Once you pass everything at the end of the training is there a graduation ceremony like college or high school?
Dakota,
No, just like there is no graduation ceremony at the airlines. When I finished my new hire checkride at Continental, at 3am, they said “be in EWR in three days”. That was it 
Chris
1 Like
No graduation but I can tell you for certain the feeling of putting on that uniform for the first times blows the cap and gown away!
Adam
2 Likes
Sorry to hijack (no pun intended) this thread, but is there like a family day or a time that you can take a spouse or child on a flight?
Pat
Pat,
Virtually all airlines provide their employees with free pass-travel benefits for their immediate families (usually 1 significant other, children and parents). The caveat is they’re traveling stand-by and there must be available seats (which can sometimes be a challenge). BUT, if the flight is open your spouse or children could literally fly every flight with you.
Adam
I guess I should have been more specific. I ment while at ATP
While you can take a child or spouse on a flight with you, you will never, ever be able to take them in the cockpit with you during any phase of flight or ground operation.
Pat,
In that case no. Only ATP instructors and students are allowed in ATPs aircraft for insurance purposes. You’ll either have to rent a plane on your own or wait till you work for an airline.
Adam
Ok, I was just curious. I have watched a few videos on Youtube of people doing their flight training at other schools with a friend in the back seat filming.
At ATP your instructor will be the only friend you need and they have more important things to do than take pics
Seriously (on a related note) I understand that the youth of this nation LOVE to photo document their lives via FaceBook, Twitter, Instragram or whatever the media du jour is. I recently saw a friend’s son post a selfie video of their first solo. He were taxiing out while playing with his iPhone, at one point it fell and he went heads down and continued to taxi while searching for his beloved iPhone. Clearly this young man does not have his priorities in order. If I was his instructor and saw this video I’d have immediately terminated his training. If I was an examiner I would fail him for poor judgment and finally if he ever makes it to an airline and I saw the video on social media (something MANY airlines do monitor and check) at the very least I’d grill him regarding his complete lack of judgment. Flying is exciting. Earning your licenses is something we all take pride in and something we want to share with our family and friends BUT training is not the time for friends and selfies. Pat I apologize for hijacking your post with one of my rants and I’m in no way saying that this is something you would do or that you don’t appreciate the risk involved when we train. I simply want to put it out there for those reading this thread as something to keep in mind. Training is serious and social media is FOREVER.
Adam
Adam
1 Like
Adam, That makes complete sense to me.
I just thought it would be fun to be able to take my wife up after getting my PPL. It seems the appropriate way to do that would be to rent a plane on my own time.
It would and 3’s a crowd
Adam