Cost of ATP Flight School (2024)

[@liveextreme0317]

BETTER IDEA!!! I bought a LSA Put 7k down finaced rest for 30yrs. Monthly payment is 411/mth insurance 87. Hanger 105. Fuel is 3.8-5 gph. With price at 4.25 a gallon I pay bout 25 buck an hr on fuel. And I have a CFI train me in it for 25/hr. Plus, he pays me to fly it when he wants. All in all cost me 23K total to get Commercial with Multi. I time built fast to 1500. And now at AA on 787.

[@thatpilotluke]

@@liveextreme0317 crazy. You're not in Utah are you!

[@trilogy3x]

What kinda LSA you get?

[@larreamma1519]

Yeah, I was gonna do ATP, it was about an hour from my house and I got approved for the Sallie Mae loan and after I did some calculations, it came out to a ridiculous amount. Total is something around 320k where the interest rates are at. I also heard that they can wash you out of that program at any time if you’re not meeting their standards, which is insane for the amount of money that they’re getting paid . I decided to go to Mom and Pop school like 15 minutes from my house I chose to do their career program which has everything stated in the video plus the books, an iPad, 1 year of ForeFlight and my tests and check rides are all included. 60k. They have great instructors. I definitely got in at a good time cause Since then, the prices went up. But definitely a great school. But still cheaper than ATP. I would probably suggest to people to find a local school as it will without a doubt Be way cheaper.

[@lovejaret]

did they have financing?

[@deadpoolthepsycho_________2428]

Like Jaret said. Financing available?

[@larreamma1519]

@@deadpoolthepsycho_________2428 they do all the small schools will have financing just be aware if you take out a loan, the interest rate rates are really high.

[@larreamma1519]

@@lovejaret they do all the small schools will have financing just be aware if you take out a loan, the interest rates are really high.

[@michaeln5323]

Smartest move you could have made. ATP is overrated and way over priced.good luck and I’m sure you’ll get more out of the mom and pop flight school.

[@jimmyjim7858]

My training cost $111k. I did the 100-hour Multi program when they offered it, but I didn’t pursue the CFI/II. I definitely loved my experience with ATP. Was it worth the price? For me, yes. They had well-maintained G1000 planes that were always available, a well-structured curriculum, solid instruction, a wealth of resources, and community. My main reason for choosing ATP was the accelerated learning which they definitely did. While the program is certainly expensive, in my experience, the school delivered value for the cost.

[@ProdicalMan]

Overall good video, just a note I want to add: Anyone considering ATP, don't forget to budget for living expenses such as apartment, food, health/auto insurance, car maintenance etc. I trained away from home for around a year and that was a massive cost so to anyone who will be doing the same, keep that in mind. Also, I believe that MEI is no longer included in the program going forward for new signups? (Which is probably fine since 99% of people never use that rating.)

[@thatpilotluke]

Good points! Thanks

[@osuWhite]

Dont forget that if you dont do MEI they will not hire you. Also, there is no guarantee they hire you anyways. Most of my CFI class never got offered jobs with ATP despite less than 2 failures.

[@deadliftpapi94]

just join the air force, be a plane mechanic or work on planes, get your a&p license(for free), then when you finish, use that GI bill and/or TA and go to any flight school you want.

[@deadliftpapi94]

most difficult thing youd have to do is run- air force is the easiest, most laidback branch and basic there is

[@flyinter1988]

Good advice 🙌

[@soulreaper9309]

It ain’t that simple dude not every school accepts GI bill and it also doesn’t completely cover the entire cost either

[@SFArun16]

Nice PSA!! I am a GA pilot in the bay area, but an engineer as my full time job. My son just completed the Southwest Airlines Destination 225 program in Texas. Even though not many good things are said about ATP, it was our first choice before SWA accepted my son. I do like the connection ATP has with airlines, and their sim availability for the students, but I was not fond of them being a Part 61 school, hence all the extra cost. Making an appt with a DPE can take up to 2 months, so now you are sitting around practicing (more money) until your checkride. I strongly recommend to take control of your training, stay on top of your written test and checkrides. Forget about ME rating and MEI, it's just a way for a school to max out your pocket. No school will hire you to be an MEI with little experience. Finish your commercial, get your CFI, start teaching at a 'mom and pop' school, add CFII, build time and experience and when the time is right, add ME to your license. That's what I told ATP (in PHX) and the SWA team before signing on the dotted line, and both did not give us a hard time!!

[@deadliftpapi94]

HOLY CRAP it was 70k for me when i went in 2014- i still owe 100k LOL (interest). Dont go ATP, go to a mom and pop school or local flight club and do 1 on 1 training. private would cost about 20k, the rest is up to your speed and ability to learn. its cheaper to rent a 172 from a private renter than a decked out plane for 200+ an hour dry.

[@Theflyingfiddler]

Thanks for sharing, interesting to hear all this info! I did a combination of local flight schools, ATP for MEI, and Purdue University. Looking back I feel lucky to have had a diverse range of experiences with different types of programs and many different instructors.

[@thatpilotluke]

Yeah I bet that helped develop you as a pilot! Good experience

[@BabyBlue.23]

How did you like Purdue? My little brother is considering applying.

[@Theflyingfiddler]

@@BabyBlue.23

[@MananTrivedi-p1d]

Very helpful information. Had one question, should I go for an iPad mini or a regular iPad for my flight training with ATP if I already have a laptop to study with. Also, will a 64gb version do just fine or will I need to upgrade to a bigger storage option? Thank You.

[@YusefWakeel]

I’m going to a part 61 school rn. Cessna 150 rental for 125 per hour and instructor is 65 per hour

[@landiakande4220]

Thanks for the video. I initially applied to ATP but they rejected my application because I am not a resident of USA and I applied to L3harris instead. It is fairly the same amount as L3harris comes up to about 116,000. Thanks for the insight.

[@Antonio-k7x]

In my eyes the main part about going to ATP would be that they are partners with lots of carriers. But even then, I would assume it really doesn’t matter what journey you choose weather it is part 141 or 61 just get to 1500h. Unless I’m wrong and going to ATP really dose give you the leg up…

[@larreamma1519]

@@Antonio-k7x honestly if you have the hours and the certificates, it’s not gonna matter you can apply to all the airlines somebody will pick you up. They generally don’t care what school you go to. They care more about your safety record and obviously you don’t wanna be failing check rides and stuff like that.

[@Antonio-k7x]

@@larreamma1519 thanks for the info sir

[@osuWhite]

The partnerships are worth nothing. Frankly, ATP alumni have a terrible reputation in the industry for being terrible pilots (somewhat warranted) and it will only be a detriment to your prospects.

[@Surveypilot1]

ATP’s new call sign “CareerDebt” 🥰

[@thatpilotluke]

😂😂

[@j.alva305]

A couple of questions. -Is a knee board necessary? If so, which do you recommend? -Are you using the pivot case for the ipad mini? Do you use the ipad pen as well? Or just pen and paper? And if you are, what attachments did you buy with it? What kind of sunglasses do you use for flying? Thanks bud!

[@thatpilotluke]

A kneeboard is recommended; not totally sure if it's 100% a necessity, but you'll want one. I have a link in my youtube bio to my amazon storefront where you'll see the kneeboard I use. It was an expensive one though. The cheaper ones are pretty much just as good. I use the pivot case and window mount outside of ATP when I rent an airplane and its the best! I have a pen with the iPad but don't really use it for flying purposes, more just studying and drawing out systems/diagrams etc. I have some prescription ray bands!

[@tyclark3405]

@@thatpilotlukeso do you think that will reduce the price

[@Delvjuco]

Save your Money, if you qualified for Sallie Mae, buy a Piper cadet (around 80k) and hired a CFI + CFII and get you Pvt, IFR, Commercial SEL + get your CFI & CFII (optional), Build time and the sell the plane You should get at least 70k or in some cases brake even...only cost Fuel, Instructor, and some MX, then rent and continue your training with MEL + Commercial MEL... If you are shavy enough you can cut your training to less than half of ATP cost...

[@JadeP-ts2sc]

As I know, even though they get the Salle Mae loan, Students never even touch the money. It will go straight to the ATP. Which means students can not use loan money for something else.

[@Delvjuco]

@@JadeP-ts2sc My point is, if you can get approve for Sally Mae, which is hard to get, you should be able to get a loan for an airplane which is more secured than Sally Mae...

[@Slava_Bogu.]

ATP DOESN’T INTEREST IN PILOT TRAINING, it’s a “club” with extremely expensive airplane. They are focusing JUST ON MAKING MONEY: They will rent you out a Cessna 172 for around $350 per hour, which is just for the plane. Next: Maybe 1 of 20-30 students will become an instructor at ATP Next: you will take the loan for 100K, at least half of it you’ll spend at ATP and after that at certain moment they will kick you off!!! There’s no guarantee that any airline will hire you after completing ATP; even lead instructors sometimes end up with less desirable positions. A more cost-effective route is to consider local flight schools. You might find a well-regarded school where you can rent a Cessna 172 for about $200 per hour, plus an instructor at $100 per hour. And it will be LESS stress. Trust me, I’ve been there. Good luck everybody!

[@rabitrouh]

So you saved up 100k doing pest control sales? that’s crazy, i’d love to hear more I’m on a break from flying after getting my commercial. I’m planning on getting all my CFI ratings but the main problem is the money. What kind of experience is needed to get into sales? how long did it take you to save up the 100k?

[@thatpilotluke]

@@rabitrouh it's a crazy lucrative gig if you can do it! It's super common to get recruited in Utah as a returned LDS missionary. It's more of a summer gig but they are all over the country. I can put you in contact with my old company if you want. You can DM me on insta too if you want to talk

[@thatpilotluke]

@@rabitrouh average first year sales reps earnings were about 35-40k for just working from may-Aug so it can be a good way to earn! Just way hard

[@kendiederich9689]

Luke’s dad here. Just gotta say how proud I am of this guy. He earned every penny he spent on ATP doing summer sales, and then risked it all on this pilot career. Still some challenges ahead but I have no doubt he’ll see it through. Thanks to all of you for supporting him.

[@KarterBishop]

I looked into the sallie mae loan when i was signing up, and in my case it was pretty absurd how much more I would be spending if I did the loan. They gave me a range between 15% and 17% interest, and by the time i would have paid it off it would have been about $350k total. The monthly payments were around $2k a month if i deferred the payments till after training. All i can say is i’m going to take full advantage of tuition reimbursement programs.

[@ProdicalMan]

Those tuition reimbursement programs are disappearing, for example Frontier has stopped paying their cadets any money. The market has become very saturated with brand new FO qualified pilots. Not being the bearer of bad news, just research what the actual job market is like right now before you sign a loan that massive.

[@thatpilotluke]

crazy 😳

[@trilogy3x]

I say go cheap on the headset or get the David Clark’s you don’t need $1,000 headset

[@thatpilotluke]

agree to disagree!

[@mncnAirsoft]

Good luck, but you can get your ratings at nearly half that cost at other schools

[@edgardavila7346]

Hey Luke! Have you heard about Blue Line flight school?

[@thatpilotluke]

i have not!

[@marcvalliant8131]

Well spoken young guy

[@kasiaandnnp9049]

Where is it located??? 1:08

[@roily846]

Do They have Financial AID like Fafsa?

[@thatpilotluke]

i'm not totally sure. don't think so

[@SierraVann-rl2wb]

Aren’t they taking MEI out of the program for future students?

[@thatpilotluke]

They are! I found out after I already made this video 🤦‍♂️

[@osuWhite]

It has been an additional expense for years.

[@topofthegreen]

getting a student loan and going to ATP are 2 boneheaded moves.

[@MichaelDziedzic]

It works for some, I went in 2017, finished in under a year and got an instructing job quickly. Flew my butt off. Got hired at a regional, then LCC, then Major in under 7 years. Paying off my loan by years end. If you keep your goal in check and refinance the loan it's not completely unreasonable. Of course there are cheaper places to do it. YMMV

[@WillpowerAviation]

That is a rip off. Pay all of that and still fly a trashy 172?!?! Fast track on top of that. How much they paying cfi’s??? I bet peanuts. Don’t do it. There is no shortage anymore. Go to a 61 and save a ton. I was lucky to get into United Aviate and I fly a cirrus sr20 glass cockpit. Go 61 and buy your own plane with the difference. At least you get something out of it.

[@JadeP-ts2sc]

Unfortunately Atp is part 61 flights school bro

[@FranciscoGarcia-zm3yj]

Hey buddy can I get more info on this? Like please explain a bit more 🙏🏼