Winnipeg Aviation or Brandon Flying Club

[PASSIONSKY]

Hi,

I am 32 yrs old, presently working as Sr. Manager in an IT company, looking for change in career as flying was always my passion. My plan was to save enough and go for schooling without any loan and time has arrived.

I have immense passion but zero flight training and I am planning to do PPL, CPL, Instrument rating, ME, & Instructor rating from Monitoba, Canada. I want to be a flight Instructor.

Found a lot of good reviews about Harvsair but seems they are very busy and not taking any admission for months. So I was looking for alternate options, please share your experience, feedback about Winnipeg Aviation and Brandon Flying Club ?

All Suggestions are welcome.

[BluSdUp]

Funny you ask.
I did my taildrager check at Harvs and I trained my Dad when I worked in Best Aviation in 1990 and Dad did his PPL test in Steinback.
Spool forward to a month ago and one of my FOs from Spain on my 737-800, was in Uof M 4 years ago and build hrs with Harv.
He was very happy with his experience.

I am considering renewing my single engine Canadian PPL and rent a C172 next year in Winnipeg.
Good luck and keep us posted.
regards
Cpt B

[Ramjet555]

Hi Passionsky,
Congratulations on making the decision to be an instructor and welcome to a rewarding occupation
until you move on to better things which seems to happen very quickly these days.

Harv's are very busy, its sad but tragic, that they are swamped with demand.
That for you should be a good sign as it means if you want to instruct,
Harvs will probably very glad to hear from you when you get you instructor rating.

Winnipeg Aviation, is a great place with a great CFI who will take care of you very well.
He also has a Super Decathlon there and if you are really lucky, you might get
to do a few hours in that spectacular machine.

Brandon Flying Club, again, if you can get a slot in there with Class One Instructor grab it.

Now, assuming the worst case, and you can't get in anywhere in Canada
then contact John at Rochester Aviation.com do a US FAA Instructor Rating, and then
if you do not want to take a job in sunny Florida or California, come back to any school
in Canada and just do 15 hours air and 15 ground and do another instructor ride.

At the end of the day, that will give you two instructor ratings in two countries with
two different approaches, make you a lot more employable and, all for about the same
cost at the end of the day.

Now, If there is anyone else out there doing their commercial training who has
any mentoring type questions, my PM is available.

Regards

Ramjet

[CHEASApilot]

Adding my 3 cents just for you to learn from it...

Firstly when choosing a flight school, always make sure you will fit in their environment. I've changed 3 flight schools so far and i still didn't get the right one. But that said, i am 24 and i don't mind being a pilot by the age of 35. To those who think i will tolerate bad business then they'll understand they're just wrong about me.

You need to be fitting in your school environment(my schools were in Switzerland, Hungary, Switzerland). The one i went to in Hungary(very famous one), they don't like Turkish students but they love Turkish money. Flight schools are education centers but to owners this is merely money eating machines. Some schools don't even want to assess your level first but they know <<you need>> to hit 65 hours before your PPL check ride(you see it coming .. ). Canada shouldn't be a problem since you have a lot of Indian Canadians there so you can easily find support. I think Win... also offers indian DCGA licenses directly. Atleast till your next gig you don't need to travel miles to renew your license.

Some schools don't like student from this or that country(Yup, happens even in the world's oldest democracy) just because they have a certain public image or it justifies the prices they charge, i believe this mentality is everywhere in the world. So be careful you're not paying for their old cessna's waiting for spare parts.

Don't let people tell you this or that school is bad -> nobody is going to let you fly their aircraft until they know you won't land before the runway and pilot license is a national thing, Examiners go in if they play on that. Also don't let some justify school level with placements in airline, it's all just about the right connections and they will make you pay more just because of that. If you want proofs then the best academy of EU which is ENAC also have graduates selling cinema tickets to make a living.

I have experience and i am sharing it with you since you're 32 and you won't be able to afford hard blows i got from flight schools since you're limited on timeframe(ideally you would like to be ready for airlines by 35). When you're an international student and money eating machines made you broke without you having achieved your goals, it's hard :-)

If you're thinking about a flight school then choose one you can trust since you're gambling tons of money and they understand people from your culture since for the time you will spend with them they will be your family. My most recent experience :- it's only after 1 week of intense flying when instructor mails in bills that i learn for every 1.5 hours flight they charge 2.5 hours instruction.

Regards,

Jason.