Completed the 2-day ATP course in FXE

mokulele

Well-Known Member
Just thought I'd share my experience just in case some of you in similar situations are thinking about making the jump. I just completed ATP Flight School's 2-day ATP Certificate course at their Fort Lauderdale - Executive Airport (FXE) location.

Background:
  • First Officer on the CRJ-200 - multi crew
  • Rough times: 2930 total, 2500 CRJ, 27 Piper Seminole.
  • Flew the 2000-model Piper PA-44-180 Seminole for my Commercial Multi/Inst. I had the use of an autopilot/flight director and electric yoke trim for my Comm training. ATP Seminole's do NOT have these.
  • Graduate of the University of North Dakota (Commercial Aviation)
  • No previous experience with the ATP Flight School
  • Posessed a valid ATP written exam (used Sheppard Air prep course)
You could say the airline I am currently flying for is a sinking ship. This aided me in my decision to attempt the ATP on my own. Factors for choosing ATP Flight School included standardization I could follow and proven results (Their ATP course is apparently their cornerstone of their operation). I chose the Fort Lauderdale - Executive Airport (FXE) location to ensure winter weather would not pose as a threat to the amount of energy and money I would be putting into this effort. I tried my best to find out as much as I could about the ATP Flight School but had limited resources (you may also dig up my previous inquiry right here on JetCareers). Course cost $2395 + Examiner fee $500 (cash).

The most difficult choice was determining the exact dates I would be commiting myself to doing this. I scheduled the course about six weeks in advance to give myself adequate time to study. Finding the motivation to study was like pulling teeth but I got it done.

Preparation:
  • Printed the Piper Seminole Training Supplement and Maneuvers Guide from the ATP Flight School Student Resources section. Knowing this supplement is very important.
    http://www.atpflightschool.com/students/index.html
  • Answered and memorized all of the oral exam preparation questions contained in the back of the supplement.
  • Memorized the engine failure checklists.
  • Watched the ATP Flight School online videos on the ILS & VOR approaches, and Seminole preflight inspection
  • Printed the Jeppesen chart packet for the FXE location found on the ATP Flight School website.
  • Borrowed a Piper Seminole Pilot's Information Manual from a friend to study.
  • I learned that the University of North Dakota allows its graduates FREE Professional Development access to the Piper Seminole Frasca at the Grand Forks campus (Sim standardization conducted by tech staff required during weekday business hours - it is free). There is ONE analog Seminole FTD left and is usually UNUSED due to the fact that UND is now an all-glass fleet. Being MSP-based and able to non-rev fairly easily to GFK, I took advantage of this opportunity to reacquaint myself with the Seminole. I was quickly reminded that the FTD is horrible at engine-out operations. It was however, a great opportunity to practice the standard six-pack scan and relearn the functions on the Garmin 430. I did a total of four sim sessions.
  • Raw data takeoff/climbs, descents/approaches at work to get some hand flying and scan practice done.
  • Had logbooks totaled and up-to-date.
Training day:
  • Check in at 8:00 am, went through legal paperwork, copies of certificates, etc. The manager is very friendly and helpful.
  • Given a set of Jeppesen approach charts and airport diagrams for the three airports they use for the training and checkride.
  • Given the checklists - there are two checklist types: One spiral-bound book that contains ALL checklists (if you aren't familiar with it, you will end up wasting time searching for what you need in-flight and becomes impractical). The other is a card containing all in-flight checklists (an except if you will). This version is very handy in-flight.
  • Provided some time in their Seminole Frasca FTD to practice the checklist and run through a GPS approach profile.
  • Assigned to a 2000-model Piper Seminole - which, interestingly enough, I actually flew at UND as a Comm Multi student! This bird had been sold to ATP and flew south. It was nice to see a familiar airplane although her autopilot/flight director and electric trim was deactivated to standardize with the rest of the ATP fleet.
  • Two training flights limited to two hours each, or four hours total. If you need additional time, one-hour blocks are available at $400 a pop. This puts you under the gun to perform and use your time wisely.
  • The first 45 minutes of the first flight my head was spinning. We went up to practice the aerial maneuvers (stall/approach to stall series, steep turns, engine-out, emergency descent). I thought I had everything memorized, but the challenge was now translating the rote memorization into muscle memory where my eyes, arms and hands could go without much thought.
  • At the end of my first flight I was feeling overwhelmed and began to question whether if I had bit off more than I could chew. My instructor seemed completely unphased by my own self-doubt. He kept an upbeat attitude and said I had nothing to worry about.
  • I identified two things that seemed to slow me down:
    • Cockpit organization - checklists and charts. I found that using the checklist card (containing all in-flight checklists) helped improve my organzation by ten fold.
    • Muscle memory - reach for things without having to search for them; know exactly where they are. After the succession of each maneuver, this became natural.
  • The second flight was mostly approaches (partial panel and engine outs) with a revisit to some of the aerial maneuvers because we had extra time to use up. The flight went well and my confidence was up. I had a much better feeling for the airplane, my division of attention had greatly improved, and it was all coming together. We called it wraps at around 8:00 pm. I was completely wiped. My brain had not been challenged like this in a long while!
Checkride:
  • Arrive at 8:00 am to calculate performance, weight/balance, obtain weather briefing, etc.
  • Examiner arrives at 9:00 am, go over paperwork, logbooks
  • Oral exam on Seminole systems. All questions were from those contained in the Training Supplement.
  • The flight portion was very straight forward. Aerial maneuvers under the hood (power-on, power-off stalls, maneuvering on single-engine, restart, steep turns, unusual attitudes), holding, and four approaches (two non-precision, two precision) one of which is circle-to-land. We had to fly to three different airports to get the required approaches due to the wind and runway configurations in the area. This resulted in a slightly lengthy flight (longer than usual), but I took advantage of the extra time to get situated and set up. I handled most of the communications. The examiner handled all special requests and traffic/practice area calls.
  • My landings were awful but made within the first 1/3 of the runway. I had a bad habit of trying to land the Seminole like a CRJ and it was not pretty. I have a feeling this is to be expected from 121 guys that are used to landing a jet.
  • Done by 12:30 pm. Paperwork completed, logbook entry signed, certificate in hand!
My advice for anyone in a similar situation considering it is DON'T be afraid of diving into the challenge. Of course everyone is different, but I think it is do-able as long as you commit yourself to studying and preparing for the training. The checkride is really not that bad; the challenge is learning the standardization of the maneuvers and profiles expected of you. My clear advantage was having flown the Seminole before in the past and having access to UND's sims to prepare. If you are a button-pusher at work you might want to disconnect and handfly for a bit (gasp!) just to sharpen your flying skills. When you arrive for training, be prepared to hit the ground running.

The staff at the FXE location were all friendly, enthusiastic and helpful. My instructor was genuinely interested in my training and success and even treated me to lunch despite my protest. The airplanes seemed to be maintained well and documented well. The examiner they work with is fair and straight-forward. No BS surprises or gotcha's. It's a well-oiled machine.

If anyone has questions and would like to know more, feel free to PM me.
 
Excellent write-up!

Thanks for sharing your experience and Congrats on getting your ATP.

Cheers.
 
Great writeup. I'm glad you did this because I've been thinking about doing this for a while.

In fact our situations are very similar. Same flight times, also went to UND, different regional, but same opinion on the long term health of my company.
 
You're all welcome. My biggest hang up before attempting this was the lack of insight as to how this would go down. I hope this helps others in aiding their decision making process.
 
Its good to see some good stories out of ATP. As I near the point where I will be thinking about doing my ATP, I'm starting to wonder how long I really need to budget for to complete the ATP. I really feel like at this point I may end up doing my ATP initial in a single. I haven't flown a piston twin airplane in years now and my brain works at 30 knots.
 
Its good to see some good stories out of ATP. As I near the point where I will be thinking about doing my ATP, I'm starting to wonder how long I really need to budget for to complete the ATP. I really feel like at this point I may end up doing my ATP initial in a single. I haven't flown a piston twin airplane in years now and my brain works at 30 knots.
I taught a few ATP singles at ATP. The hardest thing is the 3 consecutive power off 180s. Personally I would take a 100 knot approach speed over that anyday!

To the OP: One of the best writeups I have ever seen. Thanks for sharing!
 
I taught a few ATP singles at ATP. The hardest thing is the 3 consecutive power off 180s. Personally I would take a 100 knot approach speed over that anyday!

Good to know. I haven't really done much looking into it, as I'm still probably 8 months from having the time to take the ride. Plus then getting some time off to actually do it. Oh and the written.
 
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