What is it really like to Train/Teach at DCA

[ QUOTE ]
I don't care if he passed his checkride and IOE....they don't have the experience it takes to be a good jet F/O. I know how green/weak I was when I finished 757 school in March and I had close to 10 years in the right seat of a 72

[/ QUOTE ]

So what do you think IS a good amount of time? It's not like people suddenly "get it" at the magical 1000 hour mark, either. XJT's mins are down around 600 (Eagle is pretty low if you know the right people), but no one jumps up and down b/c most of those guys CFI'd. I'm sure there are even some 1200 hour FOs out there that drive their captains crazy. I just get a little bent when people make assumptions on people based solely on the number of hours they have.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I don't know....maybe my standards are too high. If I'd just lower them I'd have no problem with DCA ads and low time jet F/O's.....

[/ QUOTE ]

C'mon 727, I know you have experience and have some good things probably to say to us about getting to where you are, but be reasonable. Ads are marketing, that is it. They don't affect the training, the quality of pilot that DCA continually provides to airlines. You even said that you have no experience with the training that DCA provides. I will bet that no one is making a decision to attend DCA based on an ad they read. If they do, then in all honesty it is not DCA's fault for stating something that is not a lie, but a play on words if you will. Would you buy a car based soley on an ad you see on tv?? I like Led Zeppelin, but that doesn't mean I will buy a Cadillac. The ads for DHL show them delivering before UPS or FedEx, but that doesn't mean I will stop using UPS for my shipments.
wink.gif
Hell, I still want to see DJ drive the truck. Comparing ads to quality of flight training with respect to your "standards" is not appropriate. As planediveguy said, come down and take a look at the school. I as well would be more than willing to show you around. IMO, if you really wanted to help those looking at schools, this is what would provide you with credible posts about the type of school that DCA is.
 
[ QUOTE ]
As planediveguy said, come down and take a look at the school. I as well would be more than willing to show you around. IMO, if you really wanted to help those looking at schools, this is what would provide you with credible posts about the type of school that DCA is.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, this is a pretty good idea. What about an "undercover reports" type of thing? A coupld of guys, from CFI to Airline Pilot, to go around and check out the different flight schools and bust them on their crap....
grin.gif
 
"So what do you think IS a good amount of time?" I don't know. I like 1000 and 100 with a CFI background. There are other ways to get, there, too. All I know is 250 isn't enough. I'm heartened by hearing that DCA guys have 1000 and 200 when they move on. That's nice...

Yeah...some guys with more time will still suck. It's not all about time, like you say. But the more time you have the more fun and interesting experiences you get in the air and, out of that, you learn.
 
"but be reasonable. Ads are marketing, that is it."

Yeah...and it's my reasonable opinion that marketing should be truthful and honest. Seems like "some" DCA guys don't care. I don't think it's right and I'll keep harping about it as long as I keep seeing those ads.

I believe I've been consistent with my comments about DCA as having to do just with their ads and marketing. The rest I don't have any direct experience with. I've never met anyone through any job I've had or through my GA contacts that went to your school. All my mentorees worked their way up at part 61, small flight schools, and had non-aviation degrees. One made it to DL before the furlough and the rest are at various stages at the regionals.

I don't recommend big academies, in general, and a trip down to DCA isn't going to change my mind.
 
ATP seems to be kicking some major butt with straightforward advertising...
 
I REALLY don't mean to flame the ATP guys. ATP indeed seems to be kicking butt. I have yet to hear anything bad about them. For a while I was thinking about getting my CFI there too. But no one seems to complain about the fact that they train CFI/II/MEI in what, a week? I mean can you train a CFI within a week? The FOI alone takes longer to study.

Their answer would be: Our guys pass the same FAA exam as the rest. And they are right. I guess so does the 300TT FO candidate. He goes trough the same training as anyone else and passes the same exam as well.

I have no clue how will I be better qualified for an airline career after 800 dual given, in 90% VFR, in a small single doing endless short-field landings and stalls. My communication skills will improve and my knowledge of the FARs, AIM and the rest of the FAA publications will become deeper still that won't guarantee that I will pass the FO training. My ex CFIs and other CFIs who I know who made through, or are in FO training tell me that CFIing did not prepare them for it. It is different to fly a jet, it has completely different systems and even the regulations aren’t the same.

There is one thing CFIing does though. It shows your desperation LOL. If you will struggle to teach for change for a year or two than you are committed. If you made through that alive and without a violation, chances are you are trainable.

I am kind of sick listening to the “captain babysitting FOs” BS. Go get over it and baby-sit me and teach me to really fly that jet when I will get there. Right now I have to baby-sit student pilots who all want to become CFIs and airline pilots eventually. For now I enjoy doing it. I know I will burn out but I will never bitch about baby-sitting a student. That is my job right now. As a Captain I guess your job is, at least in part, to baby-sit a new FO if you get one for a trip. It is not like you will need to baby-sit every single FO until they make left seat. It is the same in every field, seniors teach juniors.

I mean how on Earth can you get part 121 jet experience if not with a captain next to you holding your hand at the beginning??? Ohhhh I KNOW!!! You can go to Gulfstream and buy your experience!!! Well that sucks though ‘cause now you’re a PFT [censored]. Ok… so we can’t do that albeit it does sound like 121 experience to me.

The bottom line is, CFIing will get you there but won’t make you ready, and you can’t get jet or turbine experience in a politically correct way so most of us instruct anyways… or tow banners, and some fly freight or some lucky fly 135 but no one logs his/her first few hundred hours in an airliner without a captain looking over his/her shoulder.

I guess I have too much time on my hand again…
 
"I have no clue how will I be better qualified for an airline career after 800 dual given, in 90% VFR, in a small single doing endless short-field landings and stalls."

If you don't have a clue then why does your school's program, which they say is the best way to become an airline pilot, have you doing just what you're doing?

Being a great airline pilot starts with having good roots as a pilot, good stick and rudder skills, and the development of the good communication skills necessary to be a CFI.

I'm impressed with the guy who can take a 152 into an 1800 foot strip, feels comfortable on grass, and did missed approaches in actual during IFR training cause he didn't see anything at DA....landing on the only beach in the lower 48 that's a designated airport is a bonus. (Double bonus if you can tell me where that is).

You just want to be an airline pilot and you want it now....the system, thank God, still makes you earn it. (Except for Gulfstream, where you can buy it)

"but no one logs his/her first few hundred hours in an airliner without a captain looking over his/her shoulder"

This is true...but I expect more out of an new F/O than a 250 hour pilot can give. I think you'll agree with me when you get to where I am.

Don't worry about F/O training. When you get there, you'll do fine. That's one reason I don't like big academies. They make you feel like you need to take some CRM class or fly a jet sim to get through F/O training. If you are a good stick and pay attention, you'll get through it. It will be the hardest thing you ever did....but you'll get through it.
 
Copalis State!


By the way Don, how soft is the sand there? I have been wanting to go there but am kinda worried about doin it in a nosewheel.
 
Dude.....get a life. Mega Bonus's for you but it makes you look weird knowing the answer and posting it within 20 minutes at an obscure thread like this. Gawd....I should have known better with Montanapilot around....hehe.

The first time I went to Copalis, I was too scared to land. Just couldn't make myself do it. Second time, there was another plane down there and I figured if he could do it, I could. As long as you land in the wet sand, not the dry sand, you'll be okay. It's not all that soft, really, I mean, friggen cars drive on it and don't get stuck. But it's a ballsssie move....not something I think they would approve of at DCA.
 
[ QUOTE ]

I have no clue how will I be better qualified for an airline career after 800 dual given, in 90% VFR, in a small single doing endless short-field landings and stalls.

[/ QUOTE ]

I swear I've learned more in the last month than I did in any single month of my flight training...
 
I think I've said throughout the history of this website that my best training to be an FO and then a captain (at least for the short time I was captain) was from stuff I learned being a CFI.

Most people think being an FO is just hopping in the seat and flying from point a to point b and 'not to worry, the captain will catch it if it's wrong!'.

Au contraire.

You have fantastic captains that don't try to kill you very often...

then you have horrible captains that try to kill you every flip of a switch.

The only problem is, the 'horrible' captains are ones that may be great to fly with and the 'fantastic' captains you might not be able to stand more than five minutes.

As a CFI, you learn to mold into your student's head, learn how he thinks, how he communicates and learn to anticipate his next move before he makes it.

It's called being a 'chameleon'. Something that I use nine years after my last student.

Yeah, you have an irregular situation in the cockpit and you're right and the captain's wrong. Guess what? You've got to use interpersonal skills, communication skills and diplomatic skills to help him 'discover' what the correct answer is.

Just like the skills you learn as you're a CFI.

I've only been playing this game since 1996 but if you put me in a simulator with a sim-captain, I could almost tell you what his background was in about 15 minutes and one simulated instrument approach. Probably even tell you the branch of military he was in too!
smile.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]


I've only been playing this game since 1996 but if you put me in a simulator with a sim-captain, I could almost tell you what his background was in about 15 minutes and one simulated instrument approach. Probably even tell you the branch of military he was in too!
smile.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

Those Jarheads are weird, eh?
grin.gif
 
Some!

But at least they don't laugh for 35 minutes when you say "Fast Neat Average Friendly Good Good" like the old AF academy grads do.

(after 20 minutes)

"Oh..ha...whew! HIYOOOOH (Ed McMahaon) That was good! Did you go to the Academy?"

"No, just heard it a million times
smile.gif
"

Mad props to usafalcon75.
 
Well, this is a pretty good idea. What about an "undercover reports" type of thing? A coupld of guys, from CFI to Airline Pilot, to go around and check out the different flight schools and bust them on their crap....
grin.gif


[/ QUOTE ]


You will be surprised when you find that their "crap" is all the stuff you don't learn on some outfits that train people to minimum standards so they can get it cheap...

( now watch those guys jump all over this!!!!
smirk.gif
)
 
Oh, and just one more thing....

I have brought some of my friends that fly for the airlines... One a a Captain for Air Canada and the other a Captain for American Airlines and they both were impressed... so come on over anytime.

cool.gif
cool.gif
cool.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]

You will be surprised when you find that their "crap" is all the stuff you don't learn on some outfits that train people to minimum standards so they can get it cheap...

[/ QUOTE ]

Ahhh...they make their own STANDARDS (key word) that are higher than the required standards, which cost more money?

Hmmm....
 
What kind of internet access is available in the DCA housing? Please tell me it's DSL. I may have to pick another school if I'm stuck with Dial-Up...


David

P.S. Friends don't let friends do dial-up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top