Toronto Area flight school

[Castorero]

I am on the West Coast and one of my young relatives in Toronto is keen to start ground school leading to PPL

Any recommendations from anyone in that area on the name of a reputable school in the general Toronto Region?

Very much appreciated

Castorero

[pitottubey]

Ive heard good things about Durham Fight Centre, Spektrum in burlington and Brampton Flight centre

[digits_]

https://alecmyersflighttraining.com/

[Blueontop]

+1 for Durham Flight Centre on the east side of GTA

[Castorero]

thank you all so much.
I will pass it along...

Castorero

[Bede]

https://alecmyersflighttraining.com/

Based on your posts, Alec probably has a similar intellect to you.

[digits_]

https://alecmyersflighttraining.com/

Based on your posts, Alec probably has a similar intellect to you.

Hey come on now, no need to offend him

[albertdesalvo]

Is he good, or isn't he?

[Bede]

https://alecmyersflighttraining.com/

Based on your posts, Alec probably has a similar intellect to you.

Hey come on now, no need to offend him

I was addressing the OP, not you. Based on some of his other posts, I'm pretty sure the OP is a physician.

Is he good, or isn't he?

I've never met him personally. Talked plenty online. Smart guy. Most likely you'll progress quicker as he's a more experienced instructor than anyone you'll get at any other school.

[digits_]

Based on your posts, Alec probably has a similar intellect to you.

Hey come on now, no need to offend him

I was addressing the OP, not you.

Well thanks for ruining my day now Bede!

[Castorero]

Nice to see you guys have a sense of humor
I have been flying since 1980, my niece in Toronto is going to learn how to fly and I have passed on your recommendations.
Should be exciting to see her up in the air.

Bede, is a fine bird dog, with a fine intellect...

Castorero

[PilotDAR]

You may also suggest to your niece that there are choices north of Toronto, Lake Simcoe Regional, and Orillia. Much less busy airports/airspace, and at Orillia, she can do a bit of float flying too...

[Castorero]

Thanks, PilotDAR,
I will pass that along too.
Oh to be young again, and start the whole adventure all over again. This time over, I would aim for the big iron, along with my first love in a white coat.

[TrilliumFlt]

I'm sure not all flight schools are equal but in general get as far away from the GTAA as possible, what she wants to avoid it transit time. Extended straight and level flying to reach a practice area is of limited value; time is money, her money !!

[photofly]

It depends where you want to (or have to) live, and how you value your time.

If you're willing and able to move to and stay somewhere more remote, and have a car, a small airfield is probably more efficient.

If you want to (or must) live in the GTA then to get to a place where you can perform some required manoeuvres you can either drive there and back, through and in traffic, before and after your lesson, every single lesson, or fly there and back in a straight line at 200km'h as part of your lesson, for only those lessons that need that space.

Most GTA flight schools have developed ways of minimizing the transit time, and for what can't be remitted, using it wisely. When interviewing a potential flight school, a great question to bring up is whether and how they do that.

Training at or near busy metropolitan airports is also a different overall experience to training somewhere sleepy and quiet.

[PilotDAR]

Learning at a controlled airport certainly has the benefit of the student learning the important skills of ATC and radio work as a part of learning to fly. A necessary skill which must be learned, so no reason to not do it early. For myself, it was a skill learned later, as I learned to fly first with not even a radio in the airplane, and then later with just unicom. That said, an airport which is really busy, adds cost to flight training costs, in that you'll spend more time waiting to takeoff, particularly during circuits. Busy or not is not directly related to controlled airport or not. When I learned at Brampton Flying Club back in the '70's, is was sometimes so busy that the flying club would close the airport to member's use only. They could do that, because the flying club owned the airport (the only example of that in Canada, if I recall). All students were members, so we could fly circuits along with the other members. But, I can recall being a long way back in line for takeoff. On the other hand, I was paying $18 an hour wet for the 150, so the cost to sit in line was manageable.

I agree with Photofly that with correctly planned lessons, the transit time to and from the training area is great basic piloting practice, and allows for a mental "cool down" and discussion before the lesson ends. Just consider this aspect of operations as you choose a school, there are pros and cons both ways...

[photofly]

Another "pro" for learning near a big city is the ability to fly to and use several different airports of different sizes within a reasonable lesson time from home.

[digits_]

I think the instructor/school can have much more effect on efficient training than just the geographical location of the airport.

You might be located in the area and still have instructors that are so inefficient they are wasting 20 minutes each lesson.

It's a factor, but not the most important one IMO.

[rookiepilot]

Get some controlled airspace time somewhere along the way.

That way when you later want to plan a CC into NYC or DC airspace, (or a chunk of Florida, even) you can keep up and not get overwhelmed.