I went to ATP and instructed there for more than a year. I also instructed at USAA for more than a year. So i'll try to give you a comparison of both of them. Neither of them are perfect so I would have a hard time recommending either of them.

Instructors- You are going to find bad and good instructors at both places. If you go to USAA you might feel more of a customer service feel and have the opportunity to change instructors if you want. Also, you can have "some" say in your schedule. ATP you pretty much have no say in your schedule.

Air Craft and M/X- ATP has this one by far! I wouldn't even touch USAA's ME airplanes. I instructed over 500 hrs in ME with ATP and flew glass cockpit with less than 10 hours total time. Yes, 10 hours! I never thought twice getting into an ATP plane but USAA planes always scared me. USAA's AC are old and their MX team is over worked.

Cost: I had some friends get screwed by ATP. But, if you are smart and work hard you should have no problem getting through.

Curriculum-141 USAA or 61 ATP. USAA is going to give you good ground school. ATP won't send you through a ground school so you are going to do a lot of self study. ATP also has an online self study course (or they did when I was there), but you can still get some good ground school with one on one instructing.

Instructing for the companies- I got paid about a 700 dollars more per month working at ATP. Although I did have to work the call center at ATP, I was flight instructing at ATP quicker than USAA from date of hire. I worked 7 days a week at ATP because it was required. You can build time at both places. USAA is pretty sketchy when it comes to pay and billing time. USAA will force/threaten to fire you to work for free. I had four different managers that were over me tell/suggest/threaten me to work for free. They don't build enough ground time into their programs so they make the instructors work for free to stay "On time On budget." But, then again ATP doesn't pay you for ground time. So just know what you are getting into before you sign up.

If you have any specific questions let me know!

After all the information I gathered, I decided to sign up with ATP. I will start in mid Nov. I feel more comfortable going there because my pilot friend finished the fast track program with ATP and highly recommended the program to me. Also I took advantage of the free housing which I need. I will give updates as the program goes on.

Good good, let the debt consume you. Soon you will feel the full burden of poverty. Search your feelings and such.

Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways. Your sad devotion to that ancient career progression has not helped you flow through to a major or given you clairvoyance enough to get your Delta application accepted. :D

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. If you would like to talk to me privately I would like to hear more about your experiences at US Aviation. You can private message me any time.

Please keep us posted on your comments - pos or neg

Will Do!!! An update too, I have my class date set for the Concord, NC location starting October 25th! By the way I didn't even have to take out a loan so I am pretty much in the best situation I could be in as far as not worrying about paying/financing after training.

No Loan? Geez, if I had your money I'd burn mine :)

HAHA I guess that would be ALL of us on here, but what a Dream Chaser we all have been I suppose. Gonna enjoy the ride from here though and see where it takes me!

I had a great experience at USAA from 165 hours as student to ATP 4000 hours as a CFI. Including 2000 of TPIC. Definately not glamerous nor easy but couldn't have done it anywhere else.