Needs better instructors and to listen to their students. They focus on the questions for check rides and not teaching students how to fly a plane 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

This place sucks but it works. cons first then pros Pretty condescending instructors with a superiority complex. Definitely got bullied in high school. I had a flight during my instrument phase were my instructor was on his i pad looking down and we were on a intercept with another aircraft at the same altitude. He was pretty grumpy and pissy and pretty much wanted me to shut up and do what he said the whole flight. I was the one that crammed the throttle and climbed to a high altitude. The other aircraft came under a quarter mile. the other aircraft passed under us by 200ft. Some instructors are pretty creepy they make remarks on female students bodies not really cool. The vibe here is an incel yacht club. Instructors will talk shit about you... thats their personality trait. Cant get a maneuver/procedure right? you get yelled at in the plane "Why can't you get this shit right" Some of The instructors are easy going and straight edge. Others are just Douchey. Instructors will never take the fall for their own mistakes any mistake they make is yours. Also yours to deal with. Training support feels like they are an incompetent political officer to an authoritarian regime. The instruction quality is hit or miss and sometimes instructors are feeding incorrect information. Other times instructors go the extra mile to put you on track. Instructors also get jealous if you go to other instructors for information. Instructors will demand 110 out of you just to use The Flight operations/ management over in Jacksonville are willing to throw you under the bus to make there schedule flow smoother. Fuel truck skips your plane.. its your fault should have called for fuel in advance 20 years ago. i haven't gotten 8 hours of sleep being here partly doing to the student living situation but cant complain Ok now that thats over the pros Pretty good instruction. And Proficiency in the program in standardly high. The flow of progression is steady. Fast paced so just embrace the suck. read more

This place is a SCAM. I finished the program and here are the facts. -Total cost was way over 100k+ -The environment, instructors, and management are very toxic -All the instructors have almost no experience -The guaranteed employment is a lie -The planes may be new, but are literally falling apart and smell live BO and vomit -The success rate is minimum. Out of a class of 32 people only 2 finished. They have this class every 2 weeks. - Ready or not you will be sent to a checkride whenever they schedule it. - Current payment for the student loan is 1257 a month Knowing what I know now I would have never considered this place. read more

(8/19/2021) Even though I've already posted a review, I need to follow up on an important point made by the previous poster (Laura S.) whose review I've just read. Specifically this concerns her fourth point ("The guaranteed employment is a lie"). Laura is absolutely right. I can confirm that ATP did, in fact, advertise "guaranteed employment" in their promotional materials at the time I was enrolled. I am not suggesting they still do this, but I remember them doing so back in 2008. I also remember questioning ATP's then-Vice President Jim Koziarski about this issue at that time. I searched my email archives and, as it turns out, I still have his original response. Below is what he wrote to me, complete with misspellings and typos: ========================== Jim Koziarski jim@allatps.com Fri 5/16/2008 2:23 PM To:You We don't guarantee anyone a job.  However do hire the student's that do well in the program but they must earn it. Sorry I can't help you with that. Jim ========================== Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer but I'm fairly certain it's illegal for schools to recruit students by guaranteeing post-graduation employment. I had this exact problem with a bartending school I once participated in, back in 1999. read more

I went to ATP during a winter with my private completed at an FBO in a class B airspace (basically I did my training in a very high paced airspace). Compared to a traditional flight school ATP doesn't actually have ground school. They expect from their students to learn everything from their online modules before they practice in flight. Traditional schools usually have you study a set of lessons, then review it on the ground 1 hour for every 1 hour of flight. Atp instructors don't tell you what to review, they just go with the lesson they can schedule next the soonest (either a simulator or plane lesson). Personally I prefer going to a traditional flight school at a local FBO that has a more structured program where the instructors keep pace with you. During my 2 monthes here I went through 3 different instructors and it seemed like for the most part they were good willed people that are forced under ATP's ways. Atp incentives their instructors buy paying them more when they fly in the plane with their students and significantly less if they have a ground lesson. They also incentivize they instructors to get higher hourly rates if they meet certain minimum flight hours per month. This is horrible because instructors end up working 6am-8pm Monday-Saturday. Flight instructors stop becoming active teachers and more of just passive safety pilots. It's sucks to because they do all the hours just so they can barely make minimum wage, a real de-motivator for the instructors. Of the instructors and seasoned student I talked with about 60% of them had their program extend from 6 monthes to much longer (usually about a year). A lot of them also accured additional program costs (between 10-20k). I was upset to hear this from the students because when I originally visited the school I had asked the front desk about these figures and they said that no one pays for additional flight time (I'm not sure of this was a deliberate lie, or because the front desk doesn't deal with these added costs). Overall I wouldn't recommend ATP flight school for any flight training. It just seems like a big corporate company that your money is just going to some some senior management. Sure you might get the chance to flight some glass planes at the Mesa location, but this isn't really worth the high ever-growing costs of studying at ATP. read more

Listen to the bad reviews. They speak the truth. Most pilots I've met are not fond of ATP and there's a reason for that. They don't have a very good reputation in the aviation community. In a nutshell, ATP is overpriced, has a corporate feel, instructors are hit or miss, very difficult to deal with if you have any issues, doesn't care about general aviation, and worst of all.... sucks the FUN out of flying. ATP doesn't care about you, they care about your money. They try to teach you to fly a Cessna 172 like it's a regional jet. I mean... you can go here and get your ratings, your hours, and get to the airlines; but there are so many more enjoyable and affordable ways to do that. I don't normally like to leave negative reviews on the internet. But after seeing so many people be scammed and mistreated by this company, I feel I should put the information out there so that others can make an informed decision about their training. There are businesses out there who can give you a much better overall experience. read more

I started with zero time and have had success in the program and completed it. If you're thinking about going into this program, understand that everything is not what meets the eye when looking over the website. Having an instructor that caters to your learning is key to success in the program. However, very few instructors truly care about seeing you succeed. Most want your hours. In the eyes of ATP's management, specifically Joshua Klien, you are nothing more than a number. They use their skewered statistics against you if you do not learn as quickly as the program requires. If you seek the enjoyment of flying while gaining your certs, please stay far away from this program. You will be asked to be a robot for 7 months. read more

Don't waste your time and money. Make sure you read previous reviews since the a lot of them are very similar to the poor experience I had.

If I could give a zero I would. They are so overburdened with students that they cannot run a school. The profits are so high that they really care about nothing else. They do not have any instructors for the students and it has been a problem for some time. There are a lot of families in a huge amount of debt because of this place and they never got through because they ran out of money after spending huge amounts of money. I have a heartbroken college student who has been jerked around so badly by ATP, over 100k to them and they haven't had an instructor for him in months. His dreams are smashed and his college funds are gone. read more

For people (Looking at you Flying O.) giving this place high reviews and saying this ATP only gets one stars because people couldn't finish and that you feel sad for them, go stuff it. You shouldn't act so arrogant or disrespect other people's experiences. We feel sad for you with an attitude like that. Anyway... I received my private pilot's license quite a few years ago (2016) from ATP and waited until now to leave a review. Unfortunately, I still have a strong dislike despite the years and thinking about my time there. I was a student at ASU when I received my license, but was treated like a pest by the director, Josh Klein (A name noticeably mentioned many times in all these reviews). Josh Klein did not answer emails, take meetings, and would not answer any calls unless it was the front desk for an emergency. The only time you saw him was in "trends" meetings. These are meetings that are held once in a blue moon with ASU students that have complaints or aren't doing well in training for some reason (mostly ATPs fault with all the negative reviews). During this meeting, Josh is either constantly interrupting, arguing facts/evidence, or telling people to quit if they don't like the way he runs things. Josh also hides out at the Scottsdale location, far away from the students because it is nicer and he didn't have to deal with customers/students. I implore that if you are looking at this for your child who will be/is a student with ASU, get the license elsewhere regardless of part 91 or 141. Your wallet (you will save a ton because they add an additional 10-20k program costs conveniently not accounted for) and your kid will be happier. You will get a better education as well because it's basically children teaching children at this place. A majority of students feel this way and so do reviews on Yelp and Google. ATP is known for removing their one star reviews on google and have turned off all the comments on their commercials on youtube (specifically for the Mesa area) so people can't leave honest reviews. I am for professional discussions, which is their mantra, but they do not practice what they preach. They are also strongly against parents being involved other than to pay. They tell students, ESPECIALLY FRESHMEN, they need to act like adults, which is fair, but don't want the parents involved whatsoever in any serious issues that arise and use the "need to act like an adult" excuse. I think it's sneaky, keeps kids from speaking out, and brings in more of the filthy dough because young kids don't know how to handle it. Finally, INSTRUCTORS WILL RIDE YOU FOR TIME! This means they waste your dime to build hours by having your kid redo lesson after lesson for silly mistakes. They do this so they can move onto the commercial airlines faster. My instructor used to sleep on my cross countries and then say I failed my radios. I did my solo check ride with another instructor who was shocked by how well I did. He asked why I hadn't taken my check ride already and who my instructor was. I told him my main instructor was failing me for radios and his name. The sub instructor became very quiet and I knew that he knew I was being ridden for hours. I asked him this question directly, but he didn't respond and quickly tried to change the subject. I tried to bring this issue up with Josh Klein in a trends meeting several times and he told me to quit if I was going to complain for MY poor performance. I asked for a new instructor and he told me I should quit or I wouldn't fly unless it was with the instructor I had. I had never asked or had any other instructors but his one bad one and he would not let me switch despite me requesting and pushing for is several times through calls or trends meetings. I was just swept aside and labeled a nuisance. What an awful and unhappy man. Not to mention the instructor had almost gotten us into two accidents when listening to his music on his headphones at all phases of the flight. I then tried to bring it up with ASU staff, who all ran for the hills because 1. They didn't hold any power over ATP and 2. ASU didn't want to mess up their relationship with ATP for their professional flight program. Josh would also ignore their attempts to contact him. Don't get me wrong, the aviation staff at ASU are all amazing, happy people and I would recommend their program to other students. They really know their stuff and will stand up to things at ASU, just not ATP. read more

Horrible school.. bad management. they will get ride of you if you arent good enough for them. They will overcharge you as they did to me. All they want is finish more pilots in least amount of time. read more

Very disappointing experience. Negative atmosphere. A lot of time and money wasted. The culture at this location is very bad. Most of the instructors have never had a job prior to being a CFI and it really shows when it comes to being professional. Most act like they are still in the frat house. I experienced many issues that affected my training. Several instructors at this location trained under part 141. That's fine, however most would tell me that they had a tough time teaching the ATP accelerated program and preferred ASU students. The support staff is overwhelmed and not very helpful. There is too many students at this location and it makes it difficult to get what you are paying for. PLEASE READ the contract on the day of your start. ATP has been sued many times and it shows by how the contract is written. One plus is this location does have a rotating ground class three days a week. However, most of the instructors are in a rush and don't use the full two hour block. Some classes were good and some bad. It would be helpful if they had dedicated ground instructors. Another plus is the airplanes are well maintained and relatively new. This location has onsite maintenance. The bottom line is that if you want to get your ratings and truly learn as well as have confidence than do not choose ATP. ATP's model is to hire you as an instructor once you complete the program. In actuality the pass rate for that is very low and you are getting your CFI ratings at the bare minimums. This is so they can charge $70 an hour and pay the instructor less than $10 an hour. ATP chooses profit over quality. The instructors here have no real world experience and as stated never had a job before ATP. As another poster stated about check-rides being rescheduled for no reason. This location puts out obstacle after obstacle and makes things more difficult than called for. The instructors are afraid of being fired so they prolong endorsing you in fear of you failing the check-ride. I left the program due to the fact I was being jerked around. I wasn't being endorsed because the instructor stated I wasn't meeting the ACS when it came to knowledge. Funny thing is that the instructor I have found now has over 4500 hours instructing and he felt my knowledge was excellent. I have since obtained my instrument and working toward my other ratings. I toured many flight schools in the Phoenix area after my ATP fiasco to find out the schools are filled with people that left ATP during their instrument rating. PLEASE BEWARE and know what you are getting into with the ATP program. I can see it working, however not at this location. I have talked with a few students after I left and they are trudging along but state they have no confidence. I have let corporate know about the concerns I had along with several other people who experienced these negative issues. They don't want to challenge the guy who runs this location. So that means when something BAD happens they will address it. Sadly, I got hooked into ATP because of being able to utilize a student loan. Big mistake! I feel all the charges outside of flight hours were a complete and utter waste. Very costly lesson. read more

This is the worst flight program ever. They charge the most and give you the least in training and have the worst customer service. My son goes to ASU as a Pro Flight major. This is his second year and was to complete his instrument training before term ended. Well that would have been great if ATP actually had planes to fly or kept enough good instructors. Since they couldn't help get him through this section they told him it would be better if he waited and came back in the summer to finish it up. He doesn't live in AZ and it is not easy for him to get back as he has a job back at home but he is back here now and they are still not helpful. Had his planes taken from him or in maintenance. So not only are we paying them we also have to pay for his flight and time here in the summer. He was supposed to sit in on a check test which he signed up for a week ago. Apparently he was supposed to call the instructor that was giving that test prior to but nowhere was this told to him or how to get in contact with that instructor. He went and was told he could not watch the test. This is bullshit. ATP needs to be avoided at all cost. He has been told he will not pass his test as he has the most rigged instructor that enjoys failing his students. Great way to run a business and keep getting money out of us. We will be looking for other ways for him to get his training and hours. Do not ever use ATP. There are other ways to get your training. read more

ATP will not set you up for failure, because really all of the materials are out there. You will become a professional one day, so think and train like one. I will not lie, but ATP's program is difficult as it is fast paced. So, if you're one of those people who likes to get babied and get all the answers you need to be spoon fed to you, this is not the place for you, but if you are a professional person who is not lazy and is always ready to learn, then this is the place for you! read more

If I could give a zero star I would. My flight instructor was horrible. He was trying to get his hours and that was it. There were times when I had to ask if I had control. Positive exchange of control is so important and that rarely happened. It's no wonder so many students at ASU drop out of the flight program and change their track. I did because if this place. They still have over $1000 of mine and I can't get it back until I speak with Josh, who is conveniently never around during normal hours for normal people. Don't waste your time here. Go to Falcon instead and get an instructor who cares. read more

Extremely bad management. The company is concerned only of their own well being and will sacrifice the safety of their cadets. Please look at other options before settling on this company. Your career is worth more than settling. Best of luck. - (this is why the review) 2009 flight from North Las Vegas airport back to Phoenix in an ATP aircraft. During takeoff, the aircraft was not building airspeed and had to cancel takeoff due to this issue with aircraft. Upon canceling takeoff, due to an aircraft issue, with full breaks the aircraft slides off the runway with no damage to me, my copilot or to the aircraft. We return the aircraft to the ATP maintenance and stay the night in Vegas while they look at the issue. That night we received a call from the VP of operations. At first I was thinking that it was thoughtful that he reached-out and wanted to know if we were ok. This was far from what happened. The first words out his mouth were curse words. Attacking our piloting skills and saying there was nothing wrong with the aircraft; never asking us what happened but just keep threatening our position with the school. It was clear that he just concerned about the safety of ATP, and not us, if this situation got out and wanted to blame us. After returning to Phoenix, I received news that "there was nothing wrong with the aircraft" and ATP put me and the other student through a thorough flight screening which we both passed with flying colors. The aircraft, that we flew, went unfixed and back into rotation with students. About 2 weeks later, I was sitting in the ATP location in Phoenix and a student and instructor were walking out and I said "fly safe guys" knowing and working with them both. About 10 mins later the come back in and I said "well that was a quick trip" they responded with "the aircraft was not building speed during takeoff and had to abort!" I asked which aircraft was it? They said the tail number and it was the same aircraft just 2 weeks earlier I had the problem with in Las Vegas and ATP tried to blame on me and my flight partner. I walked back to the directors office and told him what just happened, he apologized to me for what I went through. I told him that this could have ended a lot worse. He agreed and finally pulled the aircraft from the line. 2 weeks this faulty aircraft was in use by student and something really bad could have happened. They tried to shift the blame on students, then tried to cover-up the issue; not for the safety of the students but for ATP. We have to ask ourselves: how many other times has this happened? This is why I mentioned the sacrifice of students safety, from my personal experience. So please think before you invest. Thank you! 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

A company that is wonderful at marketing but fails in every other aspect of it's business. The instructors are not only inexperienced, but also get little to no education on teaching methods, interaction with students or how to adjust their approach based on a students' needs and learning style. They are constantly over-subscribed with students and the solution is to "weed out" those who may have learned at a slower pace (mostly due to poor instruction and failure to deliver the ground school instruction and proper briefings/debriefings). The reviewer who suggested those that fail do so because they want to be "babied" is 100% wrong. Some of the students who they turf out ("are you sure this is the right program for you") are the hardest working students there. They lack confidence and flying skills and that is exacerbated when they are told by management that they are unsure if they can ever become an instructor. Those that succeed in the program are fortunate to have received good instruction or have been matched up (by chance) with a personality that suits them. Some students are "naturals" and they can pick up things fast while others need genuine instruction. Students are told that they should be receiving ground instruction daily, yet nobody monitors this and the quality of the instruction is poor. One instructor doing ground school on navigation to a group of four students, all of whom are in different phases of training? The so-called fast pace program at the beginning of 2016 was impossible due to a shortage of instructors - students were averaging 1-3 flights per week. The instructors however, are not to blame. They are all just trying to get their hours as soon as possible (the FAA 1500 hours rule has, in my opinion, started to produce a generation of "shortcut" pilots and unsafe learning environments). They are poorly trained, have little time for anything beyond the hobbs time, and have to stick to a curriculum that is poorly designed. They are also underpaid and overworked. The "sales pitch" from ATP is "we are training you for the airline environment." I have first-hand knowledge of the airline environment and know for a fact that this is simply a joke of a statement. Pre-flight briefings consist of something to the effect of "Ok we're off to Coolidge today and will do a couple of maneuvers on the way" while walking out to the airplane... Most de-briefs are a five minute one-way conversation followed by notations in a students' online file that rarely match the verbal debrief. The online self-study program is filled with useful information, yet it is completely out of sync with the actual flying curriculum. For example, stalls are practiced very early in the training, yet the self-study instruction on stalls is 3/4 of the way through. The refund policy and cost of training is disgraceful. Employees in the accounting office (when you can actually speak with them) are generally rude and uncooperative. Many students are locked into loans with exorbitant interest rates and ATP is well known to hold funds, extract loan payments early and students are then financially trapped when they are forced to quit through no fault of their own. People have literally had their lives ruined and dreams smashed by ATP yet they do absolutely nothing, and have no sense of obligation to the people who matter the most - paying customers. My best advice to anyone looking into a flying career is to do your homework and make sure you are getting high-quality instruction. read more

Being a Professional Airline Pilot for over 17 years and having an enjoyable experience going through a couple flight schools, one at home in Hawaii and one in Prescott, AZ I feel I can say this though my experience and watching my boyfriend go though a totally different experience with ALL ATP MESA. ALL ATP MESA from prior to day one wants you to complete all written tests from Private Pilot, Instrument and Commercial prior to arriving. That is so they don't have help you with any written prep at all. They state they want you to dress in uniform and it is a professional environment but it is far from that. The ALLATP apartment that my boyfriend moved into had chairs and a coffee table leg totally broken, stained carpet, dirty bath tubs and sinks. The apartment hasn't been cleaned for years with food over two years old in the fridge and cupboards. I had to write a formal complaint about the cleanliness of the place and asked to move to a different apartment. After moving and over two months later, the old roommates still did not get new and in tact furniture. His flight instructor sucked. He was a terrible communicator and teacher and by how my boyfriend was explaining things he was a brand new flight instructor and was just putting his time in to get hired from an Airline. Good luck whoever hires Cameron. Terrible. He was always on his cell phone texting and at one point when another flight instructor asked if he was doing ground, he answered "no, I babysat them yesterday". I got news for you Cameron....you are nothing right now. Huge attitudes from the instructors and the office staff there. Sometimes my boyfriend didn't have a schedule for the next day even as late as 8pm the night before. The study area was always loud with other flight instructors talking and laughing so there was no real study area at the school. They over charge and charge you for things that you didn't receive. For example my boyfriend never got pre departure brief or de briefed before and after every flight yet they charged him $75 every time he flew. There were other people that got charged for things when they shouldn't have. All the smiles on the instructors faces on their website are fake. No one smiles in there and they don't help you at all. It's self study. He could have done that at home. This is a factory and you are a number. THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU AS A PERSON OR AS A POTENTIAL PROFESSIONAL PILOT. This place is terrible I think if they got better management it may help but who knows. DON'T GO TO THIS ALL ATP! Do your research and interview any flight school. Look at the reviews and talk to the management, office staff or instructor before you decide where to go. read more

Horrible flight training for my son. I am a multi decade major airline international wide body Capt. I flew F-4's an F-18's in the military for a number years on active duty. Multiple additional years of flying and command time in the reserves. Combat tours and aircraft carrier cruises. I expected professionalism from All ATPs and the FAA examiners that work out of their Mesa, AZ location. My son got just the opposite. Very junior instructors that did not teach to the syllabus; more "senior" instructors that treated the cockpit like boot camp for military enlistees; and an FAA examiner they used that was extremely unprofessional, rude, juvenile and petty. I am extremely disappointed with this organization and the FAA examiner they associate with and I would strongly recommend against any parent sending their son/daughter or any prospective new aviator to this location and expending any hard earned resources. Find another flight school. Don't waste your time, energy or efforts at this location. read more