My Trip to the ATOP Course in Houston (Long)

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ATOP: Airline Training Orientation Program - http://www.b737.com/

Thanks. I clicked the link and checked it out. Their site, along with what the original poster said about the weekend makes this sound like a great present for any wannabe professional pilot. Heck, I might sign up just to get a fluf refresher, as it has been a long time since I sat in a Boeing. $435 is cheap for that much time in a full blown sim.

 

[sweeper]

ATOP is just another way for someone to con you out of your money and letting you play in a 737 sim for an afternoon. I know, I was one of the first to be suckered while I was in school. Back then (1993) it was at UALs sim in DEN. As far as a realistic glimpse of what is to come in your aviation future, it is fairly accurate...by that I mean, you will give up hard earned money and not get much out of it. Save your money and get some more multi time or get your resume done professionally, it would do more for your career.

 

[Mr. Cole]

Dave,


It was a pleasure working with you as well. Having you and Lou in the class did a lot to enrich the experience.

General Tso,

Yep it was long, hence the use of the word "Long" in the subject. I wanted to give people a choice about whether they wanted to read it and to avoid complaining about how long it was afterwards.

Sweeper,

I agree that there are better ways to spend the money, especially for someone who wants a career in aviation. But it's all relative. There were better ways for me to spend the thousands of dollars in pursuing my PPL and IR. And there are surely better ways for an aspiring professional to spend the enormous amounts of money they put down on training, only to make poverty wages for years with the hopes of making six figures by the time they retire. Even if they eventually make captain flying a 777, the opportunity cost of the debt incurred and lost wages doing something else is always likely to provide a negative return.

One of the things that I walked away with was an increased appreciation for what you guys do, but less of a desire to do it myself. At 31 I have no designs on the majors. In fact, the most I'll probably ever do is instruct on the weekends. But like most people I have always had a curiosity about what goes on up there. Unlike most people, I'm in a better position to appreciate it as a pilot. As I said I certainly gained a slight appreciation for what it's about, but also felt that it was too regimented for me to do on a day to day basis. For someone looking to make the sacrifices necessary to make this their career, maybe they need to see if this is really what they want to do before investing too much money and time. They can never have perfect information, but whatever they can do to peer inside that world is a benefit in my opinion. After I received my IR I got an email from my PPL instructor to congratulate me. He is a F/O on the Airbus 320 I think, and from his description most flights are handled almost completely by the autothrottles, FMS, and autopilot. He used the word boring to describe most flights, but I doubt he would want to do anything else.

After going through business school I learned that there is very little difference between what is taught at a top tier business school and an unknown business school. The greatest benefit for me of going to the school that I attended, and is the case of most top schools, are the people you go to school with. Similarly, the experiences of the people in that class and the opportunities to speak to several Continental pilots was invaluable to me as a PPL with a love of aviation. I'm sure it was more valuable to those guys looking to do this for the long term.

Dave

 

[lowlycfi]

Thanks for the info on this program. I was interested in it strictly for the high altitude endorsement, but between two jobs, I can't really spare two full days to get it done. The price is actually pretty good just to get the endorsement. To bad the rapid decompression I had as a flight attendant several years ago doesn't count for anything! Good post, glad you enjoyed the course.