FI rating Vancouver Island

[Danny]

Hello Canadian PPRuNers. I thought it was time I used this great resource to try and help out a family member who is thinking about doing a flight instructor course at Campbell River on Vancouver Island.

My brother in law is planning to start a course around November. What will the weather be like then and will it be possible to complete a course as winter sets in?

If anyone has done any flying or training in that area please let me know what you thought about it. Thanks in advance.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

Hi Danny, hows it hangin?

The weather here on vancouver Island usually gets iffy for VFR around the middle of November and is up and down all winter.

However we still get lots of flyable VFR for training. And it seldom goes below zero, last year we had almost no snow. I have five Windmill Palm trees in my yard and they never seem to mind the winter temps.

If he comes out here to Canada's tropics tell him to look me up and I will help him get settled.

Chuck Ellsworth

[saudipc-9]

Danny,

Cambell River in November = Wales/Scotland/England in November i.e Cloudy and rainy.

[Danny]

Hi Chuck. Long time no see. Thanks for the info. He is already on VI in the north working as a ramp rat. I'm trying to persuade him to take his FI rating and make use of his CPL. Maybe a bit further south near Nanaimo might be a better bet.

Not sure if you're aware but we might be neighbours one day in the not too distant future. I'm planning on eventually retiring somewhere around the Nanaimo area. Just need to find a good plot of land. If Virgin Atlantic flew to Vancouver I'd be living there now and commuting to London for work. One of the few advantages of long haul flying!

Have you been playing with those Catalinas recently?

[GreatCircle]

Danny,

As Chuck says, the winters out west have been milder of late, but from the November time frame VFR flying becomes a bit more problematical.

Average snow-fall, based on stats for December is around 30cm (but I have never seen that level of snow coverage) November, maybe a few cm, equating to little ground coverage. The VFR flying given the vis, as I say, is likely to be the issue.

In terms of adding the Instructional Rating to the CPL -

- there will be a minimum of 25 hours Instructor rating ground school

- 30 hours dual flight instruction on overall pilot capability and presentation of all the required exercises in the current TC FI guide

- up to 5 hours of the 30 can be in an approved simulator, which might help.

- guide is 5-6 weeks full time to get the rating - a class 4 privilege in the first instance.

Re. training outfits out on VI, there's some choice. The best GA resource I recommend, is landings.com - different to pprune - after all there is only one pprune. I'd try and go for a school with an approved sim to cut down the air time - and get the rating faster.

Right, I am off for snails and a beer. After all, when in France...

Hope that helps.

[Carrier]

I was last at Campbell River in 1998 to check out job prospects with the float operators at the Spit. As I arrived and departed through the airport on Air BC I thought I might as well check on job prospects there also. At that time the flight school was owned by a very pleasant lady. I do not remember her name. To my surprise the Chief Instructor was Max Wied, whom I had known at Waterloo-Wellington Flight Centre. I wondered where he had moved to. Also instructing there was another ex-WWFC instructor. It seemed an excellent set-up and with instructors of their calibre has my recommendation. I was not interested in a job there as I made the decision not to go the instructing route. I built up my time by towing gliders and dropping skydivers in Southern Ontario. Has your relative looked into towing and jump flying? There should be suitable operations somewhere on Vancouver Island where he can do this and start building time and experience. The entry in my November 2002 CFS for CYBL indicates Parachuting to 12,500 ASL on A/D. Do they still jump there? Perhaps someone can give some leads. Any gliding will probably stop from end November to mid-April. They will not need new pilots until then, but now is the time to make contact. Skydiving should go on through the winter unless the West Coast jumpers wimp out and do the Snowbird thing in Scottsdale.
Others have mentioned the weather. I would add that it does not matter where in Canada your relative might try. In winter it will always be a case of having to be flexible. That was my experience in Southern Ontario. It took me four appointments to get through my CPL test because of the weather. The course can be completed but there will be a number of days when he will turn up at the airfield and be unable to fly. That’s Canada in winter! On the other hand, if he can fly in that weather amongst those mountains then he will be able to fly anywhere else.
It was interesting to note that you intend to retire to Vancouver Island. It’s a beautiful place and offers a wonderful lifestyle to those who are able to afford it. No doubt you have been doing some planning and investigating but here are a few items to consider.
Below is some suggested reading for when you set your aircraft on autopilot and retire to the bog – Air Canada Jazz style. If the cockpit door jams, just go back and read another chapter while the folks up front remove the hinges. Financial planning could be divided into what you should do well before you move to Canada and then how you might arrange your affairs when you reside there. Ponder long and hard on what caused the authors to write such books and what precautions you should take as a result!
Take your money and run!
Alex Doulis 1994 ISBN 0969843208
Uphill Publishing, Toronto, Ontario
Plunder: the looting of Canada by the welfare state of mind
Donald H. Bunker 1996 ISBN 0921209142
Bramble Ridge, Cambridge, Ontario
Free parking: a 2nd look at financial planning
Alan Dickson 2001 ISBN 0968885500
Preferred Marketing Inc., Duncan, BC
Check out the website of The Fraser Institute. Take particular note of Tax Freedom Day information as well as other papers on the site.
Try and obtain the Wings Magazine editorial from the issue that published the results of their first aviation salary survey about six years ago. Perhaps someone can scan this and add it. One comment I recall is that it is not worth earning more than $4,000pm in Canada and if you can do this in Saskatoon you are much better off after paying for living essentials than someone earning the same in Vancouver.
You are no doubt familiar with the fight of British Old Age Pensioners living in countries such as Canada to obtain the same pension as OAPs living in the UK. Check where you will stand on this. While doing so, remember that Canada with its vicious claw back laws pays zero old age pension to many Canadians who worked and paid in for it for their whole working lives. At least the British OAPs get something.
Remember that West Coast dwellers are divided into professionals and amateurs, depending on whether they do it for a living or a hobby. The professionals grow grass – NO, not for making hay! The amateurs pick Magic Mushrooms.
BC politics will make John “Two Shags” Prescott seem strait laced and sensible. If you are in any way politically inclined, you too might have the opportunity to make your political mark as a candidate for something like the Rhinoceros Party.
Get yourself an extra heavy duty umbrella!

[Bloodflowers]

I'm from the area and did my private licence with Parallel Aviation a few years back. They have changed ownership and possibly their name as well so I don't have any information on them. The other outfit is called Campbell River Flight training and is run by some great people. The aircraft is cheap to rent (around $110 canadian an hour w/o instructor) it's an older 172 keep in mind. There might be potential to fly skydivers with this company. They do drops every saturday I believe year round and more often in the summer. I did a float rating with Courtney flight training, about 30 mins from Campbell River, and loved it. Seems like a great place to train. I believe they normally get the cadet contract in the summer time so they need a lot of flight instructors for July and August. However all of canada seems hungry for instructors. November is normally when we get hit the worst by storms but with the everchanging weather patterns one might get lucky. Hope this helps and contact me for any other information needed on the area.

[airtids]

Try Juan Air in Victoria if you want to go that far south. There is also a jump club across the field so you could bark up that tree as well. If you can get Bruce himself to do your rating, come and talk to me when you're done- he produces excellent instructors!:ok: