phalanxo

Hah. I will confess I felt really strange getting back in the 172 at first, after so much Seminole time and having been so long since flying a 172, climbing into the right seat of that thing was... odd. After 17 hours (in a week, much to my protesting- I feel that serious learning stops after 2 hours, especially in heat) it came back pretty quickly...
Anyway, I'm just saying, I've met some absolute geniuses at ATP and some people who should not be allowed near airplanes but have the cash. You get all kinds. It's true that not everybody gets the same checkride, but most people should be getting pretty close to the same ride.. My school did have "preferred" examiners but due to a variety of reasons I ended up being the guinea pig with a lot of new examiners. I probably got a few breaks. Ray, you have the right attitude with it being the "license to learn"...

Flyhayes

Very true statement. This is one of the reasons I love what I do so much. I have to deal with a variety of learning styles on a daily basis and adapt my training to fit the different individuals, which can be challenging at times. As an example, one of my long time part time students has been working on his private pilot off and on for 14 years. He's a great stick and rudder guy, but just can't seem to find the time to sit down to study his books (he's an extremely busy guy, owns several companies). Making it worse, he also has a slight learning disability. We tried many different solutions to help him advance. Finally we decided that the best solution was to give his wife the Private Pilot training first. She's a school teacher and often travels with him on his business trips. So the idea (on top of the fact that she wanted to learn for herself) is for her to coach him through the theory once she get's a better grasp of it herself, instead of me having to do the same ground lesson 5 times with him spread out over several months. And if all else fails, I'll have a great client in him for the next 14 years!

Ray Blaszak

Flyhayes.....again you can generalize that s certain schools trains students a certain way. However, you can't fit every instructor into that particular category. You have to judge that person based off of them and not where they went to school. You will have good and bad pilots regardless of where they went to school. You will have students who strive to know nothing more than the checkride and rote knowledge and those that strive to be the best. I strive to be the best which is why when I first joined the military I didn't expect my leadership to teach me everything and I would always study that much harder. It should early on that I knew more than most of the people I worked for. Did this mean I stopped studying and picking more brains? Certainly not! This is the same case with flying. I am constantly reading new books and areas I feel I am weakest I strive to do better in. Does every pilot have the same attitude? No, but that's how I approach everything I do and I think it makes me that much better at everything I do.

chrisreedrules

I know of a couple schools that won't hire ATP CFI graduates due to horrible experiences in the past... not trying to stir the pot or anything, just putting my .02 in

Ray Blaszak

Chris I would certainly agree with that statement a few years ago. With the airline hiring coming to a near halt ATP now has instructors that have been there for several years which has increased the quality of instruction SOME. I do think that pilot mills (yes I am going to ATP) can be guilty of training a person to a check ride but there are plenty of schools guilty of that. After all ATP has built a reputation for getting you done the fastest. If a bank would lend money to Flight Safety I would go there as they are highly reputable and the academics far exceed any school I have send. What's the problem? Who has 70K sitting in the bank to pay there tuition? Not many people I know. Again when I go to ATP I will be sure to write a report to keep everyone up to date. Every ATP instructor I have PERSONALLY flown with has been top notch and all don't lack in knowledge but all these instructors have the same personality as me. I expect to run into cocky and arrogant pilots while ATP because of the kind of school you are dealing with. The instructor I had to fly with for my admissions flight was telling me the first partner he had for XC almost killed them because he had them in a 3,000 feet per minute decent rate and he started yelling at him and the guy just let go of the controls. The student subsequently let got kicked out but that's what it took. This could've happened at any school as flight schools are a business and need to generate money. I just read an article in Flight Training magazine about an instructor who is (was as I just started March's) training an instrument student who has failed multiple check rides and been kicked out of multiple schools. This is proof that these students are every where. On a different note Chris how is the Tecnam to fly?

chrisreedrules

Like I've said before, I think a pilot's abilities come from the personal effort they put into their training. I know a couple of guys who instructed at ATP and are great pilots/instructors. It is probably a case of a few bad pilots slipping through the cracks and giving everyone a bad name. And the Tecnam is a joy to fly! Great performance (I've gotten close to 1500fpm climb out of it and it can handle a single-engine go around like no other in it's class). We have an "alpha" model so we have worked out a few kinks for them but overall it is a lot of fun.

DALFA

I'm thinking of going to ATP in JAX starting in September or so. I currently have 0 time and i'm looking to do the Career Pilot Program but on my own pace, not the expedited one. I live in NY so I would fly down 10 days per month to do the training and if I have a day off here or there I can always head out to ISP and take a plane out to try different things.

I was looking at the housing they offer ($200 per week) and it looks like it's 5-6 miles away from the airport. Do they have bikes or something you can take? I'm not looking to spend a ton of extra money on a rental everytime I go down there.

Any advice?

Ray Blaszak

DALFA I start at ATP Jax on Monday. First if you are already living in NY why not do everything in NY? Between the few extra thousand you'll spend for doing the self paced program and air fare you'll actually be spending more money in the long run. To my knowledge ATP provides no transportation unless you are in the XC phase. I am from Jax so I get free housing but I wouldn't waste more money than you need too. Just my two cents

Brandon15666

ATP Dallas was best when I went through, we recieved all the new airplanes, I got to fly a few brand spanking new ones 3hrs from atlanta to dallas. The housing situration is subpar if you stay on campus, but the training I recieved was better than Spartan, and Reginal airline academy

Ray Blaszak

There's a reason that ATP Dallas gets all the brand new planes that can't be posted on this forum. The 79's are just as fun to fly although having a 2001 or newer is nice on X-C's.