What it takes to get a Private Pilots License in Canada

 

My name is Daniel and I decided to upgrade my Ultralight License to a PPL and this is a bit of the maze that I was required to follow.

 

To start the problems there is no flying school within any reasonable distance around.  I found an instructor that is freelance and decided to go this direction.  The instructor was Dan Nelson and we have known each other for some time and he came highly recommended from several individuals.

The next step was to find a plane.  The only way you can be instructed by a freelance instructor was to own your own plane.  After several nights on the phone I found a willing individual that would let me buy a share in his plane.  The plane chosen was a low time 150M.  This has been a great little plane and actually less expensive to fly than my Ultralight.  Fuel is about $25 per hour without the maintenance costs.

 

Now I had the plane and instructor the next step was to go to Transport Canada and file a letter of intent.  We flew down to Kelowna in the Dans Super Cub and slipped in the back gate with a code that Dan had in his little black book.  Dan has a black book but the contents are defiantly not past girlfriends they are codes and numbers for gates, contact names and frequencies for airports that he as traveled to around the country.  We had a chat with TC representative named Sandra Turk.  She was straightforward and direct with information and gave us the go ahead.  Off we went back home.

 

It took about three weeks to get the plane into my name and confirm that the insurance was good and my previous liability insurance was going to be good for training and would cover the plane.  We could not insure for hull damage so had to take the risk of you break it you buy it.  I used this time to get my class 3 medical.

 

After some initial flying, I found it was not as easy as I had hoped.  I have 270 hours in Ultralights so thought this would be easy.  First major problem was I now had to fly left-handed.  This was like shaving with the other hand and took about 3 hours before I could land without taking my hand off the throttle.  The rest seemed like a flight review and learning to be more controlled and fly exercises instead of just flying around.  My navigation needed brushing up along with checklists, transponders, carburetor heat and a few other details not used with Ultralights.

 

Now I wanted to solo.  You need to pass the PSTAR and someone to sign off the student pilot permit.  Kathleen in Vernon could provide this service so I studied up for a couple days and we headed off to Vernon.  After writing the exam we started to fill out paper work and she asked for citizen ship ID.  Sorry don’t carry any in my Wallet so we flew home and came back the next day with my birth certificate.  Lessen learned but also a reason to fly.  Now I could solo with only a phone call to Dan.

 

One side note if you are watching the new movie 2012 at the Theater you will see the hanger in the back as part of the Yellowstone shots in the movie.

 

I now had to check off all the requirements for the PPL.  I was credited 10 hours for my Ultralight time so only needed 35 hours and the following flight experience.  17 hours dual flight time, including 3-hour cross-country and 5 hours instrument time.  12 hours solo time, including 5 hours cross country with one trip of 150 miles and 2 full stop landings at other airports.   This meant I had to fly lots this summer and with a reason and good weather this was all I needed to check off all the items.   My dual cross country was to Penticton to meet the flight test examiner but he was not available, so just ended up going to get familiar with the airport.  My solo cross country was to Williams Lake with a stop in Cache Creek and 108 mile airport.

 

My ground school was a CD ROM course from Aerotech that was OK’d by Sandra at TC and after I finished it, went off with a letter of recommendation from Dan to write the written exam.  My studying included the Ground Up 200 questions, 4 exams from AeroTech Ground School, Transport Canada’s Sample exam and a review of the PSTAR questions.  I passed but not with great marks as it is a lot of information to digest at home with no classroom.

 

Next was the flight test was with Harvey in Penticton also needing a recommendation letter.  I actually enjoyed this part and though my flying was not perfect, it was generally a good performance.  I also wrote the Language exam at the same time, as Harvey is the examiner for that as well.

 

I now had all the documents and needed to send TC through a designated person and Kathleen had volunteered to do this for me, as she is a designated TC person.  She gave me the list on the phone.

 

 

I now have an interim license and wait patently for the final product to arrive in the mail

 

I will include a list of the costs with this just to show what money went where.  From start to finish it took about 5 months and seemed like a lot of hoops and not very clear steps laid out.  Part of this time was waiting to transfer the plane and then also waiting to get the Annual done.  Maybe this is what a school can do for you.  I have managed to do this on my own so it can still be done.  My Total flight time ended up being more than my required 35 hours, but we also did some flying around that was not direct training like flying to Vernon for PSTAR.  My total hours were just over 45 hours and the cost without the purchase of the plane was just over $7700.  I should be able to recover the invested money in the plane if and when I sell it back.

 

 

 

 

Costs

 

Total $191 for medical

$100 Medical

$36 Lab work

$55 Process Fee from Transport Canada.

Total $332  Books and Ground School

$233 Aerotech Ground School (I borrowed maps needed for course)

$71 Books and Maps from Calgary Pilot Supply. (I had Ground up book and Flight Training Manual)

$20 New Flight Supplement

$8 Passport Photos and Photocopies

Total $738 Exam Fees

$95 PSTAR Exam

$150 Fee for Transport Canada Written test

$300 Flight Test and Language Test

$55 License Application for TC

$138 License Application Processing

Total $892 Other Fees

$110 Registration Fee for Plane into my name

$200 Liability insurance

$57 COPA membership for insurance

$525 Taxes to purchase plane

Total $2400 for Instructor Fees

Total $1760 for Annual and Plane Maintenance

Total $1407 for Fuel costs

 

Grand Total $7720

 

While all these costs are not directly related I had to incur these in order to complete the process.  Fees for Exams and Taxes total $1428 without plane and study materials costs.

 

Contacts

·        Dr Beall – Medical

·        Susan Turk – Transport Canada in Kelowna

·        Colleen Hewitt – Transport Canada Registration

·        Aerotech – TC approved Ground School Course

·        Kathleen – Flight school in Vernon.  PSTART Exam, Final License Application.

·        Stan – Pentiction for Written examination.

·        Harvey – Pentiction for Flight test and Language test

·        Dan Nelson – Free Lance flight instructor.

·        COPA – Insurance

 

If anyone needs the actual contact numbers for these individuals I have most of them or can get them.