Flying Montreal

[icemaiden]

Please can you help me find an English speaking private flying club close to Montreal (accessible by public transport) before the snow sets in? Thanks

[justcurious]

St Hubert Flying Club was good, and the little operator in Cedars. Mind you, that was a long time ago.

[big pistons forever]

Cedars is not accessable by public transport as it is a good 20 mi south of the downtown core. St hubert is probably your only choice. How hard it would be to get to would depend on where you are starting from. Montreal does have an excellent Metro ( ie tube ) system. I got my PPL at Cedars in the 1970's and even back then it had a definite advantage over St Hubert by virtue of being out of the Montreal terminal airspace. You might try the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association for more info. They have a web page.

[JoeCo]

There is a school right at Dorval however it is on the General Aviation side of the airport and I'm not sure if publuc transport goes that way. The school was Hemispher, if they still exists, and is comprised of mainly Parisian French instructors that can barely say "Hello" in English, however, there use to be a perfectly bilingual instructor who spoke excellent english but I don't know if he's still there.

Cedars does still exist but, like what was posted earlier, it's off the beaten path so you'd be looking for a ride.

Although I know very little about St. Hubert, it has one or two schools and all the facilities for flight training. That might be your best bet.

Good Luck.

P.S. Has the snow started to fall yet?? ;)

[Elliot Moose]

There are lots of busses that run right along Cote de Liesse. From there it's about a two minute walk to any of the outfits along the south side of Dorval airport.
I haven't been in to check any of the places out, so I can't tell you specifics, but there is at least one school on that strip. You'll pay more than out at Cedars (or Les Cedres) but it is on the bus routes.

[francine]

Hemisph-Air is still around. They moved not too long ago; and yes you'll pay more for the privilege of flying out of YUL. It is accessible via PT (I know the route well!)

http://www.hemisphair.com/eng/

The St-Hubert schools are also accessible via public transport, although more limited. If I remember correctly, the buses stop running after evening rush hour. Find a friend with a car if you plan on doing any night flying! ;)

Cheers!

[icemaiden]

thank you all so much, merci bien! this is looking very promising... :)

[cleartoland04]

Hi everyone,

A new school has just opened its doors at Dorval next to Hemisph'air. It's the first school in Quebec to offer an integrated program.

It's called Dorval Aviation and has been set up in partnership with Avionair, a charter airline. You can check them out at www.dorvalaviation.com . Right now they only operate 1 C-172 though.

Hope this helps and happy flying!

Cleared

[Quebecer]

Hi Icemaiden

I'm from Quebec myself and did my flying training in Beloeil (just east of St-Hubert) before I joined the Air Force 10 years ago. I recommend St-Hubert as opposed to Dorval if you can find somebody who speaks English there (I'm confident you will). There is much less commercial traffic so you will spent a lot less time holding short of the treshold (which is time you have to pay for) and the training area is a short distance away. It's probably cheaper too; operating a flying club out of an international airport is obviously more expensive, and the consumer pays the price. However if you live nearby YUL it might not be worth the time spent commuting to the south shore.

As far as transportation is concerned, you can take the metro all the way to longueuil, on the south shore, then probably a 20 to 30 minutes bus ride to YHU.

Cheers and bonne chance

[Yoho]

Icemaiden:

I did my training in english at Cedars. No complaints from me. Wide variety of aircraft and ratings (IFR, night, float), competent instructors, simulators etc... Public transportation (bus) will take you actually quite close (10mins). I believe there's a stop in a town called Dorion and also one in Valleyfield (and/or Coteau-du-Lac) Cedars is in between. Rates are quite a bit better than Hemisphair and/or St-Hubert.

Whatever you choose, have fun and good luck!

[152captain]

IM,

Did my PPL training at ATL (Montreal Flying Club) at YHU. They have 7 152s, 2 172s, a Warrior, an Arrow, a Seneca, and a Grumman Cougar. Also about 30 instructors, most or all bilingual. The Chief instructor in fact speaks little french.

Good training environment, Class D CZ, and under the Class C Montreal Terminal. You are also about 5 minutes flying time from uncontrolled airspace, and 15 minutes from several practice areas. ATC is most accomodating, we routinely had block airspace in the terminal for spins/stalls etc. 3 runways make the crosswinds tolerable, and the sightseeing circuit over montreal is quite spectacular especially at night (controlled by Dorval, again super accomodating, just listen out).

As for PT, never used it myself, but there are busses running right to the club, in fact the bus terminal is at the club. Anyway, the place is busy so you can always catch a lift home with someone. If the bus schedules don't suit you, the problem would be getting there. I imagine that a cab ride from the Longueil metro is in the order of CAD$15.

The going rate for a 152 solo, all told, tax in, insurance in, is $116/hr. Add about $45/hr for the instructor. My understanding is that most clubs charge about the same. Don't worry about the french, I would say the traffic is 50/50 english and french.

May be abit pricey, but convenient and fun,

152