dpewing,
i am currently an instructor at DCA. I am in the private group and am, for the most part, a fan of DCA. My overall thoughts:
1. Is it expensive? Yep. Is it worth it? To me it was, to others not so much so. You have to decide that for yourself. I chose to spend the extra money because I am older (36) and wanted to get my ratings more quickly so I can still get 20 good years at the airlines before I have to retire. I could have done my ratings almost as quickly at my local FBO, but for me there was a catch 22. If i did them at an FBO I would not have been able to get a loan. That meant I would have had to work while getting my ratings and therefore It would have taken me longer... so I chose to spend more $$ and get my ratings more quickly. Also, things like being very prepared for lessons, memorizing checklists etc. can save you time in the ariplane, and therefore money. For instance, we are not required to memorize the runup checklist, but if you can do it from memory, you can save a few minutes each flight. You do that and you save hobbs time, therefore money.
2. Is the marketing bad? In many ways I think so. I have 12 years of print advertising as my background and I would certainly do some things differently. I know to look for the fine print in the ads and ask the right questions to get clarification on claims that don't seem quite right. The only real problem I have with the ads is the claim that we are the only school authorized to service the entire Delta Connections System. I am sure factually that is probably correct. Somewhere there is probably some written contract that says we are authorized to service every single Delta Connection carrier. That being said, I am sure there are other schools with contracts with some of the Delta carriers, just not all of them. Who knows? So the claim is probably factual but some people may interpret it incorrectly. If I were doing the marketing I would probably change a few things slightly. It's kind of like Ford saying "we make the best truck". Do they? That's their take on it. Can you challenge that factually? Not really, as "best" is different to everyone. But you can bet that no school out there is going to write a headline that says, "we are the third best school out there!"
3. As far as training and classes go it is a lot of work. During groundschool you will have three hours of class per day. On top of that you will usually fly at least once per day. Another three hours at least by the time you do preflight and debrief. On top of that you need to study. Another three to four hours per day. Total each day you should spend 8 -10 hours on school stuff. At least. Some people don't pick things up as quickly and they need more. Some a bit less.
CFI/CFII training is pretty intense also. Roughly the same schedule and you work your butt off. Those people here that I see struggling are those that don't put in the time to learning the things DCA tells them to learn. Then they complain that it is too hard or whatever. If you come here, expect it to be hard. Expect to be tired, hungry and need a good shower much of the time. Expect this to be the hardest thing you have ever done. If you do, you will be pleasantly surprised when it dosen't turn out to be quite that bad. If you come in and expect to fly once or twice and then go drink beer every night with your buddies, pick another school.
4. All of the lesson plans in the private 141 program are already made so no, you don't have to create private lessons so to speak when you are getting your CFI. You do have thirty or so ground briefs to give. This is where you plan a brief on a certain subject, say airspace for example. You will spend anywhere from two to ten hours creating your brief, then you present it to your instructor. It is a lot of work, but you tend to learn a ton when you really dig into what you are trying to teach someone.
5. Some really good guys don't get hired. For whatever reason, a few people that I thought should have been hired were not. Among them my roomate when I was a student. I am sure DCA had their reasons and only they know them. Likewise, there are instructors here now that I doubt I would have hired if I was DCA. For the most part, however, DCA does a good job of picking the right people and providing great flight training.
OK, so I am sure I have given the DCA bashers plenty of material to start flaming me. Please feel free, I can take it. If you have more specific questions ask away, I will answer them as honestly as I can.
Philip Taylor, CFII at DCA
BTW montannapilot, where do you fly out of in Portland? I lived in Vancouver, WA before I came down and flew out of Pearson. Awesome flying around those parts, I really miss the cool weather and having some mountains to look at while I am flying....
