my training so far at dca

[Flip]

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WOW! DCA is expensive? Oh my goodness!

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No. It's more than expensive!! It's overpriced. Way overpriced!!

[DE727UPS]

Yeah. I knew it was expensive but had no idea DCA guys paid $11174 for a PPL and 46 hours of flight time in a 172. I guess it's old news to you but people interested in DCA might want to see the reality of one persons experience.

I thank hobo for posting the facts and hope he keeps us up on his DCA experiences, much like H46bubba did.

[hobo]

thanks nixon i do hope im on the right track. and thanks ups youre right that i just wanted to post this so that people could see a clear cut example of what one person is spending to go to DCA.
i noticed last night when i was looking thru my account that i added wrong for my ppl and in fact it took 11649 but oh well its only money right?
anyone else from DCA want to weigh in with what they spent on each rating?
i was talking with my instructor today and his training cost 62000 but he only had to finish up his ppl part 61 which took less than 10 hours of flying and he hasnt done his MEI yet and thats estimated at 5330 so he finished on about the same track as i am on.
any instructors that have done their MEI feel free to give us a break down of what it actually took you.
I just dont like that ive met students that had no idea what DCA would cost. not sure how they managed that or didnt investigate enough and im disappointed that the info isnt more readily available.

[MikeD]

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I knew it was expensive but had no idea DCA guys paid $11174 for a PPL and 46 hours of flight time in a 172. .

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Wow.........that's pretty mind blowing.

[H46Bubba]

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total time: 134.0 Airplane SEL: 134.0 complex: 0 Multi: 0
landings: 194d 35n night: 19.7 actual IMC: 7.7 simulated/hood: 38.9 approaches: 41 FTD/simulator: 21.7
PCATD: 13.3 Xcountry: 37.5 Solo: 16.5 PIC: 93 Dual: 117.5


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Here's mine!
TT:284.7, ASEL:284.7, Complex:16.1, Landings:438D/78N, Night:41.5, Actual:17.1, Simulated:60.6, Approaches:93, FTD/Sim:20.3, Xcnty:70.2, Solo:105.7, PIC:219.3, Dual:162.7

[MuscleShirt]

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good luck man but beware of letting your job get in the way of your dream of flying

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Ohio University (in Athens, Ohio) has a much better program than O.S.U.

Plus, I believe they have some program worked out now with AirNet Express for graduates.

It's a great school as well, horrible football team, but a great school!

[hobo]

OU does have a great program. a friend on mine went there and then went to ups for a while then to a major.

a lot of colleges have programs for flying and thats something anyone who hasnt gone to college and wants to fly should consider. first you can get government grants and loans that beat the heck out of key bank loans. second its usually cheaper b/c of how the college does tuition. third why pay 100,000 for just your ratings when you could go to a state school like OU and come out with a degree and less than 20k in loans if you have any at all. wish i had gone that route. i wonder why im paying so much for my training

[SteveC]

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...and then went to ups for a while then to a major.

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(I sure hope DE doesn't see that...)

[DE727UPS]

I don't really care. I get asked quite often when I'm going to transfer to commercial flying....

As an aside: I got hired in Feb 1990 at UPS. We lost about one fourth of my indoc class pretty quick. I remember guys leaving for United, America West, Southwest (that was a girl, actually), and corporate. I remember one that wanted to get on with US Air so bad that he got himself fired for no showing two trips. Not sure what happened after that.

Back in those days, UPS wasn't considered that good of a job. Funny how things change.....

[hobo]

i didnt mean that as anything bad about UPS, my friend just chose a different route. he got what he wanted and never said anything negative about UPS. he spoke very highly of his time there.

[MuscleShirt]

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OU does have a great program. a friend on mine went there and then went to ups for a while then to a major.

a lot of colleges have programs for flying and thats something anyone who hasnt gone to college and wants to fly should consider. first you can get government grants and loans that beat the heck out of key bank loans. second its usually cheaper b/c of how the college does tuition. third why pay 100,000 for just your ratings when you could go to a state school like OU and come out with a degree and less than 20k in loans if you have any at all. wish i had gone that route. i wonder why im paying so much for my training

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First, let me state that you are very correct here, Hobo. I graduated from O.U.'s program with a degree, and the training was much less expensive. The program is state subsidized, so they are able to charge less for aircraft and instructor time. Hell, when I was there (not long ago), I could rent a 172R for $65. The program was great and the training was great.

And yes, I walked out with $16,000 in loan debt. However, that number would be extremely higher if I didn't have such generous parents to help me with tuition.

[hobo]

how many ratings did you get done at OU?

man 16k makes me cry. my parents werent too generous with me(spent it all on my two brothers) so i finished college with 65000 in loans. that would have been okay if I had majored in something useful like business and gone with my friends who made 100k their first year but instead i chose to be poor. at least ill have an office with a better view

[Zoid01CMH]

Here is what I have spent so far at DCA....

I started in September 2004 - zero time

Private - $15,950 - 74.0 Hours - 3 months all in a 172
Instrument - $18,185 - 64.4 Hours - 3 months
Commercial/Single - 20,464 - 85.8 hours total (29.2 Complex)- 3 months
Multi - $15,125 - 42.5 Hours - 9 weeks (a bit more than it shold have been - I had a jerk of an instructor and then some challenges with my checkride)

So, in 1 year, I have completed 4 ratings at a cost just shy of 70,000 and 273 total hours

The costs listed include flight time as well as FTD/PCATD, ground school, instructor and ground work.

Drop Out rates - of the 12 in my private class last year 2 have droped out. 1 Has already completed and just completed Stanz class this past week, the rest of us are in CFI or CFII.

[DE727UPS]

"Private - $15,950 - 74.0 Hours - 3 months all in a 172"

$215 an hour for a 172. Do you think it's worth it? Knowing what you know now, would you do it all over?

[Zoid01CMH]

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"Private - $15,950 - 74.0 Hours - 3 months all in a 172"

$215 an hour for a 172. Do you think it's worth it? Knowing what you know now, would you do it all over?

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Yes I would do it all over again - but the second time around I would have a lot lower time - and therefore it would be less costly

a C/172 at DCA runs 99/hour - with Instructor and Fuel Surcharge its 156/hour.

The 15,950 I paid for Private also included ground school, ground work w/instructor, a few trips in the Frasca and the ACR charge at the end of Course.

[DE727UPS]

"Yes I would do it all over again"

Sweet....enjoy the ride.

[hobo]

ZOID
would you truly do it over again knowing that you could have done it cheaper elsewhere?

what were some of the things you did that put you over budget? what would you do differently if you could change it?

[Zoid01CMH]

If i did it again at DCA it would be cheaper - but when i was looking, I noticed that the "Big" schools were quoting in the same ball park - that was a year and a half ago.

So I think that if I would have gone somewhere else - it would have yealded the same result - I still would have struggeled with how to land anywhere I went.

I could have spent time at a local FBO just getting some of the basics out of the way - I never even had a discovery flight.

The stuff that put me over budget were more personal than anything. I haven't been a "student" since 1989. Im the type of guy that doesn't ask for directions when hes lost - just keep driving, your bound to find it.
That alone can drive the cost up real fast.

The comments can flow from those that are anti DCA - but I have never once questioned my decision to come here.

[H46Bubba]

I spent tooo much money!
Would I do it again? No way.
The training is good, but the B.S. and price is too much. Yeah, the "guaranteed" interview was a little enticing, but having been a student for almost two years and having worked for the company, it went away quick. It's more networking and getting your foot in the door, as to speak that will help you get an interview.

[hobo]

ive gotta agree with he46bubba on this one. i wouldnt choose dca if i had it to do over again. in fact im trying to find a different school to try or fbo and im willing to take suggestions. im almost done with my commercial single right now so ive gotta do multi cfi ii and mei and basically with the 87k loan i had and 10k to live on i wasnt going to have enough money to finish. ive been looking at ATP b/c it seems cheap and fast. also checking air orlando and sunstate aviation anyone know of them let me know. DCA's instruction is good but not amazing enough for the cost. they could lower their costs a lot with the overhead or by getting away from being airline owned. 1 hour hobbs time in a 172 costs 99 plus 54 for the instructor plus fuel surcharge of like 5 plus mandatory minimum .5 flight brief for 27 so like 185 for an hour and thats just too much since theyre paying the instructor 10/hour for that. just my two cents i wish everyone well thats at DCA and no hard feelings its just not my place since i want to have money when im older instead of owing my butt to key bank.

[jaxpilot]

hobo, i got alll the way thru comm single at DCA and then went to ATP for comm multi and the total CFI program, worked great for me and I passed all my checkrides first try. I recommend it, and after going to DCA you will see that ATP has its act together and you get your moneys worth.... ATP costs less and actually has GPS installed, and the costs are fixed so they dont quote you one price and end up paying double-- what a concept??

[hobo]

thanks jax
i think im going to do my multi at atp and then go to either air orlando or sunstate for my cfi cfii and mei. how much time did you spend studying before you did the cfi program at atp?

[jaxpilot]

hey, they sent me a box full of books and this supplement full of questions that I had to have answered when I got there. I got the box in mid-december and the class started late january. It wasnt too bad at all, I guess it all depends on what type of learner you are, the only times I was stressed was the morning of the checkrides, hehe.

[hobo]

thanks jax, not too worried about learning on my own. i kind of prefer that to the paying someone to read me the book.

[dapittsta]

so i guess the question I have that you haven't really covered yet...

You said that you spent much more there then a college or university, but the training, you think, was better.....would you recommend the DCA right now, in present situation, overall?

I toured the academy about a month ago but, unfortunately, had to tell them no because of the financial situation.