Re: The Main Reason I chose Ari-Ben!
Hey C, congrats on starting flight school soon. I have two months to go and I'm jumping out of my skin.
Just to interject here, there is more than just the money difference between Ari-Ben and ATP. If the aviator and ATP were even somewhat similar in quality and the difference in price was 9 thousand bucks, then sure, everyone would be going to Ari-ben. But in my mind they're not close in to what they offer. Ari-Ben offers flight training on the cheap because of the older planes and not so up to date maintenance. They have one location and that's it. Room and board is not included, hotels and rental cars aren't either. Now, that may not make up the entire 9 thousand dollar difference, but take $500/month for 9 months for rent and that's $4500 right there.(just an estimate of course) So now the difference is only $4500, you add in hotel stays on actual cross country flying with CRM procedures performed the entire way plus rental cars and the price between them becomes even closer. Add on the fuel and tie down expenses that Ari-ben doesn't cover in addition to fly to other airports out of the region and it becomes even closer. Plus, what if you need more time to pass a checkride, more cash there. Now, we all know that at ATP, this is all included and it's a fixed price. No more, no less. At Ari-ben, maybe less, most likely more.
The choice for me was simple, better maintenance, actual cross countries, awesome connections and references, and a fixed price with everything but the checkrides included. That's why someone might choose ATP over Ari-ben.
I'm in no way trashing Ari-ben, in fact I think it's a great opportunity with the multi time they offer, I'm just giving some insight as to why I chose ATP over Ari-ben. It's not just the difference in $$ for training.