I part-time CFI and I have been getting hit with folks wanting to do ATP training recently. I have turned away several in the last month as our school is closing.

That got me to thinking about system capacity and I looked up some stats this week.

Normally there are 5-8,000 ATP knowledge tests per year. Last year their were well over 25,000!! Who knows how many of those had the aeronautical experience to take the practical.

It's not easy to figure out the total number of DPE's and FAA examiners, but I think it is around 2,000 (found an article that said there 1,600 DPEs). Only some of those 2,000 examiners can do ATP practicals. After clicking through about 30 of the 120 "location codes" on the FAA site, it was roughly 1/3 of the listed DPE's could do ATP practicals. Interestingly, it didn't list the FAA examiners.

My school did knowledge tests and they were getting calls from overseas and other states hoping to find an "open slot" to take the test last year. A lot of folks missed out as the knowledge test demand exceeded capacity. That could be a predictor of the demand vs. capacity on the practical. It's a heck of a lot easier to schedule and take the written.

The point of the above is that if you are knowledge test complete and meet the aeronautical experience requirements, get the practical done as soon as possible. The last two months of our CATS schedule was booked solid, so it's a fair bet the number of folks taking the practical will ramp up over the next 14 months when we approach the two-year mark where the rules changed.

I started about 14 months out and I wished I would have started sooner. Tracking down the bubbas to get LoR's, getting details of my work history back to college, going through my logbooks, etc. took a lot longer than I expected. Albie has two great posts that I found helpful and got me going at the 14 month mark:

http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/hi...e-corners.html

http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/mi...11-update.html

Good Luck!