An accurate comparison would be to look at those 404 relative to about 600 starts. Students, of this full-time program, will graduate from the Transport Canada approved Integrated Airline Transport Pilot Licence course with a Seneca College Certificate in Aviation. As of August 22, 2019, Captain Rice’s ground school students have had a 100% FAA Knowledge Exam pass rate with an average of 20 students per month as acknowledged by the FAA. Sort of like on a first come, first serve basis. I appreciate that you’re running the numbers and thinking about these things. Some flight schools have a regional airline partner where graduate students can obtain their ATP during their initial training period at that airline after being hired on. I have exceptional reviews from my students and all the legal qualifications and experience to help you achieve your goal of becoming a pilot. Everyone knows about the instructor job guarantee, but considering the program is around 275TT when you finish, and you need 1500TT for the ATP and airline employment, it would take 5 students (full zero time program) to get each instructor to their minimums… I understand that there will be dropouts, that some may not desire to instruct for ATP afterwards, and that ATP does offer other programs such as time-building, individual ratings, etc. Click the button below and submit your request. In any event, I ‘passed’ this interview and was accepted into their flight training program. ATP’s rate for students completing the program is 80%. For example, since I was in Stuart, FL, most of our flights would start in Stuart, and we’d do like 3 – 4 legs per day. Everything I read about the Daytona Beach location just turned me off. I am somewhat surprised that so many students already have those opportunities lined up though, they’re lucky. Some instructors yell at their students for the slightest mistake, and some are extremely patient. ), Critical Engine – Which engine is critical and why (in the PA- 44, it’s the left engine in case you were wondering), Emergency procedures (IE you just lost the critical engine, what are you going to do?). ATP is short for Airline Transport Professionals, a private network of 50 flight schools located across the continental US. Construction is underway on ATP Flight School's advanced flight training center at the Arlington Municipal Airport in Arlington, TX. Also, a surprising number of students enroll in the ACPP with a plan to fly a family or corporate aircraft to build flight experience. My connection to aviation was my grandfather, who was an airline pilot for Transamerica, Singapore Airlines, Philippine Airlines, the China National Aviation Corporation, and probably one or two I am forgetting since he flew from 1941-1981. My roommates and classmates were awesome. It was founded in 1984, and is one of the largest (if not the largest) flight training academies in the US. I had just got home after a long day of flying, when I looked down at my ringing cell phone and saw that my old roommate Kyle was calling. Then, we would spend the night in a hotel and do a totally different set of legs the next day. If you had a question about a Federal Air Regulation, or about something on an aeronautical chart, or whatever the case may be, often times they’d look at you like ‘how dare you ask me that!’. This saves you money and time. The last thing my flight partner and I wanted to be doing after a long day of flying was spending the night on the floor. They are also required to maintain a minimum pass rate for their students, meaning the school is required to offer a consistent quality program. Rob currently has 1,500+ hours of flight logged, 1,000 of which is dual-given as an instructor. If any recent ATP graduates are reading this and can add anything, please leave a comment below! Just as a follow up question for Justin, what percentage of ATP training hours or students attend for the individual/other programs offered by ATP and not the ACPP? Related Article – Instrument Proficiency Check (IPC): 4 Things You Need To Know. At the end of the training, we actually sent in our receipts from our hotel stays, completely expecting to not be reimbursed. For example, my first DPE for my multi-engine checkride was a former Air Force F-4 Phantom pilot that flew combat missions over Vietnam. Top. After successfully completing the required maneuvers, we landed at the DPE’s home in Spruce Creek, FL, taxied right up to his house, he filled out the paperwork stating that I successfully completed the Commercial Single engine checkride, and we hopped back in the airplane and did the Single Engine CFI checkride. We never had an issue with an aircraft breaking down at all. You can use the hourly airplane rental rates and flight instructor rates to calculate how much each pilot license will cost based on the hours of flight time it requires to earn. On that particular checkride, we started off with the single engine commercial checkride. From the NTSB’s official report [Ref: 3]: “A Cessna and Piper were both on instructional flights, operating in a concentrated flight training area that is depicted on a sectional chart. As a prospective student, it should be important to you that not everyone who is guaranteed a job can ultimately perform above and beyond FAA CFI standards to ATP’s standards. Sometimes we’d end up back in Stuart at the end of the day, but the vast majority of the time we’d end up away from home (just like in the airlines). Canadian Flight Academy is pleased to announce a partnership with Seneca College School of Aviation. The pass rate for students entering the program already having the private pilot license is 90%, which makes sense as those students have already been vetted by the FAA and successfully passed a checkride. Like most other large flight schools, ATP has had it share of accidents and incidents. While the training was intense, it enabled me to get all my ratings as quickly as possible. Hello Justin, With that said, the winters in New Jersey just suck. At ATP flight school, it’s almost a guarantee that you’ll have multi-engine students. As a matter of fact, I have a personal story to share about one of them. As a matter of fact, I have a personal story to share about one of them. I happened to be partnered up with another guy from New Jersey, and we had a really good time. Part 141 requires 35 hours of training but is much stricter, dealing with regular FAA surveillance and having minimum pass rates on practical exams. Frankly, it was a bit annoying, but I learned to live with it. The pass rate for students entering the program already having the private pilot license is 90%, which makes sense as those students have already been vetted by the FAA and successfully passed a checkride. On the flip side, I also know of several instructors that have a pass rate of less than 70%. You couldn’t just take an airplane for the proverbial $200 hamburger. Do I need an instructor sign-off to take the ATP practical test? There were about 10 other students in the course, and we had one ground instructor (a former first officer at a regional airline). Aircraft dispatcher students have access to the resources available at the … Expect to spend a lot of time in the simulator before you actually jump into an actual airplane. Apologies for the delayed response to your follow-up question. This represents less than 50 of the 15,000 hours of flying we do each month. New Smyrna Beach, FL – Epic Flight Academy Certified Flight Instructor Judith A. This could mean that word of the potential pilot shortage is getting out. But the vast majority of this ‘interview’ was them explaining why ATP was the best. This means that, in essence, they were basically in my exact same shoes less than a year ago. Century-of-flight.net is your source for all things aviation and aviation history. Cougar Rank 4 drive from Stuart airport. Nothing sounded better than escaping all of that with a nice 4 – 6 month trip to South Florida! For example, on this particular checkride, I remember the DPE asking about: He also asked me a range of other questions, ranging from weather to airfield operations, to pointing at a VFR chart and asking me about a variety of symbols. If you’ve read AOPA magazine, visited a website like Airline Pilot Central, or did even the slightest amount of research into becoming a pilot, then you’ve probably heard of ATP. Airline pilot forums, pilot magazines, Facebook, Google, etc. Rice has one of the highest Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) Knowledge Exam pass rates in the country. Now Pinnacle is an all-jet fleet of CRJs operating out of three hubs. From complaints about the instructors, to complaints about the living situation in Daytona Beach, it started giving me second thoughts. Here were guys (yes, they were all males) that quite literally just got their CFI certificate like 6 months prior. At the time, there were around 6 – 7 ATP locations in Florida. To say that I was anxious about this particular checkride would be an understatement. I have been meaning to get around to posting a full review of my experience attending ATP Flight School for a long time, but have been sidetracked for one reason or another. Wrapping up, here are my final thoughts on Airline Transport Professionals (ATP). Costs for ATP, at least here in Vegas, are roughly on par with what other flight schools offer in the area for the same type of program. The housing at ATP is basically setup like a college dorm, except, there’s only like 3 – 4 units (apartments) since we were at a smallish location. He flew everything from initial training in an Aeronca Champ, Army Air Core Trainers, PBY Catalina, Curtis C-46, and every Douglas DC from the DC-2/3 over “The Hump” (50+ trips), to Numerous US domestic flights in the DC-10, MD-80, and 747. You can reasonably conclude that instructors with higher pass rates are better instructors in general. This made life immeasurably easier for me than it was for them. What is the pass rate among new-hires in the simulator? They were all very professional, and you could tell from the get-go that they were fair (albeit pretty intense in some cases). The examiner will ask you a bunch of questions related to the rating itself, and can include everything and anything. Airport (KRDU), 3rd Leg: Raleigh-Durham Intl. I understand that this is a complicated calculation to figure out exactly, just wondering if you guys could give a guess? If you would have asked me back in 2008 once I completed ATP if I thought it was worth it, I would give you the same answer then as I’m about to give now. (i.e. Airport (KRDU) to Jacksonville, FL (KCRG). Shortly after passing the final approach fix they received a low altitude alert from air traffic control. Part 141 training can be the most efficient way to complete full time training and begin a pilot career. ATP’s rate for students completing the program is 80%. Average monthly enrollment in 2015 was about 45 students per month and in 2016 was about 65 students per month. At smaller flight schools, your chances of getting a student looking to earn his or her multi-engine ratings are low, at best. I posted some more info in this thread: I've added additional info below. Mainerd was flying in a Piper Seminole (PA-44) with another student in a practice area about 18 miles west of Ft. Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport. My best friend and I flew down to Daytona Beach for a week (it was late January), and my ‘interview’ was conducted on a Tuesday. From their website, it appears that CFI academy is now 6 weeks, and is a much more involved program. Radar information indicated that the Cessna was on a 210-degree course and was tracking at a speed of 86 knots. speed, cruise speed, service ceiling, etc. 245 ATP Graduates Hired by Airlines in the Last 12 Months ATP is proud to have the highest ratio of airline placements to students of any flight school, aviation college, or flight academy. In 2008, I was working as a flight instructor at a place called Naples Air Center. This partnership brings together a combined 90+ years of aviation training knowledge. Up until that point, I’d actually never even heard of Stuart, FL. Thanks to the strong track record of ATP-trained professional pilots, Sallie Mae offers its lowest-rate undergraduate student loan products to ATP flight training students. 30%? Notify me of follow-up comments by email. You will become a professional one day, so think and train like one. Successful applicants that have passed assessment may access a funding solution with one of our approved partners. It turns out, they reimbursed me for every red cent in expenses. Great information and very helpful. However, most of the time we’d end up at one of the apartments, only to find out that they didn’t have any spare beds available. This number is for students who enter the program with no flight time. It’s an ala-carte menu that ranges from something as simple as a private pilots license, to the full gambit. Students who successfully complete the first three phases of the training program with Canadian Flight Academy will attend two semesters of courses provided by Seneca College from which they can earn the college certificate. I represent ATP when I offer the following: From October 2015 thru September 2016 (1 year), ATP graduated 404 CFIs from the Airline Career Pilot Program. ATP is able to sustainably offer the “Guaranteed Instructor Job” because so many graduates have other opportunities already lined up, and our own attrition (CFIs going to Airlines) is currently 12 per month. Rather, it seemed as though it was basically a sales pitch of why I should attend ATP over another flight school. Receive email notifications of new posts instantly! As I mentioned earlier, I was gunning for a location in Florida. ‘I needed a break from the bleak winter NJ weather’. Come to think of it, I remember him being so fed up by the program that he ended up leaving before finishing his CFI ratings. ATP is dedicated 100% to the Airline Career Pilot Program at this time. From what I remember, I was flying as much as 4 – 5 times per week, with each flight being anywhere from 1.5 – 2 hours in duration. Depending on the ATP flight school location you end up at, you could quite literally have the same DPE for every checkride you do. Sometimes you won’t have a choice here. Students using the Gleim Online Ground School consistently demonstrate pass rates well in excess of 99% at all levels of certification. Related Article – 5 Best Low Time Pilot Jobs With 250 – 500 Hours. However, there’s a huge difference between most mom and pop flight schools and ATP…. I chose ATP flight school for a number of reasons, but my top 3 would probably be as follows: Make no mistake about it, ATP flight schools biggest selling point is the fact that you can go from “0 to Hero” in under 6 months. Welcome to Fly Accelerated Flight School, your absolute fastest, safest and most affordable path to the sky where you can become a pilot and learn to fly in as Little as 10 days or less with my accelerated flight training program! For some guys and gals, this isn’t so easy to accomplish. Because this particular ATP flight school location is way smaller than many of the others, they only had a limited number of spots. Sure, at first it’s not too bad, and it’s nice to have a change of season / scenery every once in awhile. Because it was closest, I was sent to the Jacksonville location to do the CFI ground school. The Piper was on a course of 160 degrees and was tracking at a speed of 126 knots. That seems a bit short ...-GH----- ADS ----- -GT. Are your number of new students up substantially over the time frame you used in your previous discussion? ... I’ve made it my career for the last two years, and I’m proud of my 100% pass rate. Living Accommodations / Rooming Situation at ATP, ATP Flight School Crashes (personal story here). (more on this below). You had shared that ATP graduated 404 CFI’s during that one year period. Required fields are marked *. To say it was a long, rough day of flying is an understatement! I have always supported and thought the best of the ATP Airline Career Pilot Program! When I was contemplating becoming a pilot for a living, I was bouncing between a few schools: Ocean Aire would have been way cheaper (like $25K – $30K for all my ratings) than ATP ($55K+), so that was part of the consideration. There are two variations of the CRJ […] While competitively priced and offering unmatched value given our placement rate, CAE ab initio pilot training is still a costly proposition. The flight instructor added full power and attempted to climb; however, the airplane continued to lose altitude while “still indicating 90 knots throughout descent and impact.”. ATP does not “fake” its guarantee numbers by subsequently washing-out instructors from standardization as evidenced by the near-90% success rate in standardization. This makes sense from both a practical standpoint (if you can’t do the maneuvers in a simulator, you probably won’t be able to do them in the airplane), and an economic standpoint (airplanes are expensive to fly!). I’m not exactly sure how they choose your instructor, but I think they basically just rotated students based on who was coming in, and who was going out. This was another selling point that stuck with me. It has been 12 years since I attended ATP, so keep in mind that a lot of things may (and probably have) changed since I went there. I answered my phone and that’s when he told me…. The first block, which lasted a week, involved actual ground school instruction. We’ve recently posted some record big numbers to social media, and they are a big increase over 2015-16, which is when that group of CFIs would’ve started. These relationships, which include airlines like Skywest Airlines, Mesa Airlines, and PSA Airlines, set students up for a potential future as an airline pilot with one of those companies. The ‘master bedroom’ had their own ‘master bathroom’, and the other 2 bedrooms shared a bathroom. At ATP, your DPE can vary for every checkride. Frankly, there’s not too many negative points I can think of when it came to the DPE’s. To get into ATP flight school, I had to go to an ‘interview’ at one of their locations. 70%? From what I recall, the school lasted 2 weeks, and was divided up into 2 blocks. You’ll quite literally do the entire flight that you’re going to do in the simulator first. The classroom instruction that was given was sort of lacking in any detail, and it just all around seemed unstructured. Of those 239, 32 (13%) were not able to meet ATP standards and “washed-out”. The reported weather about the time of the accident included clear skies and visibility of 10 miles.”. My old instructor, who we called Mainerd (because he was from Maine), was involved in a mid-air collision with another airplane. This type of flying was conducted as a ‘run up’ to your commercial multi-engine checkride. King Air). In Stuart, 2 of the bedrooms were setup with 2 single beds, and 1 of the bedrooms (the smaller one, not the master) was setup with 1 single bed. Since you need 250 hours of flight time to be qualified to take the commercial checkride, ATP flight school pairs you up with another student to ‘build time’. Each unit in Stuart had 3 bedrooms, and 2 full bathrooms. Other destinations we routinely flew to included: From what I can tell by the ATP flight school locations map, some of these locations (namely Naples and Pensacola) looks like they’ve closed. Now I am completely behind the RJ Program. It’s headquartered in Jacksonville, FL, and according to Wikipedia it currently has a fleet of 171 Cessna 172-s, 150 Piper Archers, and 92 Piper Seminoles. American Flyers, which like ATP has locations all across the US, just struck me the wrong way when I was doing my research. They offer a 90 day and 160 day fast track ab initio training program. All Rights Reserved. 50%? I met my roommates Kyle (who was also originally from NJ) and Luke (who was from Michigan), both of whom were approaching the end of their flight training. ATP-CTP: Beginning in 2014, an applicant for an ATP knowledge test must first take and pass the ATP Certification Training Program (ATP-CTP). In my personal opinion, ATP Flight School goes to great lengths to make sure that their instructors and students are safe. Airline Career Pilot Program $ 80,995 / 9 Months Introductory Training Flight Free with Loan Approval Private Pilot Finish-Up $ 7,995 / 15 Days ATP CTP & ATP Certificate $ 7,995 / 13 Days ATP CTP $ 3,795 / 7 Days ATP Certificate Program (10 Hour) $ 5,995 / 5 Days Airbus A320 7-Day Type Rating $ 7,495 * / 7 Days CFI Instrument Instructor Rating (10 Hour) $ 4,495 / 5 Days Multi-Engine Instructor Rating (10 … Fun Fact: One of my roommates ended up becoming a chief meteorologist for a small TV station in Wisconsin! A Piper Seminole was on an approach to land at Daytona Beach airport in Florida when it experienced a microburst. Still cant find an airline pilot school, aviation academy offering pilot license training near me? Good question, and I want to ensure it’s completely, and accurately answered. ATP Flight School Crashes (personal story here) Image: Wikimedia.org. Factoring-in rough washout rates of 20% and 10…, Powered by Discourse, best viewed with JavaScript enabled, ATP Career Pilot Program Pass Rate Question. Others do the bare minimum, and that’s putting it lightly. This allows students to proceed smoothly and adeptly through training, obtaining all of their Certificates and Ratings and moving on to use these skills to reach whatever goals they have set for themselves. You needed to be a ‘self-starter’ to succeed on that front. Also, on one of my checkrides I literally did 2 different ratings back to back on the same day. CFI school at ATP flight school, by and large, wasn’t very good quality training. The cross-country flying was a completely different animal. Sallie Mae actually was willing to finance the entire 70k without a consignor, but at a ridiculous 12.75% interest rate. 2 years ago. Some first officers move on to captain in as little as 2-3 years and in as little as 5 years with a regional airline, are able to move on to a first officer position at a major carrier. Instructors were a toss up. Of course not everybody chooses to instruct for ATP, so the percentage of students becoming ATP instructors is lower. Thanks again for your help. Related Article – Biennial Flight Review (BFR) Explained. It was a pretty difficult thing, but if you’re involved in aviation for any length of time, you’ll likely experience the same thing. Once your instructor is confident that you can perform the required maneuvers, you’ll actually head out to the airplane for some real world flying. I still get their advertisements on Facebook, and I graduated from their program over 10 years ago! Rob V. founded Century-of-Flight.net in October of 2019. There were people that spent almost $100,000 through other flight schools to be in the same place I was for $35,000. For example, the instructor that did my instrument and multi engine ratings was the same guy. Our objective is to provide training that meets or exceeds the minimum times, industry requirements and the knowledge necessary to pass the Transport Canada written and flight test examinations. I won’t get into the details, but ultimately I switched instructors. In 2008, I was working as a flight instructor at a place called Naples Air Center. Purchases 20 Diamond Jets: jdr7225: Flight Schools and Training: 22: 09-13-2011 09:29 AM: What was your hardest check ride? They have a ton of locations across the US. In April 2000 their first CRJ was delivered. One thing I wanted to add to this review was, should you decide to go to ATP flight school, you should 100% get your written tests done before you go. A combination of modern and fully equipped fleet, simulators and individual approach to each student by experienced flight instructors will help you to … Your email address will not be published. For each rating, you’ll generally be assigned a different instructor. All of the training and ground school classes will take place at the Oshawa Executive Airport in Ontario, Canada. ... Two national franchise organizations are ATP Flight School, which has forty locations throughout the United States, and American Flyers, which has six … Luckily, he was cool enough to agree to fork over the $ for a hotel room. However, much to my surprise, several months after completing training I found a check in the mail from ATP flight school. Got an idea for a new aviation topic? In fact, you’ll likely have more multi-engine students than you will single-engine students. but I am curious what the actual “average” rate of students starting the program and actually finishing/becoming ATP instructors is? My admissions officer gave me a list of the other locations in Florida that were available at the time, and one of them included Stuart. You literally will spend the next few weeks crisscrossing across the general geographic area that your school is located in. Since I was looking to make this a career, I decided to go with the ‘Airline Career Pilot Program’. The 2nd block, which also lasted a week, basically involved self-study in the classroom. Sure, they asked me some questions that were flying related. I already had my private pilots license, so what this would entail was basically allowing me to earn every rating I would need to become qualified to fly as a commercial pilot and flight instructor (CFI).