My Experience with ATP Flight Training... Is it for you?

My experience with ATP Flight School was somewhat unique but a great time overall and got me where I wanted to be. In this video, we'll go through my story, the pros and cons of ATP, talk about whether ATP is right for you, and review some of the other flight training options out there.

00:24 What is ATP
01:00 My Experience with ATP's Flight Training
03:30 Pros of ATP's Flight Training
08:55 Cons of ATP's Flight Training
11:20 Is ATP right for you?
13:00 Other Flight Training Options

@ATPFlightSchool
#flying #flight #skydivers #skydive #pilot #pilotstuff #pilotsofinstagram #avgeeks #avgeeks #aviation #aviationlovers #corporateaviation #adrenaline #adrenalinejunkie #jetpilot #businessjet #flighttraining #flightschool

[declanwhite]

I graduated ATP a month ago with all 7 certificates. Took 14 months, and that was the same for most of my classmates. Just a heads up for viewers. It's taking a lot longer than advertised right now.

[ricramirez]

Finished up at ATP about two months ago and don't really have any complaints. The program is a bit longer than advertised, but a lot of this is due to weather, DPE checkride wait, and/or personal schedule. No program is perfect and there were hiccups, but this is the same of any endeavor. Be flexible, be resourceful and be a good student. The program is structured, but it is the responsibity of the student to manage scheule, studying, expectations, etc. ATP provides the resources to get you to your end state. No one loves you more than you; so commit to the program and view ATP as a facilitator to your goal - becoming a airline/commercial pilot.

[raejin]

ATP was a great student experience for me, they advertise a 9 month course but it took me 12 months from delays out of my control. Only failed my cfi initial oral. The problems arised when I started working for them. The instructor experience at ATP is awful. Our weekly meetings would be the instructors getting scolded on how we need to do better. We would have students fail check rides from a brain fart they had that we don’t really have control over. We can teach a student to stay calm during a checkride and to go back to basics if you are overwhelmed but when they forget to turn on their fuel pump for takeoff that’s just a slip up. I was reminded every day how disposable I was and if my students weren’t perfect they would replace me. And they did. My student did a preflight with a DPE on his checkride and didn’t have his checklist in his hand. Which we have done every training flight before hand. The DPE failed him for not using a checklist and my student blamed me for not reminding him to have the checklist in his hand during the preflight. So ATP let me go after that. Saying that we should “cut ties” and I’ll be better off somewhere else. Safe to say I moved to a different flight school which actually values me as a person. All of that to say. ATP is a great program for those who want to get their ratings done really really quick and love a structured schedule. But DO NOT work there. Find any other school to work for. Phoenix east aviation, Epic flight academy, American flyers. But ATP treats their instructors like trash.

[Skycop]

Awesome video, im currently a full time Police Officer myself. First and foremost, congrats on retirement. Getting there is no easy task. I'm attending a 2 year 141 program here in NJ, almost done with my PPL. It has been a real grind working the night shift and being a full-time student, but hopefully it'll pay off in the near future. Awesome content, keep up the good work!

[Winglets]

I loved ATP. Started back in June 2018 and I'm loving life right now.

[superroo_sti]

Hey all I’m 25 yo old I grew up in a family of aviation. Ever since I was able to walk I wanted to be a pilot. When I was about 16 I stared take lessons and got to about 25 hours total time, before I stared hanging around the wrong crowd which led me into a position to where I was no longer able to fly, stared working some jobs met the mother of my child and it went from there, 1 or 2 years ago I was working at a local airport which re sparked my aviation bug and when you mentioned seniority it resonated very much so. However I have financial commitments that is preventing from pursuing my dreams. I’m thinking about joining the military serving for either 1 or 2 enlistments either work on avonics or a&p and than I may be able to hop on the bandwagon. Hopefully, thing work out in my favor but knowing how things go with life it may not be the case. I just thought I’d vent how I feel, sorry for ranting on. Thanks guys.

[BoBabaki]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

I feel encouraged as a 41 year old to see that you went through this certification and career pivot at a similar age.

[AFO]

I took the long route. Started training late December 2015. Mom and pop part 61 school whilst going to college and working almost full time from zero hours to CFII. I was working 3 jobs after graduating college to afford the rest of my training and passed my CFI ride in December of 2022. Best day of my life in the last 10 years was putting in 3 2 week notices at the same time to my other jobs. I JUST got to a part 135 SIC position a few months ago. All roads lead to Rome though. ATP is a 8-9 hour day, 5 days a week process and more expensive. I paid roughly 75k from zero to CFI. You'll pay almost double for that at ATP these days however, you'll get it done SUPER quick. Pros and cons to both.

[katyvanlowe]

Great video! Thanks for sharing your experience

[chittybang]

I’ve been thinking of leaving a slower part 141 school and really want to fly every day with a rigid schedule! (Prior military in me needs that consistency) Your video helped me solidify my decision to switch. Thanks!

[scienceofsound]

39 years old in Seattle Washington and considering a complete career change into being a pilot . Thank you for this video. It helps a lot.

[AndresMA]

Hi Josh I'm from Barcelona, ​​Spain and here everything is more bureaucratic in general. With very dense ATPL theories and in which there is a lot of filler content that only creates confusion, I am currently in the theoretical phase of the ATPL. I wish I could have such intensive courses so I could get my licenses as quickly as possible and be able to focus on gaining experience in flying. Congratulations on your channel and I wish you much success, you are an example to follow. Greetings an a big hug from Barcelona 😎🤙🇪🇸

[KagenFishing]

Nice info! Currently enrolled with ATP starting in the next couple weeks located in south Houston area as well going to be flying out of EFD!

[MrNandopando]

Thank you for your honesty brother! I will buy a plane with that money and can help other people make this a better experience

[TakeNoneForTheTeam]

Hi Josh, stumbled on this and I see a lot of very structured learning tools. Would love a couple vids on those (obviously without violating copyrights of ATP). Maybe one on a great VFR Nav Log (how you'd improve it), acronyms, etc.

[kopfjaeger]

Wow, it's really cool to find a local aviation channel! I started my PPL at Ellington, and finished it up at H&R at T41 in LaPorte. I've been out of flying for a while, but I'm starting to get back into it. I'm in the Civil Air Patrol at Ellington and will start getting qualified on our planes there once I get my medical renewed in a couple of weeks.
I've been considering a "career 2.0" change and pursuing my old aviation dreams and trying to move through my ratings quickly. My current problem is just trying to find someplace that will loan me the money to do them.

[pivot]

As an ATP student, don’t go to ATP. This man had a very lucky experience with the program at his location. I can tell you from the place that mine was based at, it was very different. Some instructors are very good and passionate about teaching, others are not and will refuse to do grounds with you even if you need help. And as far as plane availability? When my friend went through, there weren’t enough planes so he wasn’t able to fly for months, and when I went through I had a flight where we squawked at least four planes in a row trying to get up in the sky. Not to mention the management seems like it’s actively trying to kick people out right now both instructors and students, probably related to them getting sued right now. So they’re moving up timelines and forcing the students and instructors to bear the brunt of ATP’s mistakes. Maybe you might get lucky and get a location with friendly people willing to work with you. I’m getting separated from the program due to my deployment, a short one at that. I was told beforehand they would try to work with me and freeze my program till I came back but with this recent shift at the company, they’re looking for any excuse to boot people to keep their timelines up. Even with DPE availability they’re struggling. Yeah it might be better than some places where people are waiting months, but other flight schools have their own DPEs on hand ready to go as well. Some people at my program waited a month after finishing everything trying to get a checkride, and as a result got so rusty (mixed with being sent to a totally different location in a way different and busier airspace where ATC was too busy to accommodate) and only a 1.0 flight to get them spun back up (about as much time to take off, take a look, and land), so they failed on a maneuver.

[chaseboatright]

very informative and well rounded. I'm glad I came across this video and recommended videos like this because I would have wasted all that money.

[wmgroome]

Small critique of your video that may have impacted your experience and opinion. You are definitely a model student getting all of the written exams out of the way before starting and also scoring no less than 97%. That’s both rare and impressive. Also, you must have went to a great training center with newer equipment. I’m currently in CFI Academy at ATP. My experience is much different. The Archers flown were built in 2014, 2016, 2018. The Seminole that I had the pleasure to fly was as old as I am, a 1979 model.

[lighting]

Great video love your channel keep it up ❤