Skysurfer66
25th Oct 2023, 16:08
Hi all. I previously asked a load of questions on here and a couple of other pilots forums about flight training in Canada, and got a lot of useful suggestions, and thought I’d make a post about my experiences if anyone else if thinking of trying to do the same. Warning, it’s probably going to be a pretty long post!
Caveats
- this might not be the best/quickest route, but it is the way I went, so hopefully the insight is useful to someone.
- I have no affiliation to any of the companies or organisations mentioned below, I’ve just given my honest assessment and tried to give credit where credit is due.
So, I live and work in the UK, and wanted to do my commercial pilots license. I have no interest in airline flying, and really wanted to play a little on floats if possible, so looked around at where I could go and do my license worldwide. For me, the criteria were that it had to be affordable, and the license would need to be recognised worldwide. And I had to be able to get the whole lot done in less than a month, due to taking time off work etc. I didn’t want to have a visa tied to a specific school, as is the case when going to US for a new initial licence like the commercial (in my head, your visa is tied to the school, what happens if they don’t/can’t progress you – you have no options to go elsewhere). Canada seemed to fit the bill nicely.
I already had my UK PPL and all of the hour requirements for the commercial with the exception of the 300nm cross country.
First things first, was to get a Class 1 Transport Canada medical. I went to see Dr Tallent in Gatwick to do the medical. For initial TC medicals, the doctor doesn’t issue the medical like they do for CAA or FAA medicals. The Doc writes a recommendation and sends it to Canada, and they issue the medical from there, and send it to you in the post. This took about a month to arrive, and then I had a few more challenges as I struggle with the Isihara tests, and my medical was stamped with Daylight/VFR only. Transport Canada do not accept the CAD test results. I had to go to Aviation Vision Services in Heathrow to do a Farnsworth D15 test, which was then send to Canada, and they then issued me with a Class 1 medical with no restrictions. All in all, this took about 3 months.
In the meanwhile, I cracked on with the Commercial Ground school. I looked into various options from online providers, and ended up going with Harv’s ground school. The TC Commercial written is only 1 exam, so much easier than the UK multiple exams, right? WRONG. You have to have ALL the info in your head for the exam in one go, rather than focussing on a few subjects at a time.
Anyway, I chose Harv’s as it was the most comprehensive I could find, and I wanted to make sure there were no gaps for me, given that I had not flown in Canada or done a Canadian PPL or anything. Honestly, it was like standing in front of a firehose of information, and I will forever remember watching Aaron an 1.7x speed sounding like a chipmunk 😊 I mostly used just the slides and made my own notes, and watched the videos when I needed explanations to make sense of the info. All in all, it had all the necessary information, and prepared me well for the exam. It took me about 4 months of studying pretty hard to get through all the modules etc, and be in a position where I was ready to write the written.
Whilst I was studying, I was also contacting flying schools in Canada. I tried contacting a few who had been recommended to me by other posters on forums, but didn’t really get anywhere. It’s hard making a choice where you only have a flashy website to go on! I reached out to a lot of schools, some of whom replied, some who didn’t. Some wanted me to pay then $1000 to register, non-refundable, but creditable to your flying account. Like, I know nothing about you, why would I give you a $1000 straight up? So those were swiftly moved to file 13. Some flying schools got hung up on needing a student visa, despite the fact that I have a UK passport and was only going to be in Canada for less than a month (note – student visa is not required for those circumstances). In the end, I worked with a couple who replied to me with sensible information and who could meet my requirements, and I ended up settling on Airhart Aviation in Kelowna. The weather in the BC area looked reasonable for this time of the year, and Sorcha was really engaged and answered my multitude of questions. I booked in with them, and then sorted an AirBnB and booked my flights via Calgary.
As a UK passport holder, you need to apply for an electronic travel authorisation from Canada, it costs $7 and can be done online and comes back straight away, so all good.
Before I left for Canada, I reached out to the Kelowna regional office of Transport Canada, and booked my written exam for a couple of days after I arrived in Canada. They were great, and booked my test in on the day of my choosing. I also applied for a foreign licence validation certificate (FLVC) based on my UK PPL, allowing me to fly solo and train in Canada. I had heard that the FLVC could take a month to come back, but in my case TC Kelowna processed it in an hour and sent it back to me via email before I even arrived in Canada. Absolutely fantastic service! I hadn’t been able to confirm for sure if a radio license was required from Industry Canada, (as I already have a pilot license and FLVC), but I wrote the test and sent it off – I’m still waiting for the certificate over a month later, so will let you know if it is required when I hear back from TC once they have processed my application for the commercial license!
I arrived in Canada, and the next day had a familiarisation flight with one of the Airhart instructors. They were great at making sure I was prepared, knew where to go etc. They got me scheduled in for all my flight training to polish up on expected manoeuvres for the flight test – hint to UK pilots, watch Power off 180’s on YouTube, and go practice them! Kelowna is well situated in terms of airspace, you don’t have to fly forever to get to training areas, and although there is jet traffic into and out of the airport, there are no delays and the controllers are great. There are also loads of airfields in the vicinity to go and do circuits at – and for UK pilots get this – NO LANDING FEES! EVER! I believe if you want to go into one of the international airports like Vancouver there is a fee, but even that didn’t sound ridiculous, unlike some of the small airfields in the UK.
I wrote my exam at the Transport Canada regional office, Harv’s Ground School had prepared me well, and I came out with a good pass – top tip, when writing the exam, don’t touch the computer, go through the booklet that they give you with the charts, check out all the scenarios, and mark out your route on the chart for the navigation before you start, saves loads of time in the exam.
The flying in Canada is simply a pleasure. I did my 300nm cross country to Port Hardy, the weather was a bit iffy, but made it in and back with no issues (20G35kt winds in Port Hardy but at least they were straight down the runway). I have to call out the FSS service in Canada, what an awesome resource, the wx briefers are really, really good. I wish we had something similar for VFR pilots in the UK.
Airhart booked my flight test with BP Aviation in Penticton. On the morning of my test, we had a few problems with the printer at the Airhart office (the flight test was booked for 0800, so the CFI met me at the office at 0545 to allow me to print off the wx and notams etc for the route, as I didn’t have printing facilities in the AirBnB). The CFI raced home to print off the documents on his home printer while I completed the planning based on the screen at the office. One of the other company owners went out to the airfield and warmed up the aircraft and got everything ready for me – simply brilliant service from both of them! I shot to the airfield, picked up the paperwork, quick preflight and flew down to Penticton for the flight test. The examiner there was lovely. She set me at ease, was very thorough and professional. We had a good flight test, and I passed with flying colours (pun intended). Honestly, it was all down to the preparation from the Airhart instructors. I have now flown with 4 of their instructors, and all are simply brilliant. Not all instructors are equal, something I have discovered over the past 20 years of flying, but I cannot fault any of these guys.
Following the flight test, the two owners of the company took me out for dinner to congratulate me, which was a really nice touch.
Once the flight test was complete, I tried to get an appointment with Transport Canada to submit all my paperwork, but apparently I just have to post it all off to Surrey office, which I have done. Fingers crossed it all gets processed smoothly. For my last week in Kelowna, I did my floatplane conversion which was loads of fun, and a nice way to finish off after the pressure of studying and flight tests etc.
So my reflections, (because this post isn’t long enough already 😊).
- When you are looking for a flying school, and simply have a website to go on, it’s a gamble picking the right school. In my case, I feel exceedingly lucky, Airhart Aviation have met and exceeded all my expectations. It’s rare to find a flying school where everyone (and I mean everyone, right down to the office and dispatch guys) are really enthusiastic and pulling in the same direction. I arrived here as a student, and I now feel like part of the Airhart family. I’m sure there are other great schools in Canada, I’m just really, really happy I picked these guys.
- Is it cheaper to go do your training abroad instead of in the UK? Well, it really depends on what you want out of your career. If you intend to fly professionally in the UK, it’s worth doing the fATPL grind in the UK. All in all, once you have added in the costs of the AirBnB, flights etc, it is certainly no cheaper than the UK in the long run, but the experience is absolutely out of this world, and I’m really glad I have done it. So much so that I am going to go home, save up, and come back to do my instructors rating here in Canada.
- Canada is beautiful, the people are all really friendly, GA is welcomed here, it’s a great place to be and to train.
- The weather this October has been kind, and I’ve had no flights cancelled due to weather.
- If anyone wants to reach out to me for any other info based on my (limited) experiences, I’d be happy to help in any way I can.
Caveats
- this might not be the best/quickest route, but it is the way I went, so hopefully the insight is useful to someone.
- I have no affiliation to any of the companies or organisations mentioned below, I’ve just given my honest assessment and tried to give credit where credit is due.
So, I live and work in the UK, and wanted to do my commercial pilots license. I have no interest in airline flying, and really wanted to play a little on floats if possible, so looked around at where I could go and do my license worldwide. For me, the criteria were that it had to be affordable, and the license would need to be recognised worldwide. And I had to be able to get the whole lot done in less than a month, due to taking time off work etc. I didn’t want to have a visa tied to a specific school, as is the case when going to US for a new initial licence like the commercial (in my head, your visa is tied to the school, what happens if they don’t/can’t progress you – you have no options to go elsewhere). Canada seemed to fit the bill nicely.
I already had my UK PPL and all of the hour requirements for the commercial with the exception of the 300nm cross country.
First things first, was to get a Class 1 Transport Canada medical. I went to see Dr Tallent in Gatwick to do the medical. For initial TC medicals, the doctor doesn’t issue the medical like they do for CAA or FAA medicals. The Doc writes a recommendation and sends it to Canada, and they issue the medical from there, and send it to you in the post. This took about a month to arrive, and then I had a few more challenges as I struggle with the Isihara tests, and my medical was stamped with Daylight/VFR only. Transport Canada do not accept the CAD test results. I had to go to Aviation Vision Services in Heathrow to do a Farnsworth D15 test, which was then send to Canada, and they then issued me with a Class 1 medical with no restrictions. All in all, this took about 3 months.
In the meanwhile, I cracked on with the Commercial Ground school. I looked into various options from online providers, and ended up going with Harv’s ground school. The TC Commercial written is only 1 exam, so much easier than the UK multiple exams, right? WRONG. You have to have ALL the info in your head for the exam in one go, rather than focussing on a few subjects at a time.
Anyway, I chose Harv’s as it was the most comprehensive I could find, and I wanted to make sure there were no gaps for me, given that I had not flown in Canada or done a Canadian PPL or anything. Honestly, it was like standing in front of a firehose of information, and I will forever remember watching Aaron an 1.7x speed sounding like a chipmunk 😊 I mostly used just the slides and made my own notes, and watched the videos when I needed explanations to make sense of the info. All in all, it had all the necessary information, and prepared me well for the exam. It took me about 4 months of studying pretty hard to get through all the modules etc, and be in a position where I was ready to write the written.
Whilst I was studying, I was also contacting flying schools in Canada. I tried contacting a few who had been recommended to me by other posters on forums, but didn’t really get anywhere. It’s hard making a choice where you only have a flashy website to go on! I reached out to a lot of schools, some of whom replied, some who didn’t. Some wanted me to pay then $1000 to register, non-refundable, but creditable to your flying account. Like, I know nothing about you, why would I give you a $1000 straight up? So those were swiftly moved to file 13. Some flying schools got hung up on needing a student visa, despite the fact that I have a UK passport and was only going to be in Canada for less than a month (note – student visa is not required for those circumstances). In the end, I worked with a couple who replied to me with sensible information and who could meet my requirements, and I ended up settling on Airhart Aviation in Kelowna. The weather in the BC area looked reasonable for this time of the year, and Sorcha was really engaged and answered my multitude of questions. I booked in with them, and then sorted an AirBnB and booked my flights via Calgary.
As a UK passport holder, you need to apply for an electronic travel authorisation from Canada, it costs $7 and can be done online and comes back straight away, so all good.
Before I left for Canada, I reached out to the Kelowna regional office of Transport Canada, and booked my written exam for a couple of days after I arrived in Canada. They were great, and booked my test in on the day of my choosing. I also applied for a foreign licence validation certificate (FLVC) based on my UK PPL, allowing me to fly solo and train in Canada. I had heard that the FLVC could take a month to come back, but in my case TC Kelowna processed it in an hour and sent it back to me via email before I even arrived in Canada. Absolutely fantastic service! I hadn’t been able to confirm for sure if a radio license was required from Industry Canada, (as I already have a pilot license and FLVC), but I wrote the test and sent it off – I’m still waiting for the certificate over a month later, so will let you know if it is required when I hear back from TC once they have processed my application for the commercial license!
I arrived in Canada, and the next day had a familiarisation flight with one of the Airhart instructors. They were great at making sure I was prepared, knew where to go etc. They got me scheduled in for all my flight training to polish up on expected manoeuvres for the flight test – hint to UK pilots, watch Power off 180’s on YouTube, and go practice them! Kelowna is well situated in terms of airspace, you don’t have to fly forever to get to training areas, and although there is jet traffic into and out of the airport, there are no delays and the controllers are great. There are also loads of airfields in the vicinity to go and do circuits at – and for UK pilots get this – NO LANDING FEES! EVER! I believe if you want to go into one of the international airports like Vancouver there is a fee, but even that didn’t sound ridiculous, unlike some of the small airfields in the UK.
I wrote my exam at the Transport Canada regional office, Harv’s Ground School had prepared me well, and I came out with a good pass – top tip, when writing the exam, don’t touch the computer, go through the booklet that they give you with the charts, check out all the scenarios, and mark out your route on the chart for the navigation before you start, saves loads of time in the exam.
The flying in Canada is simply a pleasure. I did my 300nm cross country to Port Hardy, the weather was a bit iffy, but made it in and back with no issues (20G35kt winds in Port Hardy but at least they were straight down the runway). I have to call out the FSS service in Canada, what an awesome resource, the wx briefers are really, really good. I wish we had something similar for VFR pilots in the UK.
Airhart booked my flight test with BP Aviation in Penticton. On the morning of my test, we had a few problems with the printer at the Airhart office (the flight test was booked for 0800, so the CFI met me at the office at 0545 to allow me to print off the wx and notams etc for the route, as I didn’t have printing facilities in the AirBnB). The CFI raced home to print off the documents on his home printer while I completed the planning based on the screen at the office. One of the other company owners went out to the airfield and warmed up the aircraft and got everything ready for me – simply brilliant service from both of them! I shot to the airfield, picked up the paperwork, quick preflight and flew down to Penticton for the flight test. The examiner there was lovely. She set me at ease, was very thorough and professional. We had a good flight test, and I passed with flying colours (pun intended). Honestly, it was all down to the preparation from the Airhart instructors. I have now flown with 4 of their instructors, and all are simply brilliant. Not all instructors are equal, something I have discovered over the past 20 years of flying, but I cannot fault any of these guys.
Following the flight test, the two owners of the company took me out for dinner to congratulate me, which was a really nice touch.
Once the flight test was complete, I tried to get an appointment with Transport Canada to submit all my paperwork, but apparently I just have to post it all off to Surrey office, which I have done. Fingers crossed it all gets processed smoothly. For my last week in Kelowna, I did my floatplane conversion which was loads of fun, and a nice way to finish off after the pressure of studying and flight tests etc.
So my reflections, (because this post isn’t long enough already 😊).
- When you are looking for a flying school, and simply have a website to go on, it’s a gamble picking the right school. In my case, I feel exceedingly lucky, Airhart Aviation have met and exceeded all my expectations. It’s rare to find a flying school where everyone (and I mean everyone, right down to the office and dispatch guys) are really enthusiastic and pulling in the same direction. I arrived here as a student, and I now feel like part of the Airhart family. I’m sure there are other great schools in Canada, I’m just really, really happy I picked these guys.
- Is it cheaper to go do your training abroad instead of in the UK? Well, it really depends on what you want out of your career. If you intend to fly professionally in the UK, it’s worth doing the fATPL grind in the UK. All in all, once you have added in the costs of the AirBnB, flights etc, it is certainly no cheaper than the UK in the long run, but the experience is absolutely out of this world, and I’m really glad I have done it. So much so that I am going to go home, save up, and come back to do my instructors rating here in Canada.
- Canada is beautiful, the people are all really friendly, GA is welcomed here, it’s a great place to be and to train.
- The weather this October has been kind, and I’ve had no flights cancelled due to weather.
- If anyone wants to reach out to me for any other info based on my (limited) experiences, I’d be happy to help in any way I can.