I am a freshly gm approved liscence auto mechanic, thinking about changing my field(months before l got licensed), because l do piece worker & rarely beat the clock no matter how hard l try. I am interested in becoming a pilot. but I am not sure if l can get in, was told that I will need 6 university courses.just to get in ..ohh & CAN 40,000 :( if l wanna learnseneca or 10,000confideration YaY!!the 10000 is not an issue, but wish it was in toronto.Since l came to canada in the 9'th grade, the system was extreemely different & l never took any uni courses.(thought uni was if you wanna be a doc or lawyer only) so do l have to go to night school & take all 6 university courses inorder to go to flight school. & after that become an entry level pilot ? estimated timeline would be 6 yrs :( ?howmuch does a Captain bring home annually ?just hope its more than what a licensed & experienced mechanic makes around CAN 70,000.

Learning to spell would be a good start !

Hey, it can be difficult when deciding if u want to become a pilot or what route u want to take to get ur licences. First of all, congrats on getting ur auto mechanic is licence. Being mechanically adept will help u out in the aviation industry & having a job as a mechanic will help u pay for lessons if u ulitmately decide that u want to get ur pilot is licence. Although it seems you're not enjoying it, do not be too quick to jump ship as other industries have their problems too.

In Ontario & Canada, going through a College or University course is only one of the ways to become a pilot. The other option is to do it privately at a local flight school. If you're in Toronto, u choices are:
-Brampton Flying Club
-Spectrum Airways at Burlington Air Park
-Toronto Airways at Buttonville Airport
-Toronto Island
-Markham Airport
-Oshawa Airport

Instead of taking full courses like at a College, u simply take a ground school course & have private lessons with an instructor. This is essentially 'pay as u go' & u have the opportunity to obtain ur commercial licence at ur own pace. In this situation you'd be able to work full time & fly on the side. Although having a degree or aviation college diploma will help u get a job with the airlines, they're not required like they r in some other countries.

Both Seneca & Confederation r good schools. Sault College in Sault Ste. Marie also offers a subsidized aviation program. While l can understand wanting to stay in Toronto (although leaving Toronto was the best thing I've ever done!) if u want to succeed in Aviation, u can plan on having to leave Toronto for at least a few years after you're done ur training to get ur licences. l outline the process more indepth in my book, but essentially there r very few entry level flying jobs in Toronto outside of being an instructor.

As for the pilot pay, it really varies. This site, airlinepilotcentral.com/airlines/canadian.html gives a good indication of what pilots make. Eventually, a senior Captain for Air Canada can make over $200,000 a year. BUT, it takes decades to make it to that position & a lot of pilots never do. Also somethign to keep in mind is that entry level pay for pilots is exceptionally low. Flight Instructors sometimes make as little as $16 an hour only for when they're flying (which sucks if the weather is bad) & moving up, the first number of years as a pilot r still not very lucrative.

What l would recommend in ur position is instead of dropping everything & going back to get the High School Uni level courses that u need, I'd go to one of the local flight schools & take a few flying lessons. See how u like them & see if flying is something that u think u want to do.

If you're academically adept, taking the College courses might be a good idea, but just a warning, they r hard courses & there is a lot of students that have to drop out after a year or two.

In the meantime, do ur best as an auto mechanic. Even if u do not like it, u have a way to make money & pay for flying lessons.

Also keep up the research:
-there is my book ''So, You Want to be a Pilot, Eh?'' that outlines the different paths to getting ur licences & getting jobs
-There is Doug Morris' book ''From The FlightDeck: Plane Talk & Sky Science'' that gives a good 'laymans' description of what it is like to be an airline pilot
-check out the message board at http://avcanada.ca/forums2 to read what it is really like to fly in Canada & some of the pros & cons of being a pilot
-check out http://pilotcareercentre.com to find out information about the different types of jobs in Canada.

Good Luck!
James Ball
Author of ''So, You Want to be a Pilot, Eh? - A Guidebook for Canadian Pilot Training''
http://piloteh.com
http://piloteh.blogspot.com