Flight schools in Montreal

[flyboy6590]

What are the best flight schools in the montreal area ?


Flyboy6590

[gowest]

the best?
Cornwall aviation In cornwall ontario, about 1 hr drive south east of MTL.
you will save a lot of money...
many schools around MTL are more "tourists trap" for rich and naive europeen students...

[Papa Tango]

Cornwall is south EAST of Montreal ??!!!!

Did you learn that from Cornwall Aviation ?

I bet you never went to Montreal so, how can you rate the flying schools like that ?

[jimdandy]

I love Montreal and the French language. If I could get a job there I would in a heart beat. Unfortunetly my frecnch is not strong enough If you have every spent anytime in Quebec city or Monty u know it is an awsome part of the country. Great gurls, good food, and fun entertainment. Another good 1/2 french speaking place to work and live would be Ottawa. the best of both worlds. Sorry for the ramble, but lets not knock Montreal.
Cheers

[rotateandfly]

Whats up Flyboy6590!!

If youre living on the island, its prolly worth it to take a day to tour a few of the schools and may be take an introductory flight at the ones that appeal to you.

Theres Laurentide Aviation located in Les Cedres which is halfway on the way to Cornwall. http://www.laurentideaviation.com or (514)875-6669

Then theres ProAviation in St-Hubert which is east of Montreal. Theres even a school at Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport called Dorval Aviation http://www.dorvalaviation.com or (514)633-7186

What licences were u planning on getting??

Hope I could help
-Dave

[gowest]

South West!
I took my training in CYHU... and I believe that the extra drive to Cornwall worth it!

[No Conflict]

Go west to Cornwall. Nice people, decent eqiupment. Definitely worth the drive.

[water wings]

i agree that Cornwall has really nice people and decent equipment..however, being cheap doesn't make them the best...iv'e been to many different flight schools across the country (which in no way makes me an expert...but i shall go on nonetheless) and yes, cornwall took less than 1000.00 out of my pocket for a one day IFR renewal including flight test...however, i didn't learnt shit. I learnt how to pass the re-ride and that was it. If you are rusty and are not going to be PIC in actual IFR in the near future, then Cornwall is the quickest and least expensive. I was rusty as hell, teetering on stupid and was keeping my IFR current only for the sake of keeping it current, knowing that i would be on single engine float planes for a few years.
But now i need to know what i'm doing with the potential for a twin IFR position at my float job, and i knew that Cornwall just wouldn't cut it.
I went out to CYWG and it took me a helluva lot more money, but got a solid renewal that left me soo chocked full of knowledge of real life IFR flying (duh- i wonder if it was Perimeter, boss... ) GPS training is also available, too.
i know the instruction is only as good as the student, and i repeat that i had pretty much lost all IFR knowledge in my 3 years not doing it at all, so blaming me would not be out of line.
iv'e flown at 5 different flight schools in 3 different provinces and although Cornwall did get my renewal ticket, it just isn't up to Par with the other 4 schools. Sorry if this offends anyone, i just thought i would pass on my opinion. Take it as you wish.
Cornwall does have great people and they got the job done..ultimately, your licence doesn't know where it got it's renewal, but your skills are the result of your training, and i knew that my skills neede more than a quick and cheap renewal.
I needed a Hardass, thorough renewal that would give me the skill to pilot in actual IFR.

I know one of the Perimeter instructors used to be at Cornwall, and even they had to laugh when i said one of my renewals was done at Cornwall.

I am in no way pushing Perimeter, in fact i don't really like the Peg (sorry, flatlanders, i just miss the West- nothing personal) and the friendliness wasn't near any of the other places, but the skilled training exceeds them all, and the equiment is excellent. I think that's what counts.

Just assess what you need your IFR for...
if it is just to get your rating and you will not be going actual anytime soon, go for Cornwall (know that you don't go actual IFR there, even in non icing summer..you basically need VFR conditions at YCC)
BUT, if it's for an IFR position as PIC or co-jo, think about a school that has de-iced equipment, where you go actual and that actually file IFR for your training, often going down to real minimums to get back to Winnipeg, blowing the boots on your inbound track.
There is NO comparaison between hood and actual.

best of luck with your training, and i await backlash from Cornwall fans and employees.

[ilduce]

ok, so no post since 2005, things must have changed in Montreal.

I took all my training in Cargair, that was cool not everything but there are more advantage to go in Cargair than in cornwall i think, on a long term I think. My reason:

- Lots of students, European but lots of Chinese, Cargair has contract with chinese company, and they send them their cadets.

- So they need Instructor to run this growing buisness, (42$ /hours before tax, and 23 or 27 $ after tax, i do not remember)

- It is a serious company, and the staff is nice.

- Some instructor will fly for the Charter company max aviation, who s got one PA 31 and 6 or 7 king air, I do not remember

- Montreal is an awesome city, and you have every IFR approach in the area ( st hubert, dorval, mirabel, st jean)

and what I do not like about Cargair:

- You never land on some grass runway,
- You never fly when there are some quiet bad condition in VFR, that s sometimes really ridiculous
- You could not fly to usa

in fact they have a very restrictif insurance contract.

but I think there are more advantages than disadvantages, One school to avoid is Air richelieu, expensive and they do not pay well their instructor, so i guess if you want to fly on really good and expensive plan and want just the ppl, go there, if you want more, forget it.


But Quebec is a reall

[THEICEMAN]

and what I do not like about Cargair:

- You never land on some grass runway,
- You never fly when there are some quiet bad condition in VFR, that s sometimes really ridiculous
- You could not fly to usa

Maybe not in CYHU, but in CSK3 they go up when it's MVFR sometimes.
Since when are they not going to the U.S? I have flown all over New England with their airplanes. Their insurance permits it also!

Flyboy, It all depends on the instructor you work with. Personaly, I suggest avoiding YHU since you might waste more Cash taxiing and waiting on the ground. Also YHU has landing fees, which can add up!

I suggest you visit some schools in Mascouche (CSK3).
Cargair also has a school in Mascouche. They have some good experienced instructors there and they speak english well. Try giving the CFI, Louis Gagnon a call...

Luis Calvacanti at Laurentide avaition is also a very good CFI. They have a good operation there at Cedars airport.

PM if you want more details

[ilduce]

I said you can never fly when there is some bad weather, but i meant in solo, you can go if you are with instructors, but maybe you re right, maybe in mascouche the cfi is coolest than in st hubert . For the USA, they allowed it, but recently they refuse it to several student who went in cpaq aero to rent the diamond.

Where I m not agree with you, it is concerning the time you lose in cyhu cause it is a busy airport, The maximum time I waited was around 15 min on my whole formation and it happen only once.
It can happen in Mascouche on a busy day.
And The landing fee is include in the rates / hours, the cessna is the same price in st hubert and mascouche, so there is no difference.

Also, Mascouche is good for VFR, but concerning IFR it is a tiny airport and it will be more interesting to go directly in cyhu who s got lots of different approach

[SQ]

few miles aways from CSK3 you have mirabel wich has also "some" IFR approach

[THEICEMAN]

few miles aways from CSK3 you have mirabel wich has also "some" IFR approach

Exactly! The YMX zone is probably the best IFR training ground in the country. Everything is there & traffic is very minimal. You get class C service for class E traffic.

Of course YHU can cost more $$. Mascouche can be busy at times, but you don't have jet tarffic which cause delays. I have waited 30 minutes to take off before at YHU.....At Mascouche, the worst is 15 minutes. + you save on landing fees.

There is also the training aspect.....@ Mascouche, your going to be forced to make 90 crosswind landings. At YHU, your almost always going to land into the wind.

[Killa]

To the original poster or anybody else in our same boat....

I did quite some research lately as I'm about to start training for PPL, CPL etc. and the FTU in Mascouche, ALM par avion, is my choice.
It's the one that gave me the best feeling, the CFI seemed somewhat honest about the school and aviation world.
I took an intro flight with them and I got a good vibe from the instructor as well, it was the first time i stepped into a small plane, he got me to take off and land by myself all the way to Mirabel and back.
At Laurentide aviation they didn't seem too interested, the visit lasted 10 min, they threw me a paper with the prices and basically told me if you want to start sign your name if not bye bye.
At Cargair they seemed to like their chinese students more than anybody else plus the location at YHU is a little too far from me, i live in the north west area of the Montreal island and I would rather avoid some traffic.
This is only my opinion, nothing beats visiting the schools and make your own decision, after all i think it's the instructor that you're gonna get/choose that will make the difference.
I also considered CQFA but the selection process is very complicated and the course is too long, 3 years, and appparently the first year there you won't fly, I already have post-secondary education and I don't wanna move so far.
And also MFC but then again, I don't like chinese, I would have to move there, lose my job and insurance... not worth it with the rumors that are going around about the school on top of that.

Visit the schools yourself, once you get a good vibe from an FTU take an intro flight with them. As you can see it's a very personal decision and so take people's opinion with a grain of salt.
Good luck.

[Alex YCV]

let me add a little information to this thead:

I recently took a run out to Laurentide to have a look around. It was pretty quiet, chief instructor was busy, so I basically got tossed the papers, and told to go have a look at the planes under the dome if i wanted. I didn't get a huge feeling that they were dying to have me as a student. The facilities seem in pretty so-so shape, I am sort of thinking is has been a rough winter. The planes, well, they didn't exactly look fresh as daisies either, but I am not really one to judge.

Their prices are up a bit, now a little over 8k for PPL. Not unusual considering what the price of fuel has done in the last little while.

Next stops are going to be Dorval Aviation and then down to St Hubert.

[rotateandfly]

I am sort of thinking is has been a rough winter

It's been a rough winter at Laurentide for the last couple of years now

[Alex YCV]

I am sort of thinking is has been a rough winter

It's been a rough winter at Laurentide for the last couple of years now

ouch.

[Czar]

Their slogan should be "Experience the best pot holes that Montreal has to offer"!!!

[THEICEMAN]

It seems like things are going slow at Les Cedres! Nevertheless, Laurentide is still a good school & offers good training. Their CFI, Luis Calvacanti is an extremely competent instructor.

Killa.......Mascouche is a good choice, and ALM is a good school. But you may want to consider changing to Cargair at Mascouche after your PPL, if you intend to go for an instructors rating.

After you finish your training and if you get a class Iv, your options are very limited at ALM.
At Cargair, they have contracts to teach the Chinese until 2010 @ YHU. Your going to have a lot more work and flying time! With Cargair, you also have the option of upgrading to Max aviation and flying King Air.

Now I am not trying to do any marketing here, but it's the logical choice if want to work. There are a lot more options and doors that can open for students at Cargair in the near future. The instructors that are now teaching the Chinese are flying a lot and making good $$.

For the moment, keep it up with ALM for the PPL and CPL. But consider moving next door when it comes to doing your M/IFR & Instructor rating.

[Alex YCV]

I was out and about today, so late in the afternoon I took a ride out to Cornwall. I was after office hours, so i cannot comment on the school itself, but I have to say the facilities look a little more "in shape". It's a bit weird to find the airport at the end of the road past the horses and the cows, but I guess that is just one of those things.

Only downside I could see at this point was the 90kms each way door to door to get here. That adds a couple of hours and maybe $25 of gas to the deal, which in theory means I could afford a more expensive place in town for the same net costs to me (and less time spent).

Later this week will be a trip to St Hubert and then maybe a visit to Dorval Aviation (which I get the feeling is the "higher price spread" in the deal.).

[valvelifter]

It's been a while since I flew out of Trudeau (started my PPL at Hemisph-air) and although it was great it got kind of expensive in the end because we were not allowed solo flights out of CYUL so I had to fly to CYHU, drop off my instructor in the field, and take off from there to proceed to the training zone near St-Remi. And of course there is the return trip back to pick up my bored instructor so a half hour in the zone is actually over an hour flight time. But you cannot beat the excitement of turning on final for 24L over highway 13, trying to avoid the wake of a 767 that just landed and at the same time trying to exit off at Lima to head back to the school and avoid an expensive and long taxi via the Alphas, Romeo, etc...

When they were fixing up 24L/06R back in 2003, I remember once it took us 1.5 hours to taxi from Hemisph-air to runway 10.

[Alex YCV]

http://www.hemisphair.com is a dead website... did they go away, merge, or become "dorval aviation"?

[valvelifter]

Hemisph-air ceased operations in 2003. One night, the boss said 'see ya tomorrow'. The next morning when the instructors walked in, everything was gone, including a lot of unpaid cash apparently and some unhappy people (instructors + students). I was lucky enough to have a printout from the school computers to be able to claim the flight hours for taxation purposes, along with my receipts. I saw the warning signs a mile away (Shell, Esso would deny fueling a couple of times a week, high instructor turn-over rate, weeks where the fleet was grounded due to 'insurance' issues, etc..). I heard some instructors went over to Dorval Aviation while others did their own thing.

You know, looking back, I just wish somebody from there would have told me the truth and stopped wasting my time.

[Alex YCV]

Took a ride to the south shore today, checked out Air Richelieu and Cargair. Considering how nice of a day it was, St Hubert was very busy with what seemed like a student takeoff about every 30 seconds or so. Plenty of activity, and the schools were buzzing. Spring is certainly in the air!

Anyway, I have to say that overall St Hubert just looks a lot more active, the schools both looked much better, the planes seem to be in better shape. Cargair in particular looked busy, and the overall equipment looked good. I will say that both places looked at least interested in taking my money, which is a good sign.

Following advice from both schools, I will go get my medical done in short order, and work from there. I am certainly going to go have a look up in Mascouche next.

[SQ]

I am certainly going to go have a look up in Mascouche next.

I would strongly suggest you to go to Mascouche.
Cargair's CFI over there is topnotch and very funny, very active, all the instructors too.
the most important point is that you'll fly far more in mascouche than in YHU. there is allways a tricky Xwind in Mascouhe that you won't have the pleasure to test in YHU as they barely let you fly in a 12G16 if it's not in the axis(and may be even in the axis).
as a result, only few YHU's students now how to land in Xwind and that sucks a bit too much. there was a joke over there : ho, It's Kavok today, we won't go flying.. ..
+
cargair will receive lots of chinese in the next 2 month so you'd better go in a place where some A/C will still available.
good night, and good luck