More ratings never hurt anyone in an interview (unless you pink slip).

Depends on the type of pink slip. (Cue rimshot)

Are you saying bankroll your own ATP-CTP? I’ve really come to believe that in an environment where nobody is really paying for ATP-CTP, it’s going to shortly become a differentiator if it hasn’t already. Many of the corporate jobs out there are requiring the ATP for SICs. I read about a King Air 350 SIC job today that required an ATP (that’s dumb). I would budget in the $4500 and just get it out of the way.

I am still considering whether to pay out of pocket for it or not. I am leaning towards no. If they are going to require CTP courses completed prior to hire then there are going to be a ton of furloughed guys getting hired in front of me that already have ATPs done anyways.

If your school is paying for it definitely take it.

I think panam in Vegas was down to 2500 for a ctp course. Then probably another 1-2k for the multi rental and checkride fee. So I figure it's a 4500 investment that may or may not move me up in the hiring line. It's still not a type rating or initial training which I am going to have to do yet another checkride for.

My guess is by the time I am competitive for hire (at R-ATP minimums) the "shortage" at the regionals will have to return and they will be paying for me to take the course like they were for the past few years.

I think the point is that the CTP course costs airlines money... the ATP checkride portion you will do anyway at the end of your training in the sims so that doesn't necessarily cost them more (other than the examiner's fees)... so the differentiating factor in getting hired may be that you have CTP done and the ATP written. It could also mean higher seniority because you'll go straight to indoc vs getting sent to a CTP course first and from what I'm told even a week difference in seniority can make all the difference.

It may not be a huge expense for the airlines but if you multiply it by a class of 40 people, it adds up quickly. I wouldn't say you have to get an ATP in a seneca right now, but the CTP course + written may help. It's all a personal & budgeting choice in the end. Remember, after you get your CTP certificate and take the written, the written is good for 5 years.

It may pay off well or maybe they'll go back to paying for it if they really want you hired. With the amount of applicants when these hiring windows open that may be far fetched. I personally went ahead and did the course & written over the summer so it is out of the way and the last couple of questionnaires I received from cadets programs they specifically asked if it was something I had done on my own already.

Always do anything to separate yourself from the crowd. What’s a couple more thousand. Don’t stop there, however. There was a time where you needed to be a community volunteer to become a 121 pilot. Volunteer. Become a coach. Hell, get elected to city council.

Be different. Don’t just be a 1500/cfi.

This has been such an odd time where guys who enjoyed the luxury of solid aviation growth to accumulate experience, are turning around and saying to guys who are “just 1500 hour CFIs” to work harder, like they didn’t just get stuck in an awful flash crash of the industry. “Be different like me where as I was born before you and grew my career before things went sideways”. I agree, anyone who didn’t use the last 10 months to better themselves in any way is an idiot. Though “just a CFI” is also idiot inferior-complex talk. Most guys who poop on CFIs I find weren’t good enough to become one themselves.

Personally I would wait to see how the hiring market forms back up before sinking the money into a ATP/CPT course. If it looks like you would need it to be competitive over the next year or two, then it may be worth sinking the cost into it. You may regret doing it now and come to find out that Regionals will keep offering to pay for it when hiring starts back up. Or when hiring starts back up having your ATP/CPT still won't make you competitive because there are a whole lot of pilots out there from failed Regionals just waiting to get hired.

An interesting point to consider though. When a regional pays for your ATP/CTP it is not totally free. You do have to pay taxes on that payment. For me that was ~$1200 come tax time that I had to pony up for that class. If you pay for that class yourself, obviously you will not owe any taxes on that. So the real cost of CTP/ATP if you pay your own way is the total cost minus the taxes you would have had to pay if you were sponsored.

What tax are you paying? A sales tax? Or an imputed income maybe?
Either way if you step back you’ll see that you may have had to pay taxes on the value of non-monetary compensation while in the other hand if you bought the same service with your own wallet, it would have been done with income that had already been taxed. Plus then you’d have a sales tax to pay as well depending. If that makes sense.

Ummm, a lot of us struggled through the lost decade. I would have loved to be a 1500hr CFI and hired at the airlines.