I am looking for some guidance regarding a timeline if someone would oblige.
I am currently in the military and separating next summer. Thus my specific date for wanting to start a far out specific date.
I plan to attend the ATP school in Norwood, MA, and would like to start the week following the 4th of July 2023.
This being said, when would it be recommended that I begin the application process? I have ample time to knock out “the writtens” prior, which I would like to do and then give myself as much time as possible to begin studying the material from ATP prior to beginning training.
Just looking for someone with relevant experience to give some guidance as an ideal timeline in which to go about this process.
Thank you to anyone who can spare some wisdom! I appreciate it.
Generally we recommend people start the process about 6mos out. That still gives you plenty of time to secure your date and financing, get your medical bang out your writtens and all the other ATP prerequisite reading.
While you could most certainly start your writtens sooner, keep in mind the writtens expire within 24mos if you haven’t taken the corresponding practical exam. So just make sure you’re going to start when you plan before you start banging them out.
Generally six months is plenty of time, but the financing approvals is good for a year, so if you really know when you will be able to start, go ahead and start the process a year out. When you put down your deposit, you will receive the study material and access to online study material. Since your intended start date is next summer, might as well go ahead and apply now.
I started my journey in November 2019, where I was able to put a deposit on a start date for July 2020. I wasn’t in a hurry and needless to say, a pandemic showed up not even a month after I talked with Admissions. What I would recommend is if you have a weekend or so, schedule an admission flight and training center tour, get that checked off.
After acceptance to ATP, put your down deposit to secure a class date and you will have access to ATP’s hundreds of resources which you can use to help study. For the Private written you can use anything from ASA to Sporty’s Study Buddy app, every written thereafter use Sheppard Air.
The only other things you’d have to accomplish before attending is a 1st FAA Class Medical certificate.
Jumping in on this thread real quick, just to ensure I have the timeline right.
Goal is to apply for financing and get my medical this December when I am home from school, and also apply for a start date and do the intro flight. College doesn’t end until May. Is there anything recommended I push off until right before starting? I was going to push off the medical as it’s only valid for 12 months at a time, but I read you need it prior to scheduling, and I’m unsure it’s wise to jeopardize getting the right start date to save a hundred bucks.
I intend to work on the writtens between December and start date.
Your timeline sounds good to me. I would not recommend putting anything off. You can apply for the financing now, the approval is good for twelve months.
You don’t need the first class privileges until using your ATP. What that means is, you can get your first class medical to secure your start date. Now after 12 months, the privileges will downgrade to third class which is still sufficient for all your flight training and working as a CFI. Prior to starting at a regional, then you can spend another $100 to re-up your first class privileges.
If you end up time building doing operations such as crop dusting, delivering canceled checks, or carrying passengers or cargo for hire, then you’re exercising your commercial certificate and need second class privileges.
You need to be able to obtain a first class medical because without one, you can’t have a career as an airline pilot. However, once you have one in terms of the privileges you just need to remain in compliance with the FAA.
Thank you everyone for the replies! I had a lot going on with the service obligations over the past couple months but just applied yesterday.
One last question if I could trouble someone for their time again, as far as studying for the written via the commonly recommended apps, is Wi-Fi required to consistently utilize these? My current living conditions do not offer Wi-Fi as a comfort however I could download the apps and study later offline, or bite the bullet and pay for data on my IPad?
I honestly can’t remember. I used ASA and had the app on both my phone and iPad so I could study pretty much anywhere as long as I had one of my devices.
I’m thinking when you download the app you are downloading the questions database along with the app interface so it should be able to be used offline.
Maybe a more recent student will see this and chime in soon. If not, you could download the free versions of both study apps and see how they work before committing to the subscription.
It’s never troubling us for anytime, we are here to help and provide advice.
I never used the ASA or Sporty’s Study Buddy App since I did not know about them in 2019 when I acquired my private pilot outside of ATP. I would guess you could download the app and then download the material for offline use. Is there some sort of downloading feature through the app on your iPad/iPhone that you could work through and find/maybe in settings?
