Hi ATP Forum,
Greetings from Boston Logan Bravo, I hope everyone had an awesome holiday with their families. Wanted to get folk’s thoughts on a pair of items. Firstly, is there a specific ATP site you would recommend? I am born and raised in the northeast so I am looking to go to a warmer climate. Your insight would be much appreciated here.
Also, does the upfront $64 K investment have a hour limit that you have to finish the IFR,Commercial, ME, and CFI within? If so, what do the costs look like above and beyond that?
ATP prides itself on making sure ALL their locations maintain the same level of quality instruction. The well maintained fleet is cycled throughout the system and all instructors go through standardization training. Bottomline, pick a location that’s convenient, sounds nice whatever you like and you’ll be fine.
Regarding hours that’s a great question as actually one of the primary benefits of training with ATP. The $64k is not an “upfront” investment there is no “above and beyond”. That’s the price period including all the hours you’ll require to successfully complete all your licenses and ratings (including some buffers). It will require a considerable amount of hard work on your part (and yes some intelligence and coordination) but it’s a program that’s been effectively training pilots for decades. Sometimes people ask well what if I’m not capable of learning in that finite amount of time and that’s a good question too, but it then actually begs a larger question? You see ATP was created by airline pilots to train airline pilots and was modeled after actual airline training programs. When you get hired at a airline they don’t say “welcome, glad to have you, relax and take as much time as you need to feel comfy, let us know when you’re ready for your checkride”. They turn on the firehose and tell you your Type ride is scheduled for Jan XX and you will be ready or you’ll be gone. One of the reasons ATP has such a great reputation in the industry and their instructors get hired is precisely that. ATP students have already demonstrated an ability to handle the training and that’s a good thing.
Not in my experience Joe. In fact I probably found instructing to be one of the most “exciting” phases of the process. First off I enjoy the mentoring process and helping pilots to learn. Second, let’s be honest, when pilots are learning they often do some funky stuff you don’t expect. The kind of stuff that at the least could cost you your career, at worse could cost you MUCH more. While there are cross country phases that can be more tame, the bulk of training is maneuvers and training maneuvers will definitely keep you on your toes. It’ll also make you a better stick and that’s a good thing.
I never got bored being a CFI, in fact I missed it once I moved onto the airlines. I really enjoyed teaching people to fly and seeing them be successful in their endeavors. One of the reason that I continue to mentor new pilots is that it is a way for me to continue sharing my knowledge of aviation with the next generation of aviators.