Lol, I'm already married. I just like giving people the positivity they deserve. It goes a long way when you give a compliment to a stranger.

 

I think its great that you are so interested in your future career and you are doing the research but this industry can change on a dime there is no way anyone can give you an answer to your question because who knows which regional airlines are still going to be around in 2016. Focus on studying for instrument instead of spending time researching your dream job. Take things one step at a time. This is true especially if you will be attending ATP cause I'm sure you will be drinking from a fire hose once you get there.

As for instructors being hired at minimums, literally everyone that I have known in the past year that gets minimums has a job offer and a class date in the next month. Every school is going to tell you that all of the grads get a job right as they meet minimums but that is because the airlines are hiring everyone right now

Once you get near minimums (most likely in more than two years) than you should start looking to see what regional will best suit you

 

Pina Coladas? Getting caught in the rain? Rainbows? Unicorns? ...............Jeeezuz

 

Just givin ya a hard time..

 

The only pilot that I ever had to deny an airplane rental checkout to was a fresh CFI that had completed all his training through ATP....

I've worked with a few other instructors that had been through ATP's fast track CFI program and was astounded by the amount of knowledge they lacked, they even had the students correcting them!

A private pilot student of mine ended up doing his Instrument and Commercial through ATP. The chief flight instructor quizzed him during an instrument stage check and was very impressed by his knowledge. My former student wasn't shy about letting him know that these were the basic things he had been taught by me for the private pilot certificate.

Now all these could be isolated incidents, or perhaps not.
Just some food for thought.

 

The only pilot that I ever had to deny an airplane rental checkout to was a fresh CFI that had completed all his training through ATP....


LOL omg thats hilarious!

 

I was checking him out right seat in a 172. Most of the flying was ok, but his landings were down right scary. After his first attempt, I tried cutting the tension with a "hey, don't they teach you how to fly from the right seat over there at ATP?"
I thought he was joking when he said that they only gave them a few flights in the right seat for the CFI.

 

Another "wrinkle" in this whole discussion is the simple fact that not every pilot has the ability to be an effective instructor. Just because some guy has the $$ and time to get through this ATP program doesn't mean he should instruct when he comes out the other end. He may be a fine pilot but turning around an immediately becoming an instructor seems like a bad plan.

Part of being an effective instructor is having some experience and just simple repetitive exposure to the things you'll be instructing. Watching someone else and then telling them what they did wrong isn't instructing - anyone can do that. The skill comes in several key spots:
Before the flight - be able to describe, in detail, how to fly a particular maneuver (pitch, power, hands, feet, the feel of the aircraft, etc. - you don't know that unless you've done it a LOT).
During - anticipate common mistakes (so your student doesn't kill you), know how to offer in-flight instruction, when to ST FU and when each is appropriate
After - most importantly, to be able to ID all errors (and good stuff) AND to find out why they did what they did. You can't offer instruction on how to fix errors if you don't know why a student is making the errors.


Being good at this doesn't just happen because some pilot paid enough money and made it to point "X" in some pilot mill's syllabus. There's no substitute for experience and that's what's going to help make a good instructor, IMO.

 

Valid point, however, how does one get sufficient experience in chandelles, lazy eights, steep spirals, power on/off stalls, ground reference maneuvers, anywhere except instruction?

 

You mean other than just going out and flying those maneuvers on one's own? Get a friend, split the cost and go up together and get some experience?