Hey Guys,
I just enrolled today! Super excited and pretty ready to get started that’s why I enrolled the earliest I possibly could (I get out of the military in July 2019). I’m going to get all of my writtens out of the way but was wondering what else y’all would have done if you had this much time before your start date. Any ideas or suggestions would be great. Thank you for your time.
Austin.
Austin,
I’d work on those writtens and otherwise I’d enjoy the your down time. ATP is no joke. You’ll be flying and studying pretty hard for 9mos. You’ll be neglecting your family and friends and pretty much anything else you enjoy. So enjoy it now while you can.
Adam
Austin,
The writtens are the big thing. Other than that, study the supplements and private pilot textbook. With this much time, you should be able to get a good head start.
Chris
That’s plenty of time to get yourself set up. Get the writtens done. You’ll thank the mentors later, when you’re flying and your classmates are grounded studying for a particular written. Get as many modules on the Private part of the intranet done. There are two sets (ASA and King’s). Get them both done. Study the Cessna/Piper supplement and answer all the questions in the back of the respective supplement by your start date. It will teach you about speeds, key training concepts, systems, etc. While you’re not required to be able to draw out aircraft systems in excruciating detail for the private phase, you are required to know what the various systems do, how they are set up, and what to do if something fails in flight (e.g. alternator failure in flight, how to detect it, what to do, what are the effects of losing your main battery, etc). When the bundle arrives, start reading the chapters in the PHAK and AFH that are associated with the intranet modules you’re watching. Take your FAR/AIM and become best friends with it. There’s a section in the front that breaks down regulations by applicability to each specific license and rating. Highlight and tab the Private ones for easy reference. Also, I recommend a book called Everything Explained for the Professional Pilot. It’s $60 but well worth it and will help you study and instruct in the future. Download LiveATC and start listening to various frequencies at your training airport to get an idea of how things operate from day to day there.
In 9 months you should be well set to breeze through the first stages of the program.
As Adam said, it is a very time consuming program. You’re frequently at the training center by 6, and sometimes don’t leave till 6-7 pm. Get home, eat, study, do navlogs (bleh!), sleep, wash rinse repeat… Monday through Friday and some Saturdays. Best of luck!