A little late with this, had a hectic two and a half weeks with starting at ATP and my girlfriend’s car breaking down, making me her chauffeur to/from medical school for the time being lol.
I started September 17th in Lawrenceville, Georgia at KLZU, and it has been a great experience so far. All of the instructors are very knowledgeable, and the weather has been as cooperative as one could hope for! I should be completing my solo portion in about three weeks to a month from now!
Zach,
Thanks for the update. Keep them coming!
Chris
Finally freaking got my PPL today. Weather has severely delayed things for me. Going to be doing two flights a day for like three weeks to get caught up haha. Having a blast though, nothing negative to say!
Congratulations!! That is a great accomplishment. Welcome to the pilot club and thank you for the update.
Chris
Thank you Chris!
Just wanted to check in and say that I’m in the crew stage finally! Currently stuck in Nashville due to the crazy wind shear
Zachary,
That is great, it is certainly the most enjoyable part of the program. Enjoy it, almost feels like airline flying.
Chris
Got my commercial SE license this afternoon! Fun checkride
Zach,
Congratulations!! That is an awesome achievement. Keep up the good work.
Chris
Finally passed my CFI checkride yesterday! Huge weight off my shoulders haha
Feeling good, I imagine!? That’s the most valuable rating, IMO.
Thoughts on where you would like to teach?
Tory
Zach,
That is awesome! Congratulations!!!
Chris
It is a massive weight off my shoulders for sure. I’m going to try and teach here at LZU, but my loan payments will be quite high, so I might end up having two instructing jobs wherever I can find them.
My girlfriend is in Med-School here in Atlanta, so I’m hoping to stay in the area, even if it is outside of ATP. Maybe do some flight reviews on the side, who knows. Many more options now that I have the CFI cert!
It is great to have options and be able to make money 
Please keep us up to date as you progress through your career.
I definitely will
Been a little while since I’ve checked in, but I got my CFII and Commercial Multi since I’ve last posted. Have a job interview Tuesday! Waiting to see how that goes before I decide about the MEI. Running low on living expenses lol
Congratulations and thank you for the update! Good luck on the interview.
I appreciate it!
Little update, I have started standardization training with Falcon Aviation Academy down here in Atlanta! Started with ATP on September 17th, 2018, and accepted the job offer from Falcon on September 22nd, 2019.
I got as much of the multi-time as I could before I started. I might get my MEI with Falcon, but I haven’t decided on if I want to do that quite yet or not. Will see how things start to look with bills and whatnot since funds are low at the moment.
My overall experience with ATP was pretty good. The instructors were great but there were some things that happened towards the end with some of my friends involving management that left a sour taste in my mouth, however I’d still (and do) recommend the school.
The pay at ATP for instructors is a little underwhelming compared to other large schools, unless you are a CFI standardization instructor. That’s really my only overall knock on the school, so to speak. If your loan payments/rent are on the lower side, then ATP is the place to teach because you will make enough to live and and you will rack up the hours. Plus their fleet is top notch, as well as their actual ATP maintenance facilities. My loan payments and rent just didn’t make ATP a realistic option, unfortunately.
Only thing I would change looking back is saving some money and doing my private elsewhere, but I don’t regret the decision I made to just dive in. It was a very fun and transformative experience!
I will keep updating as I progress to airline interviews and all that fun stuff!
Awesome to hear you found your next step! Keep grinding and enjoy your time as a CFI, you’ll learn a lot and you’ll be at 1500 before you know it!!!
If you run into Trent C at falcon let him know I say hi, he’s an instructor there but will probably be gone in a month or two!