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Old 24th March 2019 | 13:43
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Pilot DAR
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From: Ontario, Canada
Welcome Miramis,

BC is a great place for float and helicopter flying in Canada. There is float flying throughout Canada, and some helicopter too, though it is the mountain work which creates the demand for helicopter operations in BC.

Pilots are in need for both services, though it is important to understand that there is also a requirement for experience too. There is a big gap between earning a license, and having enough experience to be desirable as a pilot for single pilot operations. Gaining that experience is expensive for you, expect fifty to a hundred hours of flying after you're licensed, before you're desirable. Some of that should be advanced instruction, though solo flying is valuable too.

A very good path is to buy a very modest plane with floats and wheels and earn your license in it. Gain experience as a PPL, toward your CPL. You're not renting, you're flying your plane, so you can go where you want, when you want = long trips. With experience and a fixed wing CPL, the helicopter CPL is less costly to earn, and you have underlying flying experience already. I had 6000 hours fixed wing when I trained helicopters, so all I had to learn was differences, I already knew navigation, weather, and the rules of the air. 'No point paying three times the operating cost to use a helicopter rather that plane to learn basic navigation!

Better is that when you are flying your own plane around, the people you meet (whom you might approach for a job one day) see that you can manage yourself in all aspects of piloting, rather than asking at the desk if you can rent a plane that day, and having a dispatcher make your decision for you. If you want to be in the aviation business, you have to get to know the people who are already there. They are at the airport, so that's where you'll have to be to meet them. Working downtown all week, then taking a two hours lesson at the airport once a week is not the way to succeed meeting the people who you really need to meet.

Aviation is much more vibrant in Canada than in Scandinavia and Europe, because we need it here to get around. There a re lot of places in Canada you just do not get to without a plane. But, when you get to these places, a lot of them are either just a turf runway, or no runway at all. There is a lot of skills development, and decision making to be learned, and there is no formalized training for it, you learn by experience. So, while you plan your learning path, include planning for how you will gain experience after license, before job, it's a bigger gap than appears from the front of the process.

Flying schools at Abbottsford, Langley, Boundary Bay, and Victoria are good places to inquire. Poster Big Pistons, who occasions these threads is a valuable source of wisdom in this realm.
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