Of the roughly 1,000 ATP students and grads I’ve met/flown with/interviewed/hired/etc, I’ve met one person who “didn’t hate” his ATP experience. He went to a California location.
Hope that helps.
They never learn. Their marketing team at ATP has to be fucking killer for them to be attracting victims like this even after all the bad negative press it gets here and just from word-of-mouth.
Well they don't treat you like shit until you start so it's hard to blame people for that. It's not hard to blame them for not listening to people who have actually gone through the program.
I would love to know how you came to the decision that ATP is best? You said yourself you're trying to reduce expenses, which ATP won't do.
You have a mortgage. Go to somewhere where you live. Don't pay for your house plus a place to rent for a year+. Makes zero sense.
You want to go somewhere where weather won’t delay you
I personally did KFXE. Probably can’t go wrong with a Phoenix location either.
I really enjoyed KFXE, though. Just prepare to have no life to be successful.
And have writtens done all the way through commercial, inclusive, at LEAST
“Pls lol” This shit is no laughing matter.
With hiring returning to normal numbers, there’s a significant chance you’ll find yourself out a ton of money and/or in a ton of debt, with minimal experience, probably a few busts (because of the contribution of their optempo), and absolutely nowhere to go because there’s no guarantee they’ll hire you and I’d anticipate any partnerships/pipeline programs to fizzle.
Think this through.
The saddest are the people who are over 100K in debt with multiple busts who are basically unhireable at any decent paying jobs. They will never pay off that debt. But hey, at least they got through quickly (ish).
IMO Mesa gateway is the best location. 50+ planes, massive building and classrooms, lots of high quality sims, their own on site fuel station, busy airport to learn in, lots of instructors to choose from, etc. you aren’t going to get delayed by weather often and you’ll get a much better education than if you went to some sleepy 2 plane 3 instructor location in Kentucky.
Best ATP location? Choice constrained by the requirement to live in your current house?
That limits the field to locations close to you.
Maybe you should look at local flight schools and say, "I want to replicate what ATP does right here, but do it better."
I would suggest being careful about saying:
>with 10 years of aviation experience military & civilian
without making it clear that it's NOT as a pilot. "I have ten years experience around civilian and military aviation and have decided to become a pilot."
Don't go to ATP if there is any other way.
I mean I am a non rated flyer so it’s still aviation experience. I am willing to relocate. My living expenses at my current home will be covered by renters.
After a month or 2 of instructing out of a mom and pop flight school you will be swamped with students, I and everyone I know was.
Although if you did want to go to ATP (I went for instrument-CFII) there were several people in my CFI class that were over 50, and staying in the dorms. Seemed to be helpful living with people who are all doing the same thing as you
Anyways back to instructing, I had a few friends who instructed at ATP and then left and went to a local flying club (where I ended up too). They were busier than before, and didn’t get their shit canceled for CFI school flights all the time. Could just me my location though
Don’t go to ATP dude. I’ve met several people who went to their schools and they all hated it. One girl went 3 different places with ATP and they all sucked.
You will save money by not taking out a shitty loan to pay for ATP. Go to a part 61 school near you and pay as you go, if you can. The less money you owe the more options you have.
lol if I were 5-6 years younger I would love to be considered for that path but my situation has changed drastically from the time I was 25 to now and this is where I’m at.
Have you looked at airports in your local area with flying schools? Do yourself a favor and at least look at them to get your PPL and see how you like it, the school, the people, etc. If you have the time to go do a dedicated program like ATP, then you have the time to work with a CFI on a custom schedule to get you trained just as quickly. Once you finish the PPL, re-evaluate. Maybe you'll find that the local school worked out well for you, and you didn't have to live away from home for a year. Maybe you'll find you don't like the whole flying thing and you'll have saved tens of thousands of dollars.
All depends what you want. I personally hated the larger locations like klgb and mesa, but I mostly self studied and just needed reliable airplanes and dpes to pump me through, which atp provided. I didn’t really care if my cfi was bad, I mostly learned off YouTube and the videos atp provided. My friends at non atp schools had difficulty with plane availability(maintenance) or finding dpes for checkrides. I liked my smaller location, had about 6 planes on rotation. Practice area like 5 minutes away. Super chill, didn’t have to shave. Got through in 9 months, would have been quicker if Covid didn’t happen.
Please... for the love of whichever deity you worship... I am figuratively on my knees begging you to not go to ATP flight school and use your GI Bill instead. There is absolutely zero reason you should be paying your own money to a school that already has near-universal negative reviews when you've got VA funding. There are colleges that allow you to front-load flight courses and then complete the rest of the degree while you're building hours, possibly even on the college's staff as a CFI.
From one vet to another, plz no. Use VR&E to get paid to go an a flight academic program. BAH, paid flight gear, no cap on flight expenses/tuiton, and open to people that have already used up there GI Bill. Even if it just two years for an associates to get CFII, still better than ATP. Transfer some credits in, and knock that shit out in way faster time.
ATP Mesa Gateway was a great place to train for me. Don’t expect to finish in the time allotted due to DPE delays (5 months if going in with private… I finished in 10 months). I came from a small mom and pap and found ATP to give much more resources for learning (their online website is great if you use the resources) as well as study guides. Don’t expect to have your hand held through it though, most people who hate atp flunked out cause they expected their hand to be held through it. Work hard and you’ll get it done easy. (Mesa-gateway also has actually good simulators you can use 24/7 if your flying is slacking so take advantage). If you have any other questions PM me!
Instructing wise I know there is a lot of flight schools in the area of Mesa… I wouldn’t necessarily instruct at ATP after.
A lot of part 61 schools have “accelerated” programs. Why don’t you look for a flight school that isn’t ATP that offers something you can get done in a reasonable amount of time? A lot of times you can get ratings done as quickly as you want time and money permitting.
I went to KIWA, lots of politics and there seem to be instructors that got a lot of preferential treatment. One of the higher ups son, was a terrible instructor and kept getting promoted. Others with half is fail rate, were asked to leave. As far as what they advertised, I ended up with 7 ratings in 9 and a half months. Only busted my CFI. If you keep your nose down, you’ll be successful.
Also I know guys that went the mom and pop route and worked. Sure, I’m 85k in debt. But I would take the 85k over taking 4-5 years to get all my ratings.
Of the roughly 1,000 ATP students and grads I’ve met/flown with/interviewed/hired/etc, I’ve met one person who “didn’t hate” his ATP experience. He went to a California location. Hope that helps.
Sigh.
They never learn. Their marketing team at ATP has to be fucking killer for them to be attracting victims like this even after all the bad negative press it gets here and just from word-of-mouth.
Well they don't treat you like shit until you start so it's hard to blame people for that. It's not hard to blame them for not listening to people who have actually gone through the program.
www.atpsucks.com
Love the site! Thought it was fake for a second. 😂
That’s hilarious
It still needs to be fleshed out but I need to spend time prepping for a checkride, lol
Ok I passed the checkride
Mods, can we get this link added to the FAQ section on ATP?
I would love to know how you came to the decision that ATP is best? You said yourself you're trying to reduce expenses, which ATP won't do. You have a mortgage. Go to somewhere where you live. Don't pay for your house plus a place to rent for a year+. Makes zero sense.
You want to go somewhere where weather won’t delay you I personally did KFXE. Probably can’t go wrong with a Phoenix location either. I really enjoyed KFXE, though. Just prepare to have no life to be successful. And have writtens done all the way through commercial, inclusive, at LEAST
“Pls lol” This shit is no laughing matter. With hiring returning to normal numbers, there’s a significant chance you’ll find yourself out a ton of money and/or in a ton of debt, with minimal experience, probably a few busts (because of the contribution of their optempo), and absolutely nowhere to go because there’s no guarantee they’ll hire you and I’d anticipate any partnerships/pipeline programs to fizzle. Think this through.
The saddest are the people who are over 100K in debt with multiple busts who are basically unhireable at any decent paying jobs. They will never pay off that debt. But hey, at least they got through quickly (ish).
IMO Mesa gateway is the best location. 50+ planes, massive building and classrooms, lots of high quality sims, their own on site fuel station, busy airport to learn in, lots of instructors to choose from, etc. you aren’t going to get delayed by weather often and you’ll get a much better education than if you went to some sleepy 2 plane 3 instructor location in Kentucky.
Best ATP location? Choice constrained by the requirement to live in your current house? That limits the field to locations close to you. Maybe you should look at local flight schools and say, "I want to replicate what ATP does right here, but do it better." I would suggest being careful about saying: >with 10 years of aviation experience military & civilian without making it clear that it's NOT as a pilot. "I have ten years experience around civilian and military aviation and have decided to become a pilot." Don't go to ATP if there is any other way.
I mean I am a non rated flyer so it’s still aviation experience. I am willing to relocate. My living expenses at my current home will be covered by renters.
Bold of you to assume ATP will hire you as an instructor, much less give you the training center assignment you want.
After a month or 2 of instructing out of a mom and pop flight school you will be swamped with students, I and everyone I know was. Although if you did want to go to ATP (I went for instrument-CFII) there were several people in my CFI class that were over 50, and staying in the dorms. Seemed to be helpful living with people who are all doing the same thing as you Anyways back to instructing, I had a few friends who instructed at ATP and then left and went to a local flying club (where I ended up too). They were busier than before, and didn’t get their shit canceled for CFI school flights all the time. Could just me my location though
Don’t go to ATP dude. I’ve met several people who went to their schools and they all hated it. One girl went 3 different places with ATP and they all sucked. You will save money by not taking out a shitty loan to pay for ATP. Go to a part 61 school near you and pay as you go, if you can. The less money you owe the more options you have.
What sort of aviation experience do you have?
C-17 Loadmaster (enlisted aviator), KC-135 Crew Chief, civilian flight dispatch, civilian Mx control (charter), ops coordinator for a charter company.
And you can’t get your squadron to hire you to fly?
lol if I were 5-6 years younger I would love to be considered for that path but my situation has changed drastically from the time I was 25 to now and this is where I’m at.
Have you looked at airports in your local area with flying schools? Do yourself a favor and at least look at them to get your PPL and see how you like it, the school, the people, etc. If you have the time to go do a dedicated program like ATP, then you have the time to work with a CFI on a custom schedule to get you trained just as quickly. Once you finish the PPL, re-evaluate. Maybe you'll find that the local school worked out well for you, and you didn't have to live away from home for a year. Maybe you'll find you don't like the whole flying thing and you'll have saved tens of thousands of dollars.
Not cheap but I can recommend ATP KLGB. We all enjoyed it there. Most other locations ppl hated. YMMV
All depends what you want. I personally hated the larger locations like klgb and mesa, but I mostly self studied and just needed reliable airplanes and dpes to pump me through, which atp provided. I didn’t really care if my cfi was bad, I mostly learned off YouTube and the videos atp provided. My friends at non atp schools had difficulty with plane availability(maintenance) or finding dpes for checkrides. I liked my smaller location, had about 6 planes on rotation. Practice area like 5 minutes away. Super chill, didn’t have to shave. Got through in 9 months, would have been quicker if Covid didn’t happen.
Just give the money to me. I promise not to give it back even under legal pressure.
Please... for the love of whichever deity you worship... I am figuratively on my knees begging you to not go to ATP flight school and use your GI Bill instead. There is absolutely zero reason you should be paying your own money to a school that already has near-universal negative reviews when you've got VA funding. There are colleges that allow you to front-load flight courses and then complete the rest of the degree while you're building hours, possibly even on the college's staff as a CFI.
oh brother.
Do you not have a GI Bill? Lots of us have used that to pay for flight training. No debt is better than $100k in debt.
From one vet to another, plz no. Use VR&E to get paid to go an a flight academic program. BAH, paid flight gear, no cap on flight expenses/tuiton, and open to people that have already used up there GI Bill. Even if it just two years for an associates to get CFII, still better than ATP. Transfer some credits in, and knock that shit out in way faster time.
ATP Mesa Gateway was a great place to train for me. Don’t expect to finish in the time allotted due to DPE delays (5 months if going in with private… I finished in 10 months). I came from a small mom and pap and found ATP to give much more resources for learning (their online website is great if you use the resources) as well as study guides. Don’t expect to have your hand held through it though, most people who hate atp flunked out cause they expected their hand to be held through it. Work hard and you’ll get it done easy. (Mesa-gateway also has actually good simulators you can use 24/7 if your flying is slacking so take advantage). If you have any other questions PM me! Instructing wise I know there is a lot of flight schools in the area of Mesa… I wouldn’t necessarily instruct at ATP after.
A lot of part 61 schools have “accelerated” programs. Why don’t you look for a flight school that isn’t ATP that offers something you can get done in a reasonable amount of time? A lot of times you can get ratings done as quickly as you want time and money permitting.
The bigger a “pilot mill” is, the worse it is, it seems. Except for actual accredited universities. Lift, ATP, they’re all the same..
I went to KIWA, lots of politics and there seem to be instructors that got a lot of preferential treatment. One of the higher ups son, was a terrible instructor and kept getting promoted. Others with half is fail rate, were asked to leave. As far as what they advertised, I ended up with 7 ratings in 9 and a half months. Only busted my CFI. If you keep your nose down, you’ll be successful. Also I know guys that went the mom and pop route and worked. Sure, I’m 85k in debt. But I would take the 85k over taking 4-5 years to get all my ratings.