Hey, all. I had the unfortunate lack of foresight to reenlist in the Army before discovering I’m not actually too old to start an airline pilot career after all. Long story short, the earliest I could start at ATP would be Fall of 2020.
Anyway, I am thinking getting my PPL and building flight time before starting the ATP program would help get me to the finish line more quickly. My questions are if I were able to build enough time PRIOR to starting ATP (295 hours or close to it),
would I be able to interview with a regional at 500 hours, which would essentially be right when I graduate (my 295 plus the 205 from the program) before flight instructing really even began and
would that even make enough difference in how soon I would interview to make it worth the expense of accruing those 295 hours on my own?
I’m really curious how you’re coming up with this 295hrs figure? It’s easy to speculate and say “ok i’m going to fly X times a week for Y long” but I think you’ll find plans like that seldom work out. Regardless the Regionals are desperate for bodies and would be happy to talk to you at 500hrs (they’ll even talk to you now with no hrs) but my question is what do you think you’d gain? I mean you could possible save a few months of instructing but you’d be paying for those hours vs getting paid for them. I guess again I’m not understanding what you think you’ll accomplish by building those 295hrs vs the expense and often frustrating pace of getting your PPK on your own?
I can see where getting your PPL would be advantageous, but flying almost three hundred hours is going to cost you a ton of money. It might possibly save you two months or so, but that is about it. I really do not see that as a good return on your investment.
Even if you do interview at a regional with 500 hours, you will still need to instruct until you have 1,500 hours before you can go to the regionals, so it really doesn’t matter if you interview at 500 hours, or 1,499 hours.
Hey, @Adam. Thanks for the reply. The 295 is based on the 500 hours quoted as the time at which one would interview with an airline while instructing at ATP minus the 205 hours listed in the table containing the various hours accrued during the various versions of the fast track program.
What I may or may not gain by going that route is what I was wondering, and it sounds like it wouldn’t be more than a few months, and at great personal expense. Given the 2-2/3 years before I can start at ATP, I am just looking for (efficient) ways to shave off time and build hours sooner than later. But it sounds like the expense of logging a bunch of hours on my own is not worth the extra two or three months instructing to get the same thing, and for pay.
Hi, @Chris. Thanks for the reply. That’s essentially what I was thinking: all those extra flight hours racked up at huge personal expense could be logged and paid for in maybe just two or three months instructing instead.
It isn’t that I don’t want to instruct; I just want to get my foot in the door as early as possible, before it closes. Everything I read about the industry indicates that door is going to be open for a good long while, but one never knows. Since I can’t even start at ATP for another 2-2/3 years, I guess I’m just afraid of getting left out of the hiring boom.
Thanks for the advice! Sounds like sticking to instructing for the time-building is the smarter option.
I have 270 hours, my commercial cert without instrument. Sounds like ATP doesn’t have any options for people like me, its either 0 time or PPL to start. I like the idea of accelerated training, but at $63k, that doesn’t seem like the best deal for me. Any thoughts or info is greatly appreciated. Any other good options that are respected by the airlines?
Here is an email I received from LIFT Admissions. As stated above in a previous post, I already have my Commercial SEL without instrument and 270 hours. This would end up costing about $29,900 according to their breakdown. Given my unique situation that might not be a bad deal. I would honestly like to do the ATP course, but they start you at PPL and charge $63k, which in my senior just doesn’t make sense. As with ATP you can instruct there and if accepted into the program have a guaranteed FO seat at Republic.
Does anyone have experience with LIFT or opinions about this plan of action? Also, what do you guys think of Republic?
"Here is the percent of tuition broken down by each rating. Total tuition is $65,000.
It doesn’t sound like a bad deal? As I’ve said in this environment most of the Regionals are on par but also the whole guaranteed job thing is really not a big deal. All the Regionals are hiring. If I were you, when I started getting close to my 1500 I’d be looking to see who’s offering what, who’s got a convenient base etc…
I’m currently a student at LIFT working on my instrument rating. So far it has been a great experience. It is pretty fast paced like ATP. For example, I finished the standardization course in about two weeks (five flights and one sim session) and am on pace to complete my instrument training in 6-7 weeks. Unlike ATP they switched the schedule around to where you don’t do your MEI and crew training until you are closer to ATP mins. That way all of it is fresh in your mind when you go to Republic for training on the jet.
LIFT is a part 141 school for private, instrument and commercial so any previous instrument time you have likely won’t be applied, but you do get the reduced hours requirement for it being part 141. You can however do multiple lessons at once pretty quickly if your instructor feels you know the material very well. While it won’t save you any money it could reduce training time some.
A couple of things to consider is there is a five year commitment to Republic and there is only one training center located in Indy. Those things were acceptable to me since I live in Indy but for others they may not be.
Let me know if there are any other questions I can help answer about LIFT.
I’m happy you’re happy at LIFT but I do have to say 5 flights and a sim in two weeks and your IR in 6-7 weeks is nothing close to the pace of ATPs program.
I’d also like to point out if you don’t get your MEI till later you obviously can’t do ME instruction till later.
Sorry it took so long to get back. Yes they will give me credit for the commercial.
I’m just not sure on what to do yet. The main thing for me with LIFT was the price, $15k less than the next cheapest. Most wont give much credit for commercial. I can’t afford to pay $60k. Republic sounds good, but like you have all said, 2 years is a long time and something else could be better with more western bases by then. Just a matter of affording to live and pay the higher price…
It is but it isn’t. Yes if you look at the timeline it does show approx. 10 weeks from PPL to IR BUT if you open the expanded timeline it also clearly shows Scenario-Based FTD Training / Crew Procedures & LOFT FTD Training in preparation for the Crew/Cross Country phase of the program. There’s also a fair amount of “padding” in there to allow for DE, Wx and misc delays which can be shortened considerably if schedules allow.