Hey guys, im new to this whole forum posting stuff so forgive me if im not up to date on all the forum lingo and abbreviations but im even newer to the aviation scene and i was thinking about going to Delta Connection Academy and was just wondering if anybody can give me a idea of what to expect there.

 

I think alot of peeps here would agree that you are going to blow a ton of money if you go that route. Why fork over 50K when you can go from PPL to CFI in under 20K from a local flight school. In the end you'll have the the same license and ratings and not be in debt until you 40. On the other hand if $$ is not a problem for you then spend away !!

 

Thank u for that information, thats what ive been reading everywhere, i just needed a third opinion,........oh and one more question and this is 4 anybody who can help. my dream is to fly bizzjets for Netjets, does anybody know the best way to go about this goal.

 

My words exactly.

 

Ok another question i would greatly appericiate an opinion on is what is the best route to the Netjets corporation

 

My recommendation would be to do your licenses and ratings at an FBO. It will save you at least $20,000 for the same training. At DCA, you will pay $55 an hour for instruction. At an FBO you will pay about $35 an hour for instruction. The flip side, when you want to instruct to timebuild, DCA will only pay you $14 an hour. The FBO will pay you $25-35 an hour. BIG DIFFERENCE! At DCA, you will pay $105 for an old cessna, while at an FBO you will pay $80-90 for an old cessna. At DCA you will pay over $200 an hour for a multi, while those cost about $150 at an FBO. As crazy as these prices are, the place where these academies make their money is ground school. If you take the hours of ground school divided by the total cost, it works out to like $20 an hour for a class of 10-20 people. Sometimes their ground school classes cost more than classes at Harvard or Stanford! That's too much!!!

That is why I recommend an FBO over an airline academy. It is much cheaper, you will make more money, and the training can be accomplished in the SAME amount of time.

If you want to go to an airline academy, Delta Connection is the worst. The major academies cost almost the same. But at DCA, you fly old cessna-172's instead of new cessna's or pipers at Pan Am or Flight Safety. At DCA, the only multi time you get is for your multi engine rating, and your MEI. So you get hardly any multi time. At flight safety, you do your instrument in a multi. At PanAm, you do a multi engine routes course, where you get 40hrs PIC ontop of your other ratings. At ATP, you get lots of multi time, and consequently lots of MEI time. Either way (Flight Safety, PanAm, ATP) you will be closer to your 100 Multi that you will NEED to go to an airline. You can't get that at DCA!

 

Get your ratings (some good suggestions have already been made), work as a CFI, then get a regional airline job (try to get into RJ's at some point). When you have 2500+ hours and 1000 hours of airline time you can start applying to fractionals. A regional is almost certainly the fastest way to do this.

 

thank you all so much for your advice, I really want to be a pilot and I will of course put all of your good advice to use ASAP

 

hey can any of you guys tell me where the option to post a new thread is

 

Besides the regionals, there are quite a few cargo outfits you can get on with only limited flight time. The biggest hurdle is getting your first 100 to 500 hours of multi-engine experience and your first 1200 to 1500 hours total time. If you can become a CFI-MEI that's one way to build multi time. You can also find opportunities flying owners around or flying clubs.

The academies sell the connection or networking angle, but at any airport you'll be able to make really good contacts with lots of different people in this industry. Flightsafety is probably the best academy with the best reputation, but like everyone said, you can do it more cheaply and in the same amount of time or sooner on your own with a dedicated instructor and FBO.

Best wishes for your aspiring career. The main ingredient we all share is a deep passion for flying that makes us continue to pursue it even though reason and good sense says we shouldn't.