Dowling College, NY

[sleepy3528]

Howdy everyone! i am new to the boards and just wanted to give a heads up to anyone interested in Dowling College on long island. i have been a student here for one year after transferring from ERAU and will be graduating next December. if anyone has any questions about the aviation program i would be more then willing to answer questions. i have my Comm,Multi, CFI and am working on my II through Dowling. I just recieved my CFI through them and am in the process of being hired by them. It is a decent program that has a growing reputation. I used to be on A-net all the time but ever since i found this site i doubt i will be going back. i think i am tired of talking to 11 year olds telling me why they could be a better CEO... haha later

mike

[ATA_victim]

You have any opinions on the CTI program (ATC) over at Dowling? Whats the quality of life like up there? (i.e student body,housing etc) im applying to Riddle and DWC now and thinking about Dowling...

Thanks for your thoughts

[maverick2]

Does Dowling College have a masters program in aviation?

[sleepy3528]

a masters in professional pilot? nope but why would you want one? they offer a masters in aviation management and next year will have an aviation law graduate program. i dont really see the point to having a masters in a pilot course but maybe i am missing something.

the CTI program is actually pretty young at Dowling. We will have a full tower sim hopefully by next year... we have the entire set up installed but the software is apparently taking some time to get. they just got a grant for over a million dollars towards the program a few months ago. the quality of life up here is ... well its expensive as all hell because its long island but as far as socially its ok. its a regular college. the dorms are actually pretty good ... they are an aprtment setup with pretty much everything. the aviation department is growing and is getting more selective in who they let in. last fall they entered around 250 freshman into the aviation department and that # will most likely be bigger next year.

i went to riddle on daytona for a year and i would seriously caution you about going there. i am not telling you that dowling is any better or whatever but anywhere is better then riddle. if your not exactly sure what is the best option for you ... i would enroll in a small (inexpensive) aviation community college and get a little experience and a better understanding of the industry. then in a year or so i would rethink about riddle and transfer there or to another large aviation college. if you really wanna commit to a place and dont want the community college idea then i would talk to as many people as i could before i decided. riddle spouts propaganda about their program that is extremely misleading. go to perdue, UND, a couple colleges are in Indiana... anywhere but there. my frehsman year there i had 5 other roomates ... 2 stayed and put up with it and the other 4 of us had a lot more fun going to other colleges and are in equal or better standing in the industry. i dont envy your decision on where to go but i would seriously think it through.

if you have anymore questions lemme know...

[LISRAREF]

Mike,

What about the flight part? How are the aircraft maintained? Do they have any simulators and what types and level sims? Is Dowling off a airport or a private field? Any useful info? What types of courses do they give to get you ready for a career as a airline pilot or such?

Mike

[sleepy3528]

as far as flying goes its a typical 141 program but the major difference between dowling and other larger schools is the scheduling. Here we dont just throw students into open planes and expect them to show lbut its more dependent on the student and when or if he wants to fly. they push every student to fly at least 3 times a week.
the aircraft are on a progressive maintenance schedule thats all done in house. we hangar our aircraft on field where our maintenance is done. the planes are immaculate inside and out. The mechanics are around constantly so questions and any squawks get taken care of almost that same day. the simulators we have are 3 180 degree wrap around frasca's that are identical to the set up in our aircraft. we have two piper warrior sims and one seminole sim. They are in talks to get a full motion level d sim for a small business jet right now. there is a pretty decent demand for the sims but the school is the perfect size right now. I dunno how it will be down the road but maybe they will get more?
Dowling is split between two campuses theres the Oakdale campus and then the Brookhaven campus which is a 20 min drive (they offer shuttles) all aviation classes and flight ops are at the Brookhaven campus. We are located right on the field at Brookhaven Airport KHWV and have our own ramp. you can go to our site to check it out.

the courses we offer are the basic collegiate professional pilot courses... crew resource management, air carrier navigation, Aircraft systems (Beech 1900 ground), aviation weather, ... for the full list check the website but it offeres a lot. I went with an aviation management degree and would recommend that path to others. it let me fly ast the school because i was an aviation major, it let me use my flying credits as electives, and it gives me a fallback for the future. Oh and some tough classes that you will have to take if you go aviation here are Physics of flight, Aerodynamics, and Performance of flight vehicles ... the last one lets the class flight test a warrior and basically do calculations like a manufacturer would. The aviation classes are great but the school does make you take some BS liberal arts classes that kind of suck but ::shrug::

One of the disadvantages of coming to a small school like dowling is that there are some very difficult classes that are only offered by one professor. we have class sequences with certain professors in professional pilot major and aviation management that are tough.

hope i helped

[crashmbern]

anyone here work at dowling as an instructor. just curious as to the working conditions.

adam