Delta Connection Academy

A day in the life of an academy student

0800 - Arrive at DCA for pre-flight planning & briefing

0900 - Meet with instructor and complete flight

1030 - Return to DCA for post-flight briefing

1100 - Study items from flight at school

1200 - Eat lunch

1300 - Ground school

1700 - Study for FAA written on DCA computer

1800 – Go home, eat dinner, study & relax

A typical day for me would begin with an early flight. Students are required to arrive at least one hour before your flight so whoever has the first flight of the day has to be there at 0500. It was nice when I had a few hours between a flight and school because I’d just stay at school and study or complete homework. During ground school, we were in class from 1300 - 1700 Monday through Friday. We flew once a day, as early as 6am or as late as 9pm or 10pm. As a rule, for each hour I spent in ground school, I’d spend an hour studying or completing homework. Three hours of ground school = three hours studying. The other hour of ground would include checking homework, instructor’s aviation stories and breaks. It’s important to study and finish schoolwork, but it’s also important to spend some time doing something you like. Whether going the gym, watching some television or keeping up with friends online, take a few hours each day to relax.

Frustration with instrument approaches...

I am so frustrated with instrument approaches! It seems that no matter how hard I study, instrument approaches elude me. Luckily, I have great instructors who are guiding me through various ways to study, directing me to appropriate activities to address different challenges. Before I even got in the plane, I had lessons in the simulator, which saves money and allows me to practice on the ground. The instructors can freeze the simulator and provide instruction if something doesn’t make sense or goes wrong. Currently, radio calls are preventing me from moving forward. In order to get more proficient, I have listened to the website, liveatc.net. This allows me to listen to the live air traffic control broadcast from selected airports online. As I listen, I try to reply as if I were flying the plane. I’ve also “backseated” flights of other students. This allows me to watch & listen to the student operate the radio as well as everything a student does while flying. This is a common practice – many students backseat other flights to aid in the learning process. Of course there are textbooks and other flying books that guide pilots through approaches (and any other maneuvers you’ll have to do in an airplane). Those are always good to read. Yesterday I told my instructor how frustrated I was getting and he was very encouraging. He reassured me that I would get it and he would think of things to help me learn. It takes a ton of studying and thinking outside the box, but I will get it.

Time management & studying

With all the excitement of learning new information and flying, it’s easy to let time pass quickly without thinking of other tasks. One “task” I've mentioned earlier was the Gleim study guide for the FAA written test. This is taken four weeks into school, after the official Private Pilot ground school course is complete. You must get 80% on an academy practice test in order to take the official FAA test (where you must get at least 70% to pass). *Please note – this time flies by – literally! The Gleim study guide gives you every question and answer that makes up the pool of questions for the test. It is imperative that you study this from day one. Start reviewing the chapters as soon as you get it. Even though you may not understand everything, look over the questions and read the explanations so that when it is introduced in ground school it makes more sense. If you wait until you cover the material in ground school it could be too late. Gleim sells CDs to use on your personal computer but the school also has them for practice on their computers – for free. There’s studying that goes with ground school – find a friend that you can work with. You’re allowed to do your homework together and it may be easier when someone else is there to help you stay on task! It's a good idea to exercise now and then - work it in! This can relieve more stress than watching TV and is important for health & clear thinking. At some point you may want and go home to visit – but don’t miss ground school! I missed one day to go home for my brother’s wedding – I missed a lot!