Atlas Airline Academy

[mcjohn]

What is this place? http://www.atlasairlineacademy.com/
What is this 11 days of training for $5,500 and the 500TT thing all about? How long has this been going on?

 

[mar]

Well, it's not PFT.

It's pretty obvious to me what it is. It's some people with a simulator who want to make some extra money.

But it's not PFT because they're not promising you a job, just an interview with American Eagle.

And what does AE get out of it? Ostensibly, a GA pilot who is familiar with a glass cockpit.

But so what? There are thousands of pilots with glass experiece.

The real! question is this: Is it reasonable to expect a guy with 500 hours to be competent in a jet?

And the answer is, of course, YES! Look at the military. Don't they have 25 year old pilots, with mere hundreds of hours, at the controls of multi-million dollar F16s. YES!

But what's the difference? Apparently, 11 days.

Eleven days of ground *and* sim training? That's laughable.

Listen up, my friends, save your money and I'll tell you a story.

In the summer of 2004 I attended a different Atlas Air groundschool that lasted for two months. I had been flying for 19 years and logged 9000 hours but I was learning how to fly a jet for the first time.

Guess what? I had my hands full. Old dog, new tricks perhaps, but that's my story.

And here's my familiar refrain: There are no shortcuts. When people take shortcuts in aviation, people die.

Do your time, pay your dues, eat your vegetables, be patient, work hard and respect your elders.

Good luck.

 

[mcjohn]

So what the deal with them training people for 11 days when it used to be 2 months? Sounds like they've been around for a little while. If this is all it takes to get on with a regional nowadays ($5,500) and less than 2 weeks of training then it's obvious that some regionals are very desperate for pilots. I guess I'm gonna have to call to get the scoop just like I did with Jet University. Man, if this is all it takes, then I bet there are some pissed off PFTers out there that wish they wouldn't have spent that 30-40k to buy themselves a $7 an hour job.

 

[mar]

Listen up

If this is all it takes to get on with a regional nowadays ($5,500) and less than 2 weeks of training then it's obvious that some regionals are very desperate for pilots.

Listen, these guys aren't "the regionals."

They have a cold sim that they paid a lot of money for and they want you to help them pay for it.

The existence of this company and other's like it has no bearing whatsoever on what happens in the airline industry.

There's only one way to get a job and that's with proven work experience.

Get it?

 

[mcjohn]

Thanks mar. They advertise that bridge program for Amercian Eagle which guarantees a job interview. I wonder if that is B.S.