Pro Ifr Vancouver
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: CYVR
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Pro IFR in Vancouver
Great school. I've done my Canadian initial and renewal IFR ratings there on several occasions. Over the years the school has expanded and branched out to offering Airplane, Helicopter, Instructor and Instrument ratings.
Origionally, many years ago they only offered instrument ratings.
There ground schools are good. Intrument rating ground schools can be completed in three days followed by the IFR written exam.
Origionally, many years ago they only offered instrument ratings.
There ground schools are good. Intrument rating ground schools can be completed in three days followed by the IFR written exam.
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: canada
Age: 51
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I did my original IFR (and VFR)and a renewal with Pro, I also did several seminars-John Montgomery is excellent at taking somewhat boring and tedious information and making it interesting and palatable.I highly recommend them.
Cheers PJ
Cheers PJ
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: UK
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Instructors, CP usually late. Like an hour! Free coffee will only go so far.
Hard push to get extra cash through "you need extra training to get to the PROIFR standard"
. When I challenged it, I was given the licence.
Even had the pleasure of being shown around their twin for 10 minutes by a junior instructor for about $70.00. (He too was 20minutes late, He was busy making posters for a new hockey team he was starting)
I got my Licence(a conversion) through them but in future will go elsewhere. Was a few years ago now, maybe they have changed? Cheers 'n' Beers, Rope
PS. Last time I left "feedback" for PIFR, my ENTIRE post was censored by the moderator and the thread closed? No explanation what I said that was so wrong? Perhaps a conflict of interest? It was along the same lines as what I wrote today. Just the truth as it happened to me.
Hard push to get extra cash through "you need extra training to get to the PROIFR standard"
. When I challenged it, I was given the licence.Even had the pleasure of being shown around their twin for 10 minutes by a junior instructor for about $70.00. (He too was 20minutes late, He was busy making posters for a new hockey team he was starting)
I got my Licence(a conversion) through them but in future will go elsewhere. Was a few years ago now, maybe they have changed? Cheers 'n' Beers, Rope
PS. Last time I left "feedback" for PIFR, my ENTIRE post was censored by the moderator and the thread closed? No explanation what I said that was so wrong? Perhaps a conflict of interest? It was along the same lines as what I wrote today. Just the truth as it happened to me.
I agree with every word!
If you do decide to use Pro IFR, make sure you go to Victoria Int and NOT Boundary Bay.
John Montgomery has a great reputation in the trade, but I felt that Pro wasn't really interested in me - just my wallet!!!!
Dreamer
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Toronto
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I came in July to do my Multi IFR renewal and that went very well.
I now came by to do an ATPL course, which also went very well.
They are busy, but john always takes the time to talk to each student, the people are friendly, and the courses are good and go in depth. They also have good ground school instructors. They also go out of their way to help you when you come in from out of town.
Not many schools that i have seen are that good.
Good place.
I now came by to do an ATPL course, which also went very well.
They are busy, but john always takes the time to talk to each student, the people are friendly, and the courses are good and go in depth. They also have good ground school instructors. They also go out of their way to help you when you come in from out of town.
Not many schools that i have seen are that good.
Good place.
John Montgomery runs a good ship, they have a very good and well proven step by step system, there is no question about it. The positives out way the negitives when comparing to some of the other companies, but just be aware of the following may help. U ask an instructor a few questions and you will be billed for that, even if over the free coffee while you are waiting as they are and hour behind at 11am, The photo copied text books I believe have improved, but you will pay through the nose for them, but my gripe was the hidden surcharges on flight time, which made the hourly rate actually 18% more. I had never seen those “surcharges” with any other company. But look, the IFR and theory ground course, is worth it’s weight in gold, and they do have a good standard with planes in decent conditions. I still recommended them to a friend recently.
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: India
Age: 34
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concerns
hi guys ...im an indian ...and ive decided to join proIFR ,boundary bay.....i hav heard tht proifr is lil more expensive than others...but i wud lik to know approx. how much more the course fess could go up to if i was goin for a CPL with Multi,ifr,night ratings....? help me out............
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Sandbox.
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Hi all,
I did my initial IFR rating at Pro IFR back in 1990 and a renewal the following year. In those days they were still operating out of YVR.
I have nothing but good things to say about them; the procedures they taught DO work in the real world, not just get you through the ride. (I'm now a wide body captain so I know a bit about this)
In my mind, the best IFR training outfit in Canada.
Cheers.
I did my initial IFR rating at Pro IFR back in 1990 and a renewal the following year. In those days they were still operating out of YVR.
I have nothing but good things to say about them; the procedures they taught DO work in the real world, not just get you through the ride. (I'm now a wide body captain so I know a bit about this)
In my mind, the best IFR training outfit in Canada.
Cheers.
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: North America
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Great school, bad location. It's a little far from all the training places (Glenn Valley-ish), circuits will be a bother when you first start, especially with the lahso, 800ft circuits, 5+ people in the circuit, impatient atc..
If you don't mind waiting to take off every time, then it's a fine airport too.
If you don't mind waiting to take off every time, then it's a fine airport too.
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
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Back in the day...
I trained with them in 1990/91. I did IFR renewals as well. John Montgomery has a fantastic product.
Like the wide-body guy said, their training works in the real world. It took me a little more than 3 years from the time I finished my Multi-IFR with Pro IFR to get to the right seat of a 737. Now I am a Captain for Southwest Airlines.
Fly safe!
Like the wide-body guy said, their training works in the real world. It took me a little more than 3 years from the time I finished my Multi-IFR with Pro IFR to get to the right seat of a 737. Now I am a Captain for Southwest Airlines.
Fly safe!
Overall good things to say.
When I did some stuff there, non of the machines had boots etc, so we were very restrictive in winter as often there was crud around in Vancouver area and exposed to icing so many days were CXL.
They are also good to teach for the exams & did have some excellent ground instructors that knew their stuff and interested in what they were teaching and interested in you passing.
I remembered they used to add an extra .4 on for taxi, which really sucked.
But over all I have recommend them and I would use them again to renew an IFR.
When I did some stuff there, non of the machines had boots etc, so we were very restrictive in winter as often there was crud around in Vancouver area and exposed to icing so many days were CXL.
They are also good to teach for the exams & did have some excellent ground instructors that knew their stuff and interested in what they were teaching and interested in you passing.
I remembered they used to add an extra .4 on for taxi, which really sucked.
But over all I have recommend them and I would use them again to renew an IFR.
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Shanghai, China
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The weekend IFR seminars are great.
John is a great guy.
the program is well structured and thought out.
the bad news is many of the instructors are terrible. They work on "ish" time, and really dont know either how to instruct well, oreven how to fly IFR well.
It is all good in theory , but the practical side is bad..Book for 0800 and you will typically be standing outside a locked office. When your instructor does show up, another 20 minutes or so ...but as someone mentioned, the coffee is free. I was always 30 minutes early for my appointed schedule..Not once did we ever get started on time.
They also seem to want to schedule for their convenience, which means it takes a long time to do the rating, or in my case, a renewal. Keeps them busy , but when a company is paying for your hotels, schooling etc, they get a bit upset when you tell them the best schedule you can get is one flight a day..
I would take the weekend seminar, do the written , and find a less professional school that can schedule better and has better instructors.
John is a great guy.
the program is well structured and thought out.
the bad news is many of the instructors are terrible. They work on "ish" time, and really dont know either how to instruct well, oreven how to fly IFR well.
It is all good in theory , but the practical side is bad..Book for 0800 and you will typically be standing outside a locked office. When your instructor does show up, another 20 minutes or so ...but as someone mentioned, the coffee is free. I was always 30 minutes early for my appointed schedule..Not once did we ever get started on time.
They also seem to want to schedule for their convenience, which means it takes a long time to do the rating, or in my case, a renewal. Keeps them busy , but when a company is paying for your hotels, schooling etc, they get a bit upset when you tell them the best schedule you can get is one flight a day..
I would take the weekend seminar, do the written , and find a less professional school that can schedule better and has better instructors.
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: wet coast
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Gotta agree Treykule.
Quality of instruction has drastically dropped. Instructor's late or no shows, taking cell phone calls during briefings!! PTR's not properly filled in or signed.
Pro is not Pro anymore.
Quality of instruction has drastically dropped. Instructor's late or no shows, taking cell phone calls during briefings!! PTR's not properly filled in or signed.
Pro is not Pro anymore.
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: delhi
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+1 on the above.
Pro is going downhill.
The cfi is a stickler for rules and weather minima have been made too restrictive.
Plus there is a high turnover in instructors, even they are not happy there, how will the students be happy.
The vfr section is the worst with people's training getting stretched and school using flimsy reasons not to give flight test recommends.
They stretched many students' ppl beyond 100 hrs and quite a few have left never to come back.
It seems to be all about the money at pro right now rather than producing good pilots.
But to give credit where its due, the ground school and seminars are good and the fleet is well maintained.
I wouldnt recommend them for beginners working on ppl as I see them getting ripped off at pro all the time. But if u r experienced and know what u want out of ur training then they cant cheat you and are a good option.
Pro is going downhill.
The cfi is a stickler for rules and weather minima have been made too restrictive.
Plus there is a high turnover in instructors, even they are not happy there, how will the students be happy.
The vfr section is the worst with people's training getting stretched and school using flimsy reasons not to give flight test recommends.
They stretched many students' ppl beyond 100 hrs and quite a few have left never to come back.
It seems to be all about the money at pro right now rather than producing good pilots.
But to give credit where its due, the ground school and seminars are good and the fleet is well maintained.
I wouldnt recommend them for beginners working on ppl as I see them getting ripped off at pro all the time. But if u r experienced and know what u want out of ur training then they cant cheat you and are a good option.
How's Pacific Flying Club over Pro IFR?
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: delhi
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I checked out pacific as well while i was at CZBB.
Pacific has a good fleet too and they have the redbird sims like Pro.
But their ground school is not that great in my opinion.
many of their students end up doing online ground school or joining Pro for the CPL ground school.
Also their weather minima's are as restrictive as Pro if not worse. I Dont blame them coz they had to tighten their rules a lot when one of their planes went down in the mountains nearby in summer of 2011(student and instructor both didn't make it).
The downside is that you are waiting for clear blue skies if you want to get a sign out for cross country and that can be frustrating.
However, none of these is the deal breaker.
The biggest problem with Pacific is the Diploma course they have going on with BCIT. The cadets from BCIT's Integrated CPL program come to Pacific for their flight training. These cadets come in large batches of 10 or more when the weather is good and Pacific gives them priority over all other students and tries to get them all airborne at once.
So, regular student's bookings are cancelled and the slots get handed to the BCIT cadets. Not a happy situation if u ask me.
The above is my personal opinion based on my visit to the school and interaction with a couple of students there. I would advise visiting them to see for yourself.
When you do visit, walk in without an appointment so that you get to see them in action rather than the dog and pony show that most schools put up.
Pacific has a good fleet too and they have the redbird sims like Pro.
But their ground school is not that great in my opinion.
many of their students end up doing online ground school or joining Pro for the CPL ground school.
Also their weather minima's are as restrictive as Pro if not worse. I Dont blame them coz they had to tighten their rules a lot when one of their planes went down in the mountains nearby in summer of 2011(student and instructor both didn't make it).
The downside is that you are waiting for clear blue skies if you want to get a sign out for cross country and that can be frustrating.
However, none of these is the deal breaker.
The biggest problem with Pacific is the Diploma course they have going on with BCIT. The cadets from BCIT's Integrated CPL program come to Pacific for their flight training. These cadets come in large batches of 10 or more when the weather is good and Pacific gives them priority over all other students and tries to get them all airborne at once.
So, regular student's bookings are cancelled and the slots get handed to the BCIT cadets. Not a happy situation if u ask me.
The above is my personal opinion based on my visit to the school and interaction with a couple of students there. I would advise visiting them to see for yourself.
When you do visit, walk in without an appointment so that you get to see them in action rather than the dog and pony show that most schools put up.
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Surrey
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Not for You......For your money.....STAY AWAY
Trained at this School. Got my PPL. Very difficult to get them to give you a recommendation for flight test. A lot and I mean a lot of current pilots in training are complaining about the same thing. Proifr is all about the money money money. They make excuses to make you fly extra hours. People are going tens of hours over their necessary hours for their license. This is bad business. The instructors are getting horrible pay too and are using people to build ours for themselves. "I've done 200 stalls, I think I'm good!!" My instructor couldn't even tell the difference between a magneto and a valve cover. Now come on!!
I do admit that the only part of proifr that I was semi pleased with is the ground school lead by Ben.
I RECOMMEND YOU STAY AWAY FROM PRO!!!!!!
Don't get ripped off. Start your career with a company that is there for you!!! There are many others.......
I do admit that the only part of proifr that I was semi pleased with is the ground school lead by Ben.
I RECOMMEND YOU STAY AWAY FROM PRO!!!!!!
Don't get ripped off. Start your career with a company that is there for you!!! There are many others.......