I just finished the ICPC program at MFC last week, so I can offer some insight as a student who was there before and after they went into receivership. I went there after having done my PPL in Ontario at a small flying club, and it came highly recommended to me by a few people. As far as flight training goes, I thought the program was great. I had good instructors and found that everything was laid out and organized well. They are phasing out the Cessna's with only 3 remaining, but the Diamonds are plentiful. They have done a few rounds of lay offs since the receivership, but there remains an appropriate number of instructors for the student count. Some of them are fresh out of the instructor course, some of them have been there for years. They need to update their ground school a bit, and I highly recommend they put more emphasis and effort into their Human Factors classes instead of it being treated as the bird course. I think it's inevitable that things become a little repetitive in ground school, but their exams and material etc. do need a bit more attention.
The receivership went as smoothly as I think it could have gone given the circumstances. Flight ops ceased for a week, a good number of the planes are gone, and for a long time everything was a little haphazard. I think they still need to work on organization, as near the end of my training I almost lost my mind regarding when classes would be scheduled, but the people who have been there for a while made sure that I completed, my last phase as quickly as possible. There is a fair bit of bias towards the campus in Fredericton though; they have the newer and nicer planes, and regardless of business strategy, it very much irritates me that the Moncton campus has the older Seminoles that could more than do with an upgrade. On another note, they did just get a new contract with the Chinese government, and Canlink seems like a legitimate company trying to restructure the flight college so that it may flourish.
Just incase anyone is skeptical about my review, when MFC went into receivership, I had just put $10,000 onto my account. CanLink did honour my account, but did not give me my remaining $1200 on my account, as they would only cover the minimum I needed to complete my program. Needless to say I'm still a little irritated about this, and although it tempts me to be spiteful and give them a bad name, I can't in good conscience do so. I can't say anything for other flight schools as I haven't been there, but MFC is a good place. I know a few students come out of there with a cocky attitude and think they're your regular old Maverick, but that's just a few of the inevitable morons. I figure the rest of us are just happy to know we had some good training and are excited to go onto other places and continue our education for the next 30 years or so.
Best of luck wherever you choose to go! |
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. Ahhh well
