I have called several of the schools I was looking at and many said flying is limited and they are not enrolling new full time students.
I was hoping to start flight training this fall and was looking at several schools including ATP (Which by the way I hear more negative comments about and wondering why that is?
In reality isnt this the worse industry to get into now as even it takes us over 2 years to get our licensee and hours and with all the retirements, there are such few flights and the global avation industry which was booming will take 3 to 5 years to recover.
There are multiple threads on both these subjects and I encourage you to do some searching but the snory answer is I couldn’t disagree with you more.
Not sure where you’re getting your info from but 3-5 yrs to recover is ridiculous. We’re talking about aviation. Something virtually every person on this planet relies on and you believe it’s just going to stop? I can tell you the loads have already improved at my airline dramatically and we’re still severely restricted. There’s no question we’re seeing unprecedented times and it sucks right now if you’re looking for a job. That doesn’t change the fact that the industry will come back (it has to) and there are still tens of thousands of pilots retiring over the next several years who’ll need to be replaced.
As for the bad reviews that’s old news. ATP has been training pilots for the airlines for over 35yrs and has placed over 600 pilots at airlines in the last year alone. The school is not for everyone just as not everyone can or should be a pilot (mommy, daddy, Ellen and the purple dinosaur were wrong. Not everyone can do everything). This school and this industry require a tremendous amount of hard work. There are people who couldn’t keep up and it’s easier to blame ATP then to blame themselves. The others are angry their peers paid less than half they paid at Riddle.
Ultimately it’s your call. You can believe the naysayers on the internet (there’s people who say the Earth is flat online too) and you can delay your training till the internet says it’s safe. Personally I believe you’ll be sorry you did.
I didn’t have any problems personally with ATP, however I don’t think there is any harm in waiting for three months to see how things shake out in October before taking out an $80-100k loan.
Once the subsidies congress allotted run out (if they aren’t given anymore), then we’ll get a better idea of what the shape of the airlines are in regard to the amount of employees they keep, or are furloughed. Regionals could close or be absorbed, demand will take some time to come back (I don’t think it will be as long as some are predicting). Just unprecedented times.
Hopefully it isn’t too bad, but I don’t think anyone really knows exactly what will happen, so I think waiting before taking out a massive loan is a relatively smart idea in the current environment, especially if the person has a decent job for the time being.
There most certainly will be some furloughs and the Regionals that were struggling have already shutdown. What there will also be is a TON of pilots who were supposed to retire over the next 2-3yrs taking some very generous early retirements. When things return to normal (which they will) most furloughs will return (but not all) but those that took the early outs won’t because they can’t. That nasty pilot shortage will rear it’s head again and those who start in the next year should be in very good shape.
That said I agree no one knows for certain but I really don’t believe we’ll know the future any better in 3-4 mos.
Why would regionals close right now? They’re cheaper to operate. If a regional was in a good financial position before this started now is the perfect opportunity for them to capitalize on supporting their major(s) by flying their routes.
Who would they be absorbed by? Their major? So the major could pay them all major wages? Don’t think so. Not right now while the majors are trying to figure out how many of their own pilots to furlough. The majors like their regionals just the way they are.
I agree with Adam. Once furloughs are announced, the only thing we’ll know is how many were let go. That’s about it. I suspect the majors won’t furlough everyone all at once either. I could see them doing it in chunks to allow them time to re-evaluate their situation before the next round.
We have no idea how long it will take to recover. US citizens will continue to be banned from entering foreign countries until the US can get the CV under control and we’re not demonstrating that we’re remotely close to being ready to resume international travel.