Superflytowel
New Member
Hi all!
I just started school as a freshman at ASU this semester. I'm in the professional flight program here, and I was somewhat disappointed to learn that ASU does all of their flight training through ATP. When touring the campus, I got the impression that the flight instructors were all going to be airline and/or military pilots because that's kind of what they advertised. I think what they meant was that all of the professors for the aviation classes here are airline and/or military pilots. Anyways, I had my first couple lessons for instrument this past weekend... and I guess I have observed some pros and cons.
On the good side, most of the instructors at this ATP seem to be pretty nice and helpful and seem to care about you and your success. In addition, this ATP seems to have pretty good customer service and works with ASU students pretty well to try to make everything work with our schedules and stuff.
However, the super structured system there is not really my preference. I got my private part 61 so it's a different system to me. It feels like they're trying to make a Cessna 172 into an airliner with all the briefings and callouts and dragging the airplane in with power on the approach. I also feel like they kind of rush things in the flight and there is pressure on you to get things done quickly in the preflight and such. No offense to the guys at ATP, but I don't really like the idea of just rushing through ratings all business and not really stopping to enjoy the ride and really learn to fly GA and get experience rather than trying to learn to fly every plane like an airliner right off the bat. My instructor for private was very experienced and had a very specific way to fly (some things he did probably weren't that common), but it was a very safe way to fly and I enjoyed learning it that way because I could tell that everything that he had me do, he had a very good reason for having me do it that way and it was a great way to do it FOR THAT AIRPLANE. Maybe not what you would do in an airliner, but great for a single engine trainer like a 172.
So enough ranting... I'm here at ASU and I love the professors on the ASU side and all, and I do eventually want to fly airlines or something along those lines, so in a way I know a school that goes through a sort of very structured program is good for that, but at the same time I don't really know that I like the ATP side of things and I don't want all the fun to be sucked out of my training. Plus, I have to get my degree here in "Professional Flight" which is not really good for anything except flying so there really isn't a back up college level career behind me if I do this. So I'd like some input here... what are all of your guys' experiences with ATP? I know there is a lot on here about it but I just wanted to see what some of your opinions are about it. Maybe even people who have been through the Mesa ATP here. Am I just being really whiney about ATP? or is it maybe not the best option for flight training? Thanks for taking the time to read this! xD
I just started school as a freshman at ASU this semester. I'm in the professional flight program here, and I was somewhat disappointed to learn that ASU does all of their flight training through ATP. When touring the campus, I got the impression that the flight instructors were all going to be airline and/or military pilots because that's kind of what they advertised. I think what they meant was that all of the professors for the aviation classes here are airline and/or military pilots. Anyways, I had my first couple lessons for instrument this past weekend... and I guess I have observed some pros and cons.
On the good side, most of the instructors at this ATP seem to be pretty nice and helpful and seem to care about you and your success. In addition, this ATP seems to have pretty good customer service and works with ASU students pretty well to try to make everything work with our schedules and stuff.
However, the super structured system there is not really my preference. I got my private part 61 so it's a different system to me. It feels like they're trying to make a Cessna 172 into an airliner with all the briefings and callouts and dragging the airplane in with power on the approach. I also feel like they kind of rush things in the flight and there is pressure on you to get things done quickly in the preflight and such. No offense to the guys at ATP, but I don't really like the idea of just rushing through ratings all business and not really stopping to enjoy the ride and really learn to fly GA and get experience rather than trying to learn to fly every plane like an airliner right off the bat. My instructor for private was very experienced and had a very specific way to fly (some things he did probably weren't that common), but it was a very safe way to fly and I enjoyed learning it that way because I could tell that everything that he had me do, he had a very good reason for having me do it that way and it was a great way to do it FOR THAT AIRPLANE. Maybe not what you would do in an airliner, but great for a single engine trainer like a 172.
So enough ranting... I'm here at ASU and I love the professors on the ASU side and all, and I do eventually want to fly airlines or something along those lines, so in a way I know a school that goes through a sort of very structured program is good for that, but at the same time I don't really know that I like the ATP side of things and I don't want all the fun to be sucked out of my training. Plus, I have to get my degree here in "Professional Flight" which is not really good for anything except flying so there really isn't a back up college level career behind me if I do this. So I'd like some input here... what are all of your guys' experiences with ATP? I know there is a lot on here about it but I just wanted to see what some of your opinions are about it. Maybe even people who have been through the Mesa ATP here. Am I just being really whiney about ATP? or is it maybe not the best option for flight training? Thanks for taking the time to read this! xD