Want to learn to Fly?

If you've ever dreamed about learning to fly, it's about to get easier and cheaper.  On August 1st, 1988, Transport Canada introduced a new recreational pilot permit enabling people to get a license in roughly half the time and cost that it used to.

 "We've been trying for a long time to get recreational aviation affordable again... We believe this will be a big boost," said Mike Fothergill, vice- president of the Recreational Aircraft Association.  "It's going to put a pilot's license within reach of a lot of people."

The new permit will enable people to get a license in as little as 25 hours, compared to the average 60 hours it takes now for a private pilot license.

As a result, the cost will be chopped in half to an estimated $3,600, down from $6,000 to $7,000. Exact costs will depend on the pace of each individual's own training.  

To be eligible for the new permit, a person will have to be at least 16 years old and have a class IV Medical.

Budding pilots will then have to pass a written exam on air law, navigation, meteorology and aeronautics and take at least 25 hours of flight training.  The permit won't be issued until a person is able to pass a flight test showing they can fly safely, said Don Spruston, Transport Canada's director-general of aviation regulation.

The recreational pilot course is 20 hours shorter than the private and omits some sections of training like instrument flying, but new pilots "will be trained to exactly the same standard."

The permit will enable these new pilots to fly single-engine and ultra-light aircraft with no more than one passenger during daylight flights in Canadian airspace.

The new license was urged by recreational flyers worried that learning to fly was getting too expensive.

It makes learning to fly much like it was one or two decades ago, before government-mandated requirements swelled the financial and time commitments of a private pilot course.

Experts agree that the new permit is perfect for people who want to become "weekend pilots", using a light plane to take a friend or relative on a short sightseeing flight.

This program is designed for the person who is just flying