Hello. I am planning on starting my path towards the airline career as soon as i finish my associates degree in a few months. I was wondering whether there was any difference in getting my PPL from ATP or from a local airport. From what I see starting from zero in ATP versus already having your PPL is a $17,000 difference while from what I have heard that it is about $10,000 for a PPL at a local airport. Do I receive better training or anything better taking the ATP route?
Thanks
Diego
Hi Diego, I will give the Mentors a rest and take a shot at this one. Most local flight schools quote at the FAA minimums not the average, the reputable ones let you know this upfront. In addition, you will need to budget for the extra flight hours to get to 78 for admission with PPL at ATP. This is include when you get your PPL from ATP. If you compare those numbers and the quality of those hours, ATP comes out on top. Best of luck on your path.
Diego,
The question for me is why did you decide to do your training with ATP in the first place? Part of that decision (I assume?) is because you’ve done some homework and have heard some positive things about ATP. Whether it be the accelerated pace, the quality of the program, the equipment, convenience, etc., you decided ATP was the way to go. So the question then becomes why wouldn’t you do ALL your training with the school you selected to do the bulk of it?
Edward pointed out how the price difference really isn’t a factor due to the need for the 78+ hrs and the fact most schools quote the minimums. While there are many fine flight schools ATPs program is just that. It’s a complete program that doesn’t only train you to get your licenses and ratings, they train you for the airlines. I did my PPL training locally and in addition to the fact it took way too long and cost way too much money, I had also never heard about things like “flows” or “CRM”. ATP starts you off Day 1 using techniques that will carry you throughout your career. To me it’s really a no brainer.
That said the only time I recommend people doing their PPL training outside of ATP is if they’re still not certain that this is the right career for them or have any doubts about their ability to be successful. In that case then getting your PPL first might be worth considering.
Adam
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Diego,
I received my PPL outside of ATP. Ended up costing me about the same because ATP requires a PPL plus 78+ total time. Most flight schools quote FAA minimums, not national averages, which gives the illusion that the PPL course is cheaper.
Cost aside, I would argue that you would receive better training at ATP because ATP has higher standards than most flight schools. I had to unlearn some bad habits when I started ATP.
That said, I don’t think I would have done anything differently. I needed the extra time to learn the PPL stuff. So, for that reason I would recommend basing your decision on how comfortable and confident you are.
Tory
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I got my PPL at a local school, all in it costed $11,350 and took me 55 hours and about 11 weeks. To get 78 hours total time which is required for ATP it would’ve costed me another $2,300 (if I did it solo, I shared some flights making it even cheaper for time building). So in that case you’d still be saving a few grand. This was my personal experience and it was good, as you can see some others had issues with local schools.
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Diego,
I got my PPL from another flight school. Their program took twice as long as promised and cost about twice as much also. There were constant issues with airplane and instructor availability, along with a very inflexible program. Your mileage may vary at a local school, but that was my experience.
Chris
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I would just ditto was Chris and Torey said, I too, got my PPL outside of ATP and it cost a lot more money than originally quoted and took a lot longer than expected.
I’m afraid to crunch the exact numbers, but I definitely spent over $15k getting mine plus the extra hours to hit that 78+ hour mark.
If I were to do it again or had decided to switch careers before starting my PPL, I definitely would have gone with ATP soup to nuts from zero time.
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