I’m almost done training with ATP flight school in less than 2 months. I heard many ATP CFI candidates are on the waiting list which might take 4 to 6 months and it’s not guaranteed that they will get the position at the training center they want to work for. Does the benefit of instructing for ATP after waiting for that long outweighs the benefit of working for other flight school to get 1500 hours quicker? Since there many who still want to stay with ATP despite the waiting time, that tells me there’s something good about instructing for ATP like higher possibility of getting hired by Airlines because they have partnership. I’d love to stay with ATP if that’s true and also they have newer planes with g1000. But if it doesn’t matter, then I just wanna start working for another flight school.
Steve,
Having been in the program I would think you’d have some idea of the reasons many pilots want to instruct for ATP. Whether it’s the location, the equipment, familiarity with the program, ATPs connections in the industry, the list goes on and there are many.
Regardless to me this is kind of a no brainer. When you’re done if you’re offered a position at a location that works for you by all means take it. If not and you’re put on a waiting list I certainly wouldn’t sit around twiddling my thumbs, I’d look for something else. If ATP calls then you can decide. If they don’t you’re building time. If they do if you’re happy where you are stay say thank you but no thank you, if not you take it. Easy.
Adam
Steve,
I agree with Adam. I wouldn’t wait around. Find whatever job you can and then reevaluate if/when ATP calls. To the graduates that you speak of that are waiting for ATP to call, they should all be looking for work.
Tory
Steve,
Here is my experience with the CFI position with ATP. Hopefully, this will help.
I finished the program on 10/25 here in Charlotte. It took about 2 1/2 weeks for the email from instructor placement to come to tell me that I would be receiving another email in a couple of days with my location choices. A couple of days after that, I did receive that email (now about 3 weeks from my finish date). You are given 1 week to make your selection (there were initially no east coast locations available), they change pretty much daily and currently seem to be mostly west coast locations.
Once I made my selection, TTN (Trenton, NJ), I received another email about my indoc class date which is not until mid-March. So this means that I don’t have a projected start date at TTN until early to mid-April. So it will be almost 6 months from the time that I have completed the program until the time I start instructing.
Hopefully, this gives you some insight into how things are looking, time-wise, for the moment. Several other people that finished the program around the same time that I did all have the same timeline.
If you had chosen a west coast location would you have been able to start working immediately?
No, apparently the problem/backlog is indoc down in JAX. So it would not have mattered what I had chosen, the indoc date would still be the same.
ATP has a surplus of graduates with the instructor guarantee right now and it is causing a backlog when it comes to finding them a training center and getting them through indoc. Due to lower enrollment and a surplus of instructors (COVID), this is why ATP took away the guaranteed instructor position, but they still have to honor all the students that started the program when the guarantee was still in place.
I kept thinking that I wouldn’t get an offer from ATP if I choose another flight school, but if they still do then I would totally go for another flight school first.
Steve,
This is all very new to us also. You should check with ATP to be sure.
Tory
You should have no problem flying for another school while waiting for ATP. I started instructing shortly after graduating with ATP in August with another flight school while I waited.
You definitely don’t want to be sitting around waiting while you lose currency and proficiency.