Sac vs. Riverside? and Other ATP related FAQs

BaseToFinal

BaseToFinal

New Member
Hey fellow ATP forumees,

I'm considering starting the ACPP at either the Sac or Riverside locations. Anybody have any thoughts on which would be best? I'm leaning towards Riverside just because I want to get experience flying the socal airspace (and also b/c family and girlfriend are in Sac which would mean mucha distractions)!
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Also, has anyone started the program with the IFR ticket under their belt? I have 160hrs tt and I finished the IFR rating last October. Do you think it would be a waste (of money) to go through the ACPP program having already gone through (and paid for) the instrument ticket at a local FBO?

I did a rough estimate of the costs of getting on my owneverything that ATP advertises (including flight time to qualify for commercial SEL and MEL, instructor dual time, all the instructor ratings, and the 190 hours of multi)), and it turns out it would be about the same if I do it on my own. So I would rather go for ATP full time and get it over with in 3months and be ready to start instructing next summer!

I figure I could save about 15-20k at the local FBO to get everything except the multi time but would end up with ~270tt and 10 multi as oppossed to 360tt and 190 multi if I go to ATP.

Any thoughts?
 
Quite a few people go through the Career Pilot Program already having an instrument rating. The benefit to you is that you get a large number of multi/instrument hours without the pressure of a checkride at the end of the time. You can be challenged by complex approaches or scenarios that you might not get to see if you had a checkride looming. It is still dual time in the multi, therefore the base benefit still exists.

To set the record straight about the multi time, however, it is NOT 190 hours of multi flight time. It is 140 hours of multi flight time and 50 hours of multi sim time, which is loggable, but is not flight time and thus not calculated into total time.

As an ATP instructor, I understand that my advice is biased, however, when it comes to getting a job with an airline, two things are more important than all others: multi time and seniority.

At ATP, you leave with ~140 hours of multi. If you never touch another multi until your interview, you will have more multi time than most FBO instructors.

Seniority is everything. When the airlines are hiring, you want to be poised to get into the hiring frenzy. If the airlines are furloghing (sp?), you want to be as high up on the seniority list as possible. Both of those things are more likely if you spend your time right now instructing rather than obtaining the necessary ratings to instruct.

As far as SAC vs. RIV, I think that DFW is the better location!

Good luck on your decision...
Jeremy
 
Great photo of the Golden Gate Bridge and Marin headlands! I used to live in Sausalito, brings back many fond memories!

Riverside would be my first choice; if you can handle IFR in the L.A. basin, you can handle it anywhere.
 
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