It is with joy and excitement that I join this vibrant aviation community. As a prospective student for ATP Flight School in Richmond, VA, I am honored to be here. My passion for aviation started very early, when I was just a kid in Costa Rica (no, not Puerto Rico we are our own little country). After coming to the US during my teenage years in a massive three-aisle B777 and spending much of my childhood doing VATSIM simulation, I knew I was going to be a pilot one day. So far, I have done 20 hours of flight time and got to do some good ol’ stalls, emergency procedures, small airfield landings, and plenty of takeoffs/landings and pattern work in a C172s, C152s, and the PA-28 Archer (ATC-KRIC flies only these). Currently, I work in sales for ADP (a large HCM/Payroll/Benefits company) and work with small businesses to help with their needs. Prior to my current experience, I graduated from JMU with a degree in International Business and worked 6 years as a paid EMT- Paramedic to help pay for my student debt while in school. My goal in aviation is to finish my ATP program with flying colors, work as a CFI, and probably get a job for Commutair (big fan of United) I am confident my background and experience will help me excel through training, and look forward to sharing insights and learning from every single one of you!
Welcome Alonso, It looks like you’ve got everything figured out and already getting ahead of the game!!
Good Luck with everything and I look forward to seeing as you progress through everything with the rest of us. Do you have a start date yet or are you waiting for your PPL?
Welcome to the forums and thank you for the detailed introduction. It sounds like you have your plan pretty well laid out, which is great. Where do you stand in the application process to ATP?
Thanks Tom, I have my financing approved and now just need my first class which I have scheduled in a couple of weeks. Although I have some flight time, I am just going to start ATP from zero to have better continuity. I am looking to start in July, right after the fiscal-end at my company. I see you are starting very soon in May. Are you excited to start? KILG seems like a cool airfield. I see it is a class Delta so I imagine it’s a small town.
A pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am approved for financing and finished my intro flight. There was a bit of a queue at my local AME’s office, but I am scheduled in a couple of weeks. Once I have my first class, my goal is to enroll for a July class date.
The CFI fast track program seems very well structured, and it was a big part of my decision to go for ADP. While certification is standardized by the FAA and intensive, I imagine a lot of CFI’s are fairly young and relatively inexperienced in terms of tenure. To clarify, I imagine there are not a lot of retired aviators or life long aviators teaching students. Would you agree/disagree with this observation?
How would rate sales experience, bilingual fluency, and an emergency management background during the interview process? This question is geared more toward the major’s interview process.
Do you know of a lot of pilots that have an entrepreneur spirit? For example, one goal of mine once I get to a stable spot in my career is to invest and do smart things with my income while focusing in having a family.
Would you say networking with others is a big part of the job?
Wilmington is a nice little airport that is steady but not super busy (Frontier just pulled out last year). Not being in the Airline mindset yet I still enjoy the small pilot controlled airports with the little on field restaurants.
Excited to start but just working through the Sheppard Air test prep to get my writtens out of the way while I wait for my start date.
Being a CFI is definitely an entry level position into the industry, largely due to pay and that everybody wants to fly the big jets. This is not necessarily a bad thing as new pilots are far more current on the ins and outs of learning to fly than old airline pilots are. Trust me, you do not want me to be your CFI.
Sales experience, bilingual fluency and an emergency management background will not do you much good at all in an airline interview. The airlines are looking to hire a pilot, not a salesman. They will be looking at flight hours, variety of experience, recommendations from other aviators, etc. Those things will probably help you in your side job, but they will not be much use to you as a pilot.
Many pilots have side jobs or do investments, it is very common as the job can offer a fair amount of time off.
Networking can be a huge factor in getting to the majors. Once you are there, it really only matters if you want to move into management or instructing.
There are some retired pilots who work weekends etc for mom and pop flight schools but not many and certainly not at ATP. ATP trains full time 5-7 days a week and after working as an airline pilot (which is practically a part-time job once you gain seniority) it’s just a bit much.
As Chris said the Majors are looking for pilots with experience and people who fit their company cultures. Being bilingual is great if you want to be a Flight Attendant or Gate Agent but as a pilot your English proficiency is far more important.
A good number of pilots have second careers. Again once you gain some seniority you can find yourself with a fair amount of free time. So have businesses, others just surf and ski.
Networking is huge. This is a VERY small industry and everybody knows somebody who knows you. If you’re a good guy you’ll do well, if not people are bound to find out and you won’t.
I agree with that statement. Mind you that every one of these newly minted CFI’s have to prove their worthiness to very experienced examiners. Of course the examiners don’t just pass out CFI certificates to just anyone. That being said, they say that becoming a CFI is like receiving a license to learn.
Airlines want to know about your experience as a pilot.
Thank you all for the responses. To follow up with the second question, I term I have heard fairly often through my research is Crew Resource Management. Aside from a strong safety record and having the hours, do you believe that strong emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills would be taken into consideration during the interview process? How do airline recruiters assess candidates for Crew Resource Management skills during the interview process to qualify candidates?
Sounds like you want to enjoy and soak every little bit in. I am going right into the tailwinds with my training and looking to grind these next couple of years and absorb as much as I can!
Could you tell me a little bit more about the Sheppard Air test prep? Is that what ATP assigns to you as prep work before class starts?
I believe you said that you are gonna start from Zero so once you put down your deposit you will have access to the King Course for your PAR, and then depending on your start date you will then progress to Sheppard Air for your IRA and CAX (I heard ATP is going to King for IRA but with Sheppard only being like $35 for IRA it could be worth getting yourself to assist with the written).
Sheppard is strange at first because you have to rewire how you study but it’s actually really effective.
Another one I’ve heard Students and Alums use is Sportys Study Buddy but I’m not trying to mix with Shep as there are A LOT of people that swear by it and it has helped with rote memorization for the test prep. I would set aside 1-2 hrs a day for test prep leading up to it (I’ve been doing an hr or less and am switching to closer to 2 hrs as I can see the difference with the less time).
Absolutely, emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills are huge parts of an airline interview, although they may not be directly stated as such. Questions about CRM are usually in the form of “tell me about a time when…” Questions like this assess how you have handled situations in the past and what you learned from those experiences.
CRM skills are indeed extremely important. I was actually Human Factors Lead at my Regional and facilitated CRM classes at both my airlines and am now on my current airlines CRM Advisory Board. The industry has sadly learned this lesson the hard way over the years and those skills are graded right there with maneuvers.
That said you could have all the interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence in the world but they won’t mean a lick nor get you anywhere near a Major airline if you don’t have the licenses, rating, flight time and skills (unless you want to be a Flight Attendant?). While I appreciate your enthusiasm you’re at step 1 and you’re worrying about step 873. If I were you I would be focusing on starting my flight training.
Thanks for the response, I am a forward-thinker by nature. From the moment I migrated to the US to follow the “American Dream”, my accomplishments thus far have been derived from careful planning and obtaining consultative insights from tenured peers like you in the industry. I have been fortunate to have networked with many pilots and ATC, which helped me build a deeper understanding of what I’m getting into and the aptitude and skills necessary to be a pilot.
Because right now I am in a waiting game for a little longer to enroll in ATP (waiting for my first class), I want to ask questions that help me understand the big picture of what I am getting into as a whole. Once training starts, there is no doubt that I will be asking far more specifics training related questions outside of what I have researched on my own.
My decision to switch careers has not been done lightly, and it is the result of years of analysis and timing of the industry. Furthermore, I am enrolled in the Sporty’s Study Buddy program in preparation for my ATP July class enrollment to start learning and focusing on my training… in addition to my prior aviation experience.
I agree with you that the recipe to success is to take one step at a time; however, I find that having a series of long-term and short-term goals ensures I remain self-motivated and accountable to my career and training progression each step of the way.
Thanks for the response. I am fairly familiar with behavioral questions through my prior background. I find using the STAR model is the best way to answer them. I imagine airlines find CRM to be imperative for the safety and operation of an aircraft, and to have good synergy and teamwork between crew members which I imagine equals less HR issues, good employee morale, etc.
Appreciate your insights. I have a couple more weeks at least before putting down my deposit. I hear the Sportys Study Buddy program is free so I may consider checking it out. It sounds like Sheppard Air has a proven record of success so I am going to start that program as well. The more the merrier I suppose.
we are our own little country). After coming to the US during my teenage years in a massive three-aisle B777 and spending much of my childhood doing VATSIM simulation, I knew I was going to be a pilot one day. So far, I have done 20 hours of flight time and got to do some good ol’ stalls, emergency procedures, small airfield landings, and plenty of takeoffs/landings and pattern work in a C172s, C152s, and the PA-28 Archer (ATC-KRIC flies only these). Currently, I work in sales for ADP (a large HCM/Payroll/Benefits company) and work with small businesses to help with their needs. Prior to my current experience, I graduated from JMU with a degree in International Business and worked 6 years as a paid EMT- Paramedic to help pay for my student debt while in school. My goal in aviation is to finish my ATP program with flying colors, work as a CFI, and probably get a job for Commutair (big fan of United) I am confident my background and experience will help me excel through training, and look forward to sharing insights and learning from every single one of you!