New ATP Student KRIC/Running Experience...

Future Cpt Kirk

Future Cpt Kirk

Well-Known Member
Hello to everyone on JetCareer Forums!

Though this is my first post, I am not new to this site. I have silelently been watching/reading the forums about the industry and specifically ATP for the last three years. This is the first time I am chiming in and look forward to getting to know some of you (I hope).

A little about me before I begin... I am a 27 year old guy with a college degree and a government job who has just bought a house and is getting married in four weeks to my dream girl. Lastly, and most importantly to anyone reading this, I am a brand new ATP student at the KRIC location (Richmond, Va to any newbies). Yes...I have read MANY of the posts of the the last 36 months about the positives, negatives, and everything inbetween whenit comes to ATP. I have done my research over and over again. I am well aware of what ATP offers, does not offer, and the mind set requuired to be successful. ATP was right for me because it allowed me to keep my government job/income (for which I now work part time...3 days per week) while I go to school to secure the certificates and multi-time I will eventually need to find my way into this insane career that I have always dreamed of.

I didn't jump into this with out the proper research or experience... I earned my private certficate from a small/local 141 FBO in 2010 and flew around for fun/while figuring out my next move for two and a half years... I researched several schools and even toured a few. So I'm not going into this blind. On top of that, my instructor at the small FBO was an ATP grad and was able to honestly inform and prepare me for what I was getting myself into. It took me two years and several failed attempts to get the funds in place to go to school... I worked very very hard just to get in the door and I am proud of where I am now... So for anyone looking to bash ATP and/or my decision to go there, while I repsect your opinions, I request you not post those feelings here. There are plently of ATP bashing threads on JetCareer Forums.... I have read and considered all the negative comments... But I am already enrolled... no turning back now.

I am a "Self-Paced Airline Career Pilot Program" student, starting from Private Pilot with 85 (or more) hours. I am very fortunate to have a CFI job (not through ATP) lined up after I complete my training with ATP. The local FBO where I trained for my private has offered me a job as soon as I finish with ATP... I know the owner and all the instructors. He is actively looking for instructors and is holding a spot for me as he continues to lose CFI's to the airlines. Jim, the owner, is a great guy and his school has a very good reputation with the Richmond, Va FSDO. His program is top notch. Several Gold Seal instructors work for him (he is one also). This will be a better route for me than instructing for ATP as this way I will be able to live at home (my new house is 5 minutes fromt he airport), not be away from my new wife for months right after we get married, and I can continue working for the government part-time to supplement income until I hit the magic number...1500 hours. The school flies c-172's, c-152's, PA-28's, Eurocoupes, and is actively looking for a PA-44 for multi training. Everything is 141 certified. Should be a good place to instruct.

Now that I have given a basic backround on myself and my intentions....Here is the reasoning for my first post (other than to introduce myself). I know that Heath had a great day-by-day synopsis of the ATP Airline Career Pilot Fast-Paced Program several years ago.... And I see a member was posting about day-to-day experiences as recently as January of this year. However, that thread has quieted down and there are no other recent on-going day-to-day program descriptions. If anyone is interested in following my experiences I will certainly be willing to post as often as I can (weekly at a minimum) about my day-to-day experiences at ATP KRIC. I will start the thread today as I am two weeks in and passed my Multi-Engine Private Add-On checkride on 3/2/2013. If anyone is interested let me know and I will be happy to continue! Look forward to hearing from all of you.

Sincerely,
Mike
 
Mike,

ATP is great for guys like us. when i went to them i was 25 and also had my private pilot license. I attended the RDU location and then flight instructed out of their DPA location. I enjoyed my whole time with them. You sound like you know what to expect. Congrats on the private multi. If you have any questions there are a ton of people on here who will help you. Enjoy the training.

Kevin.
 
Mike - Welcome to the forum.

I'm glad you throught through all the details and are on your way with ATP. Wish you the best. I look forward to reading your post.

Good Luck.

-J
 
I am in college now and I am strongly considering flying for a living. Even though it is still years away, I am casually looking at schools and would love to hear about your experience at ATP. I have also done hours and hours of research so I have an pretty good idea of what I am getting into. I am curious to see how your experience compares to others at different locations. Also, originally from the northeast, Richmond is one of the closer ATP locations for me and I look forward to hear how things like weather affect your training and schedule.

I look forward to reading your posts.

Russ
 
Welcome! Good luck, there's many ATP'ers on this forum and feel free to fire away any questions.
 
Congrats on starting and good luck! I remember reading through all of Heath's day-by-day posts and researching the school and locations a lot on this forum and was glad I did, lot of valuable info here.
 
One thing you have to remember is that you are the customer. Things like the living conditions in Arlington, TX, should not be tolerable (back in 2010). They are dangling a person's first aviation job in front of them, so one might be tempted so suffer through. I got into an argument with dispatch over that, but I already secured my first aviation job in the "corporate" world.
 
DragonStar45 said:
One thing you have to remember is that you are the customer. Things like the living conditions in Arlington, TX, should not be tolerable (back in 2010). They are dangling a person's first aviation job in front of them, so one might be tempted so suffer through. I got into an argument with dispatch over that, but I already secured my first aviation job in the "corporate" world.
Click to expand...
There is no arguing with dispatch, especially in the 91 world. See 14 CFR 91.3(a) for further details.
 
Congrats on making the jump! I'm just finishing up my Commercial stuff at ATP in Chicago. The training is all about what you put into it. It's not a program where you'll be spoon fed, you have to buck up do the self study. It sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders and know what's expected though, keep us updated!
 
Hey Everyone,

Sorry I have not posted anything since my initial post back in march. Work, buying a house, getting marred (two weeks ago) and starting school has sucked any free time away. From here on I will be on here much more regularly. I am going to attempt to post a synopsis of my training so far to catch up anyone reading this thread. Again, sorry for the delay....
 
Day One: February 14th, 2013:

Showed up early and met my instructor, Jake. Spent the morning doing admin stuff... Paper work, company policy review, etc....

Did a ground school on Multi-engine aerodynamics and single engine handling characteristics with my instructor in the afternoon. Self study for the rest of the day (ATP Piper Seminole Supplement). First sim the next day.
 
Sim lessons 1-1 through 1-4 and Flight Lessons 1-1 through 1-4; February 15th through March 1st, 2013 (keep in mind I am a part time student and am only here 3-4 days per week):

Sim 1: The first sim was a lot of fun. It was neat sitting in front of a new and more complex set of controls. Sim one covers the basics (engine starting, ground handling, run-up, taxi etc...). Air work for sim 1 consists of basic flying...turns, climbs, descents, normal landings etc...

Note: Have the Piper Seminole supplement and check list procedures memorized before starting the program and you will be a way ahead of the game as I was. I have seen some students come in after me without having looked at the Seminole information before starting and become overwhelmed right away. The multi-engine add on portion is the quickest and easiest portion of the program if you come prepared.

Sims 1-2 through 1-4: Covers Maneuvers (stalls, steep turns, emergency descents, recovery from unusual flight attitudes etc...). These sims focus on the maneuvers, emergency situations and most importantly, single engine operations. I found the sim to be very twitchy compared to the airplane itself. Vmc demo in the sim can be tricky at first, but got the hang of it by the third sim with no problems. By the third sim, my instructor was confident in my cockpit flows and let me practice what I felt I needed the most practice on. I focused mainly on single engine operations, especially failure immediately after takeoff, and Vmc Demos.

Note: The sim is worthless for practicing any type of landings. Don't worry about practicing landings in it. Just make sure you have the Gear down before landing, blueline-GUMP, and gear down-stabilized checklists memorized.

Flight 1-1: 2/16/2013

Was so excited to fly the Seminole for the first time and it was awesome! No its not a high performance airplane...but for someone who has only flown 172's and 152's, it felt like a jet! So much fun.

The first flight consisted of getting a feel for the airplane on the ground and in the air, normal take off/landings, maneuvers (stalls, slow-flight, steep turns), and my favorite, engine failure during flight. My instructor didn't give me any hint before he failed the left engine. I reacted correctly and quickly.... Have the Engine-failure Checklist MEMORIZED (mixtures, props, throttles forward; flaps up/gear up; I.D. dead engine with dead foot; verify by closing throttle; troubleshoot checklist if above 3000 AGL; if not re-started, feather prop, mixture to cutoff). It was pretty awesome to look left and see the feathered prop/shut-down engine while cruising. I will try to post a picture below. Aside from my first solo when training for my private two years ago, this flight was the most fun I've had so far!

Flights 1-2 through 1-4: Repeats of everything in flight 1-1 plus the introduction of emergency descents, short field landing and take-offs, Vmc Demo and single engine operations in the pattern (failure on takeoff role, failure after takeoff with decision made to continue flight). Everything went smoothly with no major issues...just honing skills each flight. The last flight was dedicated to check-ride prep. We spent most of the time practicing short field landings as that was what I wanted the most practice with. By 1-4, I had everything else pretty much down and afterwards, I was confident with my short-field landings.

Note: In between official sims and flights, the instructors let us use the sim as much as we wanted for practice. Don't know if it is like this at all locations, but this was definitely a bonus. I simmed a lot practicing everything and it really pays off.

Next Up: Private Multi-Engine Add On Checkride

Here's a picture of me flying single-engine:
image.jpg
 
Private Multi-Engine Add On oral prep and Checkride: March 1st and 2nd, 2013

The day before my scheduled checkride, my instructor had me teach a ground school on multi-engine aerodynamics and single-engine handing characteristics to two new students. This was a great way of evaluating my understanding of this material. I nailed my lesson. I found that explain things like P-factor, torque, accelerated slipstream and spiraling slipstream worked best by drawing pictures on the board while explaining. I would go on to do this during the oral the next day and the examiner loved it.

Checkride:

I met the examiner around 10:00am on the day of my checkride and we went right in to the conference room for my oral exam. This went off without a hitch as I had studied well and was very prepared. Again, make sure you have everything in that Seminole Supplement MEMORIZED! The examiner (Jerry for anyone in the central/northern VA area) was pretty cool. He's an ex-Vietnam pilot and also flew covert ops for the FBI and CIA for over 20 years. He has ratings in just about anything you can think of, from the most basic airplanes to Gulfstreams and even the Navy's Seahawk Helicopter. Had some awesome stories to tell (and he told a lot of them).

The day of the ride, it was cold with ceilings right at 3000 and snow in the area. Freezing levels were surface, but we we were able to get up and dodge the weather (for the most part...).

The examiner had me do a normal takeoff which went fine. About 15 seconds after takeoff, I head the examiner yell "oh S*&^" and I immediately thought "what the hell could I have possibly done wrong this soon to fail the exam".... Not going to lie, my heart dropped. I looked over at Jerry and he was fighting to close the door which he had not latched properly and had flown open after takeoff! I was immediately relieved it was not something I did wrong and that it wasn't an emergency! Jerry told me he couldn't get it shut and to call the tower so we could be vectored back to land. The tower vectored me to an immediate left downwind for runway 2 (RIC) and Jerry asked if I would be comfortable doing a short-field landing for my first landing. I said sure and executed the landing. My aiming point was the 1000 footers and I nailed it! I have never had a better short-field landing. Jerry even said "thats about as good as it gets. You get plus 200 feet, minus 0, but you were plus inches if anything at all. Nice landing.)

The rest of the flight went off without any more unexpected surprises. I completed all the maneuvers, single engine ops, emergency procedures etc... with no problems. At one point, we did start to get boxed in a bit by some clouds as the ceilings began to drop from 3000 to 2500 (continuing to drop for the rest of the day which was not forecast) and thats when Jerry had me do an emergency descent...good way to stay out of the weather. On the way back to RIC we flew through some light to moderate snow for a few minutes. Was pretty cool. Landed without incident and I had my Multi-Engine Add on! Great day!

Now on to the tough stuff...Instrument Training.
image.jpg
 
Is anyone reading this thread? If so ill post updates... If not I'm gonna let it be. Feel free to message me if anyone has an questions about ATP... I'm finishing up the instrument portion of the program right now.
 
I'd actually like to read more as I'm kinda sorta "local" (Hampton Roads). Any chance you could pm me the name of the local FBO you did your ppl with? I'm looking for somewhere get my instrument in a few months and am not opposed to traveling to RIC to get it. I flew in there a few times when I did my ppl.
 
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