is ATP for me?

schuh

New Member
Im finishing up my private and i cant pick a school I want to go to to finish my ratings. Everyone tells me not to do atp and i dont understand why.

I want to do the 90 day program and people are telling me that its way to fast to learn everything. Please tell me why i should go here. I just dont want to go to a local FBO school and be training for ever.

I also have no desire to go to Airlines. I want to fly for a air ambulance company and fly 421's or a king air. Well in the long future.

And i would be going to the sacramento location if i decide to go:)

any help would be great
 
Well... You're in for a long thread.

People are very polarized over ATP vs. FBO... and there's only a few of us that can actually see the benefit of both, depending on the instructor and equipment of course.

Overall though... as long as you are fully informed and have visited several different flight schools, and spoken individually with instructors and students at each, to see for yourself which option will work best for you based on your needs, your learning style, and your timeline... then it really doesn't matter what other people think.

Ironically, I too looked into air-ambulance services while instructing at ATP... I had an "in" at Teddy Bear Air (fly King-Air's for the local children's hospital), and I had given the manager of another air ambulance company that flew the Pilatus, his multi-engine ATP rating. The schedule at the time looked really good to me... 7 on and 7 off, and working close to home. I got sucked into the hiring spree at the regionals before anything happened with them though.

Good luck on your decision.

Bob

PS: Welcome to Jetcareers! :)
 
I think doing the 90 day thing would be good for me. I forget things if i dont keep doing it so flying almost everyday would be a good thing i think. Im in real estate so I am ready to quit that for a couple months and just fly.

any one like the sac ATP?
 
I think doing the 90 day thing would be good for me. I forget things if i dont keep doing it so flying almost everyday would be a good thing i think.
That's basically the crutch of one of the arguements regarding ATP and FBO's.

One school of thought is that flying and learning everyday helps solidify the information as you build on each lesson. The other school of thought is that taking longer helps the info "sink in". Further arguments regarding retention of said information then follow. ;)

Bob
 
I have to be doing things non stop with no break time to let it set in. Can anyone give me some info on how the 90 day was? A typical day would be great
 
I work at ATP and enjoy. The students I work with get an instructor committed to good training. Period. There are no perfect flight schools anywhere. I recommend ATP for the person who wants to go through at a quicker pace. Another reason is the multi time. I love it and cant get enough of it. I miss it on days off (both of them over the last few months! :D).

PM me for any questions (private message). I will shoot straight with ya.
 
schuh

I went to ATP and now work for ATP. I may not agree with everything that goes on but, I enjoyed being a student there and have enjoyed working there for the most part! I tried to get my training at a local college at the time and they told me I could only fly 2 hours 3 times a week. So I would get nine hours a week if it was perfect flying weather, which would take approximately six months, IF it was perfect flying days and all the airplanes were working. At ATP if you don’t get the flight done that day you do it the next day because you have dedicated 90 days to get your ratings. With that being said some people it takes 100 days or less than 90 due to weather/maintenance and other issues.

I tried doing the FBO route but it didn’t work out. I almost had all the hours for my instrument rating but then my instructor told me I needed to rent a plane for 40 hours because I needed 50 hours PIC XC for the Instrument rating which I didn’t know about. All my instrument training was done at my local airport doing the same approaches over and over again. At ATP almost every flight is a cross country except private multi training.

I now am a gold seal flight instructor with lots of hours, I have enjoyed instructing greatly. I wouldn’t have done it any other way!

PM me with any questions!
 
I too am really considering the SAC ATP location. I just finished my private in Reno, which because of weather and such took me over a year, and am going to a flight school next summer after college. ATP seems like one of the most efficient ways to get all of your ratings. I've done my fare share of research from, ATP, Ari Ben, Embry, Falcon, local FBO and many more. ATP is the only one I have ever found that has a fixed price. I have followed them and how they have altered thier programs for the past year and a half and it still looks good. This is great considering my FBO promised me about $7000 for my private but ended up costing over $14,000.

I'm in the same boat your in. There are so many different factors to consider when entering into a shaky market. My hopes are that there is a turn around by next summer because the scariest part, I think, is when I finish flight training there won't be any jobs and I will be stuck with a huge loan to pay. I'm going to visit the SAC location in January and maybe tour lots of schools in Florida in April.

It's good to see I'm not the only one struggling through this decision. So as a fellow student, I think ATP is still the best choice.
 
I'm at the Arlington TX location, in the middle of CFI school, just a few weeks away from being done. It's been equally the most exhilerating and exhausting time of my life.

I picked the 90-day program (with PPL add-on) because I felt that flying everyday would be the best way to really calcify the knowledge and skills that come with becoming a pilot, and I was right. This stuff has become second nature to me, and I'd happily endorse it to anyone who can handle (and commit to) the workload. The pace is definitely not for everybody, though... of the 5 students that started with me, only 2 remain.

By the way, I toured the SAC location during my due diligence and was impressed.

Good luck!
 
I'm at the Arlington TX location, in the middle of CFI school, just a few weeks away from being done. It's been equally the most exhilerating and exhausting time of my life.

I picked the 90-day program (with PPL add-on) because I felt that flying everyday would be the best way to really calcify the knowledge and skills that come with becoming a pilot, and I was right. This stuff has become second nature to me, and I'd happily endorse it to anyone who can handle (and commit to) the workload. The pace is definitely not for everybody, though... of the 5 students that started with me, only 2 remain.

By the way, I toured the SAC location during my due diligence and was impressed.

Good luck!


what is a typical day for you?
 
"I want to do the 90 day program and people are telling me that its way to fast to learn everything."

Like I told you at the other site, it's less than ideal because you have no seasoning time between the ratings. It's boom, boom, boom, now your a CFIMEI. Now go teach. My feeling is that the learning you do outside the academy enviornment (bubble) and experiences you get between the ratings are what makes you a better pilot/CFI.

Another thing you should do, since your so focused on this certain company, is check with them, or speak with one of their pilots. Networking is key. If they have a pilot who thinks ATP is the diggity, that could sway your decision. If the guy who is going to interview you says "I think the flying club at UC Davis is the best way to go, I love to hire guys from that place". Well, then, that's something to take into serious consideration, as well. I happen to know of a large, well known, flight school at BFI that won't touch ATP folks due to past experience.

Whatever you decide to do, keep posting about your experiences. That's what these sites are all about.
 
what is a typical day for you?

Difficult to summarize a typical day, but I can say confidently that you will definitely spend just about every day at school, including weekends. Nights are spent studying for knowledge tests and checkrides. You'll fly most days, usually 1-2 hours at a time until you reach the cross-country phase (immediately after instrument checkride), where you'll log 5-6 hours a day. The commercial-multi phase only took about a week, flying not quite every day, and CFI school is nearly all book-learnin'... there's only a few flights (outside of your checkrides) during this phase.

I think I've only had about 3 or 4 full days off this whole time. It's a grind, but all this knowledge and skill have really been hammered in there and I'm very pleased with the results.
 
Anyone just doing the ''Complete CFI" course?

I'm planning on doing that next spring. (I was going to do it over Christmas break, but times didn't line up :( )
 
Nights are spent studying for knowledge tests and checkrides.

My days were spent studying, flying, sim, etc.

Nights were for drinking. How else was I supposed to sleep the night before a checkride?

It took me a year to get my Private at an FBO. It took me the next 365 days to go to ATP, CFI @ an FBO for 300 hours dual given, and then get a regional job.

If it wasnt for ATP, I would still be procrastinating working on my CFI and at this point due to the industry, I would probably have quit.

Read here for more info on my ATP experience:

robertstogsdill.flyblog.com
 
I am a former ATP student, but I'm an instructor for an FBO. The perks of ATP are the multi time, it is very fast and you know how much you are going to pay. I think the price is 57,495+ examiners fees. The instruction that I got was excellent and I made some great friends. The cons are the fact that ATP does not treat you like a customer. You do it their way at their pace period. Also you have no choice on where to go on cross countries. My students now can go to any place the want to build their hours for the instrument training and the commercial training. You need to visit and talk to both types of schools and see what works for you.

My typical week at ATP was 7 days a week 10 hours a day. The only day that was less then 10 hours was Sunday. We were expected to be there around 8 o'clock and generally left around 4 or 5. That changed some what if we needed a night flight. I normally flew at least once a day sometimes twice a day. If we couldn't fly due to weather we would be in the sim. I really didn't get much ground school, but if I had any questions I had more then enough people to ask. Be prepared to study you butt off and good luck. Its a lot of fun getting your certificates no matter where you go.
 
Thanks guys for all the imput. It really helps. I need to have a set date to get anything done, so I think the program here will be perfect for me. :)

Sounds like im going to be busy, but thats good cuz im a real estate agent and work is slow!!!!:(
 
Thanks for the link. ya it sounds like what i want. Very much. I have been doing my private for ever now. When i am done i hopfully can start ATP at the begining of the year.:rawk:

Very excited
 
Thanks for the link. ya it sounds like what i want. Very much. I have been doing my private for ever now. When i am done i hopfully can start ATP at the begining of the year.:rawk:

Very excited
Keep a very open mind and try not to let your own bias get in the way of a purely logical choice. There is truth in what everyone says.
Fact is right now that there is a shortage of students at most flight schools and a surplus of instructors. You should be able to finish quickly no matter where you go as long as you are committed. The deciding factor of how quickly you progress is yourself.
The fast pace of ATP is as much as a positive as it is a negative. Things are slow however and there is no real need to be finished quickly.
 
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