Is ATP worth it???

From what I can tell, as puppymills go ATP is one of the better ones. No fluff, no harvard of the skies hilarity, pretty serious. That said as pointed out above, now more than ever, being in a rush makes zero sense. And I can promise you the fbo route will be cheaper and more fun. Cue requisite folky aphorism. Maybe 'life's a journey, not a destination'.
 
if, as your sig implies, you are already in debt i wouldn't be taking on another 50k just to quickly get to a horrible job market.
 
We had an ATP grad come through this summer. She graduated their program in April I think. She is currently back at her old job as a mountain guide because there were no jobs for her.
 
Socal321 said:
You've got it all wrong. About 1 out 5 pilots out there has trained or done something with ATP there's thousands and thousands of ATP pilots flying out there. All the ATP flak is made by FBO pilots not by pro pilots.

.
Click to expand...


Don't know a single ATP Grad. Hmm........
 
-People will say (online) "90 day programs are too fast to learn, those pilots suck!"
-People will say (online) "those damn university programs are too standardized, those pilots suck!"
-People will say (online) "those damn FBOs need more standardization, those pilots suck!"


Dont do what I did...I suck
 
I did some of my training at ATP. Was it worth it? Yes, back then it was (4+ years ago), because the price was much lower and the experience I gained there was much better and more valuable than my university where I got my PPL. I had awesome instructors, the local flying and gaining the experience flying cost-to-coast was great! I was fortunate to have great instructors and DPEs that thought me a lot. Right now, I wouldn't recommend anyone going to ATP, it isn't what it used to be anymore, with the price, programs, the economy and the overall career outlook.
 
Its 40k now for Instument through MEI. With 160 hours of multi time. Your not going to get that cheaper at an FBO. Quality is aonther thing but you could get crappy instruction anywhere. Seems like its a good deal right now as long as your not expecting a job at the end. I would do their self-paced program and take your time. Either way at least your costs are fixed.
 
DenverPilot8 said:
Its 40k now for Instument through MEI. With 160 hours of multi time. Your not going to get that cheaper at an FBO. Quality is aonther thing but you could get crappy instruction anywhere. Seems like its a good deal right now as long as your not expecting a job at the end. I would do their self-paced program and take your time. Either way at least your costs are fixed.
Click to expand...

You just don't realize how wrong you are....Thats an average of 8k per license. I can see 8k for the instrument at most, but 8k PER CFI rating! YGTBSM.

And 160 hours of multi? big deal. As I said earlier, don't be a sucker, and get paid for your multi time...And if you cant find a multi job, believe me, you're 160 hours aren't going to mean much.
 
I wouldn't say ATP is for everyone, but it was a perfect fit for me. I was 25 at the time, with a 3 year old daughter. I felt that I didn't have the 4 years to spend going back to college, and racking up a $100K loan, I would still be their, and due to graduate next year!!! I went their in June of '06 and finished in Nov of '06. I had a great time, studied my ash off, flew almost 7 days a week, and learned a lot.

Part of the problem with ATP is, some, not all, but some of the instructors are only their to build time and move on. Some, not all, but some could care less how you're progressing, they just want to build time. A lot of the ground school is, "Go home and read chapters 2-4, if you have any questions, let me know." So the studying is a lot of self studying, but you have classmates to have study sessions with. But then again, a lot of your classmates are spoiled rich kids that are away from home for the first time, and want to party a lot. I'm sure that's how it is in any school environment though.

Main thing is you get what you put into it. It's not for everyone, but it fit just right for me. I put a lot into it, worked my butt off, and got a lot out of it.
 
MikeOH58 said:
You just don't realize how wrong you are....Thats an average of 8k per license. I can see 8k for the instrument at most, but 8k PER CFI rating! YGTBSM.

And 160 hours of multi? big deal. As I said earlier, don't be a sucker, and get paid for your multi time...And if you cant find a multi job, believe me, you're 160 hours aren't going to mean much.
Click to expand...

I don't think it is very realistic to say you would get a multi job after getting your Commercial multi license and 250 hours. You would not get that much multi time with all your ratings cheaper than 40k at an FBO. Most FBOs will charge $200 or so per hour for multi plus $40 an hour for instructor. $240x100 or so instructing (ins, multi-private, commercial multi) hours is 24k plust 100 hours time building in multi would put you at 20k for rental. and that's just through Commercial an not the CFI ratings.

By the way I did the pay as your go route at an FBO. I just don't think ATP is as bad of a deal that people say it is.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top