Hello y’all. I been thinking of attending ATP Long Beach training center but been seeing it has a lot of negative reviews on Yelp about the lack of support provided. I’m a big Yelp advocate because I feel it’s accurate most of the time. Can anyone who has attended Long Beach give me some positive reviews about the training process and support provided throughout the entire program?
Henry,
I know I say this a lot when I see threads about specific locations, the best way to get your own view on it, is by visiting and conducting an Admissions Flight. ATP has 80+ locations and the program is pretty standardized across the board that one person on the east coast is going to receive the same training as west coast. We can’t promise that someone from the Long Beach location is on the thread, but you may also use the search function in the upper right corner of forum and search “Long Beach.”
Furthermore, once attending have questions of your own about things at that location. Chris, one of the mentors created a great posting on the questions you could ask of potential flight school:
Brady
Henry,
First off as a native NYer living in Hawaii, you just need to read the Yelp pizzeria reviews to know EVERYTHING on Yelp needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
As for a Yelp review regarding ATP, I can’t 100% disagree. This is actually a common criticism of ATP and the primary reason I often say ATP isn’t for anyone. If people believe they’re going to show up, pay their money and ATP is going to spoon feed them and make them a pilot they’re most definitely in for a major disappointment. ATP was created over 35yrs ago by airline pilots with the sole purpose of training airline pilots. They created the “zero to hero” concept which literally every flight school in the country is now trying to copy. What they can’t duplicate are the results which are tens of thousands of successful ATP grads now flying for airlines (well over 1,000 in the last 12mos alone). How they do this (and the reason they have partnerships with virtually every airline in the country) is because they modeled their program from actual airline training. If people believe they’re going to show up day one at their Regional and the airline is going to hold their hand and let them take their time in training they’re again sorely mistaken. Like ATP, ALL airline training requires tremendous drive, dedication and self study. ATP will provide you with the tools you need to be successful BUT you’ve got to do the work. This isn’t HS and no one of going to push you. You’ll either sink or swim. The problem is its much easier to blame the program, the school or the instructor than it is to admit maybe mommy and the TeleTubbies were wrong, and you can’t be anything you want when you grow.
If the above sounds harsh then maybe ATP isn’t for you. There are plenty of flight schools out there that will hold your hand and let you take your sweet time as long as you keep paying them. Aside from the fact you’ll spend a fortune and progress very slowly, the question them becomes what happens when you get to the airlines? Getting hired these days is ridiculously easy. Getting through training is not and pay of the reason the airlines are hiring so many pilots is the high washout rates. As I said the airlines will not allow you to take your time nor will they hold your hand. Sadly in the end far too many people are left with nothing more than a story to tell their grandkids about how they were ALMOST an airline pilot.
Adam
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Henry,
I second what Adam is saying. Reviews are statistically weighted to those who have negative experiences. Not only negative, but feel so strongly that they take the time to write a review about it. Keep in mind, that’s the 1%.
The ATP ACPP is hard. It’s not built for the below average joe. If you show up expecting to be hand fed everything, you will not be successful and you will be disappointed. The program is meant to build your foundation in a way that prepares you for your future career. News flash, initial type training is incredibly fast paced and heavily self taught. So is ATP. I meet alum all the time who agree that if it weren’t for ATP, they would have struggled through initial training.
Hannah
Hi Henry,
I am not a mentor on here but I am a flight instructor at the Long Beach location, did all my training as a student here, and have also spent the past year as the location’s Training Support Specialist - so I believe I am the person you are looking for! I had the exact same concerns that you have when I started in 2020 and was doing my research on flight schools. I will start by saying that the notes above from Brady Adam and Hannah are all correct and are great points. I checked out the Yelp reviews that you are referring to. Keep in mind that the nature of the flight training industry is that people are constantly moving in and out of their flight schools as they progress in their careers - so as for the reviews people have left about their experiences with specific people, it is very likely those people are no longer around and have moved on to other parts of their careers.
When I was signing up for flight training and had read some of the Yelp reviews, I quickly realized that most of them were coming from people who expected ATP to hand them their pilot certificates because of the money they were paying and the advertisements they were seeing, without realizing the amount of work they’d still have to put in as you would at any other flight school, especially one with a fast-paced program outline… The recent negative reviews on there are from people who I do not recognize, or even themselves noted in their reviews that they never actually came here and tried it out as a student.
Anyone who knows me as a pilot knows how much I rave about Long Beach Airport itself (we have a very busy but exciting training environment with lots always going on) - with that being said, our location is one of ATP’s largest, and there are a ton of people from all over the Los Angeles/Orange County areas with various career backgrounds that you will get to meet and train with here. And a proud moment from me - we were one of the top locations in 2022 in terms of checkride pass rate, airline placement and on time performance!
Some background on me: I trained as a student 2020-2021, had some time off due to the pandemic prior to instructing, and am just about to finish up my hours after instructing for about a year and a half. I am going directly to a major airline through one of ATP’s partnerships, was granted 3 promotions since I started working here as a CFI, and passed all of my checkrides within the time frame I was promised. It was difficult but also the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.
If you have any specific questions please contact our Admissions or Training Support department and they will be happy to address any of your concerns!! I hope you will consider training here although I will be at an airline by the time you start!
-TJ
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TJ,
Thank you for reaching out and adding your insights, it is much appreciated.
Chris
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TJ,
Hope all is well, friend! Seems like yesterday we were sitting in CFI Academy with Mr. Summers! Tempus Fugit
Brady
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