Originally Posted by
MileHighMama
Can anyone who has been there give me their opinions on this?
Thanks
WHOA Mamma! I know you're a newbie, so here goes. I've cut and pasted my response in the "beating a dead horse...flight school" thread here for you for easy reading. Do NOT do DCA. It is a marketing screw job from the get go. That's why their website seemed so awesome to you. It is slick, isn't it? It's that way for a purpose...sort of like how McDonald's tastes good, but give it awhile and you can't stand it! Take it from me as a former student and instructor at the SFB DCA campus. Hope this helps...
Originally Posted by fludy12
No, do NOT do the Delta Connection Academy in Sanford, FL (just north of Orlando). They are WAAAAY over priced and their fleet is old and beat up. Add on hurricanes and summer thunderstorms and you'd find youself flying a whole LOT less than what they'll throw at you on the "free" tour, if you do it. Trust me, I did my CFI/II there and made it through the Standz class and was hired as an instructor. I did it for a couple of months, but at $10/hr, I just couldn't make it and, thankfully, soon after a much, much better (lucrative) opportunity arose. At DCA, you'd have no fun in spending a 10 hour day having flights cancelled for weather/maintenance and doing paper work and not making a friggin' dime. $10/hr is only for flight, sim, and limited ground work (that may have changed a little since I was there last year as they were pushing for their first raise in something like 15 years). Plus, the management/bean counters are complete buffoons. And that's not just from me. Ask any other instructor that been there at least a few months. They are all treated like complete crap and DCA constantly holds "the B/S guaranteed interview" over their heads. Basically, if you stand up for anything that's right or would improve quality of life/operations, be prepared to have your head shot off... Also, you do NOT need the "guaranteed interview"...just put your time in and apply when you reach the required mins...you'll get the interview just fine. You are severely mistaken if you think DCA guarantees or would promise you a spot at a regional--read their propaganda again closely. Not the case at all...only the interview is "somewhat" guaranteed and that sometimes comes a LONG time after you've already met their flight instructing minimums (600 single and 200 multi dual given--some guys weren't getting interviews until 1200+ hours). You'll get the interview, but it's up to YOU to get hired and make it through FO taining.