Howdy guys! I’ve been looking into flight school for awhile but am finally in a position to make the dream a reality. Right now, I’m looking between ATP at KSAT, and Coast out of KHYI. I’ll be honest, I was all for Coast at first but the tide is turning on that. My biggest reason that ATP wasn’t my favorite was because of seeing so much negativity on Reddit. But, after taking time off of work several times for scheduled calls to speak with a Coast rep and being blown off I decided to give ATP a shot. The person I spoke to was great, and now I’m slotted for an intro flight next week and extremely stoked to learn more about ATP! The main question I have right now is for those of you who did your training at larger airports and what y’all’s experiences were like? Obviously SAT is very different from DFW, but most flight schools I’ve seen tend to be at smaller airports and just want to make sure fighting commercial traffic won’t compromise my education in some way.
Best,
C
Carice,
I’m very glad you’ve decided to not take the advice of some internet trolls and do your research. ATP produces more successful airline pilots in a year than Coast has EVER.
As for your question, as you pointed out SAT isn’t DFW. Sure there’s some commercial traffic, but definitely not enough to be of concern. Further you’ll gain tremendous experience dealing with ATC you wouldn’t elsewhere which will help you in the long run.
Let of know how the intro flight goes.
Adam
Carice,
Welcome to the forum, thank you for joining us. The Reddit stuff drives me crazy, by and large it is just a bunch of negative people that refuse to take responsibility for their own actions. It is far easier to complain than to look within.
If you want to see real experiences, please check out the “Student Experiences” section on this website. We in no way edit that section, what you see is what you get from real ATP current and former students.
Training at a big airport is not a problem at all, in fact it can give you some really good experiences. When I was an instructor with ATP, I instructed out of Norfolk International, which is a pretty big, busy airport. I had very few delays, if any, associated with this. The controllers were great about working us into the flow. Most of the time I would take my students to smaller airports to practice, which really gave them experience in both kinds of operating environments. I do not think you have a single thing to worry about here. There are plenty of smaller airports around SAT, if ATP thought one of those would be better, they would move to it.
Please let us know what you think of the intro flight and any questions that you have, and please go check out that link I posted.
Chris
Adam,
Thank you for the reassurance. I’ll admit I was a bit drawn to Coast because they put together a great website, but beyond that there’s very little to go on.
The intro flight is next week so I will definitely come back to share my impressions then. I’ve seen the advice given here to keep expectations to a minimum and will follow that. Do you have any further suggestions for how to prepare, or questions I should be asking once I get there?
Best,
C
C,
I’m glad you found my intro recommendations and there’s really nothing else. Again it’s simply an opportunity to meet and greet ATP and get comfy in what will be your office for the next couple of years. Relax and enjoy. While I don’t have any questions for you to ask, feel free to ask anything and anything that pops into your head. Remember the only stupid questions are the ones we don’t ask.
Adam
Chris,
I have been lurking on student experiences for a few days now! Everything I’ve seen has been great and tons of questions have been answered by going through old posts. As for Reddit, it’s great for some things, but the trolls will always flock to areas where they can anonymously complain instead of taking responsibility. Alas, ATP certainly gets tons of attention on their site. I’m grateful I can come here also to get information from people willing to post under their true identity. It lends heaps more credibility obviously.
Beyond that, I really appreciate you sharing your experience from your time instructing. The idea of training at a larger airport has definitely been a mental roadblock for moment or two, but from what y’all are saying it will be a better opportunity to prepare for life, hopefully, at the airlines. I was a bit nervous I’d want to look into other ATP locations, which wouldn’t be ideal as I have a free place to live 5 miles from SAT.
Best,
C
Carice,
Something else to think about, ATP has been doing this for well over thirty years, at all sorts of different airports. They know what works and what does not in regards to different types of airports. If a big airport was not conducive to effective training, they would move the location.
If you have free housing within five miles of SAT, I would pick that location and never think twice about it.
Chris
Carice,
I wouldn’t fret over the location much at all. Do whichever is the most convenient for you. ATP wouldn’t have a location there if the training wasn’t successful. The instructors will determine the environment most suited for your learning. When you’re soloing, small quiet fields are an advantage. When you get to instrument, you will venture out farther seeking busy airspace to get that experience. Don’t worry.
-Hannah
Carice,
Choose the location nearest you. When I was a student I did my training at Sacramento Executive Airport, class D. I attended CFI school in North Las Vegas, and when I became a flight instructor I instructed at Riverside, Sacramento and Hayward. I encountered LA airspace traffic in Riverside and bay area traffic in Hayward. Sacramento was pretty quiet and it was actually quite nice. While there were small variants at each airport the program is the exact same no matter where you go and the Instructors are there to help you learn the airspace and the associated traffic.
Tory
Tory and Hannah,
Thank you for confirming once again that ATP would only choose locations that benefit students! For now, I’m going to leave any worries behind and look forward to seeing how the intro flight goes. Looking forward to giving a substantial update soon.
Best,
C
Howdy y’all,
Thought I’d share an update after my intro flight. First, I absolutely loved it! Getting into the archer I thought I’d be a bit claustrophobic, but that notion faded as soon as we got in the air— it didn’t matter that the cabin was smaller than my 2door hatchback— we were flying! The facilities at the FBO were very nice. Nothing fancy, but the simulator was quite impressive. They have 3 archers on premises and 8 students so the ratios seem great. As for the flight itself I couldn’t have asked for anything better. Got to work the controls for about an hour going through some turns and flying across the city. The instructor was fantastic and was able to answer all of my questions and gave helpful and specific feedback. My only real complaint is that it had to end and that I hadn’t decided towards this path sooner!
My next step is to speak with my grandparents, who will be helping me to afford this endeavor, so I can get a class date.
Carice,
Glad it went well, another pilot has been born! As for your complaint the good news is it doesn’t need to stop! I’ve been flying now for almost 30yrs and I still love it!
Congrats and let us know what’s next.
Adam
Carice,
Now that’s the update we all love to hear! So happy for you! Flying really is the best feeling ever and I echo what Adam said, it doesn’t really ever go away.
So for next steps! Apply and obtain a first class medical and secure your financing. Sounds like you’re already working on the financing part… After that you can set a class date and get your materials to start working on the PAR written exam! Here’s to the start of a new exciting journey!
-Hannah
Carice,
I am glad it went well and thank you for letting us know! Please keep us updated as you go through the process and let us know of any questions you might have.
Chris
Another question for you all— is the 12.9” iPad Pro too large? I already have one and will keep it for studying/personal use no matter what, but it does seem like it would be a bit large to deal with while flying. Thanks once again!
And another note, the family has approved the numbers, so once I have my medical done this week I’ll be setting a start date 
The 12.9” will be great for your King Schools ground studying and prepping for flights (plus eventually as an instructor scheduling flights and post flight debrief notes) but it will be wayyy too big for the cockpit. If I were you, I’d buy an iPad mini with cellular data just to be used as your EFB while flying.
What Hannah said…
Adam
Much appreciated advice! Thought I’d ask while I can take advantage of holiday sales in the coming weeks
Hi Carice!
I’m glad your intro flight went so well. I used an iPad mini when I was in the program. Most of my peers did as well. If you would prefer to size up the 10.9” iPad Air would also be a nice choice. I wouldn’t get anything larger than that though.
Tory