delta connection academy comments?

[monkeyboy726]

so i stumbled across this site...

www.deltaconnectionacademy.com

wat do you guys think? if there are any real world commercial pilots i'd appreciate thoughts and comments cuz i might actually consider this academy.. thanx  ;D

[jrpilot]

I looks very nice...I think I want to join there...but today I saw in the paper that Delta in going bankcrupt...but then again you can't beleave everything you hear from the media ....just like U.S. Airways going bankcrupt...anyways thanks for the cite I already emailed them and am hoping for a reply

[Felix/FFDS]

The key point is that the Academy is a subsidiary of Delta Airlines, that is to say, a company in an of itself.   Before it was owned by Delta, it was owned by COMAIR, and successful in its own right.

They have a decent facility at Orlando-Sanford Airport (SFB), a former US Naval Air Station.

[OTTOL]

From a professional pilot: [glb]DON'T DO IT!!!!!![/glb]

Any school that asks you to pay to fly a revenue generating airplane(first officer program)should have there owners managers and anyone else responsible castrated. By participating in one of these programs, you are accomplishing two things:

1) Giving that company money, by paying to do a job that would, otherwise, COST them money.

2)Taking a job from an already underpaid and needy up-and-coming pilot, just as YOU may be someday.

Lastly, if you do participate in this program and succeed in an aviation career, your record of having done this will follow you and you may be blackballed at some jobs.

[Nexus]

Ottol, I'd like to corrrect you. You pay for the initial training only. Upon completion of the program you are "guaranteed" (would not bet my money on that) an interview with some smaller Regional airlines within the DC. If they hire you you'll start flying for 20 bucks an hour....

But otherwise I agree with you.
They don't care about you succeeding in their program. They care about money.
I've heard too many scary stories from that place.

I asked for some information on their website, because it really does look like a good deal. Then they sent me tons of brouschures and letters telling me how good they were. They really look like a good school at that point. But read the fine print how much you have to pay besides their program costs (which are ridiculously high to start with)

Remember that you will not be able to finish the program if you run out of money, I've read about people leaving the school with no certificates and 800.000 dollars in debt. Great way to ruin your life.
DCA is NOT

[OTTOL]

Many of these schools have what's known as a "First Officer Program".  After you complete PVT-ATP, they put you in the right seat of a turbo-prop or regional jet and you pay to aquire turbine multi-engine time. Others pay a paltry salary and in turn "provide"  ::) you with this service.
I know from working in Florida for 15years that Comair has a bad reputation. Gulfstream in Fort Lauderdale is another one. There are many more than just these two.
Another thing to consider is the fact that there are only so many jobs out there. A lot of people go through this program and then end up spending 10 yrs flying an ATR or Jetstream.
I say it on a regular basis: I am grateful that someone even pays me to fly an airplane! That's not to say that I'm incompetent and don't deserve the job. I just know that there are worse ways to earn a buck and the opportunity to make money doing what you love is rare.
In saying that, I'm not naive. I do realize the, grass-is-greener, syndrome that occurs when you are trying to get your foot in the aviation door. "I would do ANYTHING to get a job flying airplanes" is something that I said many years ago.
I know a guy that went to one of these schools. I used to see him working line service down in Miami. We would fly Lears in there and he would always ask us questions about the airplane and how we got where we are today. He was the typical aviation fanatic.
Several years later I saw him flying as first officer on a commuter. He made it through the program and was getting paid to fly airplanes.
Soon after that he got a job at Mountain Air Cargo(FedEx Feeders). That was the only thing that his experience qualified him for.
For the past eight years, every time I've flown to Nassau, I've see him walking around the ramp. For eight years he has been doing nothing but flying from MIA to MYNN and back in a Shorts 330.  He started out loving aviation and has now become an aerial bus driver who loathes his job.

       Go get a college degree instead, that's what I'll be doing.

  That's the best advice anyone could give!

[jrpilot]

Go get a college degree instead, that's what I'll be doing.

By college degree do you mean in aviation or in another field?...as something to rely back on?

[Felix/FFDS]

By college degree do you mean in aviation or in another field?...as something to rely back on?

I'll let the specifics be handled by someone more knowledgable, but whatever degree you get, make sure it includes a solid knoweldge of business economics/finance, business law and human resources.  WHile it won't make you an economist/lawyer/HR person, it will give you a base for your future work, whether as an employee, self-employed or employer.

[Nexus]

Agree with Felix, any degree will do, as long it will provide a solid base for you. A degree in economics is always good since it can be used in a very wide field.
A degree in jurassic plants may not be as useful  ::)

However most aviation degrees involves one or more economics classes so you will read economics either way  :)

[OTTOL]

Sorry..............I've been out of town!

However most aviation degrees involve one or more economics classes so you will read economics either way  :)

Most of these degrees are geared toward an aviation job/career. Aviation is great when the economy is good and terrible when the market takes a nosedive. Embry Riddle or one of the major colleges that supports an aviation program would be a wise choice, as opposed to an aviation academy, if  you DO choose an aviation related program.
I would recommend getting a  specialized degree in a non-aviation related field. Remember, patience is a virtue.  I know you would rather fly sooner than later but a more stable career field might be a wiser choice. And you can always take lessons while you're at school.
If you do decide to pursue aviation as your primary career field, just remember one thing. As an example; 50,000 people  apply for jobs with major airlines every year. Only several HUNDRED are hired. Anyone of those 50,000 can become an airline pilot but it's the several hundred that know how to maintain a 101% positive attitude that get the jobs. I know this because when I was a CFI, I had a lot of 70% students and just a few 101% students. I could tell by there attitudes and ethics that they were going on to become professional pilots.

Somehow, I don't think this would be an issue for you.

EVERYBODY gets burned out at one point or another during aviation training though. Try to remember this when you reach that point in your training. I saw a lot of people quit after making it all the way through to there Commercial license. It never made sense to me that someone would quit after all that work!
The only rationale that I could come up with is that: A) Commercial training does give you a taste of the level of flying required in the profession and therefore some people just decide that this may not be  the "fun" job they thought it would be.
B)Some people are humbled by the training experience. They don't have confidence in themselves even though they've made it through the process.

[monkeyboy726]

thanx for the tips and comments everyone! loooks like i'll rethink this  ;D