weeks. Under the constraints (i) every day is a good day for flying, (ii) you always get your flying slot and (iii) you perform well on each flight. I think 6 weeks in a row is not reasonable. 6 weeks of total duration time, spread over, say, 3 months, may be more reasonable.

If you are concerned about the weather and want to have an 'assurance' that the weather is nice most of the time, I suggest you check area's like Florida.

HOWEVER, if you value the level of instruction and want to become a competent pilot who is willing to raise the bar for a PPL license, I highly recommend MFC. The weather may not be that fantastic all the time, but the instruction is! I am proud that I was able to pull off the PPL as I know MFC does push the envelope. It is not for nothing that MFC is the training operator by choice for four of the largest Chinese Airlines. Plus they are assigned as one of the six CAE Global Academy Flight Schools world-wide, which is also an acknowledgement for their level of training.

If you want to know more details, post me a private message :O
KR,
WVG

[nibi786]

As WVG states above, weather is totally unpredictable....

I have done all my flight training (PPL> night rating, hour building etc) there and will return to complete my flight training. Yes it took me longer than expected, BUT weather, as stated above, is completely unpredictable - and as VFR aviators, we should gain some enjoyment out of it.

The quality of instruction is faultless...the school operates to very high standards of safety and instruction - and the huge majority of instructors are there because they want to be there - teaching, not hour building....this is quite rare to find in good flying schools.

As well as the organisations listed by WVG above, the JAA department is part of Cabair, one of Europes largest JAA Training providers - and very well known.

Bottom line - if you want quality and want to become a pilot with a high calibre of flying knowledge go to MFC. If you wish to get your licences churned out in 4 weeks flat as promised by floridian FTOs then have fun at the pilot factories down there :D (i know its evil me calling them that but its the basic truth)

Questions? PM

Nibi :D

p.s. if VWG is reading this - hope your well :)