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COPA Advanced Flight Training Scholarship

About the scholarship

The COPA Advanced Flight Training Scholarship promotes Canadian pilot development by providing annual scholarships to student pilots in advanced flight training programs to COPA members 18 years of age and older.

Each year, up to three recipients are awarded $2,500 to be used for eligible training costs associated with advanced flight training such as a commercial license, various endorsements or ratings for pilots who already have a PPL.

 

Apply for the scholarship

Applications for the 2026 COPA Scholarship Program are open from December 15, 2025 until 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday, March 13, 2026

 

Note: the application portal requires a separate login from your COPA membership account. You can set up your application portal with the same credentials as your COPA membership, but the application is on an external portal.

 

Make a donation

Interested in contributing to the future of General Aviation? COPA’S Flight Safety Foundation, which supports all its scholarship opportunities exclusively rely upon the generous donations of our flying community. To make a donation and to support a new generation of deserving flyers, please visit the following link:

DONATE TODAY

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Criteria & Conditions

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

  • Applicants should be at least 18 years of age.
  • Applicants must at a minimum have their Private Pilot License (PPL) and provide proof of their PPL.
  • Applicants must be current COPA members in good standing and for at least three months before applying.
  • Applicants must be a citizen or permanent resident of Canada.

Ineligible Applicants

  • To ensure that as many aviators can benefit, successful applicants from previous years of this scholarship are not eligible to re-apply.

Recipient Conditions

The successful applicant(s) may select the facility at which the flight training is to be taken, subject to the approval of COPA. The training facility shall be a licensed Flying School or educational institute in Canada with facilities satisfactory to COPA and shall agree to the conditions of the scholarship. COPA will pay the Flight Training Unit directly and may disburse funds to cover instructional materials and other course costs at the beginning of training. Candidates must be members of COPA in good standing for the entirety of the training period.

Winning candidates agree to participate in future COPA promotional activities.

Training shall be completed in a reasonable period of time, usually not longer than one year from commencement. In the event the recipient does not make satisfactory progress or does not conduct himself/herself in a manner consistent with the intention of the Fund, COPA shall have the right to revoke the award and to cease paying any further costs of training. Progress reports from the training facility will be provided to COPA as required.

Eligible Expenses

Eligible costs of training include the following:

  • costs of ground school, including books and required materials for the courses;
  • costs of instructor time and training aircraft;
  • the direct flight training portion of tuition in programs offered by secondary or post-secondary schools, including colleges and universities.

Costs that are not covered include the following: non-flight training tuition at secondary or post-secondary schools, including colleges and universities, personal meals or transportation to and from the training facility, clothing, aviation equipment or supplies which are not required for the program. COPA will have the final authority to define and approve authorized expenditures.

Funds will only be disbursed to the flight school, not directly to the recipient, and can only be used to cover training costs incurred after the awarding of the scholarship. Training completed prior to the scholarship award is not eligible for funding.

Any funds remaining at the conclusion of training will be reinvested in COPA’s Flight Safety Foundation for future scholarship awards.

Past Recipients

Recipients from the most recent scholarship periods will be listed below.

2025

  • Lien Tran, Richmond, BC, COPA Advanced Flight Training Scholarship
  • Ethan McCalla, Etobicoke, ON, COPA Advanced Flight Training Scholarship

2024

  • Terra Samson, Whistler, BC, COPA Advanced Flight Training Scholarship
  • Andy Should, Drumheller, AB, COPA Advanced Flight Training Scholarship
  • Trevor Meek, Sudbury, ON, COPA Advanced Flight Training Scholarship

2023

  • Lauren Nagel, Ottawa, ON, COPA Advanced Flight Training Scholarship
  • Annie Wen, Alfred, ON, COPA Advanced Flight Training Scholarship
  • Ashley Gellatly, Walkerton, ON, COPA Advanced Flight Training Scholarship

2022