I've decided to attend ATP!!!!!

robair73

Well-Known Member
I\'ve decided to attend ATP!!!!!

I've just returned from my Florida tour of aviation schools. I visited (in order), Regional Airline Academy (Deland), ATP (Jax), Flight Safety (Vero Beach), Pan Am (Ft. Pierce), and Ari-Ben (Ft. Pierce). I also drove by Tab Express which is on the same airfield as Regional Airline Academy. I stayed in Daytona and rented a Mercury Mountainier to travel from school to school logging over 1,600 miles including a trip down to South Beach at the end of the week.

I visited and toured all of the schools mentioned and the choice was really simple in my opinion. ATP offers the best "bang for your buck" in comparison to the rest of the aviation schools I visited. The Multi time, and actual XC time is astounding. The complete maintenance for every single plane is tracked by computer and the status is known at all times with the click of a button. Really impressive.

I visited the apartments for both the career pilot program and the PPL program. Both facilities were very nice. Shockingly nice actually. I saw a model of the inside of an apartment for the PPL course at "The Club at Danforth" and was shocked. It is a two bedroom apartment with the bedrooms at opposite ends for privacy, each with its own bathroom. It is fully furnshed and very roomy. It doesn't hurt that the campus for Northern Florida University is near both apartment complexes.

Everyone I spoke to was very nice and seemed happy to be a part of ATP, both students and faculty, and even the maintenance guys. The maintence guys are very proud of their work and aren't shy to show you. The detailed maintenance was one of the contributing factors of my decision.

All I have to do now is apply for my Key Loan and place my deposit. I plan on having most if not all of my writtens done before I attend in April 2003. I can't wait to get started.

For all of those looking for a school to attend, Definately take a look at ATP. Take a very close look at a variety of schools and compare them. Don't sell yourself short when looking at schools. After all, you're making a large investment in your future. Make sure you feel comfortable with what the school is offering and look past all of the B.S. that is out there. I am very confident in my dicision with ATP and hope this post helps others when looking at schools.
 
Re: I\'ve decided to attend ATP!!!!!

Robair:
I feel the same,
I just got officially accepted to the ACP Program and im probobly going to attend the riverside, ca location on feb 2003.
I liked the way they maintain and keep track fo those records.
I like the idea that the simulator is there for your use whenever its not accupied. I like the poeple there, and that no student I met was not satisfied.
I was happy with the way they check your knowledge and its not just what are the four forces of flight questions
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So I too VOTE ATP!!!!!!!
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Re: I\'ve decided to attend ATP!!!!!

Robair73,

What did you think of FSI? I am headed down to Florida on the 14th to do the same thing you just did. I am just curious about your impression of FSI comparred to ATP?

Paul
 
Re: I\'ve decided to attend ATP!!!!!

FSI is large and elaborate. The living quarters and ammentities are all on site. The only other school I visited that compares to its size is Pan Am. They were very nice there and also very thorough. Maintenance is also well above par. To me, there is a lot of excess. All of the classes and training they put you through does serve a purpose though, to make you the safest pilot you can be, hence the name.
It's a very nice school, the largest and most elaborate of them all. Pan Am being second. But for me, it is too expensive and the training takes too much time. More classroom hours than flying hours. And I'm pretty sure that there is a waiting list to be an instructor too. The few students I spoke to were very pleased with the training. The only complaint was the cost. And cost played a large role in my decision. I'll pay about half at ATP than I would at FSI.
It's a very nice school though, definately check it out.
One more thing. It is in a kind of lack luster area. There's not much around to do with free time if you ever get any.
 
Re: I\'ve decided to attend ATP!!!!!

Giladal. I too like the unlimited simulator time. That is a nice little bonus.
My overall impression is that if you need help when you're struggling with something and you're willing to put the effort and time in, there will be someone there to help you through it. I like that.
 
Re: I\'ve decided to attend ATP!!!!!

Sweet!

Congrats, both of you. It's the best decision I made in my life.
 
Re: I\'ve decided to attend ATP!!!!!

what airport do they fly out of in jacksonville? and how far is housing from the campus?
 
Re: I\'ve decided to attend ATP!!!!!

How much is the rent? What did you think of the planes? Good luck. Maybe Ill see you there.!!!
 
Re: I\'ve decided to attend ATP!!!!!

Rent is included in the course price!

We operate out of CRG (Craig Muni).
 
Re: I\'ve decided to attend ATP!!!!!

blee, ATP is at Craig Airport in JAX. The apartments are beautiful and are under 10 minutes away. The apartment complex is called Melrose or the club at Melrose. They're very nice.
 
Re: I\'ve decided to attend ATP!!!!!

Bluesky, the planes are in great shape. All are equipped with GPS. They just got 20 new seminoles and are repainting and refurbishing the entire fleet. As I said before, the maintenance is outstanding.
 
Re: I\'ve decided to attend ATP!!!!!

How did Ari Ben compare with ATP. They are my top two. @ Ari Ben for $25k you get ratings and 255 hours with no sim time, 200 hours in multi. At ATP you 200 hrs TT, 50 of which is in a FTD. for $31k. Just looking at $$ Ari Ben seems to be a better deal....what am I missing that a visit would tell. Does the FTD count for actual time @ this level?
 
Re: I\'ve decided to attend ATP!!!!!

The FTD time counts as instrument instruction toward the required 15 hours, but not as flight time or total time. You do tend to get more out of a sim session in an hour than in an airplane simply because you can't hit "pause" on the airplane to discuss something, nor do you lose time to reposition the aircraft for another approach. In a real airplane, you're doing well if you can shoot 3 or 4 approaches in an hour; in a sim, you can easily do twice that. Keep in mind that a large part of instrument flying is the mental exercise of maintaining situational/positional awareness and staying ahead of the airplane. You don't actually need to be in an airplane to get a thorough workout in either regard.
 
Re: I\'ve decided to attend ATP!!!!!

w.y.d.
if you're able to visit both facilities, you'll see a clear difference in maintenance and quality of aircraft. at ariben, you fly in circles to get your x-country time, while at ATP you actual fly x-country. hotels and rental cars are included in the tuition price along with the apartment. if you work out all of the flight time you'll need at ariben, the apartment, checkrides, books and materials, tests, and whatever else, ariben is about the same as ATP in regards to price. The only thing not included in the ATP price are the checkride fees which are paid directly to the examiner.
I would visit each facility before you make up your mind.
 
Re: I\'ve decided to attend ATP!!!!!

For those of you who are considering ATP and are on this board regularly (aloft, robair, giladal, cmartin, etc), if you'd like to talk get some more questions answered about ATP and what it's like, I'll give you guys an account of my first month either via email or phone (gotta love night/weekend minutes which will never get used fully). Just shoot me a pm and let me know.

SigAV8R

P.S. For those who haven't read some of my other posts, I'm at the DFW ATP location.
 
Re: I\'ve decided to attend ATP!!!!!

I spoke with Ari Ben, and their price is much lower than ATP's. Are hotels and rental cars worth $16k to me? No.
 
Re: I\'ve decided to attend ATP!!!!!

It's not so much that the XC hotels or anything like that is what makes the difference in cost of the program. It's more like the provided housing when you go through the program and the training you get while in the program. Granted, without knowing what Ari-Ben's program is like, I have no room to talk...but from my experience so far, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

SigAV8R
 
Re: I\'ve decided to attend ATP!!!!!

BTW: Also, will Ari-Ben put you in a Citation for your high altitude sign-off
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(yes we get to log PIC in the CITATION)? That's also a big part of ATPs ACPP program.
 
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