N519AT
Ahh! This is how I change this!
Before I begin. I want to say that your experience may vary. I studied hard before I came on a lot of the material and was able to get through the course in a relative short amount of time. Do NOT use this review as a comparison as to how fast you get should through the program. I do NOT want to hear about people saying to their instructors/the chief pilot "well on the internet this guy that called himself N519AT said I'd have this done by now." How fast you move the program is largely dependent on you. Once again, your experience may vary.
Alright, so I did the $995 Special down in Arlington last week. I flew in on Monday night from Detroit into Dallas Love. Be advised, if fly into Love like I did and have to use a taxi it'll cost you. I paid $56 dollars to get to the hotel in Arlington on Monday night, and $69 back to Love on Friday. No idea why the cost was different, but whatever. I'm too young to rent a car, so transportation was kind of a hurdle for me on this trip. Arlington is the largest city in TX with no public transportation whatsoever.
I did use the hotel recommended by the staff at ATP, which was the Quality Inn in Arlington Highlands. The hotel is situated in a shopping plaza of sorts. Lots of restaurants around...P.F. Changs, some Mexican restaurant are what I specifically remember. There are definitely some other ones, but I didn't really venture down that way at all. I ate at Wendy's (5 minute walk), Which Wich (sandwich shop, also 5 minute walk) and ordered Domino's while I was there. If you need an ATM, there is also a bank which is probably about 2-3 minute walk. Breakfast in the morning was good, no real complaints about the hotel. One thing, I did book the hotel on southwest.com for about $5/night less than what ATP was getting with their deal. I'm not sure if it was a one time special or if that's what they advertise all the time.
Also, the hotel advertises on their website that they have a free shuttle to GKY...this is not true. I asked the front desk clerk about it and she said they only go into Arlington and some mall.
Okay, so that pretty much covers the hotel. I'll break down what I got at ATP by day.
Day 1 (Tuesday):
Arrived at 0745, checked in. Paperwork takes about 15 minutes or so. Remember to bring all of the documents listed in the packet that they send you. I met my instructor, and from about 0815-1000 we did ground. If you study the supplement (first 16 pages, mainly) you will be fine. I had to study a little bit additionally on the aerodynamics part, but other than that it was fine. If you have the first 16 pages of the supplement studied, everything will go a lot smoother with ground. At 1000 we took a short break, came back did a little more ground then broke for lunch.
Came back, did sim for the rest of the afternoon. Basically, just have the gear down before landing checklist memorized, clean config flow, cruise checklist and all of the maneuvers memorized. You will be using the gear down before landing checklist and the cruise checklist the most. I don't think the supplement listed it, but for the "Power set" portion of the cruise checklist I was told to use 20"/2300 RPM. Once again, memorize the maneuvers. Just like Jeremy probably told you...knowing what comes next in the maneuver is paramount to staying ahead of the airplane. I learn best with flash cards, so I used those to help me chair fly the maneuvers.
In the sim, we did all of the maneuvers that the PTS required, took a break then came back and did it a second time. After the second time of going through the maneuvers, we were done for the day.My instructor decided I was proficient enough in the simulator to move on to the airplane and get both 2 hr flights done tomorrow. It was probably around 1600 when I went back to my hotel room.
I went back to my hotel room, studied on aerodynamics and got the maneuvers down.
Day 2 (Wednesday):
Showed up at around 0800. We started briefing the first of the day's two flights. My instructor decided I was proficient enough in the simulator to move on to the airplane and get both 2 hr flights done today.
In the airplane, you basically do everything that you did in the sim. It was my first time actually flying a light piston twin. Keep an eye out for traffic...if you're like me, who comes from a not-so-busy Class C airport on the busiest of days, it can be a wake up call. On more than one occasion, I was surprised at how much traffic showed up on the TIS. There is a lot of activity in a relatively small area.
Basically on the flight you do: Steep turns, slow flight, power off, power on, engine failure at altitude, VMC demo, emergency decent (don't forget to bring the gear up, watch Vlo-up), single engine ILS, normal landing, short field takeoff/landing, engine failure after takeoff, and single engine landing.
We did 2 hrs first, came back to GKY for a short break, then back out for 2 more hours. We came back to GKY then and my instructor gave me my sign off for my checkride. It was probably around 1400 or so that I went back to my hotel.
Day 3 (Thursday):
Showed up at 0645 or so. Did my paperwork required for the checkride and waited for the examiner to come in. Once he was there, he did another applicant's instrument oral and then mine. He asked me about the fuel system, landing gear system, where the battery was located (nose cone), engine stuff, propeller stuff, critical engine, VMC factors, and aerodynamics of an engine failure. Lasted probably 15 minutes total. We had to call it a day there because of weather. By this time it was about 1200.
Day 4 (Friday):
This day wasn't looking to be very good at all weather wise, but it did start to clear later in the morning. Showed up at 0800, I waited around for a while and the examiner showed up around 1000. He did another student's recheck shortly after he showed up. They came back around 1200. I was starting the engines up at around 1230.
As far as the checkride goes, it went pretty much standard to what I did in my other flights, with a couple of changes. We taxied out, normal take off to the south for the maneuvers. Did slow flight first, then into a power off stall. Recover, then did steep turns. After we did steep turns, we did the VMC demo and the engine failure at altitude. Then the emergency descent, almost forgot to suck up the gear but I redeemed myself at the last second.
Did the single engine ILS...one thing that kind of frustrated me was the fact that he gave me a 50 degree intercept heading to the ILS single engine. The max ATC is allowed to give is 30 degrees. It does make a difference, and if you aren't watching the HSI like a hawk you can blow through it really easily.
Landed single engine, taxied back for takeoffs and landings. Did the shorts, normal landing and engine failure after takeoff/single engine landing.
I did everything to specs and was rewarded with a temporary at the end of the checkride. The checkride was easier than all of the other checkrides that I've taken in the sense that there was less maneuvers, but I was still stressed out just like all of the other ones. They just stress me out for some reason.
===
In summary, the program at ATP is fantastic and it gave me everything that I was looking to get out of it. One thing though, if you don't crack open that supplement, and the packet that is sent to you beforehand, you might find yourself paying for two multi engine specials. Do yourself and your instructor a big favor and study before you go. It's not for the people that show up 6 months out of currency and haven't seen an approach plate in 3 years. You have to show up ready to have a clue on how to fly the maneuvers and have the first 16 pages of the supplement down pat.
With that said, I just wanted to say that the staff down in ATP GKY is fantastic. They have a great bunch of guys down there and they've been at it for a while so they know what's going on. My instructor was great and very thorough with any questions that I had. I felt that if I needed extra time on anything, I could get it..however, once again I was ahead of schedule on the training syllabus and used minimum time to get proficient. The facility is nice with a pilot lounge with computers, tv, snack/pop machine etc.
I would definitely recommend this program looking to get a multi-engine add-on with quality instruction in quality airplanes with a rather low price. If I did it all over again, I wouldn't do it any different. You just can't beat it.
Once again I'd like to say that this is purely advisory only. Also, sorry for any grammatical errors. I don't usually write up stuff like this since I stopped blogging a long time ago.
Alright, so I did the $995 Special down in Arlington last week. I flew in on Monday night from Detroit into Dallas Love. Be advised, if fly into Love like I did and have to use a taxi it'll cost you. I paid $56 dollars to get to the hotel in Arlington on Monday night, and $69 back to Love on Friday. No idea why the cost was different, but whatever. I'm too young to rent a car, so transportation was kind of a hurdle for me on this trip. Arlington is the largest city in TX with no public transportation whatsoever.
I did use the hotel recommended by the staff at ATP, which was the Quality Inn in Arlington Highlands. The hotel is situated in a shopping plaza of sorts. Lots of restaurants around...P.F. Changs, some Mexican restaurant are what I specifically remember. There are definitely some other ones, but I didn't really venture down that way at all. I ate at Wendy's (5 minute walk), Which Wich (sandwich shop, also 5 minute walk) and ordered Domino's while I was there. If you need an ATM, there is also a bank which is probably about 2-3 minute walk. Breakfast in the morning was good, no real complaints about the hotel. One thing, I did book the hotel on southwest.com for about $5/night less than what ATP was getting with their deal. I'm not sure if it was a one time special or if that's what they advertise all the time.
Also, the hotel advertises on their website that they have a free shuttle to GKY...this is not true. I asked the front desk clerk about it and she said they only go into Arlington and some mall.
Okay, so that pretty much covers the hotel. I'll break down what I got at ATP by day.
Day 1 (Tuesday):
Arrived at 0745, checked in. Paperwork takes about 15 minutes or so. Remember to bring all of the documents listed in the packet that they send you. I met my instructor, and from about 0815-1000 we did ground. If you study the supplement (first 16 pages, mainly) you will be fine. I had to study a little bit additionally on the aerodynamics part, but other than that it was fine. If you have the first 16 pages of the supplement studied, everything will go a lot smoother with ground. At 1000 we took a short break, came back did a little more ground then broke for lunch.
Came back, did sim for the rest of the afternoon. Basically, just have the gear down before landing checklist memorized, clean config flow, cruise checklist and all of the maneuvers memorized. You will be using the gear down before landing checklist and the cruise checklist the most. I don't think the supplement listed it, but for the "Power set" portion of the cruise checklist I was told to use 20"/2300 RPM. Once again, memorize the maneuvers. Just like Jeremy probably told you...knowing what comes next in the maneuver is paramount to staying ahead of the airplane. I learn best with flash cards, so I used those to help me chair fly the maneuvers.
In the sim, we did all of the maneuvers that the PTS required, took a break then came back and did it a second time. After the second time of going through the maneuvers, we were done for the day.My instructor decided I was proficient enough in the simulator to move on to the airplane and get both 2 hr flights done tomorrow. It was probably around 1600 when I went back to my hotel room.
I went back to my hotel room, studied on aerodynamics and got the maneuvers down.
Day 2 (Wednesday):
Showed up at around 0800. We started briefing the first of the day's two flights. My instructor decided I was proficient enough in the simulator to move on to the airplane and get both 2 hr flights done today.
In the airplane, you basically do everything that you did in the sim. It was my first time actually flying a light piston twin. Keep an eye out for traffic...if you're like me, who comes from a not-so-busy Class C airport on the busiest of days, it can be a wake up call. On more than one occasion, I was surprised at how much traffic showed up on the TIS. There is a lot of activity in a relatively small area.
Basically on the flight you do: Steep turns, slow flight, power off, power on, engine failure at altitude, VMC demo, emergency decent (don't forget to bring the gear up, watch Vlo-up), single engine ILS, normal landing, short field takeoff/landing, engine failure after takeoff, and single engine landing.
We did 2 hrs first, came back to GKY for a short break, then back out for 2 more hours. We came back to GKY then and my instructor gave me my sign off for my checkride. It was probably around 1400 or so that I went back to my hotel.
Day 3 (Thursday):
Showed up at 0645 or so. Did my paperwork required for the checkride and waited for the examiner to come in. Once he was there, he did another applicant's instrument oral and then mine. He asked me about the fuel system, landing gear system, where the battery was located (nose cone), engine stuff, propeller stuff, critical engine, VMC factors, and aerodynamics of an engine failure. Lasted probably 15 minutes total. We had to call it a day there because of weather. By this time it was about 1200.
Day 4 (Friday):
This day wasn't looking to be very good at all weather wise, but it did start to clear later in the morning. Showed up at 0800, I waited around for a while and the examiner showed up around 1000. He did another student's recheck shortly after he showed up. They came back around 1200. I was starting the engines up at around 1230.
As far as the checkride goes, it went pretty much standard to what I did in my other flights, with a couple of changes. We taxied out, normal take off to the south for the maneuvers. Did slow flight first, then into a power off stall. Recover, then did steep turns. After we did steep turns, we did the VMC demo and the engine failure at altitude. Then the emergency descent, almost forgot to suck up the gear but I redeemed myself at the last second.
Did the single engine ILS...one thing that kind of frustrated me was the fact that he gave me a 50 degree intercept heading to the ILS single engine. The max ATC is allowed to give is 30 degrees. It does make a difference, and if you aren't watching the HSI like a hawk you can blow through it really easily. Landed single engine, taxied back for takeoffs and landings. Did the shorts, normal landing and engine failure after takeoff/single engine landing.
I did everything to specs and was rewarded with a temporary at the end of the checkride. The checkride was easier than all of the other checkrides that I've taken in the sense that there was less maneuvers, but I was still stressed out just like all of the other ones. They just stress me out for some reason.
===
In summary, the program at ATP is fantastic and it gave me everything that I was looking to get out of it. One thing though, if you don't crack open that supplement, and the packet that is sent to you beforehand, you might find yourself paying for two multi engine specials. Do yourself and your instructor a big favor and study before you go. It's not for the people that show up 6 months out of currency and haven't seen an approach plate in 3 years. You have to show up ready to have a clue on how to fly the maneuvers and have the first 16 pages of the supplement down pat.
With that said, I just wanted to say that the staff down in ATP GKY is fantastic. They have a great bunch of guys down there and they've been at it for a while so they know what's going on. My instructor was great and very thorough with any questions that I had. I felt that if I needed extra time on anything, I could get it..however, once again I was ahead of schedule on the training syllabus and used minimum time to get proficient. The facility is nice with a pilot lounge with computers, tv, snack/pop machine etc.
I would definitely recommend this program looking to get a multi-engine add-on with quality instruction in quality airplanes with a rather low price. If I did it all over again, I wouldn't do it any different. You just can't beat it.
Once again I'd like to say that this is purely advisory only. Also, sorry for any grammatical errors. I don't usually write up stuff like this since I stopped blogging a long time ago.
