Chicago?

rayray311

rayray311

New Member
I posted this under flight school area but didnt get many reads or replies. I was going to go to ATP in Florida to train, but I'm getting all these opinions on going to a local FBO to train. I'm 32, recently married and would like to start a family in about 2-3 years. I'm thinking about moving back with my wife to Chicago and living with family and going to a local FBO there, or even ATP's location in Chicago.

Any opinions or suggestions on places to train there?
 
I could not tell you much about ATP in chicago (aurora), however I know some other good flight school in the chicagoland area. If you are interested send me a pm.
 
You could save alot of money by going to an FBO. I did all my training (with the exception of multi add-on) at FBOs and it was well worth it. ATP in Chicago changes fast, especially during times like these. There's a really high turnover rate for instructors. When I took the ATP written a couple months ago the instructor in charge there was really stressed because her partner just quit without notice and she was leaving soon herself. When I got my multi there in 2002 the guy who was instructing there was so stressed from working 8-8 that he was ready to quit aviation all together. The training was excellent, though. Hopefully I didn't just get lucky, but I really felt bad for those guys. If you do go to Chicago there's a ton of FBOs and schools to choose from around the area.
 
Go to ATP..

Time is money..

The difference in two guys getting hired at the same company, a year apart could mean quite a bit..

Upgrades, pay, QOL, etc.. etc.. etc..

I had to make the same decision.. FBO or ATP..

One of the best things I did was ask as many MAJOR pilots I could..

The answer most of them gave me.. "Which way can get you flying sooner?"

Again, this is my opinion and you know what they are like.. ;)
 
As it's been said many times here, ATP is probably a fine place, but an FBO can get you done as quick as ATP.

I did my PPL in 4 weeks at an FBO. I was a motivated student who trained full-time.

Find out all you can, visit several places, and see which environment you feel most comfortable in.
 
Do you have a full time job? Is it a good paying job? If so then I would just go to the local FBO. I was inches away from doing the ATP thing. I would not have been able to do the face paced course seeing I would need to still work to get by and not fly full time. That left the other slower paced, at my own speed program. Well if you do the math you will see getting it done at the FBO is a lot cheaper. My age also had a lot to do with the decision. Im 34 and there was no way I was going to rack up debt like that if I had plans to start a family one day. Thats something to think about. Good luck
 
SeanD said:
My age also had a lot to do with the decision. Im 34 and there was no way I was going to rack up debt like that if I had plans to start a family one day. Thats something to think about. Good luck
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See.. it's all in how you look at it..

If I was 34 and wanted to make this a career, I would do everything in my power to get these ratings as fast as I could..
 
well if i moved to Chicago with my wife we would probably stay at my parents for the year that I study to save on rent. Plus my wife would be working to pay the bills. I would get a part time job a few days a week and try to do the pilot thing maybe 4 days a week. I thought that sounded good to me.

God i really want to go to ATP...but I dont want 60k in loans when Im doan since I have 18k still from my bachelors. Plus we want to start a family the first year or two Im done with school.

Decisions decisions

keep the advice coming though i love it!
 
rayray311 said:
well if i moved to Chicago with my wife we would probably stay at my parents for the year that I study to save on rent. Plus my wife would be working to pay the bills. I would get a part time job a few days a week and try to do the pilot thing maybe 4 days a week. I thought that sounded good to me.

God i really want to go to ATP...but I dont want 60k in loans when Im doan since I have 18k still from my bachelors. Plus we want to start a family the first year or two Im done with school.

Decisions decisions

keep the advice coming though i love it!
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Do you have your PPL yet?
 
rayray311 said:
No I don't have my PPL. I'm starting from scratch.
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I would get the PPL out of the way before making any huge decisions about ATP. You can get that at a local FBO for about 4k or so. If you havent done a discovery flight I would go do that before anything. Its about $50 or so.
 
I've taken a few discovery flights over the years. Plus i was going to the airforce out of high school to be a pilot and had a horrible knee injury before which forced me to give up that dream because of the type of surgery I had with metal implants and screws in my knee. I know I want to do this. And I do not have the time to do the PPL and then go and do the rest later. I need to do it all in one shot. I want to find one place where I can do it all if possible.


SeanD said:
I would get the PPL out of the way before making any huge decisions about ATP. You can get that at a local FBO for about 4k or so. If you havent done a discovery flight I would go do that before anything. Its about $50 or so.
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I thought the self paced 10 month program required that you already have your PPL? I could be wrong though.

My opinion might not mean to much because I too haven't started yet. But from all the research I have done, I would stick with an FBO. It will e cheaper and you can still get it done fast if your dedicated. Plus staying at the parents and saving on rent is a huge plus. I wish I had that option.
 
ATP is overrated. There is nothing you can do there you couldn't do somewhere else cheaper. They have the hiring agreements, which some feel are important, but you don't need that fluff if you are willing to instruct a couple months more.

Seniority is nice, but not at the expense of being a well qualified, well rounded, seasoned, aviator.
 
DE727UPS said:
ATP is overrated. There is nothing you can do there you couldn't do somewhere else cheaper. They have the hiring agreements, which some feel are important, but you don't need that fluff if you are willing to instruct a couple months more.

Seniority is nice, but not at the expense of being a well qualified, well rounded, seasoned, aviator.
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:yeahthat:
 
I used to instruct for ATP out of Chicago. The FBO that we contracted with for fuel and maintenance is called Lumanair, which also has a flight school that had some pretty reasonable rates while I was there. Dupage is next door and has a few flight schools. Personally I wouldn't go to American Flyers because they tend to overcharge and overfly you, but that was just the impression I got from helping one of their instructors get his MEI. Chicago Executive (Palwaukee) is where ATP used to operate out of. It's right north of O' Scare so you would have fly quite a ways away in order to shoot instrument approaches or even to get enough room to practice VFR maneuvers. I remember reading about one flight school there called Palwaukee Wings or Chicago Wings or something to that effect. The gist of the FlightInfo thread was to stay away because they like to scam you for more money. I'd go research that one over at FI. Aurora, Dupage, and Palwaukee are the ones I'm most familiar with in the Chicago area but I'm sure there's a few more you may want to check out.
 
DE727UPS said:
but not at the expense of being a well qualified, well rounded, seasoned, aviator.
Click to expand...

Because it is impossible to become this through ATP.. Right?

Doing whatever will get you to the flying job the most proficient way possible is what you need to do..

Be that ATP, Ari Ben, FBO, Yoda, Qui Gon Gin or whatever other method possible..
 
I've said this before, and I'll say it again: it matters more on the type of instructor that you get than the name on the door. Just b/c you go to ATP doesn't mean you're not gonna wind up with a guy that doesn't care about teaching, went there for the bonus and is his free CRJ course away from leaving. Same can be said about an FBO (well, maybe not the free CRJ course).

HOWEVER, anyone that says you can't get ratings done at an FBO at the same pace at ATP just hasn't done the research. If you've got the time, money and a motivated instructor, you can get it done. I know. I've had students fire through ratings at Skymates at possibly a FASTER clip than ATP.
 
Again, if you're looking for speed, an FBO can sometimes accomodate that! The one I trained at did.

I can't stress enough to shop around, visit many places (large & small) and make you OWN decision based on how you feel about what you've seen.
 
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