Delta Connection Academy

launchpad said:
Yes, they have placed people at express jet.....but DCA didn't open the door to them. They have these interview agreements with asa, comair, chittykitty, cape air, and transstates (from their website). The guys hired on at expressjet weren't offered a preferrential interview......yet they're the majority of the people hired from DCA. If there were prefferential interviews at their partner airlines, why aren't that many people getting hired at those places???????????

edit: and where does NW/Pinnacle come into the entire delta connection system?

Launchpad:

Please note, I didn't say that DCA offers a "preferential interview" at XJT, only that DCA "opens the door". I suspect XJT chooses to hire the caliber of pilots trained at DCA to "Standardized Airline Procedures" with the "Airline Transition Program" (Source: DCA) to ensure the $15K SIC type rating they provide is a good investment.

With regards to your query about placement with "partner airlines", I guess this would fall into my category of "personal preferences and other factors" (such as domicile, QOL, reserve time, time to line, upgrade time, union affiliation, pay, benefits, stability, stock market performance, hot FA's (male/female), etc.).

Regards,
Bell47
 
"(Source: DCA)"

You keep quoting DCA marketing statements. DCA marketing is full of half-truths and BS designed to catch the attention of the novice. To impress those who just don't know any better and get them in the door. No different than used car salesman tactics.

People in the biz see it for what it is...I just had this discussion a week ago with a management check airman at UPS when he pulled out his Flight Training mag and exposed himself as someone who cares about the next generation of pilots....kinda like me.

You'd do better if you started stating an opinion based on your experience rather than quote DCA marketing. I'll listen to someone who actually goes there and has something positive to say. I'm not sure what your story is.

If DCA propaganda is all you got, then you're wasting bandwidth. Everybody around here knows that already...
 
Here's what I know about DCA my old roommate left the flight school we were at to go to DCA we were both instrument students at the time. I graduated with a 4 year degree and two years later am a little over 2000TT i ended up being just under 30K in debt for my flight training and college.

He just got to fly an RJ 1100/100timewise and is over 100K in debt.

So....you do wathca wanna i guess. I hear those hurricane parties are fun:(
 
Kristie said:
every weekend? going thru CVG or ATL? friday and back on sunday? i find that hard to believe actually plus we on an S2 can't even get to/thru CVG or ATL on most fridays much less sundays....plus, your flying on an S4 right which means paying for the taxes on the ticket

No they travel on S3's with 6 S2's per year, same as folks at Delta, Comair, ASA, etc. If Comair does get sold it will probably drop down to S3C like CHQ, Mesa, etc.
 
FO_SHIZZLE said:
What is an internal employee and how does that differ from a regular employee? Are there external employees? Does this mean you are not flying for them? I thought you said you got hired at Comair after you had spoken personally to Fred Butrell about your plight at the Academy.

Hey Fo, glad to hear from you. I do work for Co-EX, and I was told by Fred that as soon as I hit some lowered mins,(much lower) and of course pass the interview, I would be hired. That of course all changed with Comairs' bankrupcy as well as some detrimental, personal family issues. (Think P. T. -instrument group leader- who is a new hire at Co-EX- I can empathize with him, but he also kept on charging and it paid off.)
That is what I am doing. My EX or soon to be I guess decided to do some things that well....... thats' another story. But I am just glad Co Ex is giving me a shot...... I won't let them or myself down. I think P.T. is a good "How I" story. I reflected on what he went through, and despite it all, he made it. I figure I can do it to. When adversity strikes, that when you find out what type of person you really are, as well as the person you married.

Anyway Blue Skies!!
 
FatBastard said:
Hey Fo, glad to hear from you. I do work for Co-EX, and I was told by Fred that as soon as I hit some lowered mins,(much lower) and of course pass the interview, I would be hired. That of course all changed with Comairs' bankrupcy as well as some detrimental, personal family issues. (Think P. T. -instrument group leader- who is a new hire at Co-EX- I can empathize with him, but he also kept on charging and it paid off.)
That is what I am doing. My EX or soon to be I guess decided to do some things that well....... thats' another story. But I am just glad Co Ex is giving me a shot...... I won't let them or myself down. I think P.T. is a good "How I" story. I reflected on what he went through, and despite it all, he made it. I figure I can do it to. When adversity strikes, that when you find out what type of person you really are, as well as the person you married.

Anyway Blue Skies!!

Actually many of us left Comair after the furlough. So still trying to clarify, are you working at COEX as a FO or in some other capacity
 
FO_SHIZZLE said:
Actually many of us left Comair after the furlough. So still trying to clarify, are you working at COEX as a FO or in some other capacity

As an Customer Service Agent/Ramper. Hope to finish up and tranfer to flight ops real soon.
Yes, they are still hiring. Why not come on over as an F.O. if you don't have a better gig already.
 
FatBastard said:
As an Customer Service Agent/Ramper. Hope to finish up and tranfer to flight ops real soon.
Yes, they are still hiring. Why not come on over as an F.O. if you don't have a better gig already.

Oh, thought I heard you got on as a dispatcher or something. No need for a new fo job right now, got picked up by another carrier in January, and it kept me from having to learn a new aircraft.

Want to know the secret to P.T.'s cure for the blues: All Hasselhoff, all the time.
 
I've been looking around at a number of flight schools myself (starting back in Apr of '06) and DCA was on my list of schools to check out. I requested information from them and studied them, along with the others, but I didn't care for the fact that they seem to go out of their way NOT to disclose their flight cost. They promise this, state that, but how much is this gonna cost me is ultimately what I want to know?! All other flight schools that I looked at (ATP, Skymates, Mazzei, Ari-Ben, Gulfstream, Phoenix East, etc.) provided some kind of cost estimate--hmmm. I still don't know what it cost to attend DCA, but I gather it's a lot!

I've since decided on a flight school and I've let the admissions officer at DCA know that DCA was not for me. I'm still receiving letters to come out and tour their academy, but that's okay. They claim they can provide you with "free space available airfare" and that is tempting, but I think you have to pay like $125 - $250 for some kind of tour arrangement fee--but still free, free, free is what they want you to see.

Anyway, I have a question that comes to mind after reading another letter received from DCA (dated 8 Jun 06). In the letter they state "What most people fail to realize is the temendous importance Airlines now place on where you received your training." I've seen threads here on JC that contradict this; anyone care to elaborate on whether DCA's statement is true?

Another statement in this same letter begs another question from me--call me curious. DCA goes on to state that "The recent expansion and use of jet aircraft in the Regional Airlines requires new pilots to be prepared BEFORE getting to the Airline. Therefore, airlines first look to applicants who have Airline experience." I'd image that most reputable schools competing with DCA in the same league as DCA recognize this and provide this kind of training. Am I correct? I don't want to waste my time and money to get all my ratings just to find out I can't get hired with an airline because I don't have airline experience--that whole adage of "you need job experience to get a job" comes to mind. :insane:

I have yet to start my flight training, but firmly believe that it's all about flight time attained and the recency of said time. Flight instructors that teach at DCA and the other flight schools mentioned above are getting hired based on flight time, right? Otherwise, DCA's statement would have you believe that you need to be flying Beech 1900s, CRJs, etc., to get a Regional Airline job. So I ask any of you, what constitutes "Airline experience"? Most instructors are teaching students in 172s and Seminoles and are getting hired all the time.
 
JKJCKSN:

I chose ATP for my training soley based on the amount of multi-engine time you get during the ACP Program and during your tenure as a CFI. In addition to that, their XC flights are awesome and something to experience from what I hear.

atp
 
"What most people fail to realize is the temendous importance Airlines now place on where you received your training."

Nothing could be further from the truth. I'd run away fast from a school that makes that claim cause it's BS. Back in the day, we had a few DCA apologists that would at least try to defend the place since they worked there and thought the training was good. I think it's got to the point where they know they can't explain away the recruiter's and marketing department's rhetoric so they don't bother.

"The recent expansion and use of jet aircraft in the Regional Airlines requires new pilots to be prepared BEFORE getting to the Airline. Therefore, airlines first look to applicants who have Airline experience."

BARF BARF BARF....I'm barfing.....I really just barfed.

So DCA, where "being owned by Delta means everything", is the place to get airline experience before you work for an airline?

That's really a huge load of BS.

Do this for me, call them back and ask the recruiter what, specifically, is offered at DCA that makes training there look better to the regional airlines. Any flight school can get you your ratings and the experience to move up the career ladder. At DCA, you get to pay twice as much and get a guaranteed interview after you CFI for them for 800 hours at $10/hr. Is that a scam or what? Guess what, any CFI that has 800 hours dual given and 100 hours multi is going to meet the mins at the same regionals that DCA offers a guaranteed interview at. With that in mind, of what value is the highly touted guaranteed interview at DCA, which you don't even get until you "graduate" from their program after working as a CFI there for 800 hours at $10/hr?

Look. I honestly think DCA does an okay job of training pilots. That's what I've heard, on average, over the years. I'm really happy that someone who "graduates" from their program has min 800 hours dual given before moving on. That's part of the dues paying and seasoning I've got such a hard on about. DCA guys got it.

At the same time, their marketing is the biggest bunch of crap I've even heard and it chaps my ass that they push that stuff on poor newbies that don't know any better.

Really, being able to give my view on this sort of thing is why I even came to JC in the first place. I guess I should thank DCA marketers for being the scum they are, otherwise I wouldn't be here....
 
DE727UPS said:
"What most people fail to realize is the temendous importance Airlines now place on where you received your training."

Nothing could be further from the truth. I'd run away fast from a school that makes that claim cause it's BS. Back in the day, we had a few DCA apologists that would at least try to defend the place since they worked there and thought the training was good. I think it's got to the point where they know they can't explain away the recruiter's and marketing department's rhetoric so they don't bother.

"The recent expansion and use of jet aircraft in the Regional Airlines requires new pilots to be prepared BEFORE getting to the Airline. Therefore, airlines first look to applicants who have Airline experience."

BARF BARF BARF....I'm barfing.....I really just barfed.

So DCA, where "being owned by Delta means everything", is the place to get airline experience before you work for an airline?

That's really a huge load of BS.

Do this for me, call them back and ask the recruiter what, specifically, is offered at DCA that makes training there look better to the regional airlines. Any flight school can get you your ratings and the experience to move up the career ladder. At DCA, you get to pay twice as much and get a guaranteed interview after you CFI for them for 800 hours at $10/hr. Is that a scam or what? Guess what, any CFI that has 800 hours dual given and 100 hours multi is going to meet the mins at the same regionals that DCA offers a guaranteed interview at. With that in mind, of what value is the highly touted guaranteed interview at DCA, which you don't even get until you "graduate" from their program after working as a CFI there for 800 hours at $10/hr?

Look. I honestly think DCA does an okay job of training pilots. That's what I've heard, on average, over the years. I'm really happy that someone who "graduates" from their program has min 800 hours dual given before moving on. That's part of the dues paying and seasoning I've got such a hard on about. DCA guys got it.

At the same time, their marketing is the biggest bunch of crap I've even heard and it chaps my ass that they push that stuff on poor newbies that don't know any better.

Really, being able to give my view on this sort of thing is why I even came to JC in the first place. I guess I should thank DCA marketers for being the scum they are, otherwise I wouldn't be here....

DE727UPS,

Next time tell us how you really feel about DCA and their marketing (just kidding).

Preach on! The people need to hear it like it is.
 
Yeah....well, I'd say do a search but after DCA management threatened Doug and JC, he pulled the history of posts that told the story. There is a wealth of information out there than isn't seeing the light of day because of DCA's threats.

So anyways, that's how it is. If someone is considering DCA, please check it out in person and let us know what you think. We can start over with a new database of information.
 
I could put it back up, but I'd probably have it closed as to not give any free publicity after the grief those people caused me.

Having to retain two individual lawyers to fight them off left a bad taste in my mouth.
 
Welp....then there ya go. DCA's history at JC must start over. I can attest to the fact that it wasn't particularly favorable before zero hour when DCA management threatened Doug. That being what it is, I think we should start over with this thread.

DCA apologists....where are you? Speak now or forever hold yer peace...

Anyhow, I'd say if a person is honestly considering going to DCA, they should visit it in person with a highly skeptical attitude. Let them prove, to you, the marketing BS they spout. If it doesn't play out for you then seek other options. In any case, let us know what you think, either way.

Them damn bastards have some explainin' to do at this site....I think...

That being said, it doesn't serve them at all to address this on a public forum. So it ain't gonna happen.

They are looking for the newbie quick kill...that's what it's all about.
 
we haven't heard anything from the folks at DCA since the incident happened... what makes you think they're gonna start speaking up now?

newbie quick kill is a nice way of saying that! haha :)
 
Doug Taylor said:
I could put it back up, but I'd probably have it closed as to not give any free publicity after the grief those people caused me.

Having to retain two individual lawyers to fight them off left a bad taste in my mouth.
The fact that a Delta Pilot had to do that speaks volumes!

:D
 
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