Understand our training philosophy.
Read about what you can look forward to.
Learn about flight training costs with DCFA.
Discover our time-building programs.
Train with Direct Connect Flight Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado to earn all the certificates and rating required to launch your flying career. Direct Connect Flight Academy is a full-time training program designed for individuals who want to become professional pilots.
With over 300+ days of flying weather conditions each year, Colorado Springs is an ideal place to learn to fly!
Our accelerated, full-time flight training program includes everything you need to begin your career as a commercial pilot with crew-focused, scenario-based training.
Teaching our students to uphold a strong tradition of safety-focused professionalism is at the core of what we do at Direct Connect Flight Academy. Checklist-centered training helps avoid human error and prepares students for their future careers. Challenge/response crew methods and a healthy reliance on quick-reference handbooks prepare our pilots for a life of safe, effective and professional flying.
As a FAA Part 141 certificated school, Direct Connect Flight Academy provides the structure and clear expectations for a successful flight training experience and career.
Our 141 Certification offers clearer and more structured guidance to students as we help you achieve your goals more efficiently.
Over the course of six training stages, we guide students as they discover flight, learn to fly as a team, equip themselves to fly bigger and faster aircraft and become thoroughly acquainted with professional flying.
Applying to our program involves a $190 Discovery Flight. Discovery Flights help us determine how you handle the flight training environment and help you ensure becoming a pilot is right for you. After acceptance, you’ll have an opportunity to choose your class date. For those with no previous experience, you’ll start by becoming a Private Pilot. For those with a Private Pilot rating or above, you’ll first take a Transition Course before your scheduled program.
The first step on your journey to becoming a professional pilot is straightforward: learn to fly airplanes. Our Part 141-certificated program helps you become a Private Pilot quickly and effectively, with a clear structure and defined expectations.
Becoming a Private Pilot in a Part 141 program with Direct Connect Flight Academy is an exciting and challenging introduction to aviation. At DCFA, your training will prepare you for an airline career from the beginning, with materials, checklists and flows developed directly from materials used on the flight deck by DCFA’s airline-pilot founders.
Direct Connect Flight Academy’s program includes Crew Concept Training—an important part of working as an airline pilot. You’ll learn to communicate and fly together as part of a crew, better preparing you for your career ahead.
To help students fully immerse themselves in the flow of crew training, DCFA's training includes additional coursework on where documents come from, challenge/response methods and checklist usage.
Joining us with a Private Pilot Certificate or Instrument Rating already in-hand? You’ll be required to take our Transition Course prior to your next stage.
Direct Connect Flight Academy’s instrument training provides a focus on the procedures and methods required by airlines and other commercial operators.
Earning an Instrument Rating remains one of aviation's most rewarding achievements. A requisite for any serious pilot, an Instrument Rating allows you to fly in Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) and improves your flying skills.
Graduating from hobby to profession means more than new maneuvers at Direct Connect. Our professional pilot training prepares you for real-world aviation work environments.
Learn to fly a single-engine aircraft to commercial standards in Commercial Stage 1, where you’ll be introduced to what it means to fly professionally.
Multi-engine aircraft come with more power, but require advanced knowledge of the additional risks involved. Direct Connect’s focus on multi-engine aircraft early in your training prepares you for a career of flying multi-engine aircraft.
You'll stay busy in Commercial Stage 2, where you'll learn about the risks and rewards of multi-engine aircraft.
In Commercial Stage 3, you'll work toward understanding the broad regulatory requirements and expand your horizons with extensive cross-country flying.
Cross-country (XC) flying hones your crew-concept training. You’ll learn the importance of airborne teamwork as you aviate, navigate and communicate your way through this stage of training.
Your training will fly by at Direct Connect Flight Academy.
Prepare for your final check ride in Commercial Stage 4, where you'll hone your flight maneuvers, spot landings and technique.
For those who want to add a multi-engine commercial category and/or class add-on, our separate 141 add-on program offers multi-engine commercial outside of our standard training program.
The add-on category/class can help rotor pilots transition and add-on class for single-engine pilots become multi-engine pilots.
To ensure students are fully immersed in training flows and our processes, we require those joining our program with a Private Pilot Certificate already in-hand take this transition course. The course helps students understand where documents come from, how our instructors teach and what we expect.
Those seeking to rent aircraft for time-building purposes must complete our transition course before using the aircraft. At this time, only those enrolled in or graduated from our courses may rent our aircraft for time-building.
Students don't always complete a stage until after exceeding the required flight hours. When this happens, flight time and instruction is also billed at these rates.