1. As of right now there won’t be any systems section. We will have sections for the FMC and some other important aspects of the systems, but we feel the MD11 is so automated that we can teach most of the systems logic throughout the videos in a practical way rather than in a ‘drive it in your brain fast’ sort of way.
2. I do not know a price yet. It won’t be a far departure from what we’ve done in the past, if not the same.
3. We’ll be doing the same system as AviatorPro so there won’t be anything done on the front end for this one. I don’t think you can select currency as a result. But regardless of what currency you’re paying in, you’re always paying an adjusted amount that comes out to the USD equivalent sale price anyway.

Thanks for being on board, Kace, and thanks for being patient.

I hear ya there, Matt. I struggled a lot early but I’ve been rockin’ and rollin’ recently. In fact, AOA is going full time so I’ll be able to dedicate all of my WORK time on AOA, which will be nice.

Hey Angelo,
You raised a couple points that is going to require quite the response… So let me break up your message here.

DVDs
The truth of the matter is that we have done a horrible job delivering DVDs, and most of that has to do with the fact that there isn’t a reliable and affordable solution. I refuse to require my customers to pay more for shipping, in the 55 dollar range, than they do for the product only to get the product and have it be broken… or missing something… or not being able to be updated to a newer, better version.
So, our customer relationships are issue #1 in that category, and it’s a legitimate issue.

I think also the upfront costs on producing that kind of stuff would really surprise someone. It is a huge initial investment that we don’t have the sort of disposable capital to throw at it.

And there’s also the issue of immediate availability, which seems to make everything make sense. Get it now, get it in HD. (DVDs are not HD)

Is our delivery method free online? You’d be surprised if I told you it costs about the same as it does to produce 1 disc unit. But we pay as we go.

We went with the best online delivery method in the world in a company called Akamai. They are used by companies like NFL.com and CBS and other HUGE names to deliver content reliably, with great speed, and at amazing qualities.
We went with the best of the best because we didn’t just want to do the ‘cheap’ thing. We still need to offer our customers value. But, value comes in different shapes and sizes.

So bottom line is that I may lose some customers over this online method, but I also keep the ones that pay happy which I haven’t done so well in the past. It’s not an easy choice but it’s one the company needs to keep relationships strong.

We also live in a different world today, even from 5 years ago when the delivery method was a no brainer on disc. But broadband is becoming so widespread that this sort of thing makes sense.

Anyway, the method is here to stay. If we want to put products out more often, make our customers happy and charge them less to get our stuff (product less shipping) then this is the direction we need to go.

Progressive Release
This method isn’t meant for everyone, I get that. The product will be done for those types, like you it sounds, when it is done. In the meantime we’d like the motivation and feedback from the people that would like to see it built from the ground up, and be some of the first trainees through. That may not seem like much but those who do that really do have an effect on how the training is taught.

Last Resort
Yes, this is a last resort. We can either deliver products like this or we won’t work on that product at all. I will not drag myself, my family and people that work with me through a 20 month trench just to produce a product that is mildly profitable.

It has nothing to do with being behind schedule and wanting to get it out. It either happens this way or it doesn’t happen at all. And when I commit to do something, I’ll do it.

Through this process I’ve planned, planned again, met some deadlines, rehashed things that didn’t worked, lost friends over certain issues we’ve had internally, lost a ton of footage that was corrupt, and so on.

I accidentally stumbled on this progressive release process when doing the Aviator90 series. It worked so well that I want to deploy it elsewhere.

So… I understand you were saying things in the best light you could and you were trying to be direct. Although some of the language above is strong, it is only meant to be direct and also definitely not an attack at you. I appreciate the direct question and I know others will benefit as a result.

Thanks! Throttle On!

Totally understood. As I mentioned above, progressive release isn’t for everybody. But along the way it’ll be a lot of fun to have trainees there to interact with and that’ll keep the project moving along smoothly.

Aviator90 episodes were late on occasion, yes. A few days maybe and because I was releasing 1 every other day, it made for a hard schedule, especially when I had to go out of town and fly.

Here are how things are changing and why the MD11 release schedule will be reliable (disclaimer: Murphys law prevails. Things COULD happen).

1. I am going full time with AOA starting in July. That means I won’t be going out of town on extended trips.
2. I am investing in video editors to do the editing work for me so we can pump out content quickly. Other current products we have will fuel this. Something we haven’t been able to do until now.
3. I won’t be releasing an MD11 section every other day. I will be under-promising and over-delivering on the release schedule.
4. Quality will be better than ever with the new guys on board.
5. I can focus on making killer training content and not have to worry about all of the backend ‘stuff’. This ease will translate into a better product.

I stand by myself in the sense that Aviator90 was completed 90 days to the day of when it was released. There may have been some days in between where I got a bit behind, but I’d get caught up and the whole product was delivered on time.

Thanks for your great questions.

Throttle On!

Every online product we do from here on out will be downloadable. It’s something all of our users want. So yes! MD11 will have this. And it’ll be our first airline training in HD.