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Aircraft Maintenance Training History

This project brings together a unique chronology of aircraft maintenance training in British Columbia.  Prior to 1957, pilots and aircraft engineers in British Columbia received their training from one of three possible organizations: The airlines; independent flight schools; and the military. At that time, the sponsoring organization established the procedures and standards governing the type of training provided. 

An example of training offered by an independent flight school was Brisbane Aviation Ltd., owned and operated by Stan Sharp out of the Vancouver Airport between 1936 and 1952. Commonly referred to as the “Brisbane School,” Sharp’s school was distinctive in that it offered specific training for both pilots and aircraft engineers.

The 1950s saw the establishment and growth of provincial trades and technical training centres across Canada. These centres offered apprenticeship training. In British Columbia one such initiative, the Federal-Provincial Trades and Technical Institute (FPTTI) offered aircraft maintenance training as one of its programs at the Pacific National Exhibition grounds in Vancouver. 

In 1960, FPTTI programs were transferred to the newly opened British Columbia Vocational School (BCVS) in Burnaby where it remained until 1977. In May 1977 the aircraft maintenance program secured new premises at Sea Island near Vancouver International Airport in Richmond.  

In 1978, BCVS was renamed the Pacific Vocational Institute (PVI).  In 1986, PVI merged with British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT). Aircraft maintenance training continues to be a program within BCIT.