Recommended Flight Training Schools?

[08altima]

I've been thinking about a career change for a little while now...
I'm thinking of taking some flight training starting with my private pilot license. I want to go check out some schools this weekend.

Can anyone recommend a good school in Calgary with a good Cost/Reputation/Value balance?

Ones that I've come across (but know nothing about) are:

Springbank Air Training Center (SATC)
Springbank Aeo Flight Training
Morgan Air Services
BDA Flight Training
Canadian Flight Training Centre
Calgary Flying Club

Not interested in MRC.

Has anyone heard of any of these?

I'm looking for something that can accomodate my full-time work schedule.

[Rat Fink]

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[08altima]

thanks dude, that would be great.
What stage are you at in your training?

anyone else?

[Rat Fink]

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[08altima]

are you doing your training for fun? or you planning on doing it as a career?

[natejj]

Have you actually done your research into being a career pilot? I work for NavCanada, I'm a Flight Service Specialist, and I know a lot of pilots as good friends. First, you need your private licensce, which costs from $6000-$10000. Then you could become a flight instructor, and make approximatley 15-20k a year. To get your commercial, I would estimate approximately at least 40k in costs, and to get the hours you need..... starting pilots salary for a company like North Caribou or Central Mountair air I would put at around... $25k-$35k? You're looking at about a minimum of 3 years and a lot of debt before you see a dime.... Ever considered Air Traffic?

Fully trained in 8 months, all expenses paid for, starting out at much more then pilots do :)

But of course, you gotta do what you love.

[BlueGoblin]

If you can find a decent instructor -far more important than the school itself- would recommend spending the money to buy an airplane outright and paying the instructor 'on the side' in cash.

It sounds a bit extreme, but your flight costs go down to less than half of rental, you have a better chance of sticking with an instructor through your training, you can build hours towards your commercial anytime you want and at a fraction the cost, and the plane holds its value.

Of course, I happen to have a plane for sale... if you are interested, PM me for details...

[Rat Fink]

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[Cooked Rice]

I took my training at the Red Deer airport when I use to live there. Finished my PPL training, passed my flight test, got lazy, didn't do my written... lol. then moved here and now i'm taking avionics at SAIT... But i'm going back to finish getting my PPL this summer here at the international airport, because I want to get use to busy airspace. I just don't know if there is any school at the international airport with a DA aircraft, cause I'm sick of flying old Cessna's. Calgary Flight Training has Diamond Air Evo's but they are no longer at the international terminal.

[broken_legs]

off topic here a bit...


What investment of time and money do I need to become a pilot?

I'm not looking to be a commercial pilot, just a private one. I need just enough to fly my friends and family around, fly to exotic places, run drugs from south america, smuggle immigrants and that sort of thing...

[Rat Fink]

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[07E92]

I would reccomend checking out some of the Canadian aviation forums, www.aviation.ca and the biggest forum www.avcanada.ca There is a great deal of information for prospective pilots going the fun route and the career route. Also lots of information on the Calgary and Springbank area schools.

I was in the same boat as you about a year ago deciding on an aviation career and school.

Calgary flight training at the international airport has now moved to High River leaving Morgan Air as the only flight school in Calgary.

I ended up training with Morgan and am just finishing my commercial license with then right now. I chose Morgan because of its reputation and quality instructors. I live close to the international and also didn't want to drive out to Springbank each day either.

There are advantages and disadvantages from training at the big airport as opposed to Springbank.

Pros:

you learn about wake turbulence avoidance and jet blast
more complex taxi/runway operations
flying in and out of Class C airspace everyday gives you the confidence to fly basically everywhere, plus flying with big traffic is very cool
the drive to springbank can be long depending on where you live in the city.

Cons:
a landing fee of $ 40.00 each flight
delays for takeoff/ landing when its busy (this happens at Springbank too as it is so busy there now but generally not to the extent at YYC)


You will probably find that costs are very similar from school to school. I would check out each place, look at there schedule, instructor/plane availability and see who will be able to work with your times. Most schools will also show you around and give you a tour of their facilities and aircraft. Generally everyone will advise you to start on a Cessna 172 and most of the schools all have 172 N models that are virtually identical. You can do intro flights at most schools or do your first few hours at different places and stick with the school/instructor that works best for you.

feel free to PM me if you have any further questions/what not