ATP Flight School, headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, is the largest flight training company in the United States. The privately held company was founded in 1984 in Atlanta, GA by its current management, a small group of airline pilots. ATP’s initial focus was providing flight training to U.S. military pilots who were seeking their Airline Transport Pilot Certificates to transition over to commercial air carrier operations. Maintaining a focus on professional flight training, ATP later expanded its course offerings to include ab-initio training programs for domestic students seeking a career in commercial aviation. Today, ATP is the leading supplier of professionally trained pilots to the nation's regional airlines.
Schools
ATP Flight School has 36 locations throughout the United States as it continues to consolidate, although it had 42 at its peak.
Training
ATP Flight School solely focuses on airline-oriented flight training, operating their programs with a fixed-cost, fixed timeframe training model. ATP's primary product offering is an ab-initio airline pilot training program, which provides pilot certification from zero experience through commercial multi-engine pilot, with certificated flight instructor certificates. Graduates of this program are then guaranteed a flight instructor job with the school to gain experience and build flight time to meet airline hiring minimums. Other programs offered by ATP include type ratings, aircraft dispatcher certification, and the Airline Transport Pilot Certification Training Program. These programs are only offered at one of the school's locations, with all others being dedicated to flight operations. Over 1% of all general aviation flight operations in the United States is conducted by ATP, who flies nearly 25,000 hours per month resulting in students' earning 6,950 certificates annually. ATP is partnered with Arizona State University, and is the flight provider for its Professional Flight bachelor's degree program, based out of the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport facility. Aircraft used for the contract are painted in a special livery featuring the ASU logo and pitchfork.
Fleet
ATP Flight School has the largest multi-engine training fleet in the world, consisting exclusively of Piper Seminoles, with the exception of one Cessna CE-525 CitationJet. A mix of Piper Archers and Cessna CE-172 Skyhawks make up their single-engine fleet, the majority going to the latter. Piper Aircraft Inc. and ATP jointly made an announcement at the 2011 National Business Aviation Association Annual Meeting and Convention for the sale of 30 new Piper Seminoles – a total retail value of $18 million. All of the new airplanes under the agreement are to be equipped with Garmin’s G500 glass cockpit avionics suite. In April, 2013, ATP and Piper Aircraft reached an agreement for the purchase of up to 100 Piper Archers. Initial deliveries began in late 2013, and under the agreement, all aircraft are standardized with the Garmin G500 avionics suite. A second order for an additional 100 Piper Archers was announced at the 2018 Sun 'n Fun International Fly-In and Expo and on September 19, 2018, ATP accepted delivery of its 100th Archer under the first order. As of March, 2019, ATP Flight School maintained a fleet of 366 aircraft distributed among 36 locations, consisting of the following:
ATP Flight School has hiring relationships with 21 U.S. based regional airlines, including ExpressJet, SkyWest Airlines, Mesa Airlines, and PSA Airlines. These relationships and alliances are based on letters of understanding, or letters of agreement. While these letters vary between air carriers, in general they bestow either reduced hiring minimums for graduates of ATP or airline tuition reimbursement. In 2018, ATP and Envoy Air, a wholly owned subsidiary of American Airlines Group, established a partnership through the Envoy Cadet Program. Under the program, flight instructors at the school are provided a path to a pilot career with American Airlines, as well as financial assistance and health benefits. As of March, 2019, the flight school reported having over 520 airline placements annually.
Accidents and Incidents
On December 6, 2008, a twin-engine Piper PA-44 owned by ATP Flight School experienced a mid-air collision in the Everglades. The plane was flown by an ATP instructor and student pilot. The other plane involved was a Cessna 172R owned by Pelican Flight Training, also with two passengers, an instructor and student. There were no survivors. On March 24, 2014, the flight school lost another Piper PA-44, this one in Brunswick, Georgia and also with two fatalities. The National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation reported that the wreckage was consistent with an in-flight breakup of the airframe. On June 9, 2018, a twin-engine Piper PA-44 was on an approach to landing when it experienced a microburst and hit the tops of two homes then crashed into a retention pond in Daytona Beach, Florida. The plane was flown by an ATP instructor and student pilot, both pilots experienced minor injuries.
