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Should an ATP be required for both pilots?

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Should a ATP be required to fly for an airline?

  • Yes

    Votes: 792 83.2%
  • No

    Votes: 144 15.1%
  • Undecided

    Votes: 16 1.7%

  • Total voters
    952
In short, YES!!!

You can't even apply to a company like NetJets (I know, they are a fractional) unless you have the minimum number of hours AND the ATP. While their min hours are higher than what an ATP requires (2500 hrs), you will not get the time of day from them without having your ATP - even if you have the min hours.

If you can drop all the cash on your other ratings (which generally cost much more each) than you can cough up the money once you are qualified for the ATP check ride. It's still not nearly as expensive as getting a Type rating. I did mine in the company Navajo (several years back) and paid the examiner his $300 fee, so there are other ways to get your ATP without going to a 'school'. Some Part 135 check haulers will let you use their a/c to do the ride if you are already working for them. Or rent a plane and set up the examiner yourself, the ATP does NOT require an instructor's endorsement. Get the written out of the way first (it's good for two years) and start preparing for the practical/oral. It's not that big of a deal (a beefed up Instrument check ride, but KNOW the plane).

In the end, it will help to solve both a safety issue and the pay issue. I'm 100% for it. Of course, I instructed for the first 3 years of my pro pilot life, and then I flew Part 135 checks/piss for another 3 years after that - before I ever got my first Jet type and worked as a crew (by then I hade almost 4000 hrs), so maybe I'm biased.
 
FORGET IT, PEOPLE!

No matter what the mins are, there will always be a supply/demand factor. Right now, there are a lot of pilots looking for any job they can find. A couple of years ago, and you could grap a job with a fresh commercial.

It always has and always will be this way for the regionals. It even has been this way for some majors. I know people who got hired at Eastern and United back in the day who had never flown a plane with two or more engines and who had less than 300 hrs.

-You just never will be able to ensure safety by requiring high mins. Some people do well at airlines with less than 200 hrs, some people are absolute f-ups with 25,000 hrs.....
 
Keep in mind that if you have your written done, the feds can give you an ATP ride while they are giving you your 6 month 135 ride. It is the same ride with one extra approach.
 
Sure.
But the airline pays for it. The average Joe can go to any ATP flight school and get theirs in a weekend, as long as they pay $2500. But places like these tend to pass the applicant whether they can fly the airplane or not.

Cant issue the ATP in an inital checkride. The ATP is a PIC checkride, thus it must be issued in a PIC basis, not an SIC "type"
 
What's the big deal about an ATP? You can get one in a 172, afterall!
:cool:

No pay for rating, eh? How many schools pay for the CFI with no contract? If you are instrument proficient enough to apply for a 121 job, save up (no McD's, movies, or new iTunes for awhile) and take the ride. The guy in the NYT dropped $100k. The DPE charged $350, the plane was about $300 (not in a 172), the written was $100, and the prep book was $19.95. That's not even 1%!

As a great, Soouthen poet once said, "Get 'er dun!"

It's a license, and it doesn't expire. If you look outside of 121, I have talked to many people (who hire pilots) who have this opinion: "If an applicant has the hours and not an ATP, why don't they have the license?" Call it professional development.
 
Cant issue the ATP in an inital checkride. The ATP is a PIC checkride, thus it must be issued in a PIC basis, not an SIC "type"
While the gubberment and FAA are changing all these new rules and requirements, they can change this as well.
 

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