Hello all.
I have made somewhat of a shortlist of schools that I want to apply to. I am willing to brave the north and its -50C temps to to do Yukon University Aviation program with Alkan Air. I'm yet to hear a single bad thing about them. I am also dead set on doing a diploma program, as I don't have a degree and I just want to check that box (at least somewhat). I have shortlisted the named institutions in the title, because they all offer diploma programs. I know there are others that are supposedly also very hood , such as Mt. Royal etc, but some of these require you to jump through some academic hoops, and require you to split between 2 campuses.
MFC Moncton would be a 'no brainer' choice...large school, all studies are done in house, lower cost of living than out west and north, but they only seem to have one intake per year in Sept. And I may not make it in time.
Canadian Aviation College (CAC) Pitt Meadows- "Vancouver"... I have read mixed reviews about them, though I cannot find concrete 'experiences'... decent fleet, all studies in house. But that Vancouver cost of living does give me some pause.
Alkan /YU : Would love to experience whitehorse, I figure studying up north would put me in the right spot for networking for future 'up north' work experience post CPL and CFI. But from what I see, like BC is also crazy expensive- tho the YU program is cheaper than most. It is also a 2 campus training.... but I'm willing to overlook that.
Just for some perspective....I am.an international student from the southern Caribbean. I am.looking at college programs as to maximize the length of a proposed Post Grad. Work Permit, as you get more time to gain work experience before going back home.
Does anybody have any experiences with training/living in these places?
Regards
Canadian Aviation College....Alkan ...MFC
Moderators: sky's the limit, sepia, Sulako, Right Seat Captain, lilfssister, North Shore
-
Modecharlie
- Rank 0
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2024 1:57 pm
-
MorePlates
- Rank 2
- Posts: 81
- Joined: Tue May 21, 2024 12:56 am
Re: Canadian Aviation College....Alkan ...MFC
...
Last edited by MorePlates on Sun Dec 07, 2025 5:30 pm, edited 3 times in total.
-
Troubled Coffee
- Rank 0
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2017 3:50 pm
Re: Canadian Aviation College....Alkan ...MFC
Do they all offer the same QUALITY of instruction?
Some will teach to the flight test. Some will add to lessons from their own experience.
Learning from a brand new instructor at a cheaper school might cost more in the long run.
Seek to learn and you will find yourself employed by people who value stick and rudder along with decision making skills... Too many fail to realize that.
Some will teach to the flight test. Some will add to lessons from their own experience.
Learning from a brand new instructor at a cheaper school might cost more in the long run.
Seek to learn and you will find yourself employed by people who value stick and rudder along with decision making skills... Too many fail to realize that.
-
key2confusion
- Rank 0
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2024 5:55 pm
Re: Canadian Aviation College....Alkan ...MFC
If you think BC is expensive, it's way more expensive up north. Regarding one of the FTUs you mentioned from the north, personal experience - it's fucked up. It was a better school in the past but not anymore and the existing students are leaving.
The average hours of completion for PPL is no less than 100hrs to most of the students, no solo till at least 50, and they do the northern shortcuts, so you're not learning the actual things in aviation you need to during your training.
Their website's information is false - they only have 3 C172 models but not 4, their maintenance is messy and busy dealing with charter planes which is the company's priority, so they outsourced FTU planes to an AMO but still is at bad quality and raises safety concerns.
Their planes have some or the other issues all the time, that I heard of my buddies doing emergency landings during solo (pre-PPL) and ended up paying fees for that. The list goes on.
They are also mostly down to 1 aircraft all the time, and students get all crippled to book flights, there's no training standardization and different instructors teach different things, and no matter who you fly with, CFI wants a different way. And yeah, he doesn't want to fly with students other than supervisory, as they'll have to bring an examiner from outside.
Fees increase every year, even tho their availability is bad. From an alumni.
The average hours of completion for PPL is no less than 100hrs to most of the students, no solo till at least 50, and they do the northern shortcuts, so you're not learning the actual things in aviation you need to during your training.
Their website's information is false - they only have 3 C172 models but not 4, their maintenance is messy and busy dealing with charter planes which is the company's priority, so they outsourced FTU planes to an AMO but still is at bad quality and raises safety concerns.
Their planes have some or the other issues all the time, that I heard of my buddies doing emergency landings during solo (pre-PPL) and ended up paying fees for that. The list goes on.
They are also mostly down to 1 aircraft all the time, and students get all crippled to book flights, there's no training standardization and different instructors teach different things, and no matter who you fly with, CFI wants a different way. And yeah, he doesn't want to fly with students other than supervisory, as they'll have to bring an examiner from outside.
Fees increase every year, even tho their availability is bad. From an alumni.
-
Kalmwon@yahoo.com
- Rank 0
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Tue May 20, 2025 1:21 am
Re: Canadian Aviation College....Alkan ...MFC
Before applying for this place do your honest research first.
I do not recommend these two places CAC and ICA own by one person to anyone because:
1)very low quality flight training school with
very low timer unexperiance instructors.
2)unsafe and dangerous to fly with Aircrafts with very low quality maintenance.
3)the management and owner are nonprofessional and non aviator and they have no clue of Aviation,they just take your money without giving you professional service, so the program will take you years to finish."if it finish"
I do not recommend these two places CAC and ICA own by one person to anyone because:
1)very low quality flight training school with
very low timer unexperiance instructors.
2)unsafe and dangerous to fly with Aircrafts with very low quality maintenance.
3)the management and owner are nonprofessional and non aviator and they have no clue of Aviation,they just take your money without giving you professional service, so the program will take you years to finish."if it finish"
