Originally Posted by rickdb

Aerospace Pilot,

I definitely understand where you are coming from. My friend who is a pilot for SkyWest said dont believe flight schools who tell you that you cannot complete your training in a relatively short period because they are just trying to milk more money out of your pocket. However, like I said before the only reason I am looking at ATP is because of the ME hours and cost. No flight school here in Chicago quoted me a price (with as many ME hours) nearly as competitive as ATP. I asked my friend who is a pilot at SkyWest, and he said ATP is a good school, and pretty competitive on price. If I were to go to an FBO in another state than I would have to pay rent (ATP includes housing in their price) and that would cost me extra money. Thanks for the insight, but after doing my due dilligence, ATP has a pretty good deal. At local flight schools I was quoted the following:

Palwaukee Flyers Deerfield, IL-$35-45K-0 to CFI (No ME instructor or rating)
API Flight School-Chicago, IL-40K-0 to CFI (they only fly single engine aircraft)
Windy City Flyers-Palwaukee Airport-$57k-0 to CFI (Maybe 35 ME hours)
American Flyers-Dupage Airport-$67K-0 to CFI (50 ME hours)

ATPs cost from "0-hero" is 64K and includes the following:
single/ME-commercial rating
single/ME instructor
regional jet training
housing
books, flight plans, etc
PPL through CFI
Total of 190 ME hours

Regardless, the training to become a pilot is expensive. Based on the information I provided, do you see where I am coming from.