I’m interested in starting a career in aviation. The ultimate goal is to become an airline pilot one day.
When it’s time for me to conduct schooling and training, is it possible to still maintain my full-time job?
I work traditional office hours: 9-5 M-F.
Any input helps.
Thanks all!
ATP had a flex track before- I don’t know if they still do. But for the full time pilot career program I would say though it may be possible, it would be terribly difficult and you’d need to have an extremely flexible employer.
Inquire if they still offer flex track
Shane,
There’s a reason why the military and the airlines train their pilots daily. Because it works. While it’s possible to train and work it’s incredibly inefficient and the reality is that few who train part-time ever reach their goal.
I would also keep in mind that pilots have a finite amount of years they can work. Even if you are successful you’ll be forfeiting hundreds of thousands in lost income that you’ll never get back.
I understand that many people can’t just quit their jobs and take a break from their lives but if you can you really should.
Adam
Jeremy,
Thank you for the suggestion on a ‘flex’ option!
Will certainly look into that to cover all of my options / approach.
Thank you,
Shane
Adam,
Thank you for your insight.
One thing I’ve certainly picked up on is that seniority is everything in this industry.
The sooner I complete training and credentials, the better.
Thank you for reiterating that for me.
As sacrifices are necessary, I’m very eager to start this career and can see the future rewards being well worth it.
Thank you for your input sir! Very much appreciated.
Best,
Shane
Shane,
No problem and FYI, the Flex Track hasn’t been available for a while.
Adam
Yes Jeremy it does,
While there are still some Flex Trac students who are finishing their training as they were grandfathered in and ATP honors their commitments.
The program is no longer being offered.
Adam
Hey there ,
I’m sorry I didn’t realize Adam had inside info, so since I knew people were doing flex track I assumed it could be done.
My apologies if I gave incorrect info.
Shane,
We absolutely recommend you only pursue flight training in a full time commitment. I’m sure you’ll hear stories about how it can be done, part time outside of a working schedule, however it’s risky.
You risk spending excess money, time and risk future success. The issue with part time training, the gaps between flights degrades the skills you recently built. That means on your next flight you spending half the time refreshing what you did on the previous flights. Besides the two steps forward one step back approach, there is no question you’ll be less proficient and confident with less consistent training.
The best way to do training is in a full immersed, daily program.
Let us know if you have any other question! We’re happy to help.
Hannah
@Hannah This is great advice, and no one could have said it better!
Shane,
As the others have said, training full time is better than part time. What’s nice about ATP is that you receive that full-time training and as long as you hold your commitment with ATP, they’ll hold yours to them. I did my initial training outside of ATP at a “mom-and-pop” school and I can say, I turned a 2- or 3-month private pilot certificate journey into 13 months. Given that I would’ve skipped the hassle of working full-time and doing other extracurricular activities and giving 100% of my time, I would have been completed last year with my time if everything worked out the way it did.
One thing you did not mention was if you have previous flight experience from an introductory flight. This is something that is required at any flight school. If you have an ATP location nearest to you, I recommend visiting a training center nearest to you. It also doesn’t hurt to venture out to other schools locally as well and do your own research. We aren’t sales representatives for ATP, but all mentors are successful graduates of the program and stand by ATP’s program. It goes to show that if you give ATP your commitment and work hard, the rewards are there.
Please let us know if there is anything we can assist with, that’s why the forum and we’re here.
Brady