Groundschool

*Open to Acadia Students and General Public

Welcome to our PPL and CPL ground school classes.

These ground school classes are in a classroom setting at either the Langley or the Surrey campus, depending on the class size.

The class will run twice a year, once in the fall and once in the winter, and lasts two months for the PPL ground school and three months for the CPL ground school. Each of these sessions runs for 3 hours twice a week. You can view the dates and times for these sessions on our semester information page and our upcoming events calendar, as well as the registration dates and deadlines page for the registration deadline for ground school.

All students are required to attend the ground school. Our PPL and CPL ground school is an integrated style class, where PPL and CPL students follow the same sessions. Due to the first 40 hours of the CPL ground school being identical to the PPL ground school, the students from either program can attend. Once the initial 50 hours are completed, PPL students receive their completion certificate, whereas the CPL students have to participate in the remainder of the 30 hours, which includes new commercial material.

The ground school sessions will give you the required background knowledge and understanding to pass the Transport Canada written examinations.

The PPL ground school length consists of 50 hours, and these hours are mandatory for each student. We will take attendance to ensure each student completes the required hours.

The following subjects are reviewed and completed during ground school classes:

• Theory of Flight
• Licensing Requirements
• Aerodynamics Airframes and Engines
• Systems and Flight Instruments
• Canadian Aviation Regulations
• Meteorology
• Human Factors
• Pilot Decision Making
• Flight Operations
• Navigation Radio and Electronic Theory

The CPL ground school length consists of 80 hours, and these hours are mandatory for each student. We will take attendance to ensure each student completes the required hours.

The following subjects are reviewed and completed during ground school classes:

• Theory of Flight
• Licensing Requirements
• Aerodynamics Airframes and Engines
• Systems and Flight Instruments
• Canadian Aviation Regulations
• Meteorology
• Human Factors
• Pilot Decision Making
• Flight Operations
• Navigation Radio and Electronic Theory

To register for the PPL and CPL classes click here.

Workshops/Seminars 

Welcome to our aviation workshops.

We have created many different workshops to help improve your skills as a pilot.

These workshops are designed to help pilots understand and review specific troublesome topics or help pilots who require a simple refresher course understand the material quickly and efficiently.

Each workshop will last 6 hours and will run only once per year. There is a total of 15 seminars. Each month, there will be one or two specific workshops, and at the end of the 12 months, the cycle will restart.

If there is more demand for a specific workshop, we will run this workshop more frequently. You can view the dates and times for these sessions on our semester information page and our upcoming events calendar, as well as the registration dates and deadlines page for the registration deadlines for each class.

Below are some details about each workshop/seminar.

*Some workshops are reserved for in-house students only, while others are for both in-house students and open to the general public.

1. 1. Cross country planning 

*Reserved for Acadia students only.

Welcome to the Cross country planning workshop.

In this workshop, you will be learning all about the fundamentals that go into planning a cross country. This course will prepare you to make the proper go/no-go decision when planning to fly longer cross country flights and teach you how to fill out and complete your Nav log.

We will be reviewing all the elements of proper flight planning and deciphering the CFS’s written components.

Take your cross country flight planning to the next level and register today.

2. 2. Written Exam Prep 

*For Acadia students and Open to General Public.

Welcome to the written exam preparation workshops.

In these workshops, you will be learning and reviewing each topic’s fundamentals to ensure that you are entirely comfortable before taking your PPAER or CPAER. These workshops consist of the four main subjects associated with the TC exams.

There will be:

• Air Law
• General Knowledge
• Meteorology
• Navigation

We will be running each of these classes separately to ensure sufficient time to complete the entire topic and answer all questions relating to that specific topic within the 6-hour seminar.

Take your examination knowledge to the next level and register today.

3. 3. Flight Test Prep 

*For Acadia students and Open to General Public.

Welcome to the flight test preparation workshop.

This workshop will review each requirement and limitation set out by Transport Canada to ensure that you are entirely comfortable with your flight test process and flow. The seminar will include both the ground knowledge and all the air-work expectations.

A Flight Test Examiner will be running this seminar. He will clear up the many questions you may have and give details about what is needed to succeed in passing your RPP/PPL/CPL flight test.

Take your flight test to the next level and register today.

4. 4. Accident Case Study Analysis 

*Reserved for Acadia students only.

Welcome to the Accident Case Study Analysis workshop.

This workshop will review, read, and understand some local, provincial, and national aviation accidents.

You will work in teams to analyze the problems, identify the possible reasons why the accident happened, and think of other possible outcomes that could have resulted had different procedures been taken.

This seminar is conducted by an experienced airline and corporate Pilot who has many flight hours here in Canada.

To increase your flight awareness and accident awareness, register today.

5. 5. Elementary work – Maintenance 

*Reserved for Acadia students only.

Welcome to the Elementary work – maintenance workshop.

In this workshop, you will learn all about elementary work essentials and learn how to properly perform such work on your Cessna!

Our school’s PRM will run this workshop, and it is being held in the maintenance hangar. You will learn all the ins and outs of elementary work, and you will finally get to see all the parts of an engine up close to understand how they function collaboratively.

To increase your elementary maintenance knowledge, register today.

6. 6. Rust Removers – 4 main topics 

*For Acadia students and Open to General Public.

Welcome to our Rust Removers workshop.

This seminar consists of four general topics:

• General Knowledge
• Airspace and Procedures
• Mountain Flying
• Night Flying

This seminar’s purpose is to help refresh your memory if you haven’t flown in a while, help you understand details that were not clear, or help improve your general understanding of the topic.

To increase your knowledge and refresh your memory of the flying you are not used to doing, register here.

7. 7. IFR refresher course 

*For Acadia students and Open to General Public.

Welcome to the IFR refresher course.

In this course, you will be reviewing regulations, IFR clearances and Holds, and how to pick a proper alternate aerodrome regarding weather requirements and more.

We will review flight planning and IFR chart reading and go over some vital pilot decision-making thought processes to aid you with better conflict resolution.

There will be In-flight scenarios regarding meteorology, where you will be working in teams to figure out how to overcome frequent and various problems.

This seminar is conducted by an experienced airline and corporate Pilot who has many flight hours here in Canada.

To increase your IFR knowledge or to clear any doubts you previously had, register today.

8. 8. Nav Canada Field Trip 

*Reserved for Acadia students only.

Welcome to our Nav Canada Field Trip!

In this field trip, you will be getting an overview of how the airspace is divided and how the controllers are responsible for specific regions.

They will show you their radar system and explain the fundamentals of reading it and describe the procedure of how handoffs from one person to another work.

You will be able to see first-hand how things are being done on the other side of the radio!

**Please note that this trip has limited spaces available and is not considered part of the mandatory minimum that is to be completed as part of your PPL or CPL program.

To participate in the Nav Canada field trip and answer all the questions you may have had in mind while flying, register today.

9. 9. Boeing Field and Museum of Flight Field Trip 

*Reserved for Acadia students only.

Welcome to the Boeing Field and the Museum of Flight field trip!

On this field trip, we will be visiting the Museum of Flight.

Explore the Museum, travel through time and space! The Museum of Flight is full of an incredible collection of aircraft, spacecraft, artifacts, galleries, exhibits, facts and stories that embody the past, present and future of flight.

You will then be visiting the Boeing field, where you will have the opportunity to view how Boeing makes and assembles all of their famous airplanes!

The facility is home to the 747, 767, 777 and 787 Dreamliner production lines and is the world’s largest building by volume. You will be able to see airplanes being built for worldwide customers.

To learn more about aviation and airplane construction by visiting the Museum of Flight and the Boeing field, register today.

**Please note that this trip has limited spaces available and is not considered part of the mandatory minimum that is to be completed as part of your PPL or CPL program. 

10. 10. AWWS Products and Services – WX-Brief 

*For Acadia students and Open to General Public.

Welcome to the AWWS products and services workshops.

In this workshop, students will learn how to properly use all the services offered to them on the AWWS website.

The products and services on the website are currently underutilized. We will be going into detail about getting the best and most accurate weather reading, given the information posted by Nav Canada.

It is an asset and a great skill, especially when studying for the flight test. Knowing how to decipher and understand weather rather than just reading it will be beneficial to you.

Enhance your safety, decision-making skills, and situational awareness by attending the class and register today.

11. 11. Radio Communication 

*For Acadia students and Open to General Public.

Welcome to the Radio Communications workshop.

In this workshop, you will learn how to communicate and use proper aviation terminology with tower or terminal.

We will be helping you understand the differences between clearances and instructions.

This workshop is being presented by a NAV Canada Air Traffic Controller who will teach you all the ins and outs of correct radio phraseology.

The workshop will cover both VFR and IFR radio communications; therefore, students who want to brush up on their VFR and IFR communications can attend.

To enhance your radio communication knowledge, register today.