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Key Program Features
The advantages are many. The benefits are immense. The pricing is surprising. We give you the opportunity - you take the rest!
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Full, unrestricted ATP license
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Over 1500 hours total time
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Advanced pilot internship (jet or prop)
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Employment assistance
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Flight instructor license
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Paid pilot internship
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24 month fast-track to a full ATPL
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Unmatched cost-efficiency
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Program Structure and Time-line
The absolutely fastest way to get from a basic CPL experience level to the full ATPL and a modern airline cockpit!
This program is structured in such a way that every segment leads our students to the ultimate goal: employment in the airlines. The program is divided into the following stages:The total duration of the flight training and the initial flight instructor internship is approximately 3 years. All stages of flight training are conducted in Canada to a very high standard by an accredited aviation college. After completing the flight training phase, eligible students will have the opportunity to apply for an internship as flight instructors, allowing them to accumulate additional flight time.
| # | Phase | Duration | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Enrollment | 1 month | World-wide |
| 2 | Canada Commercial Pilot License (conversion) | 3 months | Canada |
| 3 | Certified Flight Instructor License and Ratings | 9 months | Canada |
| 4 | Internship as Flight Instructor | 12 months | Canada |
| 5 | Flight Instructor Internship Extension | 6 months | Canada |
| 6 | Airline Transport Pilot License | 2 weeks | Canada |
| 7A | Canada Airline Pilot Placement Assistance | 1-4 months | Canada |
| 7B | International Internship (Ferry Pilot) | 18 months | Caribbean |
The total duration of the program is approximately two and a half years, including flight instructor internships in Canada, which take about 18 months (12 months on PGWP + 6 months on CEC extension). This does not include the Airline Pilot Internship after CEC approval, which is unlimited (Option 7A), or the Structured Internship International as a ferry pilot, limited to 18 months (Option 7B). All stages of license conversion, flight training, and internships are provided in Canada to a very high standard by accredited flight academies such as “Canadian Aviation College” in British Columbia, Canada, and “Global Air BVI Inc” in the British Virgin Islands, Caribbean. Flight instructor internship options are available through Canadian Aviation College, Global Air BVI, and other affiliates.
After completing all flight training phases, students may apply for a PGWP and an internship as a flight instructor with our FTP in Canada, gaining crucial career flight time. Once a pilot achieves 1500 hours of flight time, they can obtain their full, unrestricted TC/ICAO Airline Transport Pilot License and choose between Option 1 (7A) – working as a first officer at target airlines, or Option 2 (7B) – continuing to build flight hours as an international ferry pilot in the Caribbean. These internships allow students to continue gaining valuable experience as professional pilots and accumulate more complex turbine and cross-country flight time.
The main objective of the program is to provide our graduates with permanent airline employment placements with world-class industry leaders such as Fly Dubai, Emirates, Qatar, Cathay Pacific, Air Asia, Lion Air, Singapore Airlines, Air China, Chinese Airlines, Air Hong Kong, Malaysian Airlines, Jet Star, Tiger Air, and more.
- Phase 1 - Enrollment
At this stage, applicants will be required to complete enrollment application form (here >>>) and provide documents for initial consideration by our company. Our requirements are simple: ICAO Commercial Pilot License with over 200 hours of flight time and applicable valid medical, high school diploma (or higher), ICAO-4 English certificate (or higher), IELTS Academic test with score 6.0 or higher, international passport and good health with no disqualifying conditions (see full list of enrollment requirements here >>>) Once all requirements are satisfied, the student will be furnished with the flight training agreement, visa support paperwork, preliminary aviation training study materials. (Aerocadet will provide comprehensive administrative support for this stage of the program)
Transport Canada Class I medical can be taken before or after arrival in Canada. It does not matter if you want to take the medical before or after taking the TC CPL written exams. Aerocadet’s FTP admin will book you an appointment with the medical examiner in the metropolitan or greater Toronto area. However, some countries allow pilots to take TC Class I medical locally. Please review >>> this page >>> to see if a TC medical examiner is available in your country/region. Please note: if your country of residence has a certified TC medical examiner, we recommend to pass your medical at your earliest opportunity due to longer than usual (6 months) processing times.
- Phase 2 - TC CPL Conversion
After arrival in Canada at our flight training provider’s center (operated by Canadian Aviation College) you will undergo a short TC Class I pilot medical (if you already passed the TC medical in your own country – you can miss this step). After this, you will start your theoretical and practical standardization training. In this phase, you will follow one of the two possible conversion pathways: one is for the FAA (US) CPL holders, and one for all other ICAO CPL holders. This is due to the fact that United States and Canada have a special reciprocity agreement which allows FAA CPL holders direct conversion to Transport Canada CPL. No other contracting ICAO states, including EASA, have such agreements with Canada in place. Therefore, all other ICAO CPL holders will be required to pass commercial pilot and instrument ground school, written exams and practical check-rides with a designated Transport Canada examiner. This training phase takes 1 months for FAA CPL holders and 4 months for ICAO CPL holders, and may be extended, depending on the amount of work some ICAO CPL holders (especially from developing countries) may require in order to meet the Transport Canada CPL knowledge and practical skills standards.
- Phase 3 - Flight Instructor License
Once you have completed your Commercial License conversion, you will proceed to obtain TC Certified Class 4 Flight Instructor rating. This is necessary to facilitate the internship phase of our program which will allow you to work as flight instructor and start building valuable flight time towards your unrestricted ICAO ATPL license, as well as get paid for your work. This phase should take 4-6 months.
- Phase 4 - Flight Instructor Internship
Once you have successfully obtained your flight instructor license, you will have an opportunity to apply for Canada’s Post-Graduate Work Permit (PGWP). This special permit is normally offered to students who have completed at least 12 months of study period with Canada’s Designated Learning Institution (DLI) and want to build work experience for up to 36 months after the graduation. Graduates who meet the basic training standards requirements (see terms and conditions box underneath this outline section) will be offered an opportunity to apply for full-time employment (30+ hours per week) as flight instructors at our partner FTP in British Columbia. Alternatively, in case there are no flight instructor positions available at the FTP at the time of graduation, pilots will be provided internship placement assistance (in a form of referral and reference letters) with the other flight schools or flight charter companies in Canada where they can also build turbine time. PGWP allows graduates to work full-time anywhere in Canada and in any aviation field of their choosing, such as flight instruction, charter flying, bushflying and so on. However, you will not be able to enter airline employment at this point, as it requires a full ATPL with 1500 hours and a PR (permanent residency) in Canada.
- Phase 5 - Work Permit Extension
After 12 months of working as a pilot intern in Canada (24 months recommended for higher success rate) you can take advantage of Canada Experience Class program and apply for permanent residency in Canada, which will allow you to work in Canadian airlines or any other aviation companies in Canada without any employment limit. The CEC application phase takes approximately 6 months. While your application is pending decision by the goverment authorities, you will be allowed to continue working on PGWP for the duration of the decision making term. Once approved, and after you obtain your full ATPL (see phase 6) – you will be able to apply for employment as First Officer with most regional Canadian airlines. (The Canadian Experience Class point-based system is discussed in detail on our blog here >>>)
- Phase 6 - Airline Transport License
Upon completing 12+6 months and 1500 hours of total flight time under the PGWP, you will be able to apply for the Transport Canada Airline Transport Pilot License under provisions of Division VIII – Airline Transport Pilot Licence 421.34 Aeroplanes. This license is a full, unrestricted ICAO ATPL and can be converted to any other ICAO ATPL, if needed. Practical and theoretical ATPL exams do not have any specific training pre-requisites, so pilots can take them as soon as their reach personal aeronautical experience of 1500 hours. The minimum requirements for this licence are experience are: 1500 Flight Hours, incl. 250 PIC, 100 PIC Cross Country, 100 Night, and 25 Night Cross Country PIC, and 75 Hours Instrument; successful completion of a 2 Part Written Exam. There is no Flight Exam required for the issue of a Canadain ATPL.
- Phase 7A - Airline Pilot Internship
At this stage, if approved for CEC PR, you can start your employment applicationo for the first officer position in the regional airlines in Canada, such as Jazz Aviation, WestJet, etc. Canadian airlines do not require applicants to hold jet type ratings upon application. Airlines finance all training and type-rating expenses pertinent to the employment requirements. For example, if you are successull in applying and passing the recruitment process (employment application, technical interview and panel interview), for Jazz Aviation, the airline will pay 100% of expenses for your initial training, wich will last approximately 8-10 weeks and include a type-rating on CL-65 (CRJ-700/900) jet. Once you complete at least 2000 hours on this type, your type rating and experience will satisfy the MTOW (maximum takeoff weight) jet flight time requirements for direct entry employment with Emirates, Qatar, Etihad and many other similar airlines.
- Phase 7B - Ferry Pilot Internship
In an unlikely event that you are unable to obtain Canada’s permanent residency permit, our partner in Caribbean, Global Air, will offer you employment as an international ferry pilot. This position requires pilot to work on the charter pilot basis, performing 1-2 aircraft repositioning flights per month from various destination around the world to/from North America and Europe using the D-type crew visa. The company will provide all the necessary training and visa support. The student will be able to build over 1500 hours of valuable international cross-country flight time over the period of 24 months on various types of light piston and turbine aircraft with MTOW below 7500kg. (Aerocadet will provide comprehensive administrative support for this stage of the program)
*Please note: the training and internship time-lines are estimates and will depend on weather and student skills levels. CEC applicatoin is based on a point-system and results may vary. Administrative support for PGWP and CEC is provided by Canadian Immigration Services (45 Sheppard Ave E #500B, North York, ON M2N 5W9).
- Programs Terms & Conditions
The International ferry pilot internship is limited to 24 months. There is no obligation or training bonds. Pilots are free to leave internship at any time without penalties. Conditions of internship include the following requirements: no accidents, accidents or TC violations; English level ICAO-5 or higher. Completion of PGWP and at least 1500 hours of flight time with ATPL. This Internship if offered ONLY to graduates of Aerocadet’s Pathway to ATP program in US or Canada Full Professional Airline Pilot flight training program or Aerocadet’s Degree Program.
This FI internship extension is normally available for 6 months, and subject to CEC processing time-line. Pilots are free to leave internship at any time without penalties. Conditions of internship include: completion of the 12 months of PGWP full-time internship (30+ hours per week), good overall conduct, absence of accidents, incidents, DUIs and TC violations. The internship acceptance and employment permission under the PGWP visa program is subject to approval by the goverment. FTP has final discretion on whether to offer or deny employment to the candidate. The internship is conditionally guaranteed – meaning that the candidate must meet all the requirements set forth in the training and internship agreement in order to qualify for the employment offer. If the candidate does not meet the requirements, the internship will not be offered.
This Airline First Officer placement assistance service is subject to final PR approval under the Canada Experience Class program. Target for employment assistance placement for the CEC-approved candidates is normally 3-6 months. Pilot are can work in any aviation employment during the placement period. Conditions for placement include: completion of the PGWP internships, over 1500 hours total flight time, unrestristed TC ATPL, excellent employment conduct as flight instructor and/or commercial pilot during PGWP phases, absence of accidents, incidents, DUIs and airspace violations, English on ICAO 5 or higher level.
The International ferry pilot internship is limited to 24 months. There is no obligation or training bonds. Pilots are free to leave internship at any time without penalties. Conditions of internship include the following requirements: no accidents, accidents or TC violations; English level ICAO-5 or higher. Completion of PGWP and at least 1500 hours of flight time with ATPL. This Internship if offered ONLY to graduates of Aerocadet’s Pathway to ATP program in US or Canada Full Professional Airline Pilot flight training program or Aerocadet’s Degree Program.
Due to high demand and limited training facilities this program has a limited availability of annual training slots. Company has a right to refuse enrollment to students on selective basis. The basis taken into account are: pilot aptitude testing scores, academic transcript scores, English test scores and student’s character, motivation discovery conducted during the enrollment interview and financial standing. If Student is awarded this training program, this means that his/her training slot has been allocated, booked and guaranteed. This also means that some other student was displaced from the training slot in favor of this award. Students are asked to take into account this consideration and treat their training slot award as a valuable commodity.
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Flight & Ground School Training
Summary of the estimated flight training hours
Phase 2 – CPL Conversion
In this phase, students will follow one of the two possible conversion pathways: one for the FAA (US) CPL holders, and one for all other ICAO CPL holders. This is due to the fact that United States and Canada have a special reciprocity agreement which allows FAA CPL holders direct conversion to Transport Canada CPL. No other contracting ICAO states have such agreements with Canada in place. Therefore, all other ICAO CPL holders will require to pass commercial pilot and instrument ground school, written exams and practical check-rides with a designated Transport Canada examiner.
The conversion requirements for FAA CPL holders are:
| Written Exam | Type of Mandatory Training |
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| 1 | Transport Canada Air Law |
| 2 | Transport Canada Communications |
The conversion requirements for non-FAA ICAO CPL holders will vary, and will include the following mandaroty training curriculum:
| Hours | Type of Mandatory Training |
|---|---|
| 80 | Transport Canada Commercial Pilot Ground School |
| 20 | Cessna 172 dual training for TC CPL standardization and check-ride |
| 10 | Cessna 172 solo training for TC CPL standardization and check-ride |
| 4 | Pre-Post flight briefings |
Multi-engine conversion add-on: the CPL conversion hours outlined above cover CPL Multi-Engine rating if you have logged at least 50 hours of experience as pilot-in-command in a multi-engine airplane during the 12 months preceding the date of application for the rating. If you did not, then you will be required to get standardized for the multi-engine check-ride by taking at least 4 hours of flight training in preparation for the check-ride, followed by a check-ride to test your multi-engine pilot skills.
| Hours | Type of Optional Training |
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| 4 | Cessna PA-34 Seneca III dual training for TC CPL AMEL standardization |
| 4 | Pre-Post flight briefings |
| 1 | TC CPL AMEL check-ride |
- (i) 50 hours of cross-country flight as pilot-in-command in aeroplanes or helicopters of which 10 hours must be in the appropriate category; and
- (ii) 40 hours of instrument time of which a maximum of 20 hours may be instrument ground time. The 40 hours instrument time shall include a minimum of:
- (A) 5 hours of dual instrument flight time acquired from the holder of a flight instructor rating ,
- (B) 5 hours in aeroplanes where the applicant is applying for a Group 1, 2 or 3 instrument rating or in helicopters where the applicant is applying for a Group 4 instrument rating,
- (C) Fifteen (15) hours of dual instrument flight time provided by a qualified person
- (D) one dual cross-country flight under simulated or actual IMC conditions of a minimum of 100 nautical miles, the flight to be conducted in accordance with an IFR flight plan to include at, two different locations, an instrument approach to minima.
If you do not meet the above requirements, you will need to complete the full multi-engine rating add-on course, by taking the following flight training curriculum:
| Hours | Type of Optional Training |
|---|---|
| 5 | Cessna PA-34 Seneca III simulator |
| 15 | Cessna PA-34 Seneca III flight training |
| 1 | TC CPL AMEL check-ride |
and for multi-engine instrument rating:
| Hours | Type of Optional Training |
|---|---|
| 15 | Cessna PA-34 Seneca III simulator |
| 14 | Cessna PA-34 Seneca III flight training |
| 20 | Ground School |
| 2 | TC CPL AMEL IR check-ride |
CPL holders who have no multi-engine rating, but do have instrument rating on their single-engine rating, will have to take multi-engine and multi-engine instrument rating course at the total cost of $16250 USD, which will include 20 hours on a sim, 27 hours on Seneca, 20 hours of ground school, and 22 hours ground briefing. And this will include theoretical exams and check-rides
Please note: the published above curriculum is normally sufficient for an average student to achieve the required ratings. In some rare situations additional training may be required. The cost of additional multi-engine training is $405 USD per dual (with instructor) flight hour. The total cost of add-ons is published below, in the “Tuition Cost” section.
Phase 3 – CFI Training
Once all students have standardized and converted their ICAO CPL licenses to the TC format using Phase 2, they can begin the flight instructor license course (Phase 3). The course will consist of the following curriculum:
| Hours | Type of Training |
|---|---|
| 80 | Classroom / Ground School |
| 50 | Dual instruction in a Cessna 172 |
Phase 6 – ATP License
Once all students have achieved the required flight experience of over 1500 total time, of which 500 hours cross-country, 100 hours night, 75 hours instrument, 250 hours PIC and 50 hours of multi-engine time (Phase 4-5) they can apply for the full, unrestricted FAA ATPL. This course will consist of the following curriculum:
| Hours | Type of Training |
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| 100 | Self-guided ground school instruction |
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Flight Crew Licensing
Summary of the flight training licenses that the students will get
Students will receive the following flight crew licenses during this program:
| Transport Canada Licenses & Ratings |
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| Transport Canada CPL with ASEL/AMEL/IR, and |
| Flight instructor license with ASEL rating, and |
| Full, unrestricted Transport Canada (ICAO) ATPL |
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Accommodation
We are proud to provide the most comfortable environment for learning!
This is primarily a flight instructor employment program. To facilitate a healthy relationship between the students and the instructors, pathway pilots (prospective flight instructors) who are enrolled into this Pathway program are not advised to live in the same campus accommodation as the ab-initio (initial training) students. Pathway pilots are recommended to rent their own accommodation and commute to training/work at the academy using own transport, like all the other employees. Therefore, living expenses, including accommodation, are not included in the program cost estimate. For the purpose of budget planning, a single-room in a shared apartment in the college proximity area will cost approximately $750 USD per month to rent. In accordance with the Canadian Student Permit regulations, Pathway Pilots will be allowed to work part-time (up to 80 hours per month) during the training phase of the program, and full-time (at least 120 hours per month) during the internship phase of this program, in order to supplement their accommodation and living expenses.
