The flight school training Chinese pilots at the Fredericton airport continues to grow by leaps and bounds.

 

GLEANER/STEPHEN MACGILLIVRAY PHO

LEARNING TO FLY: Moncton Flight College instructor Franky Tse, left, explains the GPS systems to three of the students from the college. From left are Summer Ling, Samuel Guan and Simon Liu.

Moncton Flight College’s Fredericton campus began with 21 students when it opened in July 2007. Activity at the school has mushroomed since.

The school has six classes and 132 students. The number is to grow by 19 students this month and there are plans to further expand.

"Overnight, we’ve grown to one of the largest flight schools in Canada," said Mike Tilley, president of the Moncton Flight College’s Fredericton campus.

The school’s growth has seen it trade its original building at the airport to take over two large hangars, a garage and office space in the main airport terminal.

Tilley said the activity is creating a buzz. The college regularly gets calls from people who are wondering why the school’s two-seat planes are being flown along circuits.

Tilley said the school expects to cap its size at about 240 students.

"Hopefully that will happen sometime in 2009," he said.

The school has contracts to train pilots for six Chinese airlines. The students are pre-selected and hired by the Chinese airlines. A fourth phase has been added to the school’s residence and a fifth is planned.

"Assuming they graduate, they have jobs back in China," Tilley said.

The Chinese appreciate the opportunity Canada offers to train pilots, he said.

Canada’s air history is established and plenty of infrastructure such as airports has been built.

Proportionally, China has few airports and they’re busy, Tilley said.

"We can accommodate them. We have manageable traffic, we have good schools and training programs, and we have clear skies. The air (in China) is so polluted they can’t do their initial flying."

The school could diversify to include pilots from other parts of the world, including Europe, he said.

The only thing limiting the college’s growth, he said, is the ability to recruit experienced aircraft maintenance engineers who have authority to sign-off on aircraft before they are flown.

The flight school employs 31 people in Fredericton and contracts kitchen, janitorial and other services that employ about 10 more people.

The school is expecting to increase its fleet of DA-20 two-seat training planes to 15 from nine this year and is acquiring a larger Beechcraft King Air. The school also has two Piper planes.