Any pilots here? (Or in training) | GTAMotorcycle.com

Any pilots here? (Or in training)

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deejizzle

Well-known member
Was looking to get the ball rolling on getting my ppl, and possibly my cpl too. Highly interested, and just wondering where you did your training and the experience you had. I have Brampton flight centre in my sights seeing as it's the closest and cheapest for me (etobicoke) as well as it's good reviews.


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I got my PPL at Brampton ages ago but haven't kept it up. At that time it it had numerous advantages. The island and Buttonville cost a lot of taxi time due to control towers and distance to flight training areas.
 
iFly55 said:
Why are you interested in CPL?
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It's something I've always wanted to do. I love operating unique and challenging things and I have a genuine interest for public transit even as a kid. For the short term, I figure id try my hand as a ttc operator partly for my love for the city, and partly because driving either a bus, train or streetcar would be awesome. CPL is long term, and fits what my interests are and the sort of lifestyle id like.

I understand that becoming a cpl is a lot of money for no guarantee of a job, but I'm not focused on big jets and whatnot although it would be cool, I wouldn't mind being an instructor or ferry flying. Really anything that puts me in the sky.




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deejizzle said:
It's something I've always wanted to do. I love operating unique and challenging things and I have a genuine interest for public transit even as a kid. For the short term, I figure id try my hand as a ttc operator partly for my love for the city, and partly because driving either a bus, train or streetcar would be awesome. CPL is long term, and fits what my interests are and the sort of lifestyle id like.

I understand that becoming a cpl is a lot of money for no guarantee of a job, but I'm not focused on big jets and whatnot although it would be cool, I wouldn't mind being an instructor or ferry flying. Really anything that puts me in the sky.




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Based on what a friend went through after getting his CPL you would be better off buying lottery tickets and using the winnings to buy your own airline.

He used to say "It would break my mother's heart if she knew I was a co-pilot for a regional airline. She thinks I'm a piano player in a whore house."
 
Been a while but Brampton was good, lots of traffic. Noise abatement was coming into place when i was there. Made you adjust takeoffs and lands. Never once had an issue with any of the planes. Only draw back is there are a lot of people. It can be tough getting planes sometimes.
If you're thinking about flying as a profession then, look at the professional courses they offer, or look at one of the colleges north. Flying time costs...big time! As a job you won't make any money for a loooong time.
 
I started my PPL but had to stop due to $$$. It was tons of fun and a great challenge but you definitely need to ask yourself what you plan to do with it in the future. I went all the way to spins and stalls before having to put it on hold. I do plan on picking it up again but no clue how far down the road that is. I flew out of the island and would recommend them. For me it made sense due to proximity to my office and the ability to jump on the porter shuttle and be there within a short time. I also liked that it was a commercially used airport with traffic and bigger planes. Flying out of a small airport without ever dealing with commercial traffic and a busy tower seems like going to get a drivers license and never having driven on the highway. As a side note, you can take your bike on the ferry and park it on the island for free.
 
jc100 said:
thats not what I'd heard. There's a documentary out there about airline pilots living in trailers near airports in some parts of the US.
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And they are working for the big airlines ? And I am not talking about a pilot that, as the old saying goes, just got his wings....

And I am not familiar with US pilots, my comment is more with the Canadian ones....

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Yes, the big airlines. Edit: ok, not that big from the article. However, wages aren't what you think they are. Airlines know there's a glut of people that want to do this job and they pay accordingly.
 
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It's been my dream since childhood. I have a lot of friends back home, who always seem to be somehow free and very happy with a $10k+ salary (A LOT of money back home).

I took an hour intro lesson at Buttonville, which was amazing. I wanted to do Aviation as an undergrad when I initially came to Canada, but found out this:

Tuition for international student for Year One: $45,963.00

Thats the 1year price for the 4year program at Seneca. Now I'm writing codes for flight scheduling programs as school projects =(
 
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jc100 said:
Yes, the big airlines. Edit: ok, not that big from the article. However, wages aren't what you think they are. Airlines know there's a glut of people that want to do this job and they pay accordingly.
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Also, airline business is pretty tough. Unlike anything else I can think of, customers ALWAYS look for the cheapest flights or cargos. This forces companies to get on par with prices of each others and they try to cut spendings from everything possible.

Wages still vary a lot. Since the Canadian License is well recognized in the other parts of the world, people just go to Asia for example, and make 10x what they would start for in here. Once you have enough experience, then wages here start to jump to 6digits.
 
So, you put down $40k as an investment, to get it all back in one year + the possibility of making $2xx.xxx/year sometime in the future...
Looks like a good investment to me.
 
klr_guy said:
My life is in the hands of someone only making $35k?
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I think it goes along with having to "earn" your dues. If you can eat very humble pie for 5-10 years, you will be rolling in the dough. Being a pilot is not an easy life though... not for everyone to be able to be away from wife/kids for days on end..

http://blogs.wsj.com/middleseat/2009/06/16/pilot-pay-want-to-know-how-much-your-captain-earns/

Congress expressed shock and dismay to learn that regional airline pilots start at very low salaries after the NTSB said the co-pilot on the Colgan Air commuter plane that crashed near Buffalo on Feb. 12 earned only $16,000 a year. (The company later said she earned $23,900.) ......

At the top end of the airline scale, Southwest Airlines has a first-year minimum of $49,572. Southwest typically hires more-experienced pilots than other airlines do, so it can demand thousands of hours in the logbook -– enough to qualify to fly as a captain -– from its applicants.
On average, starting pay at major airlines is $36,283 –- about double where many regional airlines start pilots, but darn low for mid-career professionals who likely take a pay cut from regional airlines to latch on to a major carrier.
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Info here is a bit dated but:
After getting their Commercial Pilot's Licence, pilots in Canada will gain experience one of three main ways.
1 - Working as a Flight instructor
2 - Working the ramp or the dock for a small charter airline which will eventually lead to a flying position
3 - Flying smaller aircraft doing miscellaneous aerial work jobs such as sight seeing, flying skydivers or aerial photographer.

These entry level jobs are unfortunately.quite low paying. When I started flying for a charter airline in Northern Manitoba in 2001, I made just over $20,000 the first year I flew. Instructors make around that much, but their pay can vary significantly depending on how much they fly.

However, as you gain experience, the pay increases. Captains of smaller turbo-prop aircraft can expect to make anywhere between $40,000 - $80,000 a year. (Depending on a huge range of factors)

One of the strange quirks with the airline industry in Canada, is that in order to move to a larger airline, you'll usually take a pay cut. For example, WestJet's starting pay is $40,000 a year and Air Canada's starting pay is $37,300 a year. The pay usually jumps quite quickly after the first two years, but the initial cut can be painful.

So, the good news though is that when/if you're able to get on with a major airline, such as Air Canada or WestJet, the top end salary is quite nice. The most senior Air Canada Captains flying the Boeing 777s are making over $200,000 a year and Captains at WestJet with over 10 years experience are pushing $150,000 (depending on their stock options).

After finishing your licence, it usually takes 5-10 years to make it to the airlines, but that depends on a number of factors, the economy being the main one. The first few years of flying in Canada can be extremely low paying, but after that, things get a little more comfortable.
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