I have been considering ATP on and off for about five years now. I feel it is finally time to pull the trigger and begin the program. Currently I have just under 60 hours towards my private, and should have a check ride in mid to late January. My goal is to start the program just before the end of February. I am currently having issues with work and my current flights in terms of scheduling lessons in order to do the check ride. Would it be better to stick with my current flight school to finish my private then transition to ATP, or do a private finish up program at ATP having to learn a new airframe with a Piper as I currently fly a 172? Thanks in advance!
Welcome welcome, from the sounds from my perspective, you’re just there for your checkride at your current school. To start at ATP with Credit Private, you need 78 hours flight time. This is the amount of hours our private applicants will have generally by the end of their checkride, which keeps them on target for the program outline. At my training center, we have an individual who started without the hours, but got approval to fly the hours needed to “officially start” the program with an instructor (this cost is not factored in as the tuition for “Credit Private”), also gained an advantage to get PIC XC time. This really has given him an opportunity to learn our aircraft and advantage since they had never flown a G1000, only six pack standard instruments.
I suggest sticking with your private at your current school, really do well on that checkride since you seem in the ballpark of being endorsed(?)…then join up with ATP at the hours you’re at, talking to admin about getting the remainder of the 78 hour minimum “Credit Private” with ATP and get an advantage getting time in the Piper Archer G500/G1000 variant that your training location will fly.
Being this close I agree with Brady you should finish your PPL at your current school and try and get as close to the required 78hrs as your can.
While I understand your concern, honestly the transition from Cessna to Piper is not that daunting. There are more similarities than differences and I actually think the Archers are much easier to land.
If you are realistically close to finishing your PPL, I would do so at the school you are at. You are pretty close to this one, try to find a way to work with your job and flight school to get that check ride scheduled.
Thanks everyone. Our DPE is about 6 weeks out for check ride scheduling at the moment so hopefully I’ll have a better idea the timeline after thanksgiving. It’s good to hear about the hour building to get to 78, would that time building include getting to the minimum 8 hours of PIC XC time as well? (That may not be an issue at the time, just planning for potential schedule issues.)
Good luck on the upcoming checkride! Please keep us updated and don’t hesitate to come back and ask any other questions you may have along the way!
-Hannah
Hello Raegan, I would definitely listen to the advice the admins give on here as they have given me a ton of great advice as I was going through the program! Don’t worry about the transition from the 172 to the Piper Archer, it isn’t that big of a transition. In my program I started in the archer then transitioned to a 172 and now I fly a piper cherokee that I rent from a local flight school. The only difference that I felt going from the 172 to the archer is the sight picture coming in for a landing. Because of the sight picture in the archer I felt like the flare coming into land feels late but I like landing the archer better than the 172. Hope this was helpful and good luck on your training !
Appreciate the info, looking forward to flying a plane that actually wants to land compared to the 172 that will float seemingly forever. Thanks again!
No problem! If you ever have any questions I’m always willing to give the best advice I can. You will enjoy having the G1000 as well, it’s crazy after seeing that then flying a 6 pack.
Fortunately the 172s I am training on have the G1000, I believe the ATP Pipers at FMY Have G500, so a minor adjustment is all I think it will be. Thanks again.