I am curious about the daily schedule. I have a family and am wondering how much time should I expect to be at the training location… I thought I saw somewhere that most of each day was selfstudy and only a couple hours each evening would be flight time… is this accurate or are there classes and whatnot? Should I expect a specific number of hours per day in classes/self study/flying? Is there a lot of homework that would need to be done in the evening outside those hours?
I am just looking for a realistic expectation for time.
You need to understand ATPs training program is highly accelerated and condenses what most schools do in years into months. You should plan on being busy pretty much the ENTIRE day and your family needs to understand and be supportive of that or it simply won’t work. While you’re only in the airplane a few hours a day, there’s sim, there’s ground school, homework and LOT’S of self study. Depending on the weather and what phase of the program you’re in some days you’ll be flying early, some days late. When it comes time for the crewing/time building you’ll be gone a week or two and another two for CFI training. To be successful this program requires a huge commitment. A realistic expectation is you’re family getting annoyed and feeling VERY neglected.
Your understanding is inaccurate. Students are expected to be at the training center 8am-5pm, five days per week. There will also be evening and night flights. There might be times when students are expected to show up on weekends, particularly when weather is a factor. There will be home study every single night and there will be several weeks where you are either out flying cross-country flights, or attending CFI school at another location. In short, you will be really busy for nine months.
I expected that was the case, but I wanted to ask to be sure. I went to flight school for 1 year in college and I had wished after that that I had found ATP so I couldve just done the condensed version before life really got under way. In my 9 months on campus in NH, I still didnt get my PPL. I figured cutting out the extra college classes and cramming 4 years of aviation training into 9 months must be solid training for all 9 months. Thank you for getting back to me so quickly!