I’ve been around the forums for the last few months and had a question about the ME cert. On the ATP website, it says that when you complete the program you end up with your ME CFI, but recall somebody mentioning on the forum that at their location there was only one or two instructors who had theirs. Wouldn’t every ATP instructor have it?
Also, just out of curiosity, what is the fastest you could theoretically complete the program?
It seems like some people less than 9 months, some more, and I even remember reading at some point that somebody had finished in 5 months. Is that possible?
Obviously, I understand it can be weather dependent, among other things, but even with perfect conditions and no hiccups, is 5 months a real possibility? Maybe I misread.
I think that poster meant that at their location, only one or two of the instructors actively teach multi engine. Although some people do opt out of receding their MEI, which I think is foolish.
I would plan on the program being the full nine months. It is a lot of information to learn and process and it isn’t a race. Doing it right is what is most important.
Everyone finishes as an MEI unless they opt out of finishing the complete program. What you probably read was that the specific location had only two instructors who were providing the ME training. ATP requires their instructors to stay current on the Seminole and therefore most locations have a designated CFI or two that conduct the ME training.
Realistically your program will take you around 9 months. Certainly you can really push yourself and finish in 8 or even 7 months, but that would be an exception and not the norm. A lot of things including weather have to fall into place, writtens have to be done in advance, and you absolutely cannot fail a single checkride. Trust me, even at 9 months, the program is sufficiently saturated and is still the most efficient and fastest way to get all of your ratings. One of the alumni did finish the program in 5 months but that was under a different and more rigorous curriculum which is no longer offered.
Thank you for the responses guys.
I certainly would not be pushing to finish early just to get done. I definitely want to do it right. Just curious.
I still don’t completely understand why an instructor with an MEI wouldn’t train his/her student and just pass them off to the designated ME instructor. Is that an instructor seniority thing?
As I mentioned, ATP is big on keeping their instructors proficient in the Seminole. As a CFI, your time training “your” student in the Seminole is fairly limited. Around 25 hours, as opposed to 180-190 or so hours in the SE platform. So if you consider only flying the Seminole every few months when your student is due for ME training, you can see that the instructors may need refresher training. Multiply that refresher/recurrency by all the instructors that provide training at ATP and it turns into a whole lot of flying without trainees on board. So it’s simpler to keep 1-2 people per location that do nothing but ME training and stay current.
Thanks Sergey,
That’s a little more clear, but forgive me if I’m just not understanding you completely.
If there’s only 1-2 instructors doing ME training, then the rest of the instructors are not staying current? That seems to conflict with what you said about ATP keeping their instructors proficient?
I’m sure I’m just missing something here, so, thank you for your patience.
There’s a difference between proficiency and currency. They will (for the most part, unless backed up) keep instructors legally current in the ME, but they will not be proficient as they are not the ones instructing it every day.
Edit: When it comes down to it, it doesn’t affect the training at all for the students, and all instructors have their MEI and retain currency in the ME aircraft.
So would the location and general size of the ATP facility affect the 9-month-timeline? I’m sure the weather can be an issue but is that taken into account in the 9 months to some extent?