Air Hart

[Pitter]

Anyone out there that has done any flight training with Air Hart in Kelona. My son is thinking of going. He is not sure whether to go there for the whole private and commercial or whether to do his private here in Ont. on wheels and maybe up to 150 hrs. and then finish his commercial off in Kelona with the 50 hr. float course.
He definately wants floats. He is not interested in the ifr or airline gig. He wants to be in the bush and fly off of water. If anyone has any feed back it would be greatly appreciated.

[Wburns]

Search AirHart in forum search, you'll find various testimonials. I myself wouldn't spend as much money as I did there. Good float school, not a great commercial school. I'd recommend during the build-up to commercial (100hr level to 150hr) he do some time out there. Kelowna is great, the terrain is awesome, and the upperlake work is only 15 minutes and 4500 ft over the hills. Best simulation to very practical bush flying. Trevor is a great float instructor if he still does some training? 50 hr on floats is a rating and teaches you enough common and uncommon sense to keep from killing yourself out there. Then find someone that will give him a tailwheel rating. Then find somewhere that ISN'T only seasonal and go work hard untill they give you the opportunity to safely make the mistakes you couldn't possiby complete in your training. Then find yourself a nice native woman and settle down jk. but i love banic.

[Pitter]

Thank-you Wburns! Sounds like you had a good experience and came away with some value worth the money. There are so many ways to do this that it is a bit confusing and frustrating. I just want my son to get the best bang for his buck that he possibly can. The job requirements are so variable from one operator to the next that it is difficult to guide a young fellow in the right direction these days. I'm thinking that the more float time he has the better as well as mountain time but we just don't want to break the bank.

[bright]

After completing my commercial and IFR I spend the summer of 2003 in Kelowna with Air-Hart to do the 50 hour float/bush course. It was FANTASTIC.

[Pitter]

Bright;

They are saying that they have a 80% placement rate. Did you find that to be true? How receptive were the float operators after you did that course?

[Pitter]

Thank-you for the info everyone! My son is heading to Kelona on Sunday and starting his training there with Air Hart asap. Trevour is still there and is waiting for him to get there. He says he should have his commercial with 200 hours or more on floats by Nov. 1st. We'll see. Take care! Thanks again, Pitter

[Bobby868]

Thank-you for the info everyone! My son is heading to Kelona on Sunday and starting his training there with Air Hart asap. Trevour is still there and is waiting for him to get there. He says he should have his commercial with 200 hours or more on floats by Nov. 1st. We'll see. Take care! Thanks again, Pitter

"If" floats is all your son wants to do then going to Air-Hart is the right thing to do. Nothing is going to make him more hireable than doing the full 200hrs on floats. If he sorta of kinda wants to do floats then yes you can save money by doing all your training on wheels and then do maybe another 50hrs on floats doing the bush course.

I don't know for certain but common sense is going to dictate that someone with a private and commercial licence all on floats is going to get the job over someone with a 7hr endorsment or 50hrs bush course. And as Air-hart is the only float instruction school to offer private and commercial licences on float planes it's probably a good bet that your son would definately get a job once he graduates.

Further 200hrs on floats could make the difference between stepping directly into a float flying position verses working the dock for a season or two.

[Pitter]

Thanks Bobby868! I have to agree, it should help when job time comes. I talked to him last night and he was in N. Michigan getting close to Wisconsin. He is driving his old beater and is as excited as could be. Another thing I am thinking is that they told him he should be done by November and hopefully he can get going at a job before this crazy industry does it's cyclical collapse. Hopefully a 180 on skis or something at that time of year, or maybe even a float job on the coast for the winter. Who knows! Time will tell.

Thanks again for all the input from everyone!

[shower of sparks]

fyi: sudbury aviation does private and commercial on floats

sos

[blueoval56]

I went through a college program and did all my training on wheels and graduated with 250hrs and a commercial group 1 multi. After graduating in april I decided to head to Kelowna to get my 7 hour endorsement because I had always been told that flying floats was the best flying in aviation, so I wanted to learn even if I never ended up flying floats in my career. In all honesty, it was the greatest instruction I have ever had and the funnest flying I have ever done. I'm currently on the ramp at a company trying to get on a DC-3, but if someone called me tomorrow and offered me a job flying floats I would be tempted to take it. Air Hart has excellent aircraft and excellent instruction and, in my opinion, worth every penny.

[Pitter]

Thank-you fellows!! He has been there a couple of weeks now and has done about 15 hours. There have been a few windy days that he couldn't fly as they don't like to have the new students landing in whitecaps but all in all he is doing well and really enjoying his time there. He says Dave and Trevour are excellent instructors and they are doing some really neat stuff. (eg. the box canyon etc.) Wish I was young again!!