I started training at Century Air in July 2020 and have since completed the private, instrument,…read morecommercial, CFI, and CFII courses. I researched several schools at CDW and at MMU prior to enrolling here. After visiting this school and getting to know more about the facility during my consultation, I was impressed at how well-run it is. The staff is very professional, everything is very clean, the airplanes are well-maintained, the curriculum is very organized, and the brochures they prepare highlight everything you need to know about the courses they offer. The final point that sealed the deal for me is that Century does not hire anyone and everyone who graduates from their program. All their instructors are tested and held to high standards before getting hired. This means that you will not be training with instructors who are only there to build time to go to the airlines. Instead, you will get highly proficient instructors who actually want to be there to teach you and truly care about your success.
This is a Part 141 school, which means that the FAA oversees and approves the curriculum. As a result, you will be able to complete the requirements at a reduced number of hours, as well as have a structured syllabus to follow so you are trained to a high standard to become a good and proficient pilot. An additional benefit of having this structure is you always know what will be covered in every lesson and you will have progress checks along the way to keep you on track. For someone like me, this motivates me and allows me to push myself and set the bar higher to get the most out of my training.
Flight school is different from a traditional college setting in the sense that everything is done at your own pace. You are assigned an instructor and you can complete all your ground and flight lessons together whenever you can. There are no lectures or classes to sit in on at predetermined times. This makes it very flexible for people who work and want to flight train when they have free time. This also allows you to take breaks when life gets busy without needing to wait for a vacation. Since Century is open 7 days a week, as long as your instructor and plane are available and the weather is nice, you can fly.
Shortly after enrolling, I was assigned my instructor, Nick Ollo. I have obtained all my pilot certificates with him and I am very glad to have done so. Nick always challenged me to exceed the flight test standards so that I could become a better pilot and always work to improve my skills. He always has a wealth of knowledge and has taught me so many things that I wouldn't be able to learn just from a textbook. He is very dedicated to his job as a flight instructor, and I could tell that he cares a lot about it. There was never a point in time where I felt like I was neglected or not getting the full value out of my training. He has seen me grow from a zero-time student, all the way to becoming a flight instructor myself. Without him, I definitely would not be as great of a pilot as I am today.
Being that CDW is under New York's airspace, which is the second busiest airspace in the world, you will get a lot of practice flying in and around congested airspace. Since CDW also has an ATC tower, you will also get a lot of practice communicating with air traffic control both on the ground and in the air. These reasons help to justify the costs of flight training in the New York metropolitan area, which like everything else in the area, is above average. You won't get the same experience training in the middle of nowhere or the cornfields.
Century also has a simulator training center located down the street at the airport. The G1000 simulator is mainly used for instrument training, and there is a Frasca simulator that is mainly used for multi-engine training. Having access to simulators means that you can complete your training at a lower cost, as well as have fewer cancellations due to weather. It is much cheaper and more efficient to transfer skills that you learn on the ground into the plane, rather than try to learn everything in the cockpit.
Lastly, one of the nicest benefits of training here is that the flight school owner, Richard Greene, is also a Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE). Therefore, you will be able to take your checkrides (flight tests) without needing to fly to other airports to do so. Rich is the most experienced aviator I know, holding certificates in all different types of aircraft you could possibly think of. Rich, as well as his wife, Christine, run the school together and they put in a lot of effort to make sure your experience at the school is top-notch. They have worked very hard to build the school up to where it is today.
Overall, my experience at Century Air has been amazing. I am very happy that I chose to train here and cannot imagine going anywhere else. I highly recommend you schedule a consultation and tour the facility if you are considering flight training!
