Don't Go To A College To Learn To Fly

[Colonel]

Would you go to a college or university and get a degree, to learn to weld, or
operate a crane?

Of course not.  Both of those are valuable skills, and you can get paid nicely
if you get good at either of them.

But you would not go to a college or university and get a degree, to learn those skills.

Why on earth people want to spend years at a post-secondary educational
institution, to learn to fly an airplane, eludes me.

Get your PPL & CPL done in a year at a decent flight school.  If you want some
post-secondary education, great!  I think a generic BA covering the following
basic subjects would be very useful:

math / physics / chemistry / economics / finance / marketing

But that has fuck all to do with welding, or operating heavy equipment.

Get a degree in something that interests you, which is hopefully moderately
useful.  A friend of mine did his BA / MA in music at UCSD and as he was
finishing his master's in music, smoked an additional master's in electrical
engineering out of the dean for overlapping credits, because he was a pretty
good programmer, as well as an ace on the electric guitar.  You can shit on
him for playing guitar and living on the beach at San Diego while he chased
undergrads, but hell, he's got a master's EE and several patents now.

[Eric Janson]

Well - at the College I went to the Instructors were al ex RCAF.

Sim Instructor on the Frasca was an ex RCAF Navigator.

Mostly Sabre Pilots with a few with F104 experience. One ex transport Pilot.

No complaints about the quality of my training!

[Colonel]

The RCAF can't get instructors like that, any more.

I was lucky enough to be born into it, and took those guys for granted.

They're all gone, now.  All that remains is useless paperpushers.  2020
in aviation sure feels a lot like 1980 in the automotive world.  Dark times,
all the @ssholes have taken over.

[Colonel]

As someone who has no conflict of interest in flight training in Canada:

For PPL/night/CPL training, I would go to Harv's Air in MB.

If you need your multi/IFR, go to Cornwall, ON.

Just a satisfied customer of both, for many years.

You want to learn about aviation?  Get a job at the FBO as a line guy.

[Eric Janson]

[quote author=Colonel Sanders link=topic=10303.msg29814#msg29814 date=1577733552]
You want to learn about aviation?  Get a job at the FBO as a line guy.
[/quote]

Or you could go and work for Buffalo Airways in Yellowknife - great place to learn a lot about a lot!  ;)  ;)

[Colonel]

Jesus.  That's pretty hard core!  I was thinking of the kids getting a job at the local
airport, pumping gas, line servicing airplanes, learning about types of airplanes
and @sshole owners  ;D

If I was younger, I'd go up north and fly the C-46.  I think I've mentioned that before.

Anyways, as a teenager, you can do a lot worse than spend a year working at an
airport, driving the fuel truck around, or pulling the 100 foot hoses out at the pumps
and reeling them back in!  IMHO you will learn more about aviation in a year as a
line boy at an FBO, than three years at a government-sponsored puppy mill.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

For sure you will learn a lot about how to fly an airplane and maybe even survive if you work for Buffalo in Yellowknife.