MD-11Loader

My loan came through last night for ATP and I am planning on starting May 1st. I will be doing the Commercial/Multi finish up program with time building. In addition I am doing the full CFI program. The cost should be about $27,000 so I took out a $35,000 loan for any unforeseen issues. I am selling my truck which will fetch at least $24,000 and that money will go straight to the loan. If I can finish without any additional cost, I will be able to put that $8,000 back into the loan, thus leaving me with only $3,000 to pay off and some interest. All in all I think I have gone about this in a somewhat efficient manner which will leave me with a low debt load.

Here is my question. How did you all prepare for your training? I am finishing my instrument right now in the OAK area and am having my course materials for ATP sent to me in SFO so that I can prepare. Do you recommend flash cards or any other memory techniques? I am trying to come into this as prepared as possible.

Thanks in advance.

Laxrox43

Flash cards work for me. Also, if they have any type of SOP profiles, "chair fly" as often as you can. If you can recite memory items, call outs in your sleep, you'll be fine. Good luck!

captain152

Repetition is key. Chair flying is good as well as Lax said above.

If you can get with a group of people to bounce questions off of during the training it will be very beneficial.

Take care and have fun!

StartUp161WanaB

take all the writtens before starting

ski fish fly

Having your written tests complete is great advise! Sheppard Air (Sheppard Air Flight Test 4.0 Prep Software ATP, Flight Engineer, Mil Comp - FAA Airline Transport Pilot) has great test prep software should you be interested. And, no, I'm not affiliated with Sheppard Air!

Vifa

The writtens early is very good advise. I have a good friend who is going through the training right now in Atlanta and he's saying it's a very accelerated program. Plan on studying 24-7 while your in the program. Tell you girlfriend/wife you'll be busy for 3 months and get cracking. It seems a lot like military style training of the fire hose but you'll be done quickly. Good luck and get ready to work your ass off

motoboy

Hey MD, sounds like we're kind of in the same boat. I'm about to finish up my ir and will have around 170hours. I'm planning on either going to ATP or Aviator. Can you tell me a little more about the package they quoted you for, how many hours?

Thanks,
Ben

MD-11Loader

I actually live in ATL, but have elected to go to IWA for training so that I can be away from my girlfriend. She understands that I need to be focused and that she would distract me from my program. The good thing is that I am on an 81 day trip right now and am doing a lot of my study prep now.

cascade

Repetition, repetition, repetition. Chair flying is a must, makes everything much less stressful when it comes time to actually execute. Another big thing is to remove as many distractions as possible, and resign yourself to throwing 100% into this. Let friends/significant others know that this will be #1 until it is over, most of the people I've seen wash out were dealing with personal stuff that was distracting them.

ASpilot2be

All very good advice so far. Being prepared for each day will make life so much easier. Good luck! I had a blast at ATP.