Fanshawe receives Transport Canada approval to enhance flight training

Fanshawe College, in collaboration with Diamond Flight Centre (DFC), has received Transport Canada approval to incorporate Integrated Airline Transport Pilot Licence (IATPL) training into its Commercial Flight and Aviation Leadership (CFA) program, which will fast-track graduates into a career as airline pilots.  

The new IATPL approval means Fanshawe is one of a limited number of institutions in Canada that offers an advanced level of pilot training, which emphasizes real-world flight deck scenarios and multi-crew coordination. 

Jay Burt, associate dean of Fanshawe’s Norton Wolf School of Aviation and Aerospace Technology, says expanding curriculum to include this IATPL training represents the next evolution of Fanshawe’s three-year CFA program and positions graduates with a critical advantage. 

“Airlines operate in multi-crew environments, so having our graduates enter the workforce with airline-ready skills from day one will give them a significant edge in the hiring pool,” says Burt. “By choosing a Fanshawe-trained pilot, airlines will benefit from lower training costs and will have greater confidence in candidate readiness.” 

The IATPL training, delivered primarily through DFC’s advanced flight simulators during the final year of the program, provides students with real-world flight deck experience, including:

• Flight deck automation, communications and collaboration
• Crew resource management
• Use of airline-style checklists and standard operating procedures
• Flight management system operation
• Monitoring, cross-checking and error management
• Workload and resource management 

Another benefit for Fanshawe students – on the strength of the enhanced curriculum, extensive simulator scenarios and in-the-air training – is their eligibility to write Transport Canada’s Airline Transport Pilot Licence exams immediately upon graduation, rather than waiting until they accumulate 750 hours of flight time required for non-IATPL-trained pilots.