delta connection academy

[KimboKK]

Has anyone experiences of this school?

Do they really hire their graduates?

97% hired, really?! :ooh:

Sounds a bit too good to be true... :hmm:

What about financing, they said up to 100% for those who qualify, when do you have to pay back this money?

I thought Delta has been in the chapter 11 for some time now and they are firing people all the time.

It would be nice to find out what the reality is behind these promising ads is see all the time.

[westhawk]

Hi KimboKK.

Though I have no personal experience with this school, I have seen adds like theirs for many years. The claims are impressive. A web search of the school name took me to their site as well as a forum where a current student makes some interesting posts regarding his progress through the program. You should check it out if you are considering this as a training route. Careful reading of the pages on the school website and comments by students on another site leaves me with the following impressions regarding the questions you asked:

1) Their website has a list of graduates hired by various air carriers. All hirees were listed as academy instructors. Seems that planning to attain your CFI and teach at the school long enough to get some hours is the track to being hired. This 97% figure could mean anything they want it to mean. It looks as though completing their program and then teaching there for a year or more would put you in about the right position to be hired by a commuter given the current hiring minimums.

2) Hopefully, someone who has taken out this kind of loan will respond on this thread to advise about loan particulars. The school site says that if you qualify for a particular loan, the repayment schedule can be deferred for UP TO 6 months. So you can expect to find yourself having to make payments before you are even finished with the training! It seems that the amount to budget for training needs to be at least US $70,000 + living expenses.

3) Delta is in chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. This allows them to remain in business with concessions from creditors and employees. The academy and Comair (former name of the academy) are subsidiaries of Delta. Four other regionals provide Delta Connection service as codesharing feeders. (Mesa, Skywest, ASA and Trans-States.) Handing lower density routes over to the regional operators flying under their livery is one of the ways to lower their cost structure. It's like outsourcing to a third world country. When you see your first paycheck at the commuters, you'll know what I mean!

The pros and cons of choosing this route to a flying job are complex and vary according to the individual and the prevailing circumstances in the flying job market. I took the longer "pay as you go" route and have no regrets. And no debts related to my training. But the academy route will get you into a jet or turboprop cockpit years earlier than the "hard way", paying as you go. Quite a strong inducement. If you can do enough part-time work to pay living expenses while attending the academy, you will only owe about 70-75K. First year pay for a commuter FO is about 15-18k increasing incrementally until you make Captain. Timing of the airline market determines how long the upgrade will take. Perhaps the easiest solution is to have a rich daddy that can afford to indulge their child's wishes without any real risk of failure for the child. But alas, some of us were not born into such a position! We make our own way.

Best regards,

Westhawk

[ITFC1]

HI,
Just seen your post about camair academy, i was there a few years ago now in 1999, so can only speak from then, i left them midway through my I/R, i was told i was "Guaranteed" an interview, yes i was, but i am from the UK, so no visa no job.

Also if you do go, please double your funds, there were many hidden extras you needed to do, i was once grounded for financial reason due to a missed payment, even though i had £12000-00 in my account.

plus side, good training, good facilities and were good instructors there, and ones who just wanted the time.

Any questions just ask. As i say, this was 1998/99 i was there, so could have well changed

Graham