Questions About Canadian Helicopter Training

[Cry of the Wind]

If your going to go with Canadian Helicopters they would probably want you to start at the 'International' school at Buttonville. I'm starting there in July and I know that some of the other students there are not from Canada. You have accommodations there and quick access to Toronto. Downside...your on the wrong side of the country if you want to work in Canada as a low timer....

[jurjen]

Do you mean that if I train in the East, that it's more difficult to find a full-time job?

 

Or on which side of the country do I have the most chance to find a full-time job??

 

And what does "working as a low timer" mean ??

[Cry of the Wind]

Well from what I have learned from talking with pilots both on this forum and in person/telephone is that the jobs for pilots with few hours of flying time (low timers) are out west. Ontario has jobs for pilots with experince in the 1000's of hours not the 100's that you or I will have. So basically if you train in the east you need to take a trip to the west to look for work. Full time job is something that won't come fast no matter where you do your training though...be ready for that in your plans. Hope I've helped.

[Cole]

412D: i didnt leave you out... I mentioned you in My PM to him befor he joined CAAVIATION

[Skidz]

Just to add my two bits:

 

I trained in Quebec (that's east and French Jurjen ). I'm looking for work out west for two main reasons: First and foremost, I've wanted to make the move west for a number of years, and two, more than two thirds of the civil helicopters operating in Canada are based in BC and Alberta. What was stated about low-timer jobs being out west is true in the sense that there are more machines there, ergo more opportunities for low-timers. There are low-timer jobs out east as well, but there are so many low-timers wanting them that unless you have "connections", your chances of landing one are very remote...

 

Look at all the schools you can and make a trip to see a couple of them before signing on. Most international aviation students I've met took the time to visit at least two or three schools and tried the different training aircraft before making a final decision. It may cost you a couple thousand dollars, but in the end it may very well be worth the investment.

 

As far as reputable schools go, the ones I spoke to when I was researching my training were the following:

 

East:

 

Canadian Helicopters (Quebec City - French)

Helicraft (Montreal - French/English) My school :up:

Passport (Montreal - French)

Helicopters Canada (North Bay - English)

 

West:

 

Heli-College Canada (Langley)

BC Helicopters (Abbotsford)

Chinook Helicopters (Abbotsford)

 

For financial reasons I trained close to home, but had I had the money, I would have trained at BC Heli. Not because I like 412D , but because after having tried both the R22 and Hughes 300, I decided I wanted to train on the HU30. All of the above mentioned schools have been around awhile and have great instructors on staff...

 

Btw, word to the wise: I've seen foreign students come over on student visas with assurances by their school that they will be able to get permanent residency easily enough once they've begun training... NOT TRUE !!! I saw at least three of these people have to go home after their training 'cause they couldn't work in Canada. Take the time to get your residency permit BEFORE you trart your training...

 

Good luck !

[jurjen]

Many schools say this in their info (it's not clear to me)

 

• An applicant may commence flight training at any age, but must be 14 years of age prior to first solo, 17 years of age for the issue of a private Helicopter licence, and 18 years of age for the issue of a commercial Helicopter licence.

 

Does this say that when your not 18 you can start the commercial training, but you get a licence when your are 18. Or does this mean that you have to be 18 when you start this training??

 

Thanks anyway for the info above

[Winnie]

You can begin your training at any age, but you may end up with more hours to pay for if you start too early. The best way to do it is to start fairly close to you birthday, so you can do the training fairly intensive.

 

alsjeblieft!

:up:

[Cry of the Wind]

jurjen, all the ages are the minimums for the license to be issued. That means you must be at least 14 to be allowed to go solo, for private license you must be 17 before they will issue it (which means you could do all your training and flight test when you're 16 but the license would not be valid/activated until you turned 17). The same way that commercial states 18 does not mean that you must be 18 to start, it means that you must be 18 by the time you finish or your license will be post dated to your 18th birthday. I had this happen to some people when I was getting my fixed wing private license, they turned 17 after their training was finished, all this meant was they could not use their license until their birthday.

 

So to back up Winnie, it's best to start training around your 18th birthday so you don't need to stretch your training longer just to meet the age requirement.

[Cole]

Jurjen... like I stated befor many schools require that you be either graduated or over 19 befor you train, as well like I said befor, you do not need a private heli liscence to get your commercial in Canada

[jurjen]

Ok I understand

 

Thnx