Just wanted to update and give some insight to any thinking of joining. I started roughly 20 days ago. My experience thus far has been amazing. I completed all of my writtens all the way thru FOI by day three. I would encourage this as it has made things SO much easier. I can digest my daily ground and flight instruction in the evenings without the stress of a written hanging over me.
As for the instructors at my location they are amazing. My instructor is 20 not even old enough to buy a beer but he is top notch and knows his stuff. The kid can fly and I being 38 am VERY impressed with how well he teaches. He can put me at ease and work me thru any situation and it has sped me up a lot. He also knows when I have had enough anticipates this and has us end on a high note and back home before fatigue sets in.
I have read that some have concern over ATP making them buy extra time. So far my instructors and those around me here go above and beyond to make sure you have SPARE time to use if need be for skills you may lack in. The catch is they arent here to hold your hand. If you buckle down do your part and ask for help and put initiative into your work then they are there 100 percent to see you succeed. All the instructors at this location take great pride in the success of the students here and it shows.
I am extremely happy with my decision thus far to join ATP and I am looking forward to a great airline career in the not too distant future because of it. Now if you will excuse me I have some take off and landing skills to go over before bed. Hope this helps some of you who are on the fence.
Looking at jumping right into that program and had my eyes set on the Arlington location (I live in Olympia, WA). I’d love to hear how it the program is still going!
It’s going fantastic. Excellent location tons of helpful instructors and students always looking to help group study ect. Not sure how other locations are but the only setback I’ve had is every two weeks it seems they come in with crew and take all our planes and leave us with timed out ones that need to go to maintainence and I lose a few days of flight time. But other than that annoyance it’s a fantastic location
No I live close by and drive in daily. And yes the studying is on you. There is help if you need it on certain things and everyone here studies in groups at certain times daily but for the most part you self study to prepare. They have ground classes every week that we all go to. But if your depending on the ground class alone to pass writtens and check rides you won t make it. Plan on going home and studying every night and weekends on your own for the whole course
Like Derrick said, at the Tampa location they have ground a few times a week. Sometimes it’s scheudal other times an instructor will lead it when they had to cancel a flight or have a student out on a solo or somthing. These ground lessons are less about teaching you everything as much as they are to answer specific questions or go over topics people are struggling with. You are expected to study on your own and come prepared to each of you lessons. If you are not getting somthing, there is time for your instructor to go over things with you but they will not be teaching you everything you need to know. My instructor printed out a study guide for me that coveres the basic stuff of ifr flying and told me to complete a page a day and come to him with any topics I don’t get. Self study is nice because if you understand a topic, you don’t have to spend forever learning about somthing you already understand and you can devote more time to what you don’t know or are having trouble with. YouTube, Google, and other students will become your best friends.
Derrick,
Not sure if you remember me but I took the tour at Arlington with you a few months back and am setting my start date for September. I look forward to seeing you there.
