College of Professional Pilots of Canada

We are a non-profit, non-labour organization with the aim of unifying Canada’s professional pilots based on the common grounds of safety, professional standards, and continuous improvement.

Benefits of Membership

The College of Pilots is a non-profit organization that endeavours to support Canadian licenced pilots and their families.

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For current professional pilots it could mean better prepared and trained flight crew. It would mean a professional designation. It would mean having a self governing body with disciplinary actions that would be taken in-house by a panel of peers, instead of a courthouse where discipline has been shown to be ineffective and inappropriate. It would reduce liability and better protect pilots and the public.

Other less tangible benefits are those of stewardship: leaving the industry in an improved state than you yourself had. We have all told stories of times where we experienced events that could have been better, possibly leading to unsafe or unfair conditions. It’s about getting back control of the vocation that you love and invested so much energy into. It’s about having a say on where it will move next and how our lives and families’ lives will benefit.

 

News

Past newsletters are accessible by logging in, and then by Documents Library subpage under the Member’s Area main menu.

Initiatives Currently In Progress

 

Membership Survey which normally occurs every year to every a couple of years is due. That will be sent out to all members, and past members in the very near future.

 

The board in conjunction with Our Executive Director is writing to Transport Canada Civil Aviation to inquire on the subject of Mental Health Initiatives for Commercial Professional Pilots to see where, if any, direction exists at TC on this matter of consequence. The College would like to start or continue discussions in this area, in particular about how policies are to ultimately be designed to get pilots back flying without undue delay from TC, after medical professionals have cleared the individual. We are of the stance that anything less would not encourage self-reporting and hinder pilots seeking the help they need, which ultimately far negatively impacts the profession and the safety of the industry than otherwise.

 

The College is also taking steps with the regulator, and individual flight schools, to push for more standardized, relevant training at the integrated ATP training level to better prepare new pilots for the relatively quick-progression the industry is seeing in our contemporary times. There are known gaps and disconnects being see at the operator level vs. the level of experience and, at times, training quality, that new hires are exhibiting at various levels of operation. This is an undesirable state not only for the profession, the operators, and the individuals. This initiative is still in the preliminary stages, as data-gathering was completed during the pandemic and further decisions regarding implementation and flight school buy-in are pending.

 

In a similar vein, the College would like to lobby TC to formalize the oversight and standardize the quality of the PICUS programs at different operators to “even the field” and ensure upgrade candidates across the same level of the industry are equally prepared for the responsibilities and decision-making processes required of a Captain.  This could also set the rationale to allow an increased credit for PIC hours being able to be claimed under a PICUS program than the 100 hours presently permitted. Taken further, should TC be receptive, curriculum and training programs can be developed for approved FTUs to offering PICUS-like training, in a FTD capable of modelling aircraft relevant to command and multi-crew operational experience, so new pilots can emerge better prepared for their career progression without relying on “trial by fire”.