you can't get aerobatic instruction in Ontario.
The following was posted to a public mailing list, and is interesting reading:
What is the problem (lack of aerobatic training facilities)?
There are a number of factors that conspire to make offering even basic
aerobatic training an
unviable endeavour in many areas.
I have attempted to offer basic aerobatic instruction and EMT training
here in Toronto, Canada for several
(5 +) years utilizing the Zlin 242L aircraft. The Zlin 242L is a superb
basic aerobatic training platform capable of
Intermediate level aerobatics but it all goes downhill from there. Call
me chicken if you like but I was never
overly keen on offering training in student supplied aircraft since in
those cases I usually wasn't thoroughly
familiar with either the aircraft type nor the quality and adequacy of
maintenance it may have received.
Not sure about the US but here in Canada you cannot legally offer flight
training that also involves supplying
the aircraft unless you can comply with the regulations governing an
authorized training facility which are pretty
onerous and costly for a single aircraft operation.
Between weather (100 days would be a good year), the costs involved in
maintaining a certified aerobatic
aircraft, relatively limited market, reliance on an established flight
school to host us under their organizational
infrastructure even breaking even would be a fond dream.
Here is a summary of the practical obstacles I experienced in (more or
less) priority order and of course,
utilization is a BIG factor:
1)
Cost of maintenance for a commercially operated, certified aerobatic
aircraft. Approximately 3 to 4 times that
of a C-172. The Zlin has a Lycoming AEIO 360 engine so no factor for
"foreign" cost premium is involved in that.
2)
Insurance costs for commercial aerobatic flight training. Interestingly,
it was simply the "flight training" aspect
that was responsible here, the aerobatic aspect didn't attract any
additional premium. Approximately $9,000
per year (as opposed to about 1/3 of that for private, non training ops
insurance)
3)
Weather. As you pointed out, 100 days per year in the Toronto area would
be a good year indeed. Unfortunately
a significant number of these would not fall on weekends or in season
that permitted evening daylight.
4)
Location. This factors in many ways but being located in a large
metropolitan area does pose problems. Hangar
costs were about $600 per month. We had to fly approximately 20 minutes
(each out and back) to the practice
area and even then we were in Class "E" airspace necessitating approval
of ATC to use the airspace. The local
ATC Center was very accommodating and we were able to negotiate a
"standing arrangement" with the ATC Centre
Manger to the extent they actually programmed our practice area
boundaries on their radar. I became very adept
at ATC communications in unusual attitudes and at the most inopportune
times and the odd temporary altitude
restrictions to accommodate arrivals when certain runways at Toronto
Pearson airport were in use was not a big deal.
Sometimes our ATC approval limited us to 5'000 ASL (3,500 AGL) rather
than 7 or 8,000 but that wasn't a big deal.
However, when the Centre Manager changed and the new guy wanted to check
our standing arrangement with
NavCanada, NavCanada got involved and required that we NOTAM our flights
24 hours in advance. That was a
problem in terms of any spontaneous flights and occasions when we
NOTAMed in anticipation of flying but then
didn't fly because of weather, student no-show etc. The powers that be
refused us a "special use" airspace
designation citing that there were already too many of those in the
Toronto area and they were not granting any
more. We might have been successful in getting a standing NOTAM but
didn't pursue that when the issue arose
due to other factors that were beginning to make our ops unviable.
Living/operating out of a smaller center would alleviate quite a bit of
these "location" issues.
5)
Dependency on a commercial flight school to "host" us under their flight
training organizational infrastructure.
This actually wasn't a huge obstacle provided the flight school was
willing but it does leave the whole thing
vulnerable to their whims and added another $22 per hour to the cost. It
also involved our having the enter into a
lease of the aircraft to the flight school, my joining their instructor
roster (where I was paid $25 of the $50 dual
hourly rate), another layer of "book keeping" for both parties and most
problematic of all, by law they were
responsible for the aircraft's maintenance. This meant all maintenance
requirements had to be arranged
through and documented by them (in second priority to maintenance of
their own Cessna fleet). Much of our
maintenance was performed by a Zlin factory trained A&P but we couldn't
just call him, purchase orders had
to be issued by the flight school etc. Something as simple as replacing
or overhauling a tach could become a
major exercise in logistics to accomplish quickly. Once a faulty tach
took us off the line for 3 and 1/2 weeks.
6)
Last but not least....... the students themselves. Firstly, the market
is small and a couple a month would be the
VERY best I could ever expect. I can recall many instances where I went
to the airport for a single lesson on a given
day. My "pay" (before tax) didn't even cover the cost of getting to and
parking at the airport. I also remember MANY
weekends when I stayed in the city rather than go to the lake, changing
family plans around for whole weekends to
accommodate one aerobatic lessons over the weekend etc. only to have to
cancel due to weather. On more than
a couple of occasions I had students cancel at the last minute due to
other conflicting priorities in their lives. I'm not
really blaming it on the students but most approached this type of
instruction as a casual sort of thing.
One potential solution to this aspect (middle aged part time instructor
with other demands on time) was to train up
a younger flight instructor who would be at the airport doing flight
training every day anyway. Believe it or not, I had
a difficult time getting any takers on this. Once instructors gain a
little instruction experience they want to concentrate
on IFR and multi IFR training which is more use on the resume in terms
of finding a "real" flying job.
When I learned aerobatics I made it THE priority in my life for the few
months of (winter) weekends it took for me to
become proficient. When I took my aerobatic instructor's course (an
actual Transport Canada license rating here in
Canada) I took two full weeks off work to do it (and then some evenings
and weekends as well). Given all of the obstacles
I've mentioned above it took absolute, unwavering and total commitment
for me to get those things accomplished.
Fortunately, I NEVER expected to actually make a living from aerobatic
training and I can't see how anyone could (at
least in the part of the continent). But, the reality was we couldn't
even break even. So, we are no longer offering aerobatic
training.
Oh, yeah. At the time we were charging (CDN) $350/hour dual which some
found "rather expensive" but at which rate we
were not even breaking even.
I still get a couple of calls a month (on average, depending on the
season) regarding aerobatic training. The fact is, I am
unaware of anyone in Eastern Canada formally offering aerobatic training
on an ongoing basis. I now suggest that if a student
is serious about aerobatics they need to take a week off and travel to
one of the locations in the US where weather is more
reliable. I also make referrals to some of the instructors I know in
other parts of the US but point out the weather factor as being
a significant issue. This works for the truly keen and committed but it
doesn't really help the pilot who would like to get a taste
of aerobatics before becoming involved.
These were our experiences as relates to providing aerobatic training.
While some of the obstacles were indeed frustrating, I'm
glad that a) I had the opportunity to get trained AND seized that
opportunity before the flight school I trained with gave it up and
b) that we made a sustained effort to make it work ourselves.
At least I know intimately now why it is so difficult to find aerobatic
training in this part of the world.
Brent
See you around, perhaps. It will become clear one day.
