Seneca College or Moncton Flight College

[sailorlodi]

Hi everyone,
I've been accepted to the Bachelor of Aviation Technology program at Seneca as well as the Diploma in Aviation Technology at the Moncton Flight College. I've narrowed my choice of flight training down to these two options. I like Seneca because of the degree yet Moncton gets you out quicker (2 years as opposed to 4) which will help build hours and experience possibly getting to that job quicker? Wondering if anyone has any advice or experience with these programs.

Thanks!

[sampsonmcd]

Hows your Chinese? You may want to research that before choosing Moncton. They went out of business a few years ago and a guy I know said he lost a bunch of money. The new owners seem to only care about giant contracts training chinese first officers. They have cut back on a lot of things to save money. I toured the place and I was underwhelmed. I know they have a good history, but it seems like they arent the top flight school they use to be.

Seneca has a track record of producing good pilots. You could get into a Jazz or Georgian cadetship right out of flight school if thats your thing. I was told that some guys also go straight to cargojet and that cathay pacific has interviewed entire classes in the past. I'm choosing to go to Seneca. The extra 2 years means a bachelor degree that can open doors should I need it. If I ever want to reinvent myself I could use that or get into a grad program somewhere. Also the structure is something I need. Moncton has a pretty high wash out rate.

Have you seen the new facilities? Impressive to say the least! http://www.senecacollege.ca/campuses/36 ... erborough/

[JasonE]

Seneca was a complete zoo Thursday night when I flew in. 6 planes in the circuit, 1 taking off and a few more on ground doing run ups. I barely had space to get in the circuit to land.

[lownslow]

I have no direct experience with either school so take this for what it is, but I've had the opportunity to fly with past Seneca grads (right around ATPL experience) and they have all been super sharp. I don't know if it's because they have a high standard for entry and continued success or if they beat them or what but generally speaking I've been very impressed. They've been very focused and driven but do tend to look at anything smaller than a heavy with contempt.

I've also worked with a bunch of MFC grads and past instructors and by and large they're a great group too. The MFC guys tend to be better team players and understand that the whole point of their employment is to work. Suffice to say I've been pretty impressed by this group too. They're mostly laid back and approachable and really just a fun bunch.

If I had to trust one to understand a 777 manual that I threw at them right after grad, give me the Seneca student, it's the safer bet. Airlines hire smart pilots who understand things. If I had to pick one to go out for beers with, I'll take the MFC grad. Airlines also hire personalities who won't want to kill each other half way through a pairing. Both grads either know how to fly just fine or can be brought up to standard easily enough. I can and will hire from both backgrounds regularly.

The reality of it is that you're probably looking at eventually flying for a national airline and between your commercial sign off and your first day on the big jet you will have thousands of hours of skills development elsewhere and the place you went to school will be nothing more than a conversation point on a long, boring flight.

[sailorlodi]

Thanks everyone. Does anyone have any suggestions as to wether or not the degree from seneca will make yourself more employable in the long run with major airlines or is it a waste of time if the ultimate goal is to get to that job in the shortest time frame.

Thanks everyone.

[Flyguy13]

Never did either of them. But if you have a degree from one place or another shouldn't matter in the long run.
And a word of advice take your time and enjoy the journey, you will get the job you want eventually if you work hard and want to get there just don't give up. The time spent getting that job is half the fun, don't be in to big of a rush to get there.

[SuperchargedRS]

Which gets you done for the least amount of money and the least amount of time.

[sailorlodi]

Thanks guys. Prices are pretty similar for the two but MFC gets you done in half the time, except without the degree but with an aviation diploma.

[awitzke]

Degree/Diploma. It's all the same going forward. In the past you needed a degree to work at a flag carrier in the USA/Canada etc. These days I hear of plenty of pilots being hired at AC/WJ (mainline) without a degree and I think it's going to matter even less in the future. Go for the one like Supercharged said... least amount of money, least amount of time.

[SuperchargedRS]

Also keep in mind you can always get a degree online while you're working as a greenhorn pilot, or during your flight training, costs less, takes less time and many programs will even give you credit for some of your flight time and ratings.

A aviation degree isn't really worth the paper it's printed on, it's one step up from a basket weaving degree.

I had my college degree before my peers graduated high school, so far I've been a working pilot for some time now and even though I have my degree on my CV, and even though if you do the math I got my degree when I was 18, which you would think would at least generate a question or two, not ONE employer has ever even asked about it or even mentioned it at the interview, I've had every single one of my past employers called, I've had background checks, I've had my pilots records checked, references called, etc, etc, but zero craps given over my degree. Your mileage may very.

[awitzke]

Wow, impressive. Did you finish HS early and go to college right away or do it online?

OP, there are a lot of reputable schools that have good online and correspondence degree programs. You can even skip the whole flight college thing and do it all privately. It will cost more but you can get a PPL, CPL and MIFR in less than a year if you focus yourself and go somewhere like Manitoba where the winter weather is good.

[SuperchargedRS]

Thanks, I was stateside and my high school didn't offer anything like that so I simply dropped out of high school and took the GED test (which was scary easy), took the college placement test and started college. Frankly, IMHO, high school is 80% socialization and maybe 20% education, in the future if I have a kid, Id want to make sure he was popular in high school and well socialized, then have him drop out and take those two tests to start college.

Education is only a tool to get you where you want to go, pick the fastest path to that end goal, the sooner you're in your field and building EXPERINCE the better.

[awitzke]

Yeah I agree... socialization was huge. I can't even recall much from HS anymore. Didn't go to uni but he look at me now... a pilot. Go figure.