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Program for pilots ready to takeoff

The ultimate goal of two new programs at the University of Waterloo is to find graduates employment in an aviation-related industry, Ian McKenzie says.

DAVID CHILTON

[ 2007-08-08 ]

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And there are few qualifications more likely to land a new grad a job in that sector than a combined degree and pilot's licence.

So, says McKenzie, director of Aviation and a professor in the Faculties of Science and Environmental Studies at Waterloo, students who complete their programs in either science and aviation or geography and aviation will earn a four-year degree, and at the end of their third year, obtain a commercial pilot's licence.

The process to put the new degrees in place began about five years ago, following word from the aviation and allied industries that being a pilot wasn't enough, he says. Adding, they wanted employees with additional skills. As a consequence, the Bachelor of Science (science and aviation) and the Bachelor of Environmental Studies (geography and aviation) programs will welcome 43 students this September after two jumps in enrolment numbers. The initial target was 25 students, McKenzie says, then that went to 30 and finally came to rest at 43.

"We've had a tremendous response to that first offering," is how he says of the enthusiasm for the programs, noting between 250 and 300 would-be students applied for a place.

In the first term at Waterloo, students will take introductory courses on the academic side of the programs, and some aviation-relevant subjects such as physics, earth sciences, geomatics and climatology will be common to students in the BSc and the BES degrees.

In their second term starting January 2008, the flight training begins with some in-class instruction from staff at the Waterloo Wellington Flight Centre. Actual hands-on training will provided at Waterloo Wellington at other times, including evenings and weekends.

McKenzie estimates that 95% of his first batch of students will come straight from high school, and he says seven or eight women are enrolled. The bare minimum for admission to the programs is a 75% high school average, and applicants had to pass an interview and complete an academics information form.

"This is a demanding course for us," McKenzie says.

The financial burden of completing either degree program is likely to be demanding too. Academic tuition costs more than $5,000 a year and McKenzie points out the cost of learning to fly will add another $50,000 to the bill.

Bob Connors, post-secondary programs co-ordinator at Waterloo Wellington (Kitchener's Conestoga College also runs its flight training from the Centre), says the students' first lessons will be simple. "They start with the basics -- pull back to go up."

If they pass all their tests, students will have their commercial pilot's licence in just under three years, Connors says.

There are 20 planes to learn on at Waterloo Wellington, he says, 18 of them are Cessna single prop aircraft, and two are twin prop Piper Seminoles. Students begin on the Cessnas and work their way up. They start night flying in the fall of their second year and instrument flying in their third.

Each lesson lasts about an hour to begin with, Connors says, with most of the flying done within 100 miles of Waterloo Regional International Airport. Once they've mastered the shorter hops, longer trips are introduced.

But no matter where or what they fly, someone will always have an eye on them -- even after graduation.

"Part of the pilot culture is that you're going to be watched and tested on an ongoing basis," says Connors, who has a private pilot's licence himself.