Joining in the fun......

cignaguy · January 11th, 2007, 15:43

Hi all-

This is my first post to forum. A friend of mine recommended it a couple of weeks ago after I told him I was seriously considering a career change. It has been comforting to read some of the other career changers' posts and to realize that it is not impossible as long as one is willing to accept all the risks with the change.

In summary, I will turn 29 in January. I currently work for a consulting company in Denver and have been here three years. I can't fathom doing this for the next 30 years of my life; I would go insane. I graduated in 2000 with a B.S. in Finance from University of Tennessee. After 1.3 years at my first real job at a health insurance company, I decided to go to Navy OCS. I went into flight school after that. However, I was very uncomfortable with the pace of the training (they were cutting weeks out of the aviation pipeline to try and get people through quicker) so I decided to attempt to transfer to another Officer community. Due to the abundance of officers after 9/11, they were not allowing people to transfer to other communities and were honorably discharging anyone who did not complete their intial training program (even the Academy grads believe it or not). While I have always wanted to fly, this killed my aviation motivation for quite awhile. So that is a little background on me (more than some people might want to know)....

So now that I have completely regained my confidence, I am about to start my PPL. Thankfully, there is a huge difference between civilian and military aviation with regards to training. Even though I was getting paid to learn in the Navy, I have no problem at all knowing that I will be shelling out a ton of money to learn in the civilian world.

My plan is to get my PPL and then attend one of the bigger flight schools. I have focused on ATP quite a bit because of the reputation and because of references from friends that are pilots. I would be committing myself full time to training, but I think I would opt for the 10 month self-paced rather than the 90 day "rush". I intend on completing the program quicker than 10 months, but I just won't want to have a 90-day deadline sitting in the back of my mind. Any thoughts or comments on this? Are people who opt for the self-paced program looked down upon? Also, any experience with the Phoenix location?

I hope to get to the airport here in Denver to talk to some folks soon regarding the PPL. However, if anyone else lives in Denver, you know the weather hasn't been very conducive to flight training lately, so I haven't even made it to the airport to talk with anyone. It isn't suppose to get over 15 degrees for the next 5 days!

Sorry for the long drawn out introduction, and thanks for all the great information and helpfulness on here!

NotCoolEnufToFly · January 11th, 2007, 15:46

Welcome to JetCareers! I hope you find it educational and FUN!

SRA_kbad · January 11th, 2007, 17:15

Welcome!!! I will be attending ATP's riverside location in April for the ACPP. I can't wait. There is a whole lot of info to be found on this site. Have Fun!!!

GreenDayPilot · January 11th, 2007, 17:37

Welcome! I attended ATP in Riverside in 2003. I liked their program, but be ready for a lot of self-discipline with the self studying. I didn't do as much as I liked and a result came out of their program with just a fraction of the knowledge a CFI should have.

You get the licenses and ratings they promise, but you really have to hit the books.

January 11th, 2007, 15:43	#1
cignaguy Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Atlanta Posts: 177	Joining in the fun...... Hi all- This is my first post to forum. A friend of mine recommended it a couple of weeks ago after I told him I was seriously considering a career change. It has been comforting to read some of the other career changers' posts and to realize that it is not impossible as long as one is willing to accept all the risks with the change. In summary, I will turn 29 in January. I currently work for a consulting company in Denver and have been here three years. I can't fathom doing this for the next 30 years of my life; I would go insane. I graduated in 2000 with a B.S. in Finance from University of Tennessee. After 1.3 years at my first real job at a health insurance company, I decided to go to Navy OCS. I went into flight school after that. However, I was very uncomfortable with the pace of the training (they were cutting weeks out of the aviation pipeline to try and get people through quicker) so I decided to attempt to transfer to another Officer community. Due to the abundance of officers after 9/11, they were not allowing people to transfer to other communities and were honorably discharging anyone who did not complete their intial training program (even the Academy grads believe it or not). While I have always wanted to fly, this killed my aviation motivation for quite awhile. So that is a little background on me (more than some people might want to know).... So now that I have completely regained my confidence, I am about to start my PPL. Thankfully, there is a huge difference between civilian and military aviation with regards to training. Even though I was getting paid to learn in the Navy, I have no problem at all knowing that I will be shelling out a ton of money to learn in the civilian world. My plan is to get my PPL and then attend one of the bigger flight schools. I have focused on ATP quite a bit because of the reputation and because of references from friends that are pilots. I would be committing myself full time to training, but I think I would opt for the 10 month self-paced rather than the 90 day "rush". I intend on completing the program quicker than 10 months, but I just won't want to have a 90-day deadline sitting in the back of my mind. Any thoughts or comments on this? Are people who opt for the self-paced program looked down upon? Also, any experience with the Phoenix location? I hope to get to the airport here in Denver to talk to some folks soon regarding the PPL. However, if anyone else lives in Denver, you know the weather hasn't been very conducive to flight training lately, so I haven't even made it to the airport to talk with anyone. It isn't suppose to get over 15 degrees for the next 5 days! Sorry for the long drawn out introduction, and thanks for all the great information and helpfulness on here!

January 11th, 2007, 15:46	#2
NotCoolEnufToFly Old Skool Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Gretna, LA Posts: 2,544	Re: Joining in the fun...... Welcome to JetCareers! I hope you find it educational and FUN! __________________ Papa Alpha Mike http://pamgagliani.flyblog.com/

January 11th, 2007, 17:15	#3
SRA_kbad Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Commuting Posts: 734	Re: Joining in the fun...... Welcome!!! I will be attending ATP's riverside location in April for the ACPP. I can't wait. There is a whole lot of info to be found on this site. Have Fun!!! __________________ "The Coconut Banger's Ball... Its A Rap"

January 11th, 2007, 17:37	#4
GreenDayPilot Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: SoCal Posts: 905	Re: Joining in the fun...... Welcome! I attended ATP in Riverside in 2003. I liked their program, but be ready for a lot of self-discipline with the self studying. I didn't do as much as I liked and a result came out of their program with just a fraction of the knowledge a CFI should have. You get the licenses and ratings they promise, but you really have to hit the books. __________________ "Love, Fly, Live, and Die"

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