COVID-19 UPDATES/Plan

Weekly Pilot Summer Camps

Overview

This program provides people of all ages with unique opportunity to experience pilot training, with all flight and ground time providing credit for certified pilot training.  Acadia College provides eleven levels of training, with students being able to progress through the levels and ultimately achieve certification from Transport Canada as a Canadian Private Pilot.  Remember too that the Private Pilot Licence is also the prerequisite for the Canadian Commercial Pilot Licence!  Each of the levels consists of five days of training, with each day providing approximately 2 hours of pilot groundschool and 1 hour of air instruction and practice in one of Acadia College’s training aircraft.  Here are the initial levels:

Level 1—Aircraft Basic Maneuvers

Level 2—Advance Upper-air Maneuvers

Level 3—Introduction to Takeoffs and Landings

Level 4—Advanced Takeoffs and Landings

Level 5Solo Takeoffs and Landings

Level 6—Solo Upper-air Maneuvers

Level 7—Pre-navigation Exercises

Level 8—Dual Cross-country Training

Level 9—Solo Cross-country Practice

Level 10—Instrument Flying

Level 11—Flight Test Preparation

The Pilot Summer Camps run actively through the summer, with the first session beginning the week of June 26th  through June 30th, and the final session taking place the week August 28th through September 1st  Enrollment is limited, and registration is based on a first-come, first-served basis.

The Runways and Taxiways of Langley Airport, Acadia College

The Camps are conducted at our pilot-training facilities at Langley Airport, with each camp running five days, Monday through Friday.  The day begins at 9:00 AM with the first of two one-hour classroom sessions, the first class running from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM, and the second class running from 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM.  The first class of the day will focus on fundament pilot groundschool subjects appropriate for the camp level, while the second class prepares student for the afternoon flight exercises.  During the afternoon air training, each student will have a minimum of one hour at the controls of a training aircraft under the direct supervision of a Transport Canada certified Flight Instructor.

Partner System

Where possible, all camp levels seek to provide student with a “partner system” when possible, where two students of similar age are paired to progress through he training as a team.  Partners generally learn at the same pace and are assigned co-ordinated team responsibilities, which includes both groundschool assignments and aircraft preparation for flight.  Where training permits, the partner system continues into the afternoon training flights where students will have an additional hour in the air observing their partner’s training at no additional charge.  Some camp levels require the training aircraft to be operated with loading restrictions where passengers other than the student and Flight Instructor are prohibited owing to the nature of the maneuvers—in these cases the partners will flying concurrently in their own aircraft when possible.

Registration and Camp Tuition

Once you have decided to register in one of the camp levels, complete the Application for Registration form that appears at the following link:

This registration form enables you to identify the camp level and week of training you wish to attend.  If you register concurrently with another student whom you wish to be partnered, let us know and camp arrangements will be made.  Joint registration with a predetermined partner virtually guarantees your camp will run as requested.  If you are registering by yourself, not to worry—we will find you a suitable partner and give you the option to be paired for the week.  If a partner is not available, you will still have the option of completing the pilot training during the selected week as a individual (regular) student pilot.

The tuition for each camp is $1690 where students are partnered, or $1975 for solo students.  The registration fee is $500, with the remaining tuition required the first day of camp.

Direct entry and Prerequisites

All students must first complete Level I Pilot Camp—Basic Maneuvers before progressing to additional camp levels.  Once the week of basic maneuvers training is completed, graduates following the normal progression (see below), or the popular second-week camps, Upper-air Maneuvers training and/or a  Cross-country Flying.  

Accreditation for Transport Canada Pilot Qualifications

All students must first complete Level I Pilot Camp—Basic Maneuvers before progressing to additional camp levels.  Once the week of basic maneuvers training is completed, graduates have the option of enrolling in a second week of Upper-air Maneuvers training and/or a week of Cross-country Flying.  Ultimately, students completing Level I have the option of progressing through the additional weekly pilot camps that can eventually lead to completion of the Private Pilot Licence (see below).

Aircraft

C-GUNE is one of Acadia College's fleet of four training aircraft.

All training is conducted in Acadia College’s fleet of Cessna 172 Aircraft that are certified and maintained in accordance with the airworthiness requirements of Transport Canada.

Cockpit and ATC Communications

All cockpit communications among training crew members are conducted using a voice-activated intercom system, which also connects with the VHF radio required for communicating with Air Traffic Controllers.  Student pilots are actively trained to communicate with controllers from the very start of flight training.

Takeoff Clearance Request

Training Camps Outline

Level 1—Aircraft Basic Maneuvers

Day 1—Familiarization Flight

Period 1—Morning Groundschool

Student Pilot Orientation and Safety

Personnel Licencing Requirements in Canada`

Period 2—Air Training Preparation

Period 3—Air Training

Familiarization Flight—Aircraft Weight and Balance Control, Pilot Weather Briefing, Aircraft Pre-flight inspection, Aircraft Dispatch Procedures, and Crew Communications during flight.

Students learn to ensure an aircraft is mechanically and legally ready for flight.  They learn how to conduct a pre-flight briefing with the Flight Information Centre specialist, and additionally learn how to ensure the distribution of the aircraft load is in accordance with manufacturer’s requirements that ensure normal flight characteristics.  During this flight, student are introduced to the sensations of flying as seen from the pilot seat, including interaction with the flight controls for both ground and air operations.  Students are also introduced to basic radio communications with tower controllers related to the departure and arrival of aircraft. 

Day 2—Aircraft Attitudes and Movements

Period 1—Morning Groundschool

Aircraft Airframes Designs and Features

Period 2—Air Training Preparation

Aircraft Attitudes and Movements

Aircraft Attitudes and Movements, Acadia College

Period 3—Air Training

Students learn how to recognize from the pilot seat the four basic flight attitudes using in all flying—i.e, cruise, nose-up, nose-down, and banked attitudes—and how to produce and control those attitudes using the three basic movements used by the pilot—pitch, roll, and yaw.  Students additionally learn how to effectively communicate the location of observed air traffic during flight, and continue to expand their abilities to perform basic radio communications with air traffic controller.  Students actively participate in assigned tasks in controlling the aircraft during takeoffs and landings, and are assigned basic map-reading tasks fundamental to pilot navigation.

Langley Airport Arrival and Departure Procedures

Day 3—Basic Aircraft Maneuvers

Period 1—Morning Groundschool

Aircraft Load and Load Factors

Aircraft Logbooks and Inspections

Certificate of Airworthiness

Pilot-approved Maintenance

Courtesy FAA's Piilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, Aircraft Load Limits, Acadia College

Period 1—Morning Groundschool

Introduction to Aircraft Maneuvers—applying attitudes and movements to basic straight-and-level flight, climbs, descents, and turns

Climbs and Descents, Acadia College

Period 3—Air Training

In this lesson students learn to apply attitudes and movements to the basic flight maneuvers of straight-and-level flight, climbs, descents, and turns.  Maneuvers require students to pursue specified altitude and heading targets while flying, and they learn how to apply the standard sequence of actions used by pilots to produce and stabilized the aircraft during these maneuvers.  Students continue to take on increased responsibilities during takeoffs and landings, and continue to develop their air navigation and map-reading skills while transitioning to and from the practice area.  In this lesson they also learn how to effectively scan the skies for vicinity air traffic, and learn how to use aircraft trim systems during flight.

Day 4—Intermediate Aircraft Maneuvers

Period 1—Morning Groundschool

Aircraft Engines Designs and Features

Period 2—Air Training Preparation

Intermediate Aircraft Maneuvers—power changes in straight-and-level-flight, climbs and descents at specified speeds, turns at specified angles of bank

Period 3—Air Training

Students learn in this flight how to stabilized the aircraft while commanding power changes during straight-and-level.  They also learn how to pursue speed targets during climbing and descending maneuvers.  They are also introduced to pursuing angle-of-bank targets during turns, focusing on maintaining 10o-, 20o-,  and 30o-banked turns using the Attitude Indicator flight instrument.  More complicated navigation assignments are provide to students during the transitions to and from the airport.  By the end of this flight students are typically conducting independent takeoffs and piloting responsibilities are progressively increased during the approach and landing.

Day 5—Advanced Aircraft Maneuvers

Period 1—Morning Groundschool

Tour of Air Traffic Control Tower Unit

Control Tower at Birmingham Airport, UK, courtesy Wikipedia. Original work by Adrian Pingstone, Acadia College.

Period 2—Air Training Preparation

Advanced Aircraft Maneuvers—speed changes in straight-and-level flight, final approach and overshoot maneuvering

Period 3—Air Training

Period 1—Morning Groundschool

In this flight, students learn how to establish the aircraft with the initial and final approach configurations for landing using specified speed targets and flap settings—these skills are first learned at altitude in the practice area, and then applied with actual approaches for landings back at the airport.  From the final approach configuration students learn how to conduct an overshoot from an aborted landing, including the efficient transition through flap retraction and speed acceleration to safely establish a climb away from the runway surface.

Level 2—Cross-country Flying

Day 1—Diversion Planning and Execution

Period 1—Morning Groundschool

Student Pilot Orientation and Safety

Map Reading, Course Plotting and Measurement, and in-flight estimations of destination ETAs

Period 2—Air Training Preparation

Diversion Planning and Execution

Period 3—Air Training

Diversions are improvised navigation events requiring students to simulate a diversion to an alternate airport owing to unexpected operational necessity—for example, adverse weather, passenger illness, etc.  Students learn how to sketch on a navigation chart a course between the aircraft’s current position and the planned destination airport, and learn how to estimate the aircraft’s required heading, how to estimate the time and fuel required to fly the aircraft, and how to update during the diversion the revised ETA using estimated aircraft position and groundspeed.  The tasks necessary to update a flight plan with the Flight Information Centre is also reviewed.  Throughout this and subsequent flights during the week, student act as Pilot-in-command under the supervision of the Flight Instructor.

Day 2—Cross-country Flight from Langley to Hope

Period 1—Morning Groundschool

Navigation Chart and Navigation Worksheet Preparation

E6B Pilot Flight Computer calculation of aircraft groundspeed, fuel consumption, and magnetic heading.

Period 2—Air Training Preparation

Preparation and Execution of a Cross-country flight to Hope and return

Cross-country Training Flight to Hope. Acadia College Pilot Summer Camp.

Period 3—Air Training

Students learn to plan and execute a cross-country flight from Langley to Hope, return.  They learn how to establish the aircraft on the set-heading point with a planned engine power setting, and also learn how to monitor and record the aircraft’s position during the flight.  As the aircraft crosses scheduled checkpoints, students learn to estimate the groundspeed, and update the aircraft’s ETA at the destination.  The landing at Hope is at an uncontrolled grass airport located in a confined valley, requiring improvised modification to the standard approach circuit and landing.  After a brief break, students change seats for the flight back to Langley.

Day 3—Cross-Country From Langley to Nanaimo

Period 1—Morning Groundschool

Navigation Chart and Navigation Worksheet Preparation

Period 2—Air Training Preparation

Preparation and Execution of a Cross-country flight to Nanaimo and return

Cross-country Training Flight to Nanaimo, Acadia College Pilot Summer Camp.

Period 3—Air Training

This cross-country flight requires the students to cross the Strait of Georgia in the vicinity of Saturna Island, following the prescribed aircraft transition route originating in Birch Bay and passing along Mayne and Galiano Islands.  Students learn how to determine a safe altitude for the flight that will permit gliding to an on-shore landing in the unlikely event of an engine failure, and they also learn the process for obtaining an ATC clearance through the Class C Vancouver Terminal Control Area airspace that encircles Vancouver International Airport.  At Nanaimo, students additionally learn how to transition through the Class D Control Zone that surrounds Nanaimo Airport, requiring prescribed communications with the ground Flight Service specialist.  This flight requires multiple course changes while navigating the Gulf Islands, and additionally requires a high degree of efficiency in map reading and aircraft position-reckoning.  After landing in Nanaimo, the students change seats for the reverse course back to Langley.

Day 4—Cross-country Flight from Langley to Qualicum Beach

Period 1—Morning Groundschool

Forecast weather interpretation and application to flight planning

Period 2—Air Training Preparation

Preparation and Execution of a Cross-country flight to Qualicum and return

Cross-country Training Flight to Qualicum Beach, Aciadia College Pilot Summer Camp.

Period 3—Air Training

This flight entails flying to another uncontrolled airport, this time at Qualicum Beach.  Again students will be required to plot a course that entails multiple heading changes where position-reckoning will be intensive.  Students will again be required to co-ordinate with ATC controllers who manage air traffic in the Vancouver Terminal Control Area, and will again be required to determine sufficiently high altitudes that will permit safe gliding and landing in the unlikely event of an engine failure.  The Qualicum Beach course is also the longest of the cross-country flight series accomplish during the week, requiring students to plot a course that passes along the northern portion of metropolitan Vancouver, and along the north shore of the Georgia Strait as far as Sechelt, then across the Georgia Strait near Texada Island, direct Qualicum Beach.  After students change seats there, they will fly easterly along the south shore of the Georgia Strait, along the Golf Islands, following the routing past Saturna Island, East Point, and passing Birch Bay, before turning north to Langley Airport. 

Day 5—Cross-country Flight from Langley to Victoria

Period 1—Morning Groundschool

Tour of Air Traffic Control Tower Unit

Preparation and Filing of a Flight Plan document with ATC

Period 2—Air Training Preparation

Preparation and Execution of a Cross-country flight to Victoria and return

Period 3—Air Training

The final cross-country flights will require students to navigate to one of the busiest airports along the West Coast—Victoria Airport.  The Georgia Strait crossing will again traverse the prescribed VFR route between Birch Point and Saturna Island, from which students will be required to adhere to the prescribed arrival and departure procedures for Victoria Airport, with specified altitude and routing sequences, as well as sequential communication with not less than four ATC controllers within a time span of approximately 18 minutes.  Students will additionally learn how to safely maneuver the aircraft during both post-landing and pre-takeoff taxiing at one of the more complex international airports in Canada.  The crew will lunch at the Victoria Flying Club prior to the departure back to Langley Airport.

Level 3—Advanced Upper-air Maneuvers

Day 1

Period 1—Morning Groundschool

Student Pilot Orientation and Safety

Aerodynamics and Theory of Flight

Forces of Flight and Generating Lift

Period 2—Air Training Preparation

Flight For Range and Endurance

Period 3—Air Training

Students during this flight learn how to control the aircraft through the slow-flight speed range that is used for final approach and landing.  In doing this, students learn the effective and efficient control the aircraft at speeds down to just above the aircraft stall speeds. In the initial segment during an approach for landing, pilot slow aircraft down to a speed equivalent to 1.4 times the demonstrated stall speed of the aircraft (1.4Vso), and during the final segment, the speed is further reduced to 1.3 times the stall speed (1.3Vso).  During slow flight, control of the aircraft is described as “reverse command” whereby altitude is control by power rather than pitch, and airspeed is controlled by pitch rather than power—these changes in the nature of the pilot’s control of the aircraft is reviewed and practiced by students.

Day 2—Slow Flight Entry, Recognition, and Recovery

Period 1—Morning Groundschool

Drag and the Lift-Drag Ratio

Period 2—Air Training Preparation

Slow Flight Entry, Recognition, and Recovery

Period 3—Air Training

Students during this flight learn how to control the aircraft through the slow-flight speed range that is used for final approach and landing.  In doing this, students learn the effective and efficient control the aircraft at speeds down to just above the aircraft stall speeds. In the initial segment during an approach for landing, pilot slow aircraft down to a speed equivalent to 1.4 times the demonstrated stall speed of the aircraft (1.4Vso), and during the final segment, the speed is further reduced to 1.3 times the stall speed (1.3Vso).  During slow flight, control of the aircraft is described as “reverse command” whereby altitude is control by power rather than pitch, and airspeed is controlled by pitch rather than power—these changes in the nature of the pilot’s control of the aircraft is reviewed and practiced by students.

Day 3—Stalls Entry, Recognition, and Recovery

Period 1—Morning Groundschool

Aerodynamics of Stalls and Factors that Affect Recognition and Recovery

Period 2—Air Training Preparation

Stalls Entry, Recognition, and Recovery

Period 3—Air Training

In this lesson students learn to recognize the unique aircraft symptoms of an aerodynamic stall, including the proper pilot inputs uniquely required to control the aircraft as the stall is approached and achieved, and how to recover from a stall effectively and efficiently with a minimum loss of altitude.  Students learn both power-off and power-on recovery techniques.  Stall training marks the first in a series of flight where students will fly individually with the Flight Instructor so as to meet the loading restrictions specified by the aircraft manufacturer for stall practice.  Aerodynamic stall are an integral part of effective landings whereby the aircraft transitions through the stalled condition as the mainwheels make contact with the runway surface during landings.

Day 4—Spin Entry, Recognition, and Recovery

Period 1—Morning Groundschool

Aerodynamics of Autorotation (Spinning) and Factors that affect Recovery

Period 2—Air Training Preparation

Spin Entry, Recognition, and Recovery

Spin Training, courtesy Transport Canada's Flight Training Manual. Acadia College Pilot Summer Camp.

Period 3—Air Training

In this the penultimate flight lesson in the upper-air sequence, students learn how to recognize the onset of autorotation during a stall.  Autorotation originates from the asymmetrical stalled condition of the individual wings surfaces, causing one wing to descent downward, and the other wing to move upward.  During the autorotation of a spin, the aircraft transitions to simultaneous yaw, pitch, and roll movements on its own accord, which can continue unabated without pilot input for a recovery.  Students therefore learn to recognize this condition and learn the specific cockpit control inputs required to produce a recovery whereby the aircraft returns to normal flight with a minimum loss of altitude.  Even with experience pilots, a complete rotation in the autorotation condition of a spin will result in an altitude loss of approximately 700’.  Students learn to independently enter and recover from both left-rotation and right-rotation spin conditions.

Day 5—Spiral Dive Recognition and Recovery

Period 1—Morning Groundschool

Aerodynamic of Spiral Dives, Recognition of their Onset, and the Recovery Sequence

Period 2—Air Training Preparation

Spiral Recognition and Recovery

Spiral Dive Recovery, courtesy FAA's Airplane Flying Handbook, Acadia College Flying Handbook.

Period 3—Air Training

This final training flight in the upper-air sequence examines spiral dives, with students learning how to recognize the onset of a spiral dive, and how to recover safety and efficiency with a minimal loss of altitude.  Unlike the preceding spin condition where the aircraft is effectively in a prolonged but complicated stall condition with minimal speed, the spiral dive is a high-speed condition where the aircraft is descending and accelerating rapidly during a steep, descending turn.  Because of the risk of the aircraft reaching its aerodynamic load limit rapidly, proper recognition and management by the pilot is crucial.  The recovery must be executed with a timely and correct sequence of control inputs, conducted in an especially smooth but efficient fashion.  With the completion this the final exercise in the advanced upper-air sequence, student are ready for progress to a week of intensive takeoffs and landings training in the airport circuit pattern.

For further information on the remaining Weekly Pilot Camps, contact an Acadia College Flight Instructor.

Content

Content

Index