Starting up a flight school.......How?

chris28 · Post by **chris28** » Fri Jun 25, 2004 8:25 am

Hi
I am interested in starting a flight trainning facility, will have a class 1 and class 4 instructor on board. Just wondering how one goes about doing so? Any direction you could point me to where some documentation on this issue is , it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again all!

Chris

hz2p · Post by **hz2p** » Fri Jun 25, 2004 8:39 am

You need to read CAR 406/426:

http://www.tc.gc.ca/CivilAviation/Regse ... ard426.htm

What usually drives people nuts is the AMO/PRM/MCM stuff.

Wasn't Me · Post by **Wasn't Me** » Fri Jun 25, 2004 11:20 am

Line up an airplane.
You will need an Operationg certificate for a 406, Ops manager, chief flying instructor, PRM, AMO and you should have a base that will allow yoou to have a school. ANy questions PM me

Right Seat Captain · Post by **Right Seat Captain** » Fri Jun 25, 2004 5:28 pm

In fact I believe TC publishes a large guide on how to start a successful flight school. I can't remember the exact name, nor do I have the document number. However, if you ask TC, I'm sure someone can eventually point you in the right direction. You'll have to deal with them a whole lot, so you might as well get used to it now!

Glen · Post by **Glen** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 5:53 pm

Your biggest deal is going to be on the Maintenance and Manufacturing side. If you have a class I kicking about the flight training side of the house should be fairly easy to deal with. I set up my first training unit last year and the learning curve from instructor to PRM was the steepest part of the task. Get into Transport and start talking to the M&M guys. Becareful of what you buy for a training aircraft as it may take a ton to bring a private plane up to commercial standards. Any questions look me up thru Gore Bay Flight Training.

Right Seat Captain · Post by **Right Seat Captain** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 7:18 pm

Glen wrote:Becareful of what you buy for a training aircraft as it may take a ton to bring a private plane up to commercial standards.

Might as well buy aircraft already commercially registered...

Tango01 · Post by **Tango01** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 8:30 pm

Read TP12862E. Available at. http://www.tc.gc.ca

Hope it helps. Good luck.

T01

cyyz · Post by **cyyz** » Tue Jun 29, 2004 6:38 am

It's sad when the Flight Schools make more money then the Pilots and the Airlines..

dont_snag_it · Post by **dont_snag_it** » Tue Jun 29, 2004 9:16 am

fatdumbandlazy · Post by **fatdumbandlazy** » Tue Jun 29, 2004 11:01 am

Basicaly that is correct. If you own your own AC and can get your students listed on your insurance then you could use it. Unfortunately you are pretty limited in what you can do with the A/C. As far as I know rental may be out of the question. Also you will not be able to expand yourself past one instructor if things get busy.

Someone calls you up to do a senic flight. Forget it, that falls in either a commercial air service or a flight training unit.

Lets not get people confused here. There is an Air Operating Certificate (AOC) which allows a company to operate an aircraft for hire. And then there is a Flight Training Unit (FTU) which allows a company to provide flight training to people for licenses and ratings. These are completely independent pieces of paper and have no bearing on each other. The AOC is regulated by the Commercial and Business side of TC. The FTU is regulated by the General Aviation side of TC. You can operate a flight school without an AOC as long as you have a FTU.

Sounds complicated, well it can be especially when you have to wade through two stacks of paper when you are trying to manage your business. Not to mention two different stories comming from TC on how to operate your business.

CAPGEN · Post by **CAPGEN** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 2:07 pm

It's sad when the Flight Schools make more money then the Pilots and the Airlines..

I think you'd be surprised. Wait a second, your statement doesn't hold much validity. How can you compare a person's annual income to the earnings (losses) of a business? Secondly, how can you prove that this is true?

As much as people would like to believe that the owner of their flightschool was a crook who stole people's money and drove a BMW, they're not all like that, and those guys are few and far between. You hear a lot more about the bad ones than the good ones out there.

Chris, good luck with your flight school. Don't run your flightschool like a flightschool; run it like a business. Don't treat your students like students, treat your students like customers.

RM

shitdisturber · Post by **shitdisturber** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 6:27 pm

In response to the question you posed in the title on this thread; I think why is the better question.

Shiny Side Up · Post by **Shiny Side Up** » Mon Jul 05, 2004 11:38 am

Don't run your flightschool like a flightschool; run it like a business. Don't treat your students like students, treat your students like customers.

That's the best advice I've heard in a while.

Obviously our airline pilot hasn't worked in a flight school for a while.