Cadet academy or ATP?

Hello everyone. Would you recommend going to an airline cadet academy or a school like ATP?

Byron,

First off full disclosure, if you look up and to the left you’ll clearly see the ATP logo. This is ATPs forum and all of the mentors are former students, grads and now successful airline pilots. We’re not salesmen and receive no incentive to get you to sign up, we were simply all where you are now, weighing our options to decide what was our best route to an airline pilot career. We all chose ATP and are all glad we did. Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, lets answer your question.

The above aside I don’t even believe there’s a question here and I’ll tell you why. How much do you know about the airline industry and how committed are you to ONE single airline? When I first started flying I had I’m my head I wanted to fly for Continental. They were my home town airline, the airline my family always flew etc etc etc. Well guess what? They no longer exist. Things can and do change in this industry and until you’re at a point where you’re actually being ready to get hired and are actually having conversations with recruiters, you really won’t know which is airline is best for you. With that in mind, why would you want to lock yourself in to one single path? I sure wouldn’t. Further, since ATP has relationships and agreements with virtually EVERY airline in the country. This gives you the benefit of a cadet program flow with making a commitment too early.

Finally ATP has been training pilots for the airlines for over 35yrs. They’ve had tens of thousands of pilots hired and over 1,100 hired in the last 12mos alone. That’s more than any single current cadet academy has EVER.

To me it’s no contest.

Adam

Thank you for your response. I know next to nothing about the airline business. My father flys for Southwest Airlines and he was telling me about their cadet program. To be honest I’d love to fly for southwest but the program is about 2 hours from me and there is an ATP about 20 minutes from where I live right now. Just wanted to get advice from someone besides my dad. Thanks

Byron,

To my knowledge, there is absolutely no requirement to go to Southwest’s cadet program if you want to work at Southwest. In fact, I would bet that the majority of their new hire pilots come f rom paths other than their cadet programs.

Chris

Thank you Chris. Would you say it’s common for pilots to stay with the same airline company they start with? I’ve read that seniority is pretty important.

Byron,

Once pilots get to the majors, they typically stay where they are. At points lower on the pyramid, say regionals or Los Cost Carriers, they typically continue to try and move up. Now that being said, some people very contently spend their entire careers at a regional. LCC, etc. To each their own.

Chris

Thank you Chris. If I did choose ATP, what do most new graduates do following the completion of the program? I’ve seen some paths that are school-cfi-regional-majors. Does ATP want their graduates to be the instructors while gaining hours? Thanks

Byron,

I’m sure Chris will respond but I think he may be done for the evening?

To answer your question it really doesn’t matter what ATP wants, it’s more what YOU want and also the airline you may be targeting. As you’re aware you need to build 1500hrs to fly for an airline. The most common route most people take is flight instructing. This is because instructing is one of the most plentiful low time flying gigs around and it’s also a great way to hone your skills. Also, instructing (and more specifically instructing for ATP) may be a condition of a tentative offer from an airline so they can monitor your progress.

That said it’s really up to you and if can secure a different flying opportunity and haven’t signed an agreement with an airline, you can of course do as you like.

Adam

Thank you very much for all your help. Very informative

Byron,

Something I want to add, if you choose a cadet program that isn’t guaranteeing you pilot seniority. It’s a seniority number that is good for some internal company benefits and can help you have the highest “seniority” in your new hire class but that’s about it.

Go to the school that will get you where you want to go quickly and efficiently while also being convenient because you’ll be spending a lot of time there. If you live near an ATP location, do an intro flight and see what you think. You can always do the program and apply for the cadet pathway program as a CFI if southwest is still your top choice.

Hannah

Thank you Hannah.