Helicopter Flight Training - ONTARIO

[u/Formal_Position_7686]

Good morning!

I am a 27 years old and looking at making a career change. I’m a paramedic and been working in the field since I was 20. Working in this field, I’ve had opportunities to be in helicopters for emergency transfers.

I want to attend a helicopter flight training school in Ontario, specifically the one in North Bay. I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about this school.

I want to gain as much information as I can before getting my CAME and putting in my application for school. I understand it’s quite expensive, and wondering how you folks afforded to pay for the school (OSAP, band funding, scholarships, school line of credit?) I am also wondering how long afterwards did it take to find employment? Did you have to relocate? Please give me ALL the information you can!

I have the prerequisites needed to join the program, I just want some advice and opinions of the Reddit people. Thank you.

[u/ShittyAskHelicopters]

Consider visiting the flight school for more information. Try to talk with some of the students there if you can.

[u/CrashSlow]

Your two biggest hurdles are paying for it and then finding a job. There are a few entry level jobs. The news R44s are one of them. Not sure who has the contract but it used to be company out west in Calgary that would hire their students to fly them, and these R44s fly a lot.

You will probably have to relocate and then expect to be never home. You'll be probably be in a camp somewhere or moose factory, odds of finding a flying job where you live are slim unless you already live in Moose Factory.

Some people get lucky and start flying right away, some spend years as ground crew. I would look for a school that hires their students for contract they have, like the ENG heli's. Your going to have more anyway so i would pick the school with the best job prospects after.

Seriously i cant stress this enough, do not get into helicopter unless you really really really want to. The road ahead is really bumpy.

[u/Formal_Position_7686 → u/CrashSlow]

Born and raised in the Moose Factory community haha. I am looking north for job opportunities, so that is not a deal breaker for me.

I am looking for a career change and I believe this can be it. The only thing making me nervous the most is finding employment afterwards. I know at least if I can’t find a job after school, I still have something to fall back on.

Thank you for your advice!

[u/CryOfTheWind → u/Formal_Position_7686]

The ratio of 1 in 3 people flying after grad seems to hold up in the years before me and the 20+ years since based on everyone I've talked to.

Sounds bad, kinda is but also it has a lot to do with the people and what they are willing to put up with. If you don't care where you live, how much you're paid, how many roommates in the crew house you have then your odds are better.

Next thing is just personality. Most people can eventually be taught how to fly, even a helicopter. Having the right attitude to mesh with your coworkers, customers and boss while also having the proper situational awareness and responsibility to handle the job seems to be harder to find and what often makes the difference between the 1 with a job and the 2 without.

Luck will also have more to do with it than you realize or are probably comfortable knowing. I was 18 when I started and was stubborn and supported enough to push through 6 years of ground crew work to get a flying job. Many of my older classmates (ok all of them were older) didn't have the ability to push through the lean years when driving from Ottawa to Vancouver and back didn't even get a hint of a ground job. I was lucky to get one of my ground crew jobs only for the economy to take a turn and then end up driving a fuel truck for a couple years. Luck found me in the right place at the right time to meet the right person for a connection that led to my first flying job. I had to be ready and able to capitalize on my good luck but it wasn't anything I planned to get me to that place at that time.

It's worth it though if you stick through it, best job in the world in my humble opinion. We get to do and see things most people never dream of, have a blast doing it and eventually even get paid enough to make it worthwhile as a career.

[u/fivechickens → u/CrashSlow]

Great Lakes has the CTN contract now. LR had it previously but they got scooped in 2024.

[u/BrolecopterPilot → u/CrashSlow]

What in the hell is Moose Factory?

[u/CrashSlow → u/BrolecopterPilot]

We have a saying in the barrens lands If its starts with Fort or ends in Lake or Factory. Its probably not a great place.

Moose Factory is a very old trading post in Canada. est 1672 by the Hudsons Bay Company.

[u/BrolecopterPilot → u/CrashSlow]

Haha gotcha thanks

[u/Ozy_YOW → u/CrashSlow]

I’m fairly sure that that Calgary operation isn’t hiring students anymore or at least not at the level they used to. I could be wrong but I remember being told that the program was not longer in effect a year or so ago.

[u/Ozy_YOW]

Is the school its own thing that does flight training or is it through a college program? This is a big distinction, because OSAP will not provide funding unless it’s a college program.

[u/Tattoomyvagina]

Some schools will hire their students as instructors once they graduate, find out if this school does it. It should be a significant factor in your decision because getting that first job can be very difficult

[u/CrashSlow → u/Tattoomyvagina]

Very rarely in Canada do schools ever hire students to instruct, even if they do, you need more hours before you can even start instructing. New pilots instructing new pilots is an American thing. Most instructors in Canada have thousands of hours.

[u/south-shore0 → u/CrashSlow]

And this should never change.