CPL-IR: Canadian Flight Centre or Professional Flight Centre

volez · Post by **volez** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 2:28 am

Hi everybody !

I am brand new on this forum.
I am a 23 year-old french boy who's aiming the same goal as yours : Flying as a professional. We do have quite good formation here in France, but they don't offer for the moment a real professional formation exclusively in English. That's the reason why I would like to learn my job in Engligh here in your country Canada who has a very good reputation all over the world regarding many pilots I know.

Here is a quick resume :

PPL 130 hours, 60 hours pilot in command, 5 hours night Flying
Class 1 medical French
Three years degree in physics in a french university

Untill now, I have chosen two schools in BC Vancouver, which are Canadian Flight Centre and Professional Flight Centre, both of them located at Boundary Bay Airport as you know.
Whereas, there are plenty of posts on Professional Flight Centre, I didn't manage to find concrete feedback, or piece of advice about Canadian Flight Centre.

Could you give your opinion about that school ?
What are the main differencies between these two schools ?
Is Canadian Flight Centre as professional as PRO during the IFR course on the ground and in the air ?

Thank you Pilots for any advice you could give me !

Christophe

volez · Post by **volez** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 5:35 pm

No more advices ?

200hr Wonder · Post by **200hr Wonder** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 9:23 pm

Ron Harcus at CFC is a solid guy. I did my initial ride with him. Fair and honest. Tends to yell a bit here and there. I do not know any of the instructors there any more as most have moved on. Being a smaller school you may get a more personal feel there.

Oh and if you do go there and Ron is doing your ride, and he yells something like are you sure you wanna do that? Think really hard before you get a zero

volez · Post by **volez** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 12:23 am

LOL !

All right, thank you for that piece of advice !

So, you say the first main point is that CFC is a familiar school, that's the reason why they answered me the day after I sent my mail, whereas I still wait for an answer of Pro.

If anybody knows about the IFR programm at CFC, I would be glad to read a feedback on it !

Thank you

Joe1981 · Post by **Joe1981** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 8:47 pm

You should also look at Pacific Flying Club - they are next door to CFC and have two twins, two sims and getting an Al Sim in May. Ron only has 1 twin.

V1 Rotate · Post by **V1 Rotate** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 11:05 pm

Pro has 3 twins at CZBB and one at CYYJ...

Ralliart · Post by **Ralliart** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 8:47 pm

Don't worry so much about how many twins there are at ZBB.........worry about how many of the instructors teaching MIFR have any real MIFR experience other than from instruction

CJM · Post by **CJM** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 9:39 pm

CFC is a good school, Ron's a descent guy

Justwannafly · Post by **Justwannafly** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 9:55 am

Ron Harcus at CFC is a great guy & from what I hear a realy great examiner. As for their course I don't know much about it. I do know PRO IFRs course is GREAT. They have a system that works quite well & so my recomendation is to go with them. If you train with them John Mongomery will probably do your ride & he's just as good as Ron. The ONLY problem with Pro-IFR is that their books ect don't seem to be well organized

you jump around in them a bit....however their CONTENT is great, just sometimes a bit confusing as you jump back & forth. This is a tiny lil problem & one that they are planning on fixing soon.

volez · Post by **volez** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 2:52 am

Thank you so much for that relevant answer !

Ok, anybody knows about quality of learning IFR at CFC ?

ScudRunner · Post by **ScudRunner** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 8:20 am

I did my Initial IFR at CFC many years ago, I think it comes down to the instructor. 1 point to consider, at a smaller school you really get the 1 on 1 treatment same intructor for your sim and in the plane. They really get to know your weaknes and what to plan the next lesson around.

Ive done a renewal at Pro and they are a solid operator aswell, can get very busy and have to fight for a plane and times. Good instructors that really know there stuff. John's a good guy and very fair.

However when I went to CFC to get info on the renewal they didnt seem to keen on my business. kinda like heres an info package bye.

my two cents

volez · Post by **volez** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 4:15 am

All right !

So If I understand you, PRO IFR remains a better Flight School to learn IFR , because of the serious of their instructor ???
However, you told me that you learnt your IFR first at CFC ?
What do you think about the quality of teaching at CFC ?

volez · Post by **volez** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 12:09 am

up to two thousand feet !

Joe1981 · Post by **Joe1981** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:12 pm

CFC has a good multi IFR program but so does Pacific. Lots of movement in the industry right now. Ron Harcus is a good guy but so are the folks at Pacific.

JW · Post by JW » Mon Apr 02, 2007 11:05 pm

CFC is a small place. The instructors that I know there are great, really fun group of people and very personable. I rented there for a summer and the planes were great and availability was never an issue. Ron is a good guy with lots of experience. What I have heard about pro is that they have a fantastic IFR program...

Justwannafly · Post by **Justwannafly** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 2:07 am

Joe1981 wrote:CFC has a good multi IFR program but so does Pacific. Lots of movement in the industry right now. Ron Harcus is a good guy but so are the folks at Pacific.

hehe is that a lil plug for PFC?

Between PFC & CFC I would go for CFC when it comes to multi-IFR....You can't beat Ron...except if you go to ProIFR

btw if you like a more personal imtimate feel...go to CFC