Slice

www.prairieairservice.com

With the $$$ you save over DCA or FSI, you can buy your own Apache for time building, sell it when you're done and will still have spent less money!

ryane946

I have a question for you chase. Are you feelin' lucky? Cause if you don't get a degree, that's what your chances of getting hired will hinge on. Right now, most regionals are hiring without a college degree. But regionals have gone through major booming expansion in the last 5 years. Regionals went from flying mostly 30 seat turbo-props to flying 70 seat RJ's. From flying to small towns in the middle of nowhere, to now connecting large cities. Major airlines parked a bunch of large planes. And as a result regionals starting flying a ton of small planes. And as a result of this rapid expansion at the regional level, lots of pilots were hired at regional airlines. More than anytime in history. So many pilots that regional airlines stopped "requiring" a college degree. This change in the industry triggered at mass hiring on a level that had never happened before, and WILL NEVER happen again.
When regional hiring slows down, you can bet that they will become more selective. And the two most likely things to change are:
1. Total time
2. require a college degree

In my opinion, in the future, you will see some regionals that do not require a college degree. But these will be the bottom of the line carriers.
There are two things that I can promise you.
Number 1. If two candidates are at an interview; one has a college degree, and one does not. They are similar pilots with similar experience and knowledge. Who gets the job? The one with the degree.
Number 2. You will cheat yourself out of over 1 million dollars by not getting a degree. I truly believe that. When you are at a regional making 90k a year, and you could be at a major making 180k a year (with your college degree), you will be upset.

I want you to check out this post.
http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/showthread.php?t=4833
Read my post. I believe it is the 4th one down. That should sum up why you should go to college.

AirWillie

ryane946 that will happen if the aviation industry comes at a stand still and that likely won't happen. Most regionals treat their pilots like $hit and pay them like it is still 1987. Nobody stays at a regional more than a few years, guys quit every day even with slow hiring at the higher levels. I know a few guys at different regionals and each complains more than the next, compares the regionals to slave labor. There is significant hiring in other areas of the aviation industry, there still is movement. Plus there is an expected mass exodus of old timers at the majors. If I had the time I would go straight to the fractionals and never look back at the airlines. Netjets, Flexjet and others are pay is on par with major airlins and will only go higher, not to mention job security.

ryane946

Thanks for helping to illustrate my point. If you don't get a college degree, you will be stuck at regionals your entire life. I certainly don't agree that it is "slave labor," but I am sure it is not as good as flying for a major airline.
Get a college degree so you can move onto a major. Make a lot more money. Fly bigger/better planes. Get more time off. Better QOL. etc.....

bhndthecns

I don't know why ATP wouldn't have called you back, but they staff their phones 7 days a week, during the week I think until 9pm ET, and not quite that late on the weekends. One of the great things about calling ATP - they don't have salesmen!! The people that answer the phones are ATP flight instructors. When you first get hired as an instructor, part of your company indoc is answering the phones for a week or two, giving you time to learn all the ATP products and get ready for your stand's ride. Of the folks that you talk to, 90 percent will give you first hand accounts of their experience at ATP, and quite a few of those went to ATP from another flight school...I did. It's not for everybody, but you should definitely talk to someone there before you write them off.

aviator09

I'm currently at DCA , except I got my PPL , INST , and MLTI at local FBO and then enrolled , saved a bunch of money and also gained a lot of experience. Thought I'd throw it out there .. always an option .. you get to see both worlds

james014

What you get from DCA is what you put into it. I hear people say it takes them 6 months and 30,000 bucks to get their private. Well guaranteed they didn't put sh$t into it. I personally went to dca, not the main base in sanford but the college base up in mass. Did everything but private, which i got in high school. Started college in the fall of '02 and dca came there the next semester. Finished all my licenses and ratings by october of '04 and started teaching at dca in jan. '05. Graduated a year early and got my 1000 hours by the end of april '06. Hired by Chautauqua airlines at 22yrs. old and a 4yr. college degree last week and starting my training on Aug. third. During the interview, not one person had less then 1500 hours and 300 multi. I had 1045 and 130. And I got the call for the class and I know most of them didn't. If I didn't go to DCA then I would have never gotten the interview. So thats my 2 cents. You get what you put in yourself. Work hard and stay focused and you'll get it done with as little cost as possible. Given its not cheap but the quality of training is above all. I know personally. SEE YAA

listillo

I am a current student at DCA. The only reason I went there was of the TERI loan. DCA is guilty as charged. Lousy, junky airplanes (many of them are leased and they are junk), as of yet no glass cockpits, very expensive, very inflexible, and yes, they do talk down to students. In orientation, they even spent half an hour talking about taking showers and using mouthwash. They treat their instructors poorly too, pay them 10 and a hour what they charge 56 per hour. They charge half an hour briefing fee, and I have yet to see a briefing room prior to or after a flight. When you are doing your cfi here, if you donīt volunteer your time as a tutor (work for free) they wonīt hire you as an instructor, legally very dubious. These idiots are a law suit waiting to happen.

flyboeingjets

listillo could you explain more about them talking down to you. Thats a lot of money to invest for someone to do that. I would be highly po'd if they did that to me. Im headed to fsi in 2 weeks and I hope this is not the case.

listillo

I was commenting on the fact posted that they are renowned for talking down to students. That is absolutely true. They do this collectively from day one, and at times try it on a one on one basis. They forget who the customer is, but I guess they feel like it is greek rush thing at college and they can get away with it. I own a business, and if any of my employees were rude and arrogant to customers, or anyone for that matter, I would fire them, not only because of the potential negative economic impact, but because it is a sign of bad character. I just get tired, of people giving me advice on how I have to grovel to get hired as a flight instructor when I get through the program. Their lousy reputation is well deserved.