I seen a post for leo about CFI-A
What does that mean? Is it CFII or different rating, also if I become instructor and completed CFI AND CFII and don’t want to teach students can I just build hours without instructing because I’m not good with teaching but I’m good with airplane.
I’m planning on continuing my instrument at ATP but a lot students with me say don’t do it because they have bad reputation, why would they say that? Is ATP good for all people or is there something particular about it?
Thank you in Advance
Mohamed,
The CFI-A (aka CFI airplane aka Initial) is the initial instructor rating and the most valuable and most difficult to earn. As part of the ATP program you’ll earn your CFI initial, CFII (instrument) and MEI (multi engine). No one has to instruct, but you will need to find some other low time flying job (traffic watch, banner tow, etc) to build time (unless you’re wealthy and just plan on renting or buying a plane).
No, I would not say that ATP is good for everyone, just as I would also say not everyone should be a pilot. The number reason most people go to ATP is the accelerated timeline. People love the idea they can get all their licenses and ratings fast. Thing is you still need to pass an FAA checkride so that means there’s a whole lot of learning you need to do in a short period of time and frankly not everyone is up to the challenge. People bash ATP because it’s a whole lot easier to blame ATP then to blame yourself or acknowledge maybe your just not that good a pilot. Thing is if a person can’t keep up with ATP, what makes them think they can successfully complete airline training? Everyone LOVES talking about the pilot shortage, the great pay and how easy it is to get hired. They don’t like talking about the record high failure rates at the airlines. Yes getting hired is easy, getting through training is not. But that’s the point of ATPs program. It’s really not to get you finished fast, it’s to prepare you for the pace of airline training which is why ATP grads received preferential hiring long before there was a pilot shortage.
Adam
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Hello Mohamed! Welcome to the forum!
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They are probably referencing being a CFI-A as in “Airplane” as you can be an instructor for also Rotor, etc.
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The CFI ratings look good on a resume, but look even better with instructor time. There are other jobs out there other than instructing like survey, charter, banner towing, etc., but they do not provide the variety of experience you get through being a CFI. I get it as I know other pilots who just can’t instruct, but are good pilots. I will say the other jobs I listed are few and hard to find. Most charters won’t look at you unless you know somebody on the inside or have 500-1000 hours total time. As a CFI I was able to build about 1,200 hours in about a year and 4 months.
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You get different opinions from different people about ATP as not everyone can make it through ATPs highly accelerated program. It requires a lot of discipline for self-study and there is little to no ground given through ATP. You’ll experience this type of training also when you get into flying for the airlines or large charters like myself. They give you all the materials and it’s up to you to learn and apply the knowledge. ATPs instructors just like everywhere else can be very good or not so good as there may be personality clashes or the instructor isn’t the best. Most instructors these days are trying to build their hours. You’ll find the ones who care about sharing their knowledge and sharing their experience and you’ll also find others that are just there for the flight hours. ATP does their best to ensure your training is successful, but sometimes there are bad apples within the company. This can happen with any large flight school. ATP is also a flight school where you can secure a large loan for the majority of your training. At the end of the day you need to find what works best for you and your style of learning. There are many ways and many places to get your ratings and build hours, but ATP has a proven track record for getting people through their ratings at a fast pace. Just be prepared as your training at ATP will be a full time job. No matter where you go for flight training you should apply yourself 150% as this industry requires a lot of hard work. I’ve seen time and time again students who procrastinate and do the bare minimum do very poorly in their flight training as should be expected.
I wish you the best on your future endeavors and feel free to dive more into these forums as there is a lot of experience to glean from the mentors and other professional pilots who have gone through ATP.
Mike
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