Posts Tagged ‘airline pilot training’

Newer Entries »

ATP Expands Training Fleet, Acquires Six Piper Seminoles

Tuesday, November 16th, 2010

In an announcement at AOPA Summit, ATP and Piper revealed ATP's acquisition of six new twin-engine Piper Seminoles.

Airline Transport Professionals and Piper Aircraft Inc. recently announced ATP’s acquisition of a fleet of six Piper Seminole multi-engine piston-powered advanced training aircraft. ATP, a professional pilot training school with locations nationwide will take delivery of the aircraft, which combined are worth almost $4 million, in 2010. The acquisition brings ATP’s training fleet up to 87 Seminoles in addition to 50 Cessna 172s, five Diamond DA40s and a CitationJet.

The joint Piper, ATP announcement was made at the annual Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association’s Aviation Summit 2010 in Long Beach, where both companies are exhibiting. Piper, headquartered in Vero Beach, Florida, is one of the biggest names in general aviation offering nine models of single-engine and twin-engine aircraft. ATP, providing cost-efficient, accelerated flight training, operates the largest multi-engine training fleet providing thousands of graduates an unparalleled amount of multi-engine flight time.

ATP’s recently announced partnership with Mountain State University, under which ATP provides flight training for Mountain State’s ATP Pilot Operations degree program, has driven up demand for ATP’s multi-engine aircraft. ATP’s new Seminoles will allow them to meet that demand. The degree program allows students to complete online coursework for a bachelor’s degree while undertaking standardized, airline-style flight training curriculum, building more than 100 hours of multi-engine flight experience.

ATP has chosen the Piper Seminole based on its proven reliability, having provided hundreds of thousands of flight hours around the world, and its compatibility with ATP’s flight training fleet and methodology. The Seminole is a stable and forgiving aircraft that allows students learn advanced flight maneuvers and procedures safely. The Piper Seminole is an aircraft that supports ATP’s mission of providing high-quality multi-engine flight training and offers unmatched reliability. Also, because they already operate a number of Seminoles, ATP is well equipped for maintenance of the Lycoming O-360-A1H6 powered aircraft.

For more information on ATP – Airline Transport Professionals, please see our featured school page.

For more information on flight training and choosing the right school, check out our Flight Training Resource Center or find flight training near you.

Sources: Piper Seminoles Added to ATP Training Fleet
This article was written by Matthew Everett, a private pilot, aviation writer, and frequent contributor to AviationSchoolsOnline.com. You can follow him on twitter @leaving_tf or find his blog at http://leavingterrafirma.com.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in School Updates | No Comments »

Aerosim Flight Academy Looks To Increase Enrollment

Friday, November 5th, 2010

Aerosim uses the Cirrus SR20 for its primary training aircraft.

Boeing’s crew assessment forecast, released earlier this year, calling for at least one million pilots and maintenance personnel in the next 20 years wasn’t missed by Aerosim Flight Academy. The popular flight school intends to increase enrollment in order to meet the needs highlighted in the forecast. During the recent Cocoa Beach Air Show, which took place on October 30th and 31st and had more than 160,000 attendees, Aerosim set up a booth to showcase the school.

The academy’s booth featured the advanced simulator they use during portions of their flight training syllabus. It was a crowd favorite with a long line and wait times that filling the gap between air show performances, but spectators felt it was well worth the wait. The booth was also home to a contingent of career counselors and executives from Cirrus, who manufactures Aerosim’s primary trainer, and several airlines. Aerosim uses the Cirrus SR-20 for it’s primary training aircraft. A group of Aerosim students and instructors were also present at the booth to answer potential pilots’ questions about their training.

Aerosim Flight Academy is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges and was the first flight school to participate in the FAA’s Aviation Safety Action Program. Aerosim provides the utmost in professional and safe training with the implementation of FAA Industry Training Standards for their flight training operations. The academy also assists graduates with job placement through partnerships with numerous airlines.

Aerosim’s commitment to provide safe, professional training is a testament to their commitment to providing the best pilots to meet current and future industry demands. Additionally, their relationships with airlines and Cirrus are a huge benefit for their students who learn to fly in some of the best aircraft produced today and receive placements at some of the world’s leading airlines.

For more, please visit our Aerosim Flight Academy information page.

For more information on flight training and choosing the right school, check out our Flight Training Resource Center or find flight training near you.

Sources: Aerosim Flight Academy Ready to Meet Pilot Shortage
This article was written by Matthew Everett, a private pilot, aviation writer, and frequent contributor to AviationSchoolsOnline.com. You can follow him on twitter @leaving_tf or find his blog at http://leavingterrafirma.com.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Flight Training Info, School Updates | 1 Comment »

New 1500 Hour Requirement Challenged

Saturday, October 16th, 2010

An FAA advisory report questions a law requiring first officers to have 1500 flight hours.

Requirements set out in a new law passed in July have been questioned by an FAA advisory committee. According to a recent report, certain training courses may count for a large portion of the 1500 hours of flight time required by the law. The report also outlines concerns regarding the law that amount to a veritable laundry list of flight safety and economic concerns.

According to the FAA Administrator, Randy Babbitt, effective academic training can be more valuable than just spending 1500 hours in a plane. Even still, there seems to be an even split on the issue. For example, according to lawmakers, airline first officers with more experience are better and safer pilots.

Another concern outlined in the report relates to economics. According to the committee, requiring first officers to have as much experience as captains will cause an increase in competition for salaries and benefits. The concern being that the law may artificially create a shortage of pilots. Additionally, there are flight training concerns put forth by college and university flight schools who worry that students will elect to train a smaller, less-expensive schools in order to minimize costs thereby putting them out of business.

The underlying issue for the entire argument is whether quantity of flight time outweighs the quality of training. According to people like Administrator Babbitt, quality training can overshadow quantity, while lawmakers maintain that quantity is most important. What is best? Who is right? It bears mentioning that the law was born out of the crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407 and there was an ATP rated captain with more than 1500 hours acting as pilot in command of that aircraft.

An obvious conclusion to be drawn is that the proper balance of quantity and quality is the key to safe flying. Whether that balance is 500 hours of flight training and academic instruction or 1500 hours of straight-and-level flight seems to be in the eye of the beholder. This issue will likely continue to be a hot-button topic for quite some time. Either way, future pilots are going to need training, the question is in how much.

For more information on flight training and choosing the right school, check out our Flight Training Resource Center or find flight schools near you.

Sources: Committee Challenges New 1500 Hr Requirement For FO’s and FAA panel opposes new law that requires more flying experience for pilots
This article was written by Matthew Everett, a private pilot, aviation writer, and frequent contributor to AviationSchoolsOnline.com. You can follow him on twitter @leaving_tf or find his blog at http://leavingterrafirma.com.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Airline News, Flight Training Info | No Comments »

American Eagle Hires Fourteen ATP Graduates

Thursday, April 8th, 2010
By Airline Transport Pilots Staff

Screen shot 2010-04-08 at 4.52.38 PMARLINGTON, Texas – April 6, 2010 – Fourteen ATP flight instructors and graduates from ATP’s Airline Career Pilot Program receive First Officer position class dates with American Eagle. ATP extends congratulations and thanks to the 14 CFIs who recently interviewed and received job offers with American Eagle, one of the nation’s largest regional airlines.
“ATP graduates have a proven track record with American Eagle, and we’re glad ATP is in a position to assist with their pilot recruitment needs as hiring increases,” said Jim Koziarski, ATP’s Vice President of Flight Operations. “With Regional Jet Standards Certification, over a thousand hours total time, and hundreds of hours multi-engine experience, these are highly qualified pilot candidates.”
American Eagle anticipates steady demand for pilot hiring through 2010 and beyond. In an open letter to ATP, American Eagle
explains the driving forces behind their pilot recruiting goals:
improved fleet utilization, delivery of additional aircraft, attrition, end of “Age 65” rule effectiveness, and potential flight crew duty time regulation changes. Read the positive industry outlook in the letter on ATP’s website at ATPFlightSchool.com/eagle.
Regional airlines appreciate the structured experience that pilots receive in the ATP system, starting with their primary flight training and extending through the critical phase of building experience as flight instructors. With the recent increase in regional airline pilot hiring, ATP is also hiring more flight instructors from the Airline Career Pilot Program. ATP has already hired nearly 40 CFIs in 2010.
In 1984 ATP pioneered cost-efficient, accelerated, multi-engine flight training with an emphasis on pilot
career development. Today, ATP’s Airline Training Programs prepare graduates for airline pilot and corporate pilot careers with nationwide flight experience in the largest, multi-engine training fleet. Advanced jet training
transitions these pilots from light twins to modern regional jets in CRJ-200 flight training devices. With thousands of graduates who have completed airline training on time and on budget, airlines come to ATP first to meet their demand for pilots. ATP flies over 6,000 hours to provide more than 300 FAA pilot certifications each month at 24 locations nationwide.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in School Updates | No Comments »

Newer Entries »