Daniel Webster College Closing Flight Program

[FARRIER]

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/daniel_webster_college_flight_program_close_202228-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS

[raivo]

A Facebook page titled "I went to Daniel Webster before it sold out" had 465 members, Wednesday, some of whom wrote that they would rather have seen the school financially fail, rather than lose its flight program.

Maybe I'm being naive, but what's the difference?

[Pumbaa]

Economic Reality...

The program was expensive and students did not see a return on their investment.

Wise choice I would say.

[NIN]

I used to work across the runway from DWC, and their students would ply the pattern around my office building all day long.   It was great fun to go to the Midfield Cafe at KASH for lunch with my deputy commander for seniors, sit on the deck munching on a burger and grading landings.

Its a great school. Really is.  But its aviation program really ain't "all that."  It was known as "The Embry-Riddle of the Northeast" for years, but frankly, the weather here sucks frogs for easily 4 months a year.  Right in the middle of the school year.  You might get 10 "flyable" days a month in Jan-March.

My network admin when I worked at the college was able to send his kids to certain schools around the state and it didn't cost him anything (books and board, but not tuition).  His eldest, who had been one of my cadets, went to DWC for the aviation program.  Tuition was covered, but in the aviation program, your flight time costs are "lab fees."  So he had to cough up $8,000 in "lab fees" before the kid arrived on campus in September.

I said around Thanksgiving: "Hey, Andrew going to be able to take us around the airpatch by Christmas?"  He mumbled something about weather and his son's motivation to get out of bed on a sunny weekend or to even stick around school on a flyable weekend (flying didn't occur just M-F..).  Come to find out, his kid still hadn't even soloed. 

After Christmas, he gets hit with another bill from DWC for another $5,000 in "lab fees."  Seems sonny boy wasn't exactly a natural pilot.  Couple that with his lack of motivation to drive forward, and he suddenly becomes the student that none of the CFIs want. He winds up flying with several different CFIs, and of course, that incurs more flying time (aka "lab fees") every time because they have to fly him around and asses where he is, what he needs, etc.  And of course, there is weather.  Seems when the weather was nice enough to fly, his son wanted to be on the slopes snowboarding or hiking in the mountains.

Finally, around mid-spring, just before the end of the school year, the kid gets his private ticket. According to him, he had to endure multiple stage checks and pre-checkride checkrides before he could finally get signed off.

Then dad gets *another* bill for over $4,000 in "lab fees" from the college.

His son's private pilot license and all 65 hrs TT cost him in the neighborhood of $17,000.  Thats more than $250 an hour for dual instruction.

I'm sad to see it go, but then again, if it winds up costing someone over $200/hr for dual instruction, and it takes a kid 65 hrs to get to his PPL due, in part, to some internal continuity issues, well, sounds to me like there are way, way better ways to get your license like your local FBO.

I'll miss their fleet of 172s buzzing around ASH.  Hope CAP can sell off the 172s its getting rid of before DWC creates a mini-glut of fairly new SPs on the market.