Bradley,
Just a few things to point out. ATP does not have full motion simulators because they are unnecessarily expensive and would drive up your training costs.
The vast majority of ATP’s students are civilian, not military.
I am glad you had a good tour, let us know how the flight goes.
Chris
It was no go again on the flight this morning I think it’s because the ceiling is so low so visibility is poor for a discovery flight. So I just decided to start lessons next week I just wanna take a few and see how it’s going but ultimately get a PPL and start with ATP for commercial accelerated program.
I decided to start lessons next week. It would take 6 months to get approved with ATP and like you guys say seniority is crucial so I can’t wait any longer now that I found affordable financing to get a PPL. Can’t wait to finally get started!
Maybe he meant they could easily do accelerated program easily because of their training?
I used to schedule simulator usage for a very large aerospace company. I was just an office guy, but I suspect the reason you don’t see a lot of full motion simulators for light aircraft is the operating cost wouldn’t be much lower than flying the actual plane (and without the loss of fidelity that comes with simulations).
Just a guess.
I’m really curious about he helicopter to fixed wing transition for the military folks. As I understand it, the Post 9-11 GI Bill covers commercial through ATP ground training but not actual flight hours.
The accelerated program is appealing as I would assume that there would be a decreased overall cost associated with such a program. As far as military experience goes, the check rides were very intense, especially when you are doing them in conjunction with combat flight in e theater of operations of course these were always done when there wasn’t anything going in, but there was always something going on.
Being in a helicopter, the controls are a LOT more sensitive than a FW would be (assumption), especial on short final, but we didn’t have the luxury of ILS, only GPS NAV and PAR approaches for our instrument annual checks.
I am curious, would ATP provide TA for the PP FW portion, and all actual flight hours for training up to ATP CFI/CFII and then allow the student to utilize their P9-11 GI bill for the remainder, just to keep the overall costs down?
Bradley, are you a former military guy? If so, what financing options did you use for you PPL?
I a, almost in the same boat as you, having just turned 44 and still 4 years away from retirement as a CW4.
Erik,
ATP offers two options, the full program starting from zero hours or with credit for private, they are not able to offer customized programs at this time. ATP is also not able to accept the GI Bill because of restrictions in place from the V.A.
In your particular case, you might be better served going to a different flight school that can get you to where you need to be via add-on ratings (assuming you already have FAA helicopter ratings). The amount of time involved would likely be about the same, but the cost might be less.
Chris
No sorry Erik I was never in the military, was just told there are some military students at the flight school that have incredible focus all day long.
Erik,
I would contact Envoy directly. I knows they’re currently working with a few schools helping military rotary pilots transition. Here’s a link: https://www.envoyair.com/pilots/rotor-transition-program/
Adam
Adam, thank you for the Referal. I will definitely look into the military helicopter transition!
Adam, et al, I looked up Coast Training out of San Diego for their RW transition. It looks like an excellent program and they definitely understand military aviation, so that is comforting. Thanks for the link!
What’s the “average” time a student takes to progress through each ticket?
Another curious question but did you hold down any part time jobs while going through flight school, in order to make ends meet?
If so what industry provided you the best opportunity to study, train, and still work such as Mall Security, Microsoft help desk, longshoreman/lumberjack?
Erik,
All of the mentors on this website went to ATP and as such, our experiences are based on that. None of us held jobs during flight training as that is not possible while enrolled at ATP.
Also, your time through each rating will vary as some are rather complex and others are much easier. Plus, you will be doing a fair amount of add-on ratings, which should help to further lessen the time.
Chris
Thanks Chris, much appreciated!
Hey Chris
Thanks a lot for your response, I contacted one here in Maryland.
Hi all,
The Envoy Cadet program will be my #1 choice when it comes to applying to cadet programs. I will, of course, not put all my eggs in one basket and will apply to others. At what stage of your ATP training do you apply to these programs? Before, during, or after?
Thanks!
Tim
