Some Advice

[Arkadin]

Good evening from sunny South Africa!

I would like to get your guys advice on a few things:

I live in Cape Town, South Africa and would eventually (sooner rather than later) like to emigrate to Canada. For various reasons. I hold a (ICAO) South African Frozen ATPL (CPL/IR/ME with ATPL Theory Exams passed). I'm hoping to do my ATPL flight test early next year. Once I have my ATPL, I'm thinking of converting it to a Canadian ATPL.

I was going to go to Vancouver and do this with ProIFR, but after reading a few posts, I saw Brampton Flight Centre in Toronto. Is this school still any good? I would prefer to go somewhere in Toronto or thereabouts as I have an aunt that lives in Windsor, ON...which is apparently around a four hour drive from Toronto. Also, airfares from Cape Town to Toronto are quite a bit cheaper than to Vancouver.

My plan is to come to Canada for about a month. I'm assuming this should be long enough to write the three exams and do the two flight tests. (VFR twin and IFR twin) I have to do these two tests as I don't have 50 twin PIC hours. The flying school where I instruct only has singles unfortunately.
I would like to do the conversion in about two...three weeks maximum. I don't think I'll struggle with the flying as I would have recently flown a twin for my ATPL Test and I stay current with IF procedures (I teach it). When I finish, I'd like to do a bit of exploring to see what (some of) Canada is like. The biggest difference so far for me by looking on Google Earth is that you have no walls separating your house from the street!! That's almost unheard of in South Africa!

Now, once I have the Canadian ATPL, what are the chances of landing a job...realistically. At the moment I'm guessing non-existent because of the economic downturn. I think Canada was hit harder than South Africa. Although, I only plan on doing the conversion late 2010, so maybe it would turn around a little by then? I would love to fly for Air Canada Jazz (As would probably the whole Pilot community in Canada...haha)

It seems the Airlines in Canada have very high hour requirements. So does South Africa. Here, we normally (Unless you're very lucky) have to go fly in deepest darkest Africa. It seems the equivalent there is to go fly in the Northern Territories? I would rather do that than fly in Africa. In Africa, the people, food, water, weather and insects are all trying to kill you! I'm guessing in Canada it's just the weather?
I could do an Instructors Rating as well? Unfortunately my South African Instructors Rating is not valid in Canada, but I only have to do half the required hours to get a Canadian Instructors Rating. I hold a Grade 2 (GRII) Instructors Rating (GRIII being the lowest and GRI the highest) - I'm guessing it's the equivalent to your Class III or Class II.

Lastly (Thank goodness) - Will I be able to get a job over there if I don't hold Perm Res Status (Landed Immigrant)? As it stands, I don't meet the required points of 67, but if I get an offer of employment, I qualify for Perm Res Status. So it's a bit of a Catch-22 situation.

Thanks in advance for your time and help.

Cheers,

[Tango01]

Why on Earth do you wanna come here??? At least stay in SA for the World Cup dude!

Jokes aside. Windsor is a good 3 hour drive from Toronto (just so you know) unless you drive very fast...

Don't know much about Brampton, but from what I know they have an OK reputation. You should be fine there. Talk to Rob the CFI.

Your plan is good, but keep in mind that things are very slow here. Lots of experienced guys out of work right now. Be ready to do something on the side while you wait. In the meantime, if you can bring some extra cash, get to know the country, travel around, taste the food, smell the flowers.

If you want to instruct, you need to re-do the entire program. You are looking at 25 hrs of ground school and 30 hrs of flying (5 hrs may be sim for the instrument part) That should run you 7-9 thousand dollars, depending on where you do it. Not much work available for instructors right now though, but the spring is around the corner and things should pick up, I hope.

Read the Flight Instructor Guide:
http://www.tc.gc.ca/publications/EN/TP9 ... TP975E.pdf


One last piece of advise. Talk to Transport Canada and make sure you get the correct answers on licence conversion, etc. Get it on paper (e-mail) so you have something to back you up, should you get different inspectors telling you different things.

Good luck and if you decide to come...Welcome to Canada.

[FlaplessDork]

If you want to instruct, you need to re-do the entire program. You are looking at 25 hrs of ground school and 30 hrs of flying (5 hrs may be sim for the instrument part) That should run you 7-9 thousand dollars, depending on where you do it. Not much work available for instructors right now though, but the spring is around the corner and things should pick up, I hope.

(5) Credits

(ii) An applicant who holds an Airline Transport Pilot Licence - Aeroplane, or a teaching certificate issued by provincial or territorial authorities, shall be credited with 10 hours of the 25 hours' ground school instruction requirement.

(7) Credits for Foreign Applicants

(a) Knowledge

(ii) An applicant who holds, or has held within the preceding 24 months a Flight Instructor Rating - Aeroplane issued by a Contracting State shall be deemed to have met 15 hours of the 25 hours ground school instruction requirement.

(b) Experience

An applicant who holds, or has held within the preceding 24 months, a Flight Instructor Rating - Aeroplane issued by a Contracting State shall be credited with a maximum of 15 hours of equivalent experience towards the 30 hours of dual flight instruction.

[Tango01]

If you want to instruct, you need to re-do the entire program. You are looking at 25 hrs of ground school and 30 hrs of flying (5 hrs may be sim for the instrument part) That should run you 7-9 thousand dollars, depending on where you do it. Not much work available for instructors right now though, but the spring is around the corner and things should pick up, I hope.

(5) Credits

(ii) An applicant who holds an Airline Transport Pilot Licence - Aeroplane, or a teaching certificate issued by provincial or territorial authorities, shall be credited with 10 hours of the 25 hours' ground school instruction requirement.

(7) Credits for Foreign Applicants

(a) Knowledge

(ii) An applicant who holds, or has held within the preceding 24 months a Flight Instructor Rating - Aeroplane issued by a Contracting State shall be deemed to have met 15 hours of the 25 hours ground school instruction requirement.

(b) Experience

An applicant who holds, or has held within the preceding 24 months, a Flight Instructor Rating - Aeroplane issued by a Contracting State shall be credited with a maximum of 15 hours of equivalent experience towards the 30 hours of dual flight instruction.

You are right, you do get credits. Sorry!

[TeePeeCreeper]

Why on Earth do you wanna come here???

If he's a ''pale male'' that might explain it... Racism goes both ways in South Africa these days

I know a few lads flying in SA, and they have been hit as hard as we have here in Canada according to what I've heard.

Best of luck if you do come to Canada.

P.S I smiled when the Springboks lost the cup a few years back

[Arkadin]

Thanks for the help guys! Much appreciated. I think if all else fails, getting an Instructors Rating is the way to go. I would prefer to fly something more complex now, as I've been instructing for three and a half years now. I'm not in too much of a rush, so I don't need something right now. Hopefully by the time I do convert, things would have changed in the market.

And yes, I am a pale male, which puts me right at the very bottom of the food chain! One of our regional carriers that flies CRJ200's and Dash 8's has two Cadet Schemes. One is for "Previously Disadvantaged Individuals" (PDIs) with no flying experience and the other is for PDIs with a 200 hour CPL/IR! How on earth can you be disadvantaged if you can afford a CPL/IR?!

Another regional carrier says - and I quote - "If you're white, don't even bother". If you want to know more, just Google "B.E.E" It's basically racism in reverse. Really sad.

Another reason (The main reason) for emigrating is the crime. We have, according to statistics, 51 recorded murders a DAY! Someone in my area was mowing his front garden when two PDIs came up to him and shot him in the head so they could steal his cellphone! I could go on and on, but this isn't the place. S.A just isn't the place I want to start a family. Don't get me wrong - I love South Africa. It's extremely beautiful, but it's just not worth the risk.

It gives me great pleasure however, to say that we are the current Rugby World Cup champions!

Cheers,

[bcrosby]

If you don't mind adding 45 min to your drive or so, check out Toronto Airways (www.torontoairways.ca). I did my multi rating there on a Seminole and had no complaints.

[Ville]

Besides all the transport Canada stuff, if you don't have a permanent resident status you need to get a work visa. I think this might be hard though. I haven't looked into it for awhile, but I know you need to have a job lined up etc. and the employer has to have a good reason for hiring you instead of a Canadian. There might be other ways you can look up on immigration web site.
Otherwise, do what I did. Marry a Canadian and have her sponsor you