A Running ATP experience thread

About 6 total...I"ll have 8 going into the checkride on Saturday. Then it's all about completing the Commercial requirements and timebuilding by doing crew XC's to other ATP locations...everyone says that's some of their favorite flying.
 
It can be, it can be kind of • too. Luck of the draw. I got sorta screwed on mine, I got the triangle over and over and over again (PHX-LGB-VGT-PHX-LGB-VGT-PHX-LGB-VGT.....) Whereas a friend got to fly a plane back from the east coast all the way to Phoenix and was in hotels every night... (I was only ever in a hotel.. twice.) The hotel thing is nice because the ATP housing is.... nasty as •
 
Dphoenix said:
It can be, it can be kind of too. Luck of the draw. I got sorta screwed on mine, I got the triangle over and over and over again (PHX-LGB-VGT-PHX-LGB-VGT-PHX-LGB-VGT.....) Whereas a friend got to fly a plane back from the east coast all the way to Phoenix and was in hotels every night... (I was only ever in a hotel.. twice.) The hotel thing is nice because the ATP housing is.... nasty as
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Good to know. Hopefully since I'm closer to the east coast I'll get to hit a lot of the locations.
 
Well, since earning my MEL last Saturday, the plan was to knock out a few of the Commercial requirements before starting my Crew XC time building. My MEI and I took a Seminole from Dupage to Lansing, MI this past Wednesday. Got some cool views of Chicago and went over Lake Michigan, ate dinner in Lansing at a little BBQ place. Then some nice reroutes on the way back to Chicago after sunset. 2.2 ME PIC in the book! We're planning the 3 hr day/ 3 hr night XC for tomorrow down to Bowling Green...Once those flights are done, it's just the 10 night t.o.'s & landings, then 2 crew "LOFT" training flights, then they'll send me on my ME crew cross country trips! Since I'm working full time it's all based on my availability and the majority of it will be on the weekends. I'm pushing to get those req's done so I can use the Labor Day long weekend to fly...
 
Very cool! Saw the Michigan pics in the other thread.

Next time please drop a sack of Portillo's on Grand Rapids as you pass. I'll light a fire in the backyard to mark the drop zone
 
jskibo said:
Very cool! Saw the Michigan pics in the other thread.

Next time please drop a sack of Portillo's on Grand Rapids as you pass. I'll light a fire in the backyard to mark the drop zone
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I wanted to go to GRR, but it's not on the list of approved XC's. Just stupid Capital City.
 
You get another 50 miles that way! I did 90 most of the way there yesterday, but traffic was bad on the way back, mostly 60.
 
Did the Commercial long XC yesterday. Dupage down to Bowling Green, KY. I was under the hood the whole time down, but we actually got some solid IMC through some buildups at 9,000 (about .5 actual). We had dinner in Kentucky, then once the sun set, filed and launched back towards Chicago in the Seminole. We did our first night landing in Pontiac, IL, also known as a classic black hole approach. Took off VFR and went up to Dekalb, shot an ILS and landed almost over the Corn Festival, that was pretty cool seeing the ferris wheel all lit up. We left Dekalb and had some time, so we went East towards Naperville and my house, "buzzed" the house and went back to Dupage. Almost 6.5 in the books! (all Multi PIC!)
 
Jonathanf4 said:
So my question is if ATP student are considered to just meet “Min Standards” and train to just pass checkride’s then why is it that most of them end up getting jobs at the Regional’s? I haven’t found any data points that illustrate how local FBO stack up with ATP regarding job placement with the Regional’s but it appears that a lot of ATP grads get placed with airlines. I assume most of them do fairly well and become another success story. At least that’s the ones you hear about.
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Because it's not hard to get hired at a regional. The basic steps involved in getting hired at a regional:
  • Meet the minimum qualifications, which generally are just flight hour requirements.
  • Get your application noticed. <-- This is the hard step, same as any other job.
  • Don't be stupid in the interview.
That's it in a nutshell.

What I noticed in doing IOE for new-hires, is that, in general (notice the emphasis, there are always exceptions, don't even start), the fast track pilots were not as good as those that took a more "traditional" route. What do I mean by "not as good"? I mean that they lacked experience. They had trouble with situational awareness, trouble thinking for themselves, trouble taking initiative. They wanted to know before the day/trip what airports we were going to and what approach plates to study. Good grief people, an approach is an approach! You've seen one, you've seen them all! Things like that.

The people who went the "traditional" route, such as FBO training, CFI for "normal" students, flying boxes, $100 hamburger flights, scared themselves a few times, etc. Were, in general (note the emphasis again), better equipped to make their decisions and didn't need to study an approach a day ahead of time (I single this out because it's so stupid).

Don't even get me started on graduates of an aviation university.

For the record, I did a couple ratings at ATP (multi-commercial add-on, and MEI add-on) because they were the only place within 100 miles that I could do it at. They didn't teach me squat beyond the test. Sure I could stomp the hell out of the dead engine in a seminole, but I didn't gain any experience or knowledge from them. I'm the type of person who likes learning on my own though, so it worked for me. I would NOT do a real rating from them.
 
So back on track with regards to the thread instead of bitching about ATP...

Did the required 10 night take offs & landings last night, it was pretty relaxed, and we had the first 9 landings done in something like .9, which left us just under an hour to go screw around in the practice area. I'm up to over 15 hours multi, and it's very weird to think the next checkride I'll be preparing for is the Commercial.
 
I live 5 min from GRR. Wife coming back from Cinci tonight, not sure what she has on Friday. What time are you going to be there? I'm getting a Jabiru J250 checkout on Sunday at KFPK (unless TS Issac sits on us).
 
ozziecat35 said:
Did the required 10 night take offs & landings last night.
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I always enjoyed doing those 10 landings with students. Normally the pattern was pretty quiet and it had cooled off some (I was at Williams). Also I normally had them fly a few approaches and landings with no instrument or landing lights. Good practice to get a sense of flying the airplane by feel and sound in the case of an electrical failure.
 
Dang dude! I can't remember that far back! :)

I think the "Yeah Crazy Huh?" remark was in response to this - So my question is if ATP student are considered to just meet “Min Standards” and train to just pass checkride’s then why is it that most of them end up getting jobs at the Regional’s?

And then I added how far a "Min Standard" ATP grad had actually gotten as further proof that ATP grads do just fine at airlines.

 
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