Aspiring commercial pilots in the Northwest Territories may be eligible for financial aid to obtain a private pilot licence (PPL) under new funding regulations passed by the Territories’ Department of Education, Culture and Employment. Previously, a candidate for a commercial pilot training program, which is eligible for financial aid, had to first obtain PPL at their own expense.
The N.W.T. are experiencing a pilot shortage, and the cost of obtaining a PPL, ranging from $20,000 to $26,000, presented a barrier for most prospective pilots. Additionally, with no designated post-secondary schools in the Territories, aspiring pilots would have to travel to southern Canada for training, significantly adding to their costs. Many would not return north.
Medicine Hat, Alberta’s Super T Aviation partnered with Yellowknife’s Summit Air and École St. Patrick High School to offer an aviation program, including PPL training, in Yellowknife. Nolan Dusome is a recent graduate of the academic portion of program.
“I was definitely planning on heading down south to do my PPL,” said Dusome in an interview with CBC. “It’s better to stay in my hometown and do it than go down south.”
Deline, N.W.T. resident Marcus Vandermeer is also a recent graduate from the academic program. “I feel like a lot of kids from small communities, like where I came from…I felt like, ‘Oh, that’s not possible,’ but it is possible.”
Flight training is ongoing in Yellowknife, with both Dusome and Vandermeer expecting to obtain their PPLs later this year. To be eligible for financial aid, candidates would need to provide documented proof of their intent to follow through with commercial pilot training.
“It just helps grow the North way quicker,” added Dusome.
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