Originally Posted by Atrain77
Hi everybody! I'm new to to the forums and it looks like there is a surplus of knowledge lurking around the boards. I'm hoping somebody can help point me in the right direction.
I'm 20 years old and in December I'll graduate with a B.S. in Management. Studying management for four years knowing that I just want to fly was extremely difficult. But in the long run it was the best thing I could've done. I've retained a lot of info that will help me outside of aviation. But in December I need to go to flight school.
I've looked into Delta Connection, RAA, ATP and even visited Pan Am in Phoenix last spring. Right now I'm leaning towards ATP because they offer multi-engine training, a reasonable price and a good reputation. I saw a thread posted a few months ago which skimmed the surface on ATP but I'm looking for more. Is there anybody who went to ATP who knows what it's really like and knows if the advertisements accurately represent the school? Will you actually be hired by ATP to instruct or are most graduates forced to find work elsewhere? For those who didn't go to ATP, are there better options out there? Is the multi-engine training at ATP worth it?
As a newbie to the aviation industry and these forums, I look forward to hearing what everybody has to say. Thank you very much!
My Standard Disclaimer: The proven, accepted, and most reliable means of getting into the aviation industry is to get all your ratings (including CFI, CFII, MEI) and teach until you can qualify for a cargo or regional job. The experience gainined on this route is applicable to all segments of aviation and all regional/commuter airlines. You will really learn the fundamentals by teaching them, meet all kinds of people (networking!), and develop your leadership and judgement in a real-world aviation environment. With that being said...
Congrats on your degree, that will only help you. Most of the Big-Name flight schools and "Academy Programs" charge WAY too much for what they offer. Most anyone who offers "value-added" in entry-level flight training is full of sh*t. Typical "value added" items: Advanced (turbine) aircraft training, airline operations training, airline "connections", most "guaranteed interview" programs, new aircraft, top-notch maintenance, etc. You really don't need to pay for this stuff, because your airline will teach you when you get hired.
The hard reality is that there are very few shortcuts out there, and airlines pretty much look only at your flight times, especially at the regional level. At the major level, they look at other factors, such as masters degrees, but never do they care much about what college or what flight school you graduated from (unless it was Harvard, Annapolis, etc)
So, the point is to understand very carefully A) what are you paying for B) how much are you paying, and C) how will it help you.
You need to pay for these things: PPL, Inst rating, CPL, ME rating, CFI, CFII, MEI. Anything else they want you pay for, you really need to look hard at C)
Some big schools like to brag about their shiny new aircraft and great maintenance programs...Well, the FAA requires ALL aircraft to have specific regular maintenance. That means ALL flight schools, FBO's, and clubs have to apply the same standards. If someone trys to sell you on something that you were going to get anyway, you have to wonder about their level of integrity. Most flight training salesman are folks who got kicked out of the used car salesmen union for ethics violations! Talk to students and CFI's when you visit a school. Don't EVER sign up for anything without visiting the facility.
The first thing I would recommend would be to find your local FBO's and flight schools and go ask around, try to get a feel for what the cost of the training would be. This will be bare-bones no-frills training, and should be your baseline. Maybe you can live at home while you train. Anything that costs more than that, you should ask yourself WHY it costs more.
From what I know of ATP, they do offer a fairly standard program without a lot of bells and whistles (though you can buy these if you want $$$). I think they emphasize ME time, which can be good. What you really need to find out is what your odds are of getting a job there after you get your ratings. It's always nice to be able to get a CFI job at the school where you did your training, however there always CFI jobs to be had on a walk-in basis. Or you can hang at at the FBO and work as an independent CFI.
Now there are operations that have "shortcut" programs that will supposedly get you on with a regional with 400 hours or less...most of these will guarantee you an interview...well that's ALL you get, is a nice interview (unless you have an affirmative action ticket). They will usually tell you to go CFI and come back when you have a 1000+ hours. There are a VERY few such programs that actually have a high success rate at getting low-time pilots hired at airlines, but that's a whole diffeent topic...