Originally Posted by
Atlasvet
Here is the skinny. I do hiring for a major cargo carrier. The majority of candidates that come to us that graduate from license mills show up with 2-4 failures on their record. For obvious reasons these failures will follow you for most of your careers as all failures are reported to potential employers through the PRD and PRIA programs.
Anyone that tells you they have a program that will get you from zero to hero in ten months may be setting you up for multiple failures.
Do what you can to check out the schools, timing, failure rates, student reviews etc.
This ^^^^. Everyone I know that has attended ATP has nothing but negative things to say about it. The training isn’t designed to deliver quality instruction. It’s designed to get you in and get you out as quick as possible. It’s designed to entice people to sign up to get through as quick as possible so they can get that airline seniority number asap. Because as we all know, seniority IS everything. Quality flight instruction be damned. This typically comes at a cost. To many young people, that may sound great, as they may be on the flight deck of a regional jet very soon. While that
may be true, it comes at a significant cost, both financial cost and the cost of potentially failing not just one, but several checkrides, which, as was previously mentioned, will follow them for the rest of their careers. Many students rush to sign up for these places, only to end up coming away with failed checkrides and disappointment. I heard it all the time and still hear it. Many of the instructors that ATP produces got their CFI ticket in 2-3 weeks. I’m sorry, but professionals aren’t made in that short amount of time. It’s gonna take 2-3 months, at the minimum to produce a competent and capable instructor. I’ve met many people who used to teach at ATP. Many of them were lacking in knowledge in quite a few areas and their teaching skills were marginal at best.
Some were good. But I think many of the ones who were better at teaching got most of their training done outside of the ATP ‘system.’ They simply came to ATP to hour-build as fast as they can.
I understand many people want to get to the regionals as quickly as possible, especially with the hiring going on in today’s environment. It’s unprecedented. Although as of late it’s beginning to slow down significantly. The hiring environment may be completely different 6-12 months from now. Don’t be in a rush to get through your training. Take your time, although I am not saying drag it out, but focus on quality and really, really absorb the material and focus on improving your piloting skills and knowledge each and every day. At ATP, there’s not enough time to do that. It’s just ‘get ready for the next checkride,’ even if you don’t feel ready for it.
There are exceptions to what I said, but my strong advice for young people or anybody really, is to steer clear of pilot mills like ATP.