Aviation Day at the Confederation College
Aviation Centre of Excellence
by Scott A. Sumner
www.thunderbaybusiness.ca
If you like planes the Confederation College Aviation Centre of Excellence was the place to be recently to see aircraft of all types in one location. “ Today we have an aviation day with the Department of Defense Snowbirds here at Confederation College with most stakeholders
in the aviation community in Thunder Bay including NAV Canada, Transport Canada, Thunder Bay International Airport Authority and every airline that services the city. There are 35 aircraft on the ground here going from home built to the latest Pilatus PC 12, less than a year old. We have our college aircraft here as well with Zimmer helicopters, the DC 9, RCMP, Thunder Bay Police and Superior North. The Snowbirds initiated the day and we seized the opportunity,” smiles Paul deOude, Quality Assurance Manager who makes sure all the programs stay
with in the boundaries of Transport Canada.“ ACE is doing well. Our classes graduated a month ago but through the summer we have the flight program and a float operation program in Shebandewan still running. We have three programs here at ACE. Aircraft manufacturing is teaching our students how to make the parts. In fact one of our graduates is working on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner now. We have Aircraft Maintenance engineers and teach flight training with single engine training with float endorsement and IFR ground school. Our graduates start with single engine and progress into bigger aircraft quickly. They could end up at Jazz. The Bearskin chief pilot is one of our graduates. Canadian licensing is highly thought of in the
world.”
Kevin Berrey is an Intern Flight Instructor at Confederation College and teaches 1st and 2nd year. He is from Dryden Ontario and graduated from Confederation College in April 2008 and came on line as an instructor in August 2008. “ After you graduate from the college, if you want to be an instructor you must take an additional 30 hours of flight training with a Class 1 flight instructor. The students begin on the simulator and then we fly with them in the Cessena 172 and S models. We help them reach their private pilot license,” said Berrey. “ Many of our students have been in a plane before and are somewhat used to it. If you love it you end up successful in the industry. It is very rewarding to see these guys go on to their jobs and be
successful. It is awesome.”
The students have 14 training hours with us and then fly on their own and continue training with us. For their private pilots license they have 12 hours of flight on their own and 30 to 40 hours with instructors. Then they build their flight hours to 200 which they need to be hired as a minimum to get a commercial job. ACE will graduate from 24 to 40 students each year. Some go into float jobs or IFR or perhaps to NAV Canada.
Joel Bigney is originally from Truro NS and now works at Bearskin Airlines. “ I started with my private license and then went right into commercial with my multi engine and IFR as well. Right now I have 2500 hours with 1600 of them at Bearskin,” said Bigney. “ The transition
took a little time. The Fairchild Metroliner is a big, fast plane with a true airspeed of 255 knots or around 400 MPH and holds 19 passengers. I am the first officer but the captain is ultimately in charge. We usually don’t have autopilot so it is pretty hands on. You have to be aware of the weather and weight and balance of the plane. It is a very rewarding career. It is work but you get to visit many different places and have a flexible schedule. I want to enjoy what I do and make a living.”
