You can see a lot of negative reviews about ATP JAX, but just think about who is writing them. All the successful graduates (600+/year) are all at the airlines. All the washouts (there really aren't very many) are angrily writing yelp reviews. You'll see a trend in the bad reviews, specifically that in not one instance does anyone admit personal responsibility for their failures. It's always "ATP's fault" or "the examiner's fault" - anything to avoid accepting that this is a fast paced program, and they just weren't cut out for it. That's not to say there aren't problems with the program; there certainly are, but it's by far the fastest, cheapest and best way to get from 0 hours to an airline position. It takes a LOT of hard work and motivation, which is apparently very surprising (and borderline offensive!) to some. Let's just be glad all these folks are writing negative reviews on yelp and not flying multi-million dollar jets with hundreds of people in the back! Source - 2018 ATP JAX graduate read more

Got what I paid for, finished on time, as advertised. Work hard, trust the process, you'll be fine. Had a good laugh reading through the other comments. read more

ATP Flight School - Me after my last 2 checkrides, program complete. - Flight Instruction Near Me

This industry is not for the faint of heart. Half of these comments of people complaining are people with false expectations and lack of commitment to a long term goal. To have a successful program with ATP and any school in that case you must develop a trait called "delayed gratification". Expecting every thing to go your way is childish and not realistic. Aviation is unlike any other industry. There's lots of factors that come into play that absolutely no one has any control over (weather, maintenance, etc.) Although this may not be as pleasant as sitting on your couch at home. It's for people who have a passion for the industry and want to have an aviation career and are willing to make an investment and see it all the way through. I'm a graduate from ATP and I had multiple delays due to unexpected occurrences and I didn't quit or cry about it. It's a part of life and it's what makes the industry beautiful in its own way. If you're looking for a career in aviation ATP sets you up with absolutely every resource you need to have an absolutely amazing experience and a successful completion as well as many resources and connections to all the major airlines. They are very understanding and will work with any of your needs as long as you have the right attitude about it and you show them your commitment to the program by applying yourself to what you started and having a winning attitude! Without a doubt about it 5 star review!! read more

Worst. Experience. Ever. Scheduled an FAA test with this poor excuse of a flight school and promptly received a confirmation. I then proceeded to spend the day preparing for the exam. After getting to a point where I felt like I was ready to ace the exam, I showed up to take the exam - all after making arrangements to take the day off work and making necessary arrangements to have someone watch our little girl while I take the test into the evening. Unfortunately, much to my surprise and disappointment; the proctor flaked on administering my test and elected to go up up for another paid instruction flight without so much as a word to let me know she would not be available to proctor my FAA test. The rude ATP staff who remained in the office were full of so many excuses I couldn't even count them all including that they don't even administer the test or accept students and that had no duty to inform me that they weren't going to administer the test that day even they knew right away that they weren't going to administer the test. Despite knowing this, they let me miss work, get my daughter to a babysitter, go through the test of studying for a test on a day I wouldn't be able to take it, and then have me sit through countless shameless "sorry, not sorry" apologies where they repeatedly explained to me how they wouldn't have done anything differently. If this is how they pilot aircraft, unfortunately, I'm afraid the NTSB is going to be adding some more folks to its rosters, and some victims will pay the price for the shameless cycle of excuses that inevitably lead to mistakes that could have been avoided. If you have an opportunity to go elsewhere, I strongly encourage you to do so, both for the selection of flight instruction and your selection of pilots for hire. The instructors made very clear how poor their judgment can be both on the front end and the back end when faced with the opportunity to correct their mistakes. Please contrast the poor service of the ATP Flight Instruction Staff with the wonderful service received by Rebecca of PSI Exams who was simply attempting to fix the mess created by ATP. Rebecca went the extra mile and did so with a smile and with professionalism, courtesy, and respect - not to mention without any financial or economic benefit whatsoever - just to do the right thing - I'm happy to report that Rebecca is being promoted by PSI Exams in recognition of her exceptional service! This is not at all surprising given her positive attitude. As for the folks at ATP, I am not quite sure why or how it came about that I was treated so poorly but I'm hopeful that something changes before that kind of poor service in a flight safety business portends something calamitous. read more

I lost 70K, only got my private and multiengine ratings. After that they mark up prices to match up my full loan. Long story short I ran out of money, kicked out and a huge debt. The training center was a kinder garden, zero integrity from many instructors, (not all). Good instructor = success, if not with a good one, you'll end up like me. Many of them came right off high school, what do they know about teaching or the value of money somebody pays for training. Damn you Dennis and his minions read more

I talked with ATP Flight School admissions and asked about how much flight time is allocated for each flight certificate, seeing as for a part 61 school (ATP Flight School is part 61, not 141) and the FAA minimum amount of flight time is 40 hours. However, just for a private pilot license the national average is in the range of 60-75 hours. Knowing how many hours a school factors into their quotes is important because you'll either have to pay for additional flight time, or (as is the case with ATP Flight School) you'll end up being kicked from the program. The guy I talked to in Admissions was unwilling to give me the flight time allowed for each certificate. When asked if there was someone else who could answer my questions I was told there wasn't anyone. I was finally able to get him to tell me that by the end of the program I would have 300 flight hours, and that the FAA minimum as 275. So ask yourself: if the national average of the private pilot certificate is already 75 hours (rather than the minimum of 40 allowed by the FAA for a part 61 school) and ATP Flight School only allows 25 extra hours over the minimum for the ENTIRE PROGRAM does this give you much of a chance? What exactly are you paying for here? My analysis? This is a scam provided by a money-hungry business taking advantage of those who don't know much about the industry. Look at what other schools charge, understand the difference between the FAA minimum required flight hours for each certificate and the national average of flight time it takes pilots to gain the certificates, and understand some schools are honest, while other schools make a lot of money while doing favors to no one. Arm yourself with knowledge, and good luck! read more

All they care about is your money! STAY AWAY from this flight school!! Horrible management and staff, underqualified instructors. They penalize you for making safe decisions not to fly for a test not only by charging you money for the cancellation, but by charging you again for the flight time and fuel that you've already paid for! This is a big deterrent for students to make safe decisions because they know they're going to be charged big time for it. Horrible policy and i wish i knew this going in. Stay away from this school and find yourself a school that doesn't treat you like just a number. Find a school that cares about your training and success, not just your wallet. Staff does not care about personal problems financially or with family. You're just a number at ATP. Go to another school that is in it to teach you, not take your money and gouge you left and right. read more

I went to ATP in Concord, NC for two months. It was very expensive and there was almost no education gained. My instructor honestly told me, "I shouldn't have to teach you this stuff. Are you reading your book and finding YouTube videos?" When I said, Yes but I need the gaps filled in, he advised me to read more. I asked for a new instructor and I was told I wasn't allowed to choose to change my instructor, so I spent $12,600 in two months and I wasn't allowed to switch to an instructor who was able to instruct! Then when I found a massively better flight school and told ATP I was withdrawing, then they asked what they could do to keep me as a student. Make no mistake, they just want your money! They have no concern about you as a professional pilot. My advice, spend less, find a better flight school, take a little longer to get to CFI (a little longer being about 2 months), and you'll be much happier and a much better pilot. read more

Warning. Stay away. Enrollment at Concord NC ATP. They got our money then failed to provide any training. Well that isn't true. After 12 days on "campus" 2 short flights were completed. Every other day we were assigned a plane that was grounded for maintenance but that is never communicated until you've wasted your day. Instructor was grounded for days but that was never communicated either. You just get the run around and odd excuses on why your training got canceled again and again and again. They tell you how great they are and how fast they will get you through school but these are all lies to get you in the door. They brag that they have their own maintenance on site but most of the planes stay grounded. This is the most unprofessional and unorganized organization we have ever seen. The local small county schools with one or two planes are MUCH better and cheaper than this joke. Our student dropped out weeks ago and now the school won't answer the phone or respond to emails. We would not even be trying to contact them if it were not for the fact that they won't return our money! honestly we may have to take legal action just to get our money back. They have taken 20,000 and we got around 4 hours of flight time. So stay FAR away from this nightmare. You have been warned read more

Just another big corporate flight school that utilizes loopholes to say one thing, but do another. I got my ratings through them in 2012 and instructed for them until 2014. I made it through fine, but in the years since I can not recommend their operation. Multiple friends have gone through the program since I left and have had horrible experiences. The worst are from this last year. Due to COVID multiple pilots I know in the program were put in holding patterns and either forced out before completing due to no fault of their own or they found ways to not offer them a job afterward even though it was guaranteed. A recent example is people that have finished the program in the last year. Many weren't offered a job even though it was guaranteed. They waited months without flying because very few places were hiring. Then ask them to come in for a standardization check out flight, but provide no warm up flight. When they don't do well they then don't allow them to do a training flight to be reevaluated and don't offer the job. That's how they are getting around the guaranteed job offer they give you when you sign up. ATP was run much better when I went through years ago, but you could see how things were going downhill when I left. I've flown at the airlines with many that have left ATP management over the years. Not a single one would recommend this flight school anymore. read more

Don't attend ATP! I had no aviation experience but ATP popped up on every flying magazine and website so I decided to come here. I did the tour here at Craig and went on a intro flight. In the tour they showed me the sims and claim have unlimited sim usage (yet they didn't work either). I didn't know until I left that this school has an F rating in the Better Business Bureau. I was convinced because their planes look nice and the school has a uniform policy and promise a flying career. -they don't teach ground school, they sell you books to read & that your ground school -their planes are broken and so dirty, with mold & junk inside -the website states you'll have the weekends off but you'll fly on the weekends since their planes are broken and might be flyable on weekend -the school will schedule check rides even if you're not ready and if you're not ready you'll still have to pay the FAA pilot elevator $700 for not being ready and if you fly and fail, that failure stays in your flight record forever -ATP school don't care about you but highly care for your money $$$$ -ATP will put you in an apartment and charge you $800 each to live with 4 or 5 other students in a disgusting 2 bedroom I felt bad because as much money that I paid and what I got in return was bad. The headquarter office in Ponte Vedra, FL. Their planes are the worst, the school will charge you 3x the rental rate than other flight schools. The flight instructors get paid $7.25 flight hour, yes $7.25! The flight instructors get paid more if they fly more, so they're encouraged to fly students so that they can built hours and get pay more. I felt that my instructor was just flying so that he can build hours and didn't care about me. I got all my flight certifications here and decided not to work here because of the way they do business and pay of course. They won't hire you once you become an instructor if they don't like you. The school didn't hire many students, one instructor had no failures, another instructor had too many failures which is understandable. read more

ATP Flight School - hall way at the training center - Flight Instruction Near Me

ATP KFXE FLIGHT SCHOOL ATP KFXE Wow! The worst school you can think of, they really just want your money, no grounds ( well you do get some if you beg your instructor but they can't wait to be done with it), they sent 3 people home because they failed an EVALUATION and charged them 31k without even obtaining private, you are on your own until you are ready to fly ( they call it self study), they will push you to fly even when the weather is not good or safe ( bc they want the $$$), if you fail an EVAL or checkride (2 Max) they will kick you out and charge you more ( $75 per debriefs, grounds, and Sim that meant to be free) they claim its in fine prints and since you did not finish the course you need to pay more. They don't treat you with respect, and they can kick you out whenever they desire. Just do your homework and ask questions. Maybe they will change and it will be a better school in the future. The best and worst mistake I have made in my life. read more

The worst of the worst, they only want your money and the instructors don't care because they just want to get 1500 and they don't teach.

Without a doubt, the worst flight school in the USA! Don't waste your money, find another school! They are here to extract your money only! Their motto is "their is one born every minute ". read more

Take my advice and coose another flight school please. They don't care about your training or progression, rather they focus on how to charge you for the most amount of hours. I was told I could use the Flight Simulator that was on sight anytime I wanted during my training. When I had to unexpectedly pause my flight training due to family matters, they charged me for a bunch of hours that Never happened. They are greedy and some of the CFI's are impatient and just there for their own sake (AS). Dont waste your time with this greedy company. You're just a number here with a loan. read more

I was here for the cfi course and here is my take on it: First off you arrive into a dirty, stinky apartment that you have to share with three other people. There are dead cockroaches on the floor, live ones running around in the kitchen 24/7. The bathrooms smell like who ever used them before just pissed all over the place and they have never been cleaned, and of course some cockroaches crawling from underneath the faucet. Now onwards into the bedroom, you will be sharing it with a random atp student, I suggest bring some ear plugs in case they snore. The beds are tiny (twin), the mattress is very uncomfortable and creaks, and there are bed bugs, oh and unsurprisingly a peak under the bed discovers a couple more cockroaches, albeit this time dead. Moving on to the daily life at your apartment, like I've already mentioned you will be sharing it with three others, so you will have to deal with different personas. We had a guy in a different room who just would not stfu, constantly talking to someone at the apartment, on the phone, or watch tv well into the night. Now moving on to the actual program, the two cfi instructors who teach you the course are good, however the problem is the limited amount of time and flights you are given to prepare for the checkride. ATP promised to hire you, and given that they are not growing anymore that would make their flow of students per instructor unsustainable, they would have like 3 instructors per student if they hired everyone who finished their program, so understandably they will find any reason not to hire you that they can. This is precisely why they purposefully under-prepare you to go into the cfi checkride. I've heard someone reference this as a "boot camp," except they pay you in boot camp, here it's you handing them $73k (zero-cfi) for an effing bootcamp? Two flights before the hardest check-ride in aviation is an effing joke, every single cfi school I called gives a bare minimum of 12 hours, and that's in a less complex single engine. These two flights will be the only time where you fly the aircraft in the right seat, so it is extremely awkward as everything you're used to is on the opposite side. Want more flights, no problem! $1000 per flight... Don't cringe :) Moving on to the ground school, they advertise it as a week long intense course, that is complete bull! We had only one full day, two half days and two 2-3 hour days. I had more questions than answers after the ground course was complete, and because their cfi instructors are swamped with work they have very limited time to help you. So in conclusion, if you get this far into the program don't expect this craphole to be anything like your home base where you did the training, here you either figure it out, and that's an understatement, or go home. Also luck in who you get as the examiner is a major factor, some are more forgiving and easier than others. If you are not pressed on time to get this done super fast then don't waste your money on ATP and do your training at a local school instead. read more

The school is what you think it is. If you want to get all of your certifications fast than this is for you. However what they don't tell you is that the planes are hardly maintained and flights get canceled constantly. There is no actual ground school unless you beg(depending on instructor) they force you to take exams and check rides you aren't ready for and if you fail they remain on your record. AND they have the right to randomly remove you from the program when they see fit, and if you try to resolve it you will have to jump through a thousand hoops. Not the worst option for flight school but I'd recommend about 100 others before it. read more

One star is just too much for this company and I wish I could rate this school a ZERO. In short, ATP is a scam. Please do not waste your time, energy or money on this place. They will bait and switch you. I attended ATP in April 2023 to May 2023 and almost $13,000 later, I have very little to show for it. Make no mistake about it; their primary interest is to take your money. The so called instructors are mere children (18-24) with no skill or experience in dealing with mature professionals. In addition to the lack of quality instruction, they realize that most students are not paying attention and so they inflate the simulator hours. At $175 an hour, this has to be a crime. I cannot understand how these unscrupulous people are still in business. With all the complaints on the internet, coupled with the embarrassingly low BBB rating, they need to be held accountable. They are nothing but artful thieves posing as a flight school. Please do your due diligence and research this company thoroughly before you enroll. If you don't, when they use and ultimately refuse you, they will simply tell you that, "you are not the right fit for ATP" and you'll be left steeped thousands of dollars in regret. read more

BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE!! At this school you are nothing but a number. Their goal is to pump you out so they can put more people in. Meaning they don't care! Checkrides are scheduled before you are even ready. They try to fly you as much as they can so they can meet that deadline. Which is stressful because you still need to study for that oral or written test. Be ready to have no life and study for 5 to 8 hours a day on top of flying. They indirectly push you for checkrides you aren't ready for which is illegal! I heard this one student say that he wasn't ready for the checkride and needs it to be pushed at least 2 days but the manager said just take it we have such great relationship with the examiners and cancelling doesn't look good to them. I've heard and seen many instances that this has happened and this is just one of many stories. They rather make you take that checkride to possibly pass it so you can move on. Well guess what? If you fail it'll be on your permanent record. If you mess up they give you a lot of crap for it. Such as failing checkrides or not meeting their deadlines on when to finish each license. They will terminate your program anytime they want and they don't need a good reason since they are a part 61 school. I've seen a lot of people who were almost done with a license and then let go. Can you imagine being let go when you're almost done? They could at least just let you finish. Now you end up with this huge bill and you have to move to a different school which means more money on your end. The school has no compassion at all! They give you the bare minimum hours to complete a license so if you aren't ready that means more money! For example...the commercial single they only give you 4 hours to learn new maneuvers. They also are so quick to charge you for things and you always have to see if they are billing you correctly. They give you a hard time getting it fixed. There's no ground and it sucks because you pay a lot to attend this school. I am not asking to be spoon fed but it would be nice to have them sometimes. Now everything I've said above is just Atp in general but as for the Jacksonville location..... The planes are old and dirty. The other locations get better planes. The instructors are mostly checked out and just want to keep flying so they can get hours. The management is horrible! These are most of the things witnessed attending this school. Flying has always been fun for me but Atp doesn't make it fun. It's a stressful school. Please do yourself a favor. Flight school isn't cheap. Find a school that actually cares for you. Where you'll have fun doing it! I hope you really consider these things. I made the mistake of not listening to a lot of people who told me to stay away. I thought they were just those people who didn't try hard on their program. I hope I can at least stop even one person from attending this school. read more

Bad reputation for a reason.... Take your money or career elsewhere. Beware- they train their employees to give students the run around about the training and could care less if they actually complete the program after taking out 100k in loans. read more

ATP put me in danger with the worst life struggles by promising guaranteed jobs. But during the accelerated course, instructors were being careless about me and kept scheduling me only one day a week during the accelerated course. Also their chief Instructor in Florida, Mr. Amico, kept pulling me into his office and kept telling me i'm a complete idiot and a dumb founded person lost in a funk. And because of three checkride failures, the VP Mr. Koziarski sent me home after the program completion with no support. And because of student loans they put me through, my credit scores are not good as I was not able to keep up with my student loans and eventually I became homeless. It was a life endangerment financially that they put a lot of us too just so they can get their hands on money. And they scar your records with checkride failures. So at this point, I don't know what's going to happen to me now. read more

I am a graduate from ATP school, can honestly say it was a horrible experience from day one. They will back out on everything they say. They truly only care about money. And the employees are extremely difficult to work with. I would not recommend this flight school. read more

They have a fast track program which just means you fly on a consistent basis. Its pretty easy. However, if you do have any speed bumps or plateaus in your learning, instead of doing what you paid them to do, instruct, they send you home using the fast track program as an excuse. They dont care about you. You're just a number and a dollar sign to them. Dont waste your money. read more

Sad! I was looking at a flight school for my my commercial multi and CFI initial in a short amount of time possible since I am in naval aviation. ATP does not do individual courses, only the overrated $80,000 "Zero to ATP" professional pilot course. I guess I will check out American Flyers or locally either at Sterling or check out schools in Herlong. read more

Well I would like to start by saying. Prior to starting ATP Flight School I had zero experience with flight training what so ever. Now knowing what it actually takes to receive (starting with your) private pilot license ATP has easily been one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I enrolled in ATP's fast track track program anticipating that I would have to work hard and make flight training my number one priority and that's exactly what I did. To make a long story short, at about 50 hours in I was nearly a few hours short of having a (PRE SOLO) flight review with the chief flight instructor when I was informed that my flight instructor was going to a new location therefore I was given a new flight instructor. After my first flight with my new (more experienced) flight instructor he told me I was no where near ready to have a (PRE SOLO) flight review. Which in turn meant a lot more time and a lot more $$$ to get me where I needed to be due to my very "green" previous CFI. Eventually after ATP terminated my program (which they reserve the right to terminate your program for any reason at any time). I ended up with 86.8 hours and 33.5 hours of or duel cross country time. And MORE IMPORTANTLY a $30,000 bill. If you are new to aviation I strongly advise you to open your options because they are out there. It is UNREAL to not be able to solo prior 50 hours in flight training. You can do the research yourself and look up the average amount of time it takes to solo and it's less than half of that time. And 33 hours of cross country is absolutely unacceptable. After ATP I changed flight schools and I soloed within 3 hours and fulfilled the rest of my private pilot requirements within just a few hours. I am now currently a Private Pilot and working on my instrument license. I urge you to please do your homework before enrolling. This company looks a lot prettier on paper than what it really is and will try to squeeze every dime out of you that they can. read more

My son had the most unpleasant experience with ATP Flight School. They simply do not live up to their promises and the school resembles a bait and switch tactic. At ATP, you have to pay in full prior to reaching certain parts of your training. So, by the time you get to the Flight Instructor School in Jacksonville, you must have all your billing taken care of. Sounds simple enough, but wait...read on. ATP is somewhat accommodating (with a bit of prodding) during the initial training events. However, once you reach CFI school, suddenly their willingness of help is now gone. Zip, nada, zilch, nothing, no help. You see they only pass around 30% of the students that participate in the program which mean they fail at least 70% of the students. ATP promises you a job as a flight instructor once you complete the program. Just calculating the numbers alone, you can see that this promise is impossible for them to honor. They can't promise all of the flight instructors a job, there simply aren't that many positions. If you hiccup just once, you are told "you better improve soon, or you are gone". So, you are given two attempts to live up to their impossible criteria. After the second attempted failure, you are sent home. Nooooo... let's teach you what you need to know. Nooooo... we will help you through this. No, they simply send you packing. And, of course, they don't give any of your money back. Small claims court? Maybe, but a hassle. The 100 day program is simply unattainable. The 100 day program really means it is at least a 200 day program. You see they simply are unorganized and they don't plan ahead whatsoever. A quick example: You have your instrument written tests done, you have been signed off by your instructor, you feel ready, you have studied hard, you have practiced hard. Now you need an examiner. In FXE, they only have two examiners that cost around $500-$800 cash only. One examiner is only available certain days. The other only does certain ratings. So, you may have to wait two weeks before seeing the examiner. They should plan ahead, you might say. Well, "plan ahead" and ATP cannot be used in the same sentence. They simply wing it. So, my son is devastated and now on the road trying to find a flight school to finish up his flight instructor ratings. I would not recommend ATP Flight School. Signed A 30 year airline pilot read more

I attended ATP CRG in March of 2013 with 0 experience. 5 months later I was a CFI/CFII/MEI. No failures, a TON of self-study, and living/eating/breathing aviation 7 days a week. You get what they advertise. To complete a program this accelerated, there is no time for hand-holding. You need to be motivated, a quick-learner, and have at least a bit of natural ability. I had absolutely fantastic instructors throughout my ratings. I completed their standardization program and in September of 2013 I moved to Arizona to instruct for ATP at their IWA location. This meant I did both Part 61 (ATP) instruction and also Part 141 (ASU) instruction. I became a lead IP and in March of 2015 I started my airline career at SkyWest Airlines. October of 2018 I began working as a First Officer at Southwest Airlines. There is no way I could've achieved my dream job in just 5.5 years without the accelerated training and foundation of skills/knowledge that I gained from ATP flight school. read more

Where to start, well I decided to choose ATP flight school because of it's quick fast approach to becoming a pilot.. Within my journey of registering and signing up for the school I decided I wanted to start as soon as I could. So we sent numerous emails and made multiple phone calls back and forth and discovered the next class started in about 2 weeks. As I'm getting more and more excited for the school I felt as if I was getting less and less information on what I needed to do. Every time I called I got asked a bunch of the same questions over and over again when all I wanted was to talk to the person I had been dealing with the whole time. They the let me know that to hold my spot in the program I needed to send them $1000. So I did with no hesitation what so ever. A couple days later I come to find out that the date that I was told I was starting was not in fact the real start date that date was a couple weeks later. So now I'm being told all kinds of different things and I'm not sure exactly what is true and what is not. They seemed very unorganized. So with a coupe weeks to wait I desired to fly home and see my family wrote I started the school. When I got home I continued to work on everything I needed to work on and then found out about needing a flight physical witch is a must but I had no clue of this nor had I ever been told. So I go to get my physical and come to find out I would not be able to attended the flight school at this time due to a medication I was taking. So I called up the school and told them all of what I had learned and they were very kind to inform me that I would not be able to revive a refund of my deposit because in the .05 font at the bottom of the very first email I ever revived they said it was a non refundable deposit. I was never informed of this personally before or when making the payment. The moral and whole point I'm making is be very careful and be very noise when dealing with ATP I find them to be a very quiet secretive company looking to get very penny out of you that they can... read more