Comments on Chinook Helicopters as flight school

[Success_Over]

https://www.chinookhelicopters.com/about/

“Harvard of helicopter schools”

Is  the best in Canada ?

[76 Driver]

I had a good experience there, but just like any school it’s more about the instructor you have. 

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11 minutes ago, 76 Driver said:

I had a good experience there, but just like any school it’s more about the instructor you have. 

Clayton is the only instructor ?

[Winnie]

I see the question was asked about BC Heli as well...

 

To be honest, it's a flying school, they have limited time to teach you the minimum required, which is 50 hours less than ICAO wan't you to have. Cost is a factor, but in the end, the end result is the same, you walk out of the door with 100.0 flight hours, and a license to learn, that is it. you might have had eposure to long lining if you were fast enough to pick up the basics, A little mountain flying, but no mountain course, some out landings but no real bush flying, so when push comes to shove, you end up with a license. At Chinook you may find that they have too many other students so may not have enough time to give you 100% attention, but... this is the same at other schools as well.

I'd walk in the door, see how you are welcomed, if you seem to matter, or just your money?

Remember, at the end you have a license, and so you will from any of the other schools...

 

Cheers

H. (former instructor)

[CSC1]

I had a good experience there.  It's an already big school that's growing rapidly so there won't be as much hand holding as other places.  Great instructors when I was there too.  If you take initiative you can learn a lot beyond what's in your course syllabus by being nice to the engineers and tagging along with other students doing mountain courses, endorsements etc.  They have a good reputation among operators it seems but you're still going to graduate as another 100hr liability and will be treated as such.    

[Wizard]

When I went there they were pushing a "150 hour CPL" as a means of putting you ahead of the 100 hr guys, they also seemed to be alot more focused on the international students then the Canadian guys. 

That hopefully could have changed as that was a number of years ago now..

 

[freck]

Go to a school that has the chance of hiring you whether it be tours or traffic. They are all pretty much the same. They want your money.

[sirlandsalot]

Look at training at Mountian View Helicopters in Springbank.  Learning to fly at the elevations of Calgary will degrade the performance of your helicopter a lot.   flying at altitude can be a very big deal in a helicopter. So you might as well learn to fly at altitude, seeing as how you more than likely will spend a good chunk of your career working at altitude.

Doing a full on auto in the lower mainland of BC vs doing an auto in Springbank is an entirely different animal, the far more difficult one being the latter.

Save yourself the  pain and agony,  and train on a Robinson, not because other types are bad, but because 90% chance you will get your first job on a Roinson product, and having a 100 hours on a Robie vs 100 hours on some odd ball trainer type that you will never see again, will only help you, and you will need all the help you can get.

And, they will hire you if you work hard and treat your training like a job interview as appose to an entitled student

good luck, its a lot of fun, despite what the pessimistics say.......

[flying1499]

1

[freck]

11 hours ago, Flying1499 said:

Chinook Helicopters is poor quality FTU with low quality instructors.

Sounds like someone is a little mad they didn't find a job for you.